Network HDTV Player - AVeL Linkplayer

Playing back HD files from either of my sub-G5 Macs wasn’t going to happen, so I needed a product that could actually show me the files I was recording. Luckily, I found the networked media player.

What appears to be a slim DVD player from the front is actually an electronic Swiss Army Knife that plugs into my home network via Ethernet and plays back almost any stored media file from my hard drives, INCLUDING HD FILES! The Sigma chip inside processes the content itself, rendering my computer into little more than a storage bin…completely bypassing the sever Mac processor requirements.

The Linkplayer doesn’t even need a computer. It has a USB 2.0 port on the front that you could use to connect an external hard drive loaded with media that can immediately be played back though the Linkplayer.

At $250, the Linkplayer was an excellent deal – particularly because I happened to need a new DVD player. The price and features, however, belie the very real fact that this product is still a work-in-progress.

In particular, there are a lot of very vocal people who complain about inconsistent HD playback. I’ve not had that problem, but I-O Data is very active in their forums and releases firmware updates on a pretty regular basis. That they continue to do so suggests they released a half-baked product that they are willing to continue refining.

The main irritation for me was much more trivial. Being used to Mac and Tivo user interfaces, the included Linkserver software was downright dorky to look at and cliunk to deal with.

After some digging, I found Neuston Media Centre, who’s interface I found to be a lot more palatable.

The other Mac-friendly possibility I tried was EyeTV’s own Eyeconnect software; which offered both the most banal design of the three and the only price tag ($50).

My next step was organizing the files….Neuston only shows 8 files per page, so I divided my media files into genres, making liberal use of OS X’s aliases. I should mention that both Linkserver and Eyeconnect were only able to show 8 files, too. Not Tivo indeed!

On that note, watching any video file is an exercise in patience if you want to do any navigating at all. Fast forward and rewind offer no speed consistency at all with widely varying performance based on the file type. Ironically, HD files are the smoothest. AVI and VOB files are much better enjoyed in one sitting. You can jump to a particular point, with percentage being the variable. But you can only jump 1% at a time. Want to jump half way through a movie or show? Count out fifty clicks on the remote. This can get old fast.

Especially with underwhelming performance from the included remote. I was sure the infrared sensor on the unit itself was damaged until I tried a universal remote that was able to control the machine without fail. A quick search showed most Linkplayer owners eventually found an alternative to the included remote.

Despite this, the Linkplayer has done exactly what I wanted it to and I’m using it daily to watch beautiful HD programming recorded onto my Mac from a normal antenna!