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Electronics : Aqua Multimedia Player / Enclosure *NEW VERSION* (Req 3.5'' HDD)
Rating: 
- Really Impressed
I didn't know these things existed until about a month ago, and especially so cheap.
I bought a 500Gb player rather than just the enclosure. There was no formatting and very simple to connect to my TV.
Before I go any further, I have to say THIS THING IS BLOODY BRILLIANT!
It is so easy to use (go through the 'file' section rather than Video, Picutres etc) and the quality is great. I've put tons of stuff on it (music, films, sport, entire TV series) and have hardly made a dent in the memory (465GB rather than 500GB).
There are some bad points however. Like some people have already pointed out, there is no play list function although this could be rectified by making a designated music file, but slow. It isn't as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked, that goes for the harware and software. There are other little niggles here and there that I'm sure time will iron out, but to start out, this is a great gadget.
I don't give out 5 stars easily, so the Aqua Multimedia Player has defo earned it!
Rating: - excellent product for the price
This is the second HDD device i've bought -the other is an archos player that'll hook up to the tv and of course importantly record DVD TV and Video etc, but with only 30 gb in the archos, space is limited, so record on the archos and use the aqua HDD to store and display - together they are superb. With a 250gb HD inside plenty of space for DVDs and all the TV from the archos. As other reviewers have pointed out use only the file button to access your files quickly. I have had no problems getting good picture and sound on tv, vga monitor and projector. Great value...an addition to any home entertainment system.
Rating: - Excellent for portable storage and viewing video's
I ordered this from Nanobits Ltd(100% positive rating) and a 320gb PATA harddrive late on Wednesday and it arrived on Friday morning.
I slipped in the harddrive plugged it into my computer and formatted the drive with the included software. I was loading the drive up 15 minutes after delivery. I put 8 movies (xvid and whole DVD structures), 15gig of music and 8 gig of photos in pretty quick time with no problems and the plugged it into my TV.
Everything worked fine but do not buy this if you want to view lots of photos or easily listen to lots of music the menu is functional but not suitable for this purpose.
But you notice I have given it 5 stars, why, because it is excellent for viewing downloaded movies or ripped movies without all the hassle of recoding, burning disks ect, ect. It is also an excellent portable storage device.
A bit of advice, just use the File Section Menu and not the other inbuilt menus.
This bit of kit for the price is excellent for watching a large selection of video movies in good quality and as a portable storage device and that is more then enough to keep me happy.
Rating: - Not perfect - but great for the price.
Fitted mine with a 500GB Drive and formatted with the supplied software in a matter of minutes. So far this gadget has played everything I have thrown at it. When first switched on the chances are you will not get a picture because it will be in the wrong video mode. Just keep pushing the video button on the remote to select the right output mode, it remembers your settings so this is normally a one off requirement.
The instruction manual may as well be a recipe for scones for the use that it is. A few minutes playing with the buttons however and all will be clear and the device is really easy to use.
As stated in the previous review the software interface is a bit clumsy. If you select the "movie" button from the menu it will drag in all the movies you have stored, but will ignore any folder structure you have set up. The files are also displayed as thumbnails, which means it takes ages to find a specific file. I have created folders for each genre and when selecting this button everything is mixed up. If you select the " File " button however, then your folder structure will be faithfully displayed allowing you to navigate your way quickly to the file you want.
The picture and sound quality is good and for the price I cannot fault it. Getting the picture to fill your screen the way you want is really a matter of using the Aqua options and adjusting your TV picture options. I only mention this because others reviews I have read, have griped about black lines around the edges of the picture. But at the end of the day you only get out, as good as you put in, and many downloaded video files can be awkward in this respect.
The media card slots are only active when the unit is used as a player, they cannot be used as a card reader/writer when connected to a PC. I have played MP3s, Photos and movies stored on SD cards without any problems.
The unit will get slightly warm after a while but then hard drives do. I had mine running for six hours non-stop with no overheating problems.
I am really pleased with this player and considering it's price I think it is excellent. The money I will save on blank discs means it will pay for itself very quickly ( All files backed up on another hard drive of course - just in case! ).
Rating:
- Hardware Good Software Bad
This does play most DixX, Xvid, mpeg2 etc. formats I have tried. Also outputs at 4:3 and 16:9 by the way - none of the documentation says this but there is a setup for it. The software interface is pretty poor. Only the File mode really works - don't even try the video or music playback modes. However it is fairly cheap and does produce a good image and good sound. The button presses from the remote are ignored some times - on a couple of occasions I had to power off/on to get back to the main menu. If anyone finds a software upgrade - please post a link.
