# Playon!HD Media Streamer Official Review



## wbassett

[img]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/wbassett/HardwareReviews/PlayOnHD/package.gif[/img]

Over the past year there has been an explosion in the amount of media streamers on the market, proof they are no longer a fad, and are fast becoming the next new media playback device.

One entry that earns a mention is the PlayOn!HD from ACRyan.


What sets the PlayOn!HD apart? First let's look at the spec sheet and official description.

Store thousands of photo, music and video files on the internal Hard Drive. The Playon!HD brings your music, video and photo library to life with unsurpassed audio and visual quality.


The World’s first Full HD Realtek chipset based Media Player. 
Operates as a NAS (Network Attached Storage) when connected to user's local network. 
Bittorent client for downloading directly to the internal HDD. 
Unique movie jukebox feature based on YAMJ (Yet Another Movie Jukebox) application. 
Full support of Composite/Component/HDMI 1.3 video output, as well as Composite/SPDIF Coaxial/Toslink/HDMI audio output. 
Frequent firmware update advantage.
















Impressive specs, but most of the media players out there also list the same or similar specs. One difference is how well the device carries out the listed features. Some players are even a bit misleading on some things- Like stating they support ISO playback. While it can play an ISO file, therefore the statement is true... some players don't support full DVD menu playback. In other words they play the biggest file within the ISO but you cannot access the menu system. The PlayOn!HD and Mini can play a DVD ISO with full menu playback- It looks just like you have the disc in! More on that in a bit though.

Let's move on to opening the box, initial setup, and first impressions...


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## wbassett

[img]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/wbassett/HardwareReviews/PlayOnHD/A-C-Ryan-PlayOn-HD-0.jpg[/img]The first thing I noticed when the box arrived was the weight. It was a relatively small package but weighed significantly more than what one would expect from the size. This was a very good first impression because it told me what was inside wasn’t flimsy and cheap!

When I opened the box I was even more pleasantly surprised. AC Ryan not only sent me one unit to review… but two! They included the PlayOn!HD with an internal 500GB hard drive, and the smaller PlayOn!HD Mini. 

Both units will surely please and accommodate a wide variety of users. Not everyone wants or needs an internal HD, while there will be some that desire a single stand alone unit for smaller libraries, but still maintain the capability of expanding to network streaming if needed.

I opted to test drive the PlayOn!HD with the internal drive first since this seems like the unit most might be interested in.

[img]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/wbassett/HardwareReviews/PlayOnHD/playon4.jpg[/img]
Again I was very pleased when I opened the box. Everything was packed snug and secure. I was surprised to see an HDMI cable included! This is a detail that shows some class and attention to detail. Sony missed the boat here with the PS3. They should have included an HDMI cable like AC Ryan did. Hat’s off… this was a nice touch. So far I am pleased.

The official list of what comes with the PlayOn!HD
Playon!HD package content: 

Player Size: 227 x165 x60 mm 
Player Weight: 1.0kg 
(1.6kg incl. 500Gb harddrive) 


1x AC Ryan Playon!HD 
2x AA Battery 
1x Remote Control 
1x FREE AC Ryan HDMI 1.3 quality cable (2m) 
1x composite A/V Cable 
1x Y/Pb/Pr Cable 
1x USB A to B Cable 
1x AC Adaptor 
1x Power Cord 
1x User Manual



The unit itself has a nice weight, partly due to the internal drive but the build is solid and feels good. Nothing flexes or feels cheap to the touch. It’s obvious they put some effort into building a solid unit. It’s not huge, but not tiny either. It’s approximately the same height as a component player but half the width. It has a utilitarian but unique look to it. The mini is approximately half the size of the HD, but don't let that fool you. It does everything the HD does except for the internal hard drive. If you have a media server an internal drive isn't necessary.















The USB connections are on the side and all the Audio/Video, and LAN connections are on the back. Setup is a breeze. Plug it in, connect it to your network, and turn it on. It found my network and was assigned an IP in a snap. The first thing I would recommend doing at this point is to make sure you have the latest firmware update.







Once my unit was up and running I selected Browse and then Network. Everything is extremely intuitive and easy to navigate. I setup my network share and entered my user ID and password for my WHS server and boom… all the shared drives were there! Back to the firmware update for a second… All my DVDs played fine. Most of my HD DVDs and Blurays played fine, but most isn’t good enough. I found the ones with TrueHD soundtracks weren’t playing at all. Once I downloaded and updated the firmware though everything played just fine! So definitely make sure you have the latest firmware.

