ASUS launches the O!play HDP-R1 HD media player

Posted by David Walker on Fri 31 Jul 2009

Nice idea, shame about the lack of wireless connectivity, writes David Walker

ASUS is making it easy to view high-def video in your living room, although the strangely-named O!play HDP-R1 HD media player isn't quite the perfect package as yet.

But it isn't a bad little media player, especially if you have music and video stuffed onto a storage drive. With eSATA, USB 2.0 and LAN connectivity, you can hook up everything from a pocket drive to your PC, with the HDMI connectivity of the device throwing those hidden HD files onto your living room screen. Just about all formats, music and video, are covered, whether high-def or standard formats and all are accessible via the included remote. So sit back, relax and enjoy the entertainment.

Downsides? Well, it's not the prettiest of things, especially with a hard drive plugged into the side. Built more for function than fashion, you might say. There's one other thing that seems to be screaming out at us too - the lack of wireless connectivity. Surely if you've a device that promises to stream your media, you expect to do it without wires in 2009?

If you've got most of your media stashed on external drives, that's perhaps not an issue. But if your downloads and digital files are living on a desktop in a room two floors up, it might be a problem too far. No news on a price for the O!play HDP-R1 HD media player as yet, but we suspect it isn't going to break the bank.

Link: ASUS

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User Comments

By Mescelin

31|07|2009 11:14

I like the sound of my own name, writes David Walker.

I have Western Digital's version of this, it is extremely versatile and I haven't found a file format yet it hasn't played.

Unless this is priced less, or performs significantly better I shall stick with what I've got, and continue to recommend the WDTV.

As for wireless streaming, I wouldn't trust it even if it did have it. Bandwidth would need to be very high and reliable for it to play HD content wirelessly without any trouble.

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