Happy playing!!
- Really ImpressedI didn't know these things existed until about a month ago, and especially so cheap.
I bought a 500Gb player rather than just the enclosure. There was no formatting and very simple to connect to my TV.
Before I go any further, I have to say THIS THING IS BLOODY BRILLIANT!
It is so easy to use (go through the 'file' section rather than Video, Picutres etc) and the quality is great. I've put tons of stuff on it (music, films, sport, entire TV series) and have hardly made a dent in the memory (465GB rather than 500GB).
There are some bad points however. Like some people have already pointed out, there is no play list function although this could be rectified by making a designated music file, but slow. It isn't as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked, that goes for the harware and software. There are other little niggles here and there that I'm sure time will iron out, but to start out, this is a great gadget.
I don't give out 5 stars easily, so the Aqua Multimedia Player has defo earned it!
Rating:
- excellent product for the priceThis is the second HDD device i've bought -the other is an archos player that'll hook up to the tv and of course importantly record DVD TV and Video etc, but with only 30 gb in the archos, space is limited, so record on the archos and use the aqua HDD to store and display - together they are superb. With a 250gb HD inside plenty of space for DVDs and all the TV from the archos. As other reviewers have pointed out use only the file button to access your files quickly. I have had no problems getting good picture and sound on tv, vga monitor and projector. Great value...an addition to any home entertainment system.
Rating:
- Excellent for portable storage and viewing video'sI ordered this from Nanobits Ltd(100% positive rating) and a 320gb PATA harddrive late on Wednesday and it arrived on Friday morning.
I slipped in the harddrive plugged it into my computer and formatted the drive with the included software. I was loading the drive up 15 minutes after delivery. I put 8 movies (xvid and whole DVD structures), 15gig of music and 8 gig of photos in pretty quick time with no problems and the plugged it into my TV.
Everything worked fine but do not buy this if you want to view lots of photos or easily listen to lots of music the menu is functional but not suitable for this purpose.
But you notice I have given it 5 stars, why, because it is excellent for viewing downloaded movies or ripped movies without all the hassle of recoding, burning disks ect, ect. It is also an excellent portable storage device.
A bit of advice, just use the File Section Menu and not the other inbuilt menus.
This bit of kit for the price is excellent for watching a large selection of video movies in good quality and as a portable storage device and that is more then enough to keep me happy.
Rating:
- Not perfect - but great for the price.Fitted mine with a 500GB Drive and formatted with the supplied software in a matter of minutes. So far this gadget has played everything I have thrown at it. When first switched on the chances are you will not get a picture because it will be in the wrong video mode. Just keep pushing the video button on the remote to select the right output mode, it remembers your settings so this is normally a one off requirement.
The instruction manual may as well be a recipe for scones for the use that it is. A few minutes playing with the buttons however and all will be clear and the device is really easy to use.
As stated in the previous review the software interface is a bit clumsy. If you select the "movie" button from the menu it will drag in all the movies you have stored, but will ignore any folder structure you have set up. The files are also displayed as thumbnails, which means it takes ages to find a specific file. I have created folders for each genre and when selecting this button everything is mixed up. If you select the " File " button however, then your folder structure will be faithfully displayed allowing you to navigate your way quickly to the file you want.
The picture and sound quality is good and for the price I cannot fault it. Getting the picture to fill your screen the way you want is really a matter of using the Aqua options and adjusting your TV picture options. I only mention this because others reviews I have read, have griped about black lines around the edges of the picture. But at the end of the day you only get out, as good as you put in, and many downloaded video files can be awkward in this respect.
The media card slots are only active when the unit is used as a player, they cannot be used as a card reader/writer when connected to a PC. I have played MP3s, Photos and movies stored on SD cards without any problems.
The unit will get slightly warm after a while but then hard drives do. I had mine running for six hours non-stop with no overheating problems.
I am really pleased with this player and considering it's price I think it is excellent. The money I will save on blank discs means it will pay for itself very quickly ( All files backed up on another hard drive of course - just in case! ).
Rating:
- Hardware Good Software BadThis does play most DixX, Xvid, mpeg2 etc. formats I have tried. Also outputs at 4:3 and 16:9 by the way - none of the documentation says this but there is a setup for it. The software interface is pretty poor. Only the File mode really works - don't even try the video or music playback modes. However it is fairly cheap and does produce a good image and good sound. The button presses from the remote are ignored some times - on a couple of occasions I had to power off/on to get back to the main menu. If anyone finds a software upgrade - please post a link.
Happy playing!!