Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: D-Link Wireless HD Media Player This unit has worked well for me.
Connected with PlayOn software on Windows Home Server.
HDMI output is a nice addition. Netflix and Hulu are
my favorites. Local media videos and music work well, also.
The PlayOn software had a few glitches to begin with, but
PlayOn is constantly updating their software and it is currently
working very well.
Product Review Summary: Junk equipment and bad support Received the D-Link DSM-520 in a timely manner.
I bought it with the intention of using it to stream Active-TV which was one of its main selling points. I quickly ran into problems. I could never get the DSM-520 to connect to Active-TV application.
I placed a support call and was given a case number. The agent could not get off the phone fast enough. I had to tell him that "no, this is not fixed I need for you to stay on the line". Eventually, he suggested that I upgrade the Active-TV application from a download from the D-Link website. The site is hard to navigate unless you want to see tons of advertised D-Link products. The response from the incredibly clumsy DSM-520 interface was so slow that I could barely get anything done. After selecting Active-TV from the menu selections I could wait several minutes without any feedback wondering if it was going to try to find my PC holding the Active-TV application.
The support number I received is never used for anything as far as I can tell and for the next 5 attempts to get someone who knew anything at all about the DSM-520. I had to give my basic information each time.
On my sixth support call I to be very adamant that I needed to speak to level 3 support. The person I dealt with at this level was adequate on basic troubleshooting on this model. We downloaded firmware. This unit seemed to have great difficulty locating the software on the USB drive. We ended up having to cold start the unit with the memory stick in the USB drive before it would do anything.
Even after we downloaded the firmware, it did not help the situation with Active-TV. I could locate photos on my PC to share but that only proved that part of the DSM-520 actually worked; I could never connect to Active-TV.
I shared out my desktop with the support person so that he could troubleshoot real time. He eventually said that he thought this was a hardware problem and that I should return the unit. I'm gladly returning this product and I'm unlikely to buy another D-Link product.
Product Review Summary: Underwhelming I have owned a Mvix 760 for the last year and it finally broke. I decided to give this a try thinking it might be slicker and easier to use for my wife. Overall, completely underwhelmed by it. I ended up returning it (first thing I have ever returned on Amazon) for the following reasons:
- FF/REW is 4x ONLY and can't be used at the same time as the search function (you have a choice of either to search or ff)
- Audio/Video out of sync after ff or search
- While it worked w/ TVersity, it was clunky at best.
- Did not support NAS file shares
Product Review Summary: Good Device--I've got two Pros:
1) Pretty easy to set up. The interface for entering the network security key is awkward, but considering you won't be doing much data entry it's no big deal.
2) It works with a Harmony 880 remote.
3) It streams video from a d-link dns-343 network attached storage just fine. The dsm-320 I replaced with this would hang streaming from the dns-343. I have two dsm-520s and have tried streaming the same movie as well as diffferent movies to both boxes with no lags or jumps.
Cons:
1) Price. On sale it's not bad, but list price is too high for me.
2) I couldn't get the USB port to work for upgrading the firmware. You're not supposed to do a firmware upgrade wirelessly, but I managed to do it successfully. You can do the upgrade wired of course, but I was too lazy to move it.
Overall I consider this a decent box. The Cons aren't "show-stoppers".
Product Review Summary: Best Media Client if you have technical knowledge I have owned a DSM-520 for 2 years now. It's an excellent device but most of the reviews here come from a misunderstanding of what is slow and how to use it. First, be sure to update the firmware on the device to the latest level which can be done online or through the USB port. Second, the included server software that loads on a PC is inferior and responsible for the lockups and pausing. Consider using WMP11 or for a truly superior performance buy a copy of TwonkyMedia server which I have run on Windows, Ubuntu, and a Linksys NSLU2 with no problems and never a lockup. The NSLU2 would have to have it's firmware flashed to "UnSlung" Linux V6.x but there is plenty of documentation online to do that if you are technical. The beauty of the NSLU2 is having a passively cooled, 5 volt server that fits in the palm of your hand and runs with an external USB drive 24x7 flawlessly.
Regarding the comments on HD video content I can tell you I have hosted HD content with no streaming problems on my PC's and on my NSLU2. The HUGE caveat is you must either use the wired connection or use a Wireless N bridge to handle the required bandwidth. I have recorded HD content on Windows Media Center and saved the files back to the NSLU2 and the DSM-520 plays them flawlessly. I use a Dlink DAP-1522 as a Wireless Access point which I set to Wireless N Only mode on my infrastructure. I then use a second Dlink DAP-1522 as a Bridge on my home theatre. The DAP-1522 Bridge has four wired ports and hosts my DSM-520, a PC on my home theatre, My HD-DVD player ethernet port, and my U-Verse DVR.
The NSLU2 is only a 200Mhz processor but it is running a very lean Linux configuration and so performance is not an issue. Persons running Windows even on 2Ghz single core systems may suffer performance issues if much else is going on. Be aware that the main performance bottlenecks on the DSM-520 tend to be either the server software running on the PC or the network connection. I highly advise not using the built in Wireless G.
The fast forward and rewind functions are VERY lacking as noted by other reviewers but stopping a video and playing back later from the stopping point work very well if the server you are using is performing. Consider using an older lower end PC loaded with Ubuntu and TwonkyMedia as an alternative to running WMP11 and certainly ignore the server software packaged with the DSM-520 and I promise you will be much happier.
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