Once I updated everything, this little gem played EVERYTHING I threw at it! DVDs, HD DVDs (which are particularly finicky to put on a media server) and all my Blurays! It even plays ISOs of DVDs, which means for episodic DVDs like TV shows you can make and ISO of the DVD and the PlayOn!HD will play it JUST LIKE YOU PUT THE DISC IN A DVD PLAYER! This is very cool! It not only works for DVDs of TV shows, but also DVDs that have a ton of special features, like Terminator 2 for example. It will also play Bluray ISOs but… it only plays the biggest file, which is usually the main feature. Some Blurays though use playlists and have the movie broken up into smaller files. I didn’t test any of these but will when I get a chance.


So how well does it work? Let’s just say my family loves it! Once connected to my Windows Home Server and access to my 20TB of movies, it’s kind of like surfing your cable On Demand channels. I am very familiar with the WDTV and I like the interface on the PlayOn!HD better. Right off the bat you don’t have to create and name a bunch of image files for each movie. With the PlayOn! You get a text menu but also each movie has a video preview! And this is right out of the box, nothing special to configure.

However… if you want something fancier and a slick interface like YAMJ (Yet Another Movie Jukebox) these units support that as well. All you need to do is download the YAMJ software and scan your movies. From there PlayOn!HD has a menu for YAMJ. 









YAMJ adds a very slick interface with details and more cover art when you select a movie.







In addition to all of this… As the late great Billy Mays or Anthony Sullivan would say… “But wait… There’s more!” The PlayOn!HD also has Internet Radio, Picasa, Internet News, Flickr, and Weather. I haven’t had much time to play around with all of these but I did check out the Internet Radio. There are tons and tons of broadcast feeds and you can select them based on genres or stations.

You can also use the PlayOn!HD to play all your CDs too. It’s not just a movie player, it will play all your music and do slide shows of all your home pictures as well. It’s a very versatile player and won’t break the bank either. 

This next statement is going to be huge to anyone that knows me… but the PlayOn!HD is most likely going to replace my PS3 as my main media center device. Now that I have everything on a video server, I don’t need to use discs anymore. The PS3 is a great media unit but in the end the lack of DVD ISO menu support is killing it. Plus I can put a PlayOn!HD in every room at a fraction of the price of a PS3.

The PlayOn isn’t perfect, but nothing is. For the price and ease of use though it comes pretty close. The one thing that I see that is a bit lacking is that it doesn’t have native Netflix support, but it will play Netflix Watch It Instantly with third party software. Plus it may add this capability with a future firmware update.

With a price of $175 for the PlayOn!HD and $144 for the mini, PlayOn! offers a lot of bang for the buck.

Overall I rate the PlayOn!HD and PlayOn! Mini :4.5stars:


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## hakunatata

that looks pretty awesome, thank you for the great review. I love that these are getting so popular. I can't wait to see what will be out next year.


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## nholmes1

Very interesting, I may have to pick one up just to see how I like it.


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## McACRYAN

Thanks for the great review, wbassett. If anyone has any questions about the Playon!HD or Playon!HD Mini, feel free to ask.


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## wbassett

I've used several media streaming devices now and I can honestly say I really like this one the best. To me the name of the game isn't just having one media streaming player, it's having every TV in the house connected and able to access my entire library. When you start looking at things like that then price starts to become a factor. 

For the price of an entry level Bluray player the mini is a very viable option that won't break the bank as far as having multiple units setup throughout the house. 

I am running mine over 100BT network that is bridged over my home's existing cable TV cable via MoCA and it handles everything up to and including full 1080p with TrueHD. So a gigabit network isn't a necessity. Also the PlayOn! units will do wireless, but in my house I can't even get a reliable wireless connection for my laptop, so that's something I can't really review. Besides, so far everything I have read about wireless streaming isn't worth it. DVD's play okay... most of the time... but forget about HD content or trying to stream to multiple players at the same time. This isn't a problem with the PlayOn!, it's a wireless issue.

I definitely recommend giving these units a look.


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## wbassett

Something I didn't mention in the review-

Fast Forward and Reverse work just fine. Some people have reported issues with FF and RW on some other players but everything is fine with these. It will also do chapters if you have them setup on your media files. 

Another nice feature is auto resume. If you stop a movie, the next time you access that file it asks if you want to resume where you left off or if you want to start over.

My grandson especially liked the continuous play feature. I fired up the PlayOn!HD and connected to my WHS server and clicked on the first Rescue Ranger's episode and it plays right through! When one show ends it starts the next one without lifting a finger. I watched the entire FarScape series this way and it is a joy!

These aren't special features or anything seeing that most players have these capabilities as well, but I thought it was worth mentioning just so everyone knows it does have them and that they do indeed work.

I played around a bit with NetFlix and that was kinda neat but the 3rd party software was a royal pain to navigate and it really didn't have a good search function. Still though it did work.

McACRyan- Question... Do you think they will add native Netflix support any time soon? That is a big deal for some people and would totally round out this unit.


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## hakunatata

Do you think that all newer TV's are going to come with software interfaces like this that will allow you to access media on your network. I loved the review and think you are right about it being a cost effective way to watch your content in multiple rooms. But I still have to buy a couple flat screens for my guest bedroom and office and am just waiting to see what come with the tv. LG bought plex and i use plex now with a mac mini hooked up to my projector and it is great. I just didn't want to run out and buy a few of these boxes if network access is going to be standard on new flat screens.


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## hakunatata

have you had any experience with TV's that have built in media player software. I am not sure if any of those are out yet. it would be pretty cool to just plug in power and an ethernet into your tv and be done.


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## wbassett

I think they will... but not anytime soon. We're talking at least 3-5 years down the road before we start seeing them integrated into TVs.

I also don't think they will be exactly like the devices we see today because the industry is so afraid of pirating that they won't adopt a streaming technology until they can control digitally stored media.


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## McACRYAN

wbassett said:


> Something I didn't mention in the review-
> 
> Fast Forward and Reverse work just fine. Some people have reported issues with FF and RW on some other players but everything is fine with these. It will also do chapters if you have them setup on your media files.
> 
> Another nice feature is auto resume. If you stop a movie, the next time you access that file it asks if you want to resume where you left off or if you want to start over.
> 
> My grandson especially liked the continuous play feature. I fired up the PlayOn!HD and connected to my WHS server and clicked on the first Rescue Ranger's episode and it plays right through! When one show ends it starts the next one without lifting a finger. I watched the entire FarScape series this way and it is a joy!
> 
> These aren't special features or anything seeing that most players have these capabilities as well, but I thought it was worth mentioning just so everyone knows it does have them and that they do indeed work.
> 
> I played around a bit with NetFlix and that was kinda neat but the 3rd party software was a royal pain to navigate and it really didn't have a good search function. Still though it did work.
> 
> McACRyan- Question... Do you think they will add native Netflix support any time soon? That is a big deal for some people and would totally round out this unit.



Netflix support is something we are keeping a close eye on. At the moment, there is a chipset platform restriction for native Netflix support, but we hope to see some developments on this soon. Best not give an ETA on this, as alot needs to happen before this is implemented.


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## Theresa

They already do have them integrated into some of the newest TVs. I am sticking with my two year old TV being hooked up to my computer. I do have a complete surround sound system with electronic crossovers for the main, center, and sub speakers. I live in a small condo so the only place for both the computer and "entertainment" center is the living room. The ATI card does HDMI out and being rather high end does a very good job of it. I am resisting the wave of "internet appliances" having found low performance devices too slow for me and with the computer can play just about everything including blu-ray and flac HD files. But I'm an old lady geek who is very accustomed to a full fledged computer after more than 25 years of computer use. I also don't have to worry about husband acceptance factor as I am no longer a wife and just have myself to please


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## hakunatata

That is how I have my living room set-up. But when I get all the wiring in my house finished I would like to be able to put a TV in the bedroom and have it play the same stuff the living room does, but without having to buy a new computer. It seems like these little boxes are a good way to go, but not if all the TV's are going to have them in the recent future.


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## wbassett

Theresa said:


> They already do have them integrated into some of the newest TVs.


I think if you check though, those sets won't stream everything these media devices will nor will they support things like YAMJ and things like that. It's like the built in streaming on some Bluray players- Those will do Netflix and online content but aren't made to stream movies from a local network or NAS.


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## wbassett

I just finished watching seasons 1&2 of My Name is Earl via Netflix Watch it Now and the PlayOn!HD


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## sparky77

What's the music playing interface like, does it have a system where you can queue songs or quickly create playlists?


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## myc52002

Looking at the spec list I do not see that it supports 1080P/24. Does it?


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## Chris D

The AC Ryan PlayOn!HD's a great players. I have two of them, one for me, and one for the kids...no more lost, broken, scratched DVD's!


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## Chris D

I can tell you that it does...and if had a few more posts I could add the link


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## wbassett

My son and I tried a fun experiment 

We hooked an external USB DVD ROM up to the PlayOn! mini and made sure that the DVD option was set to Auto. When we put a DVD in it auto detected it and spun it up just like it was a DVD player! It had full menus and the PlayOn! remote worked fine.

According to ACRyan this isn't really a supported feature. They state that you can connect an external DVD drive but said it won't play any commercially made discs due to licensing and copy protection but will play backup discs with no protection. Which is strange because I would think the studios would want it the other way around.

Anyway it works great! I'm going to try a Bluray drive and see if it will play Blurays but I think that might end up being a problem, epecially with new releases and interactive menus and such. And yes I know the Popcorn Hour can also do this, but not at this price.


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## whyask

Great Review .. you pretty much sold me ( got tired of building my HTPC)

Have you heard when the Playon!HD2 is supposed to come out, ive checked out their website and searched some forums and yet nothing ..

-Justin


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## wbassett

I'm also waiting for the next gen to come out. Fortunately we have a representative from ACRyan that checks this thread. If he has any information he can relay he usually does.

I'm supposed to get a new unit for a review and was told it has a lot of new features! They didn't tell me what the features are just that there are some cool upgrades.


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## whyask

Yeh ive heard end of this month and or possible sometime in march.. very very anxious to get one the more reviews i read on it and its abbilities.

Here you go 
http://www.playonhd.com/en/?upn=products&subpage=playonhd2&info=specs

Lots of NEW goodies is supports !


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## wbassett

Fluxx is the one I am excited about!
http://playonhd.wordpress.com/2010/...ia-player-with-intel®-atom™-ce4150-processor/


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## whyask

oh yes ! Thats purdy ! ..... new toys ! Thanks for the link.


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## Chris D

wbassett said:


> I'm also waiting for the next gen to come out. Fortunately we have a representative from ACRyan that checks this thread. If he has any information he can relay he usually does.
> 
> I'm supposed to get a new unit for a review and was told it has a lot of new features! They didn't tell me what the features are just that there are some cool upgrades.


The Mini2 will be available for shipping next week...

The POHD2 will shipping in the third week of Feb...

The Fluxx is a most likely going to be a Pisces, a small chance of an Aries.

Chris Daly
Owner

www.MediaStreamingStore.com


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## Chris D

If the rumors I've heard are true, it will have several BIG surprises announced before launch that will really kick butt!

Chris Daly
Owner

www.MediaStreamingStore.com


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## Chris D

wbassett said:


> I'm also waiting for the next gen to come out. Fortunately we have a representative from ACRyan that checks this thread. If he has any information he can relay he usually does.
> 
> I'm supposed to get a new unit for a review and was told it has a lot of new features! They didn't tell me what the features are just that there are some cool upgrades.


Just as son as they ship them to me I'll get you a new unit to test 

Chris Daly
Owner

www.MediaStreamingStore.com


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## pacAir

Has there been any additional testing of the PlayOn HD with playing BluRay ISOs? Creating an ISO takes a lot less time than transcoding so the box's performance on BluRay files will be most interesting.

On the strength of this review thread I went ahead an purchased a PlayOn HD from Chris and tracking indicates it should be here in 3 days! I am hoping that I won't have to transcode all my BluRay discs to use the box to best advantage.

Also, is there any word on the substantive changes between the current generation product and the new "2" versions? 

Thanks!


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## SocyFisher

I must say you have a very comprehensive review. This is definitely the media player i want as its format and feature support are simply unrivaled.


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## wbassett

pacAir said:


> Has there been any additional testing of the PlayOn HD with playing BluRay ISOs? Creating an ISO takes a lot less time than transcoding so the box's performance on BluRay files will be most interesting.
> 
> On the strength of this review thread I went ahead an purchased a PlayOn HD from Chris and tracking indicates it should be here in 3 days! I am hoping that I won't have to transcode all my BluRay discs to use the box to best advantage.
> 
> Also, is there any word on the substantive changes between the current generation product and the new "2" versions?
> 
> Thanks!


It still doesn't support menues when playing BD ISOs. DVD ISOs play just like you have the DVD in a DVD player, but not the case with Blurays yet.


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## januza

I have a small issue with this bad boy, some movies the audio is slightly out of sync... If I stream from my PS3 Mediaplayer there is not problem at all.. Has anyone had this happen?

I use a HDMI cable to my AVR and HDMI from AVR to TV


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