Over the past few months I have had a chance to test out a few media players, namely the Popcorn Hour C-200 and Myka 250. Well, it is time for another media player review, and of course the obligatory unboxing. I just finished setting up my Dad with an EX495 and he was interested in venturing into the world of media streaming, so I purchased for him an Xtreamer Media Player. So why did I choose this player? Well, if I am being completely honest I wanted to see how these new breed of Realtek players performed compared to the Sigma players I either own or have tested. The Xtreamer finally got an official US Reseller (you can find on Ebay here or Amazon here, it is the same individual/company) and was offering a free Wireless-N USB Dongle (I was hoping to at least see if I could get wireless streaming working for my Dad) so I figured it was a good time to pick one up. I haven’t had a chance to do anything more then open the box so far, but I hope to give it a good break in this weekend and have a review up sometime next week.
Specifications:
Connectivity
WIFI
UPnP SSDP
UPnP AV
NTFS
Video : YouTube, Picasa, Yahoo Video, CNN, NBC Today, CBS Face the Nation and more
Audio : Live365 Radio, iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, BBC Podcast, CNN News , Indiefeed, Jamendo
Photo : Picasaweb
RSS feed : Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Xchange, MSNBC News and more
Video containers:
MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
VOB
AVI, ASF, WMV
Matroska (MKV)
AVC HD
MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
FLV - Flash Video
Video codecs:
Audio containers:
AAC, M4A
MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
WAV
WMA
FLAC
OGG
RMP4
FLC
PCM
PLSX
Audio codecs:
Audio pass through : DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus
Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, HD JPEG
Other formats: ISO, IFO, FLV, RM, RA, RAM
Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA, IDX
Streaming formats : RTSP, FLV
Chipset
Ralink RT3070 Single Chip
Memory
128MB DDR SDRAM, 256MB Flash
Audio/Video outputs
HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p)
Composite Video
Stereo Analog Audio
S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio
Interface
1x USB 2.0 slave
2x USB 2.0 host
Internal SATA
Ethernet 10/100
WIFI USB Antenna 802.11n (optional)
12V DC, 2A
Width 10.5″(180mm) x Depth 1.25″ (32mm) x Height 2.25″ (82mm)
Weight
2.2 lbs (1Kg)
Xtreamer (HDD not included)
100~240V Power Adapter
1.5M length HDMI cable (optional)
WiFi 802.11n USB Antenna (optional)
Audio & Video Cables
Remote Control with 2 “AAA” batteries
USB Slave cable
Quick start guide
Rear view of packaging
All items, including Xtreamer, remote w/ batteries, Power Adapter, Composite cables, USB Slave Cable, and Wireless N Dongle
Side view showing logo (as well as how easily it attracts finger prints)
Rear view showing A/C connection, Ethernet 10/100 , HDMI, S/PDIF, Composite Video, USB 2.0 slave, and 2 USB 2.0 host
To get a sense of the size of the Xtreamer. You may be asking why I used a banana for this. Well, because I ran out of apples!
The Xtreamer allows for a 2.5″ internal HDD. This is a view of the top of the unit with the lid removed.
The internal HDD gets secured to the top lid via two screws, and then gets placed back into the Xtreamer.
On the bottom is the fan which I find an odd location. Also, many people complained that the fan in the first few batches had jet engine qualities. Supposedly the new batches have a newer, quieter fan, so that is one thing I will definitely be looking at.
{ 19 comments }
Damian ~ Who is the US Reseller? I am curious is all. I checked Xtreamer web site you provided but when I went to look to see who might be selling the unit in the US and other partners I got……Site under construction or something like that.
I alway enjoy your reviews and am anxious to read about what you write here. I do not have much experience with such devices so I am reading, learning and soon when I feel I have educated myself enough I will purchase such a device but not for me but my future wife. So the device has to be very simple to use I just collect movies she and my children are the avid movie watchers. Don’t mean to ramble on as I just wanted to know who was selling the unit in the US.
Thanks in advance…..
@ Comp1962 – If you look back at the post where I mention the reseller I included links as well, they sell through both Ebay and Amazon (I purchased through Ebay). This was a big factor in my choice to by as I didn’t want to deal with any headaches of buying something that was being shipped from overseas and any potential customs issues (I was also looking at another player called the A.C Ryan PlayON which is similar to the Xtreamer but they are having some serious issues with customs).
I really had to give this purchase a little thought since it is for my Dad and I want something that won’t overcomplicate things. I still haven’t had a chance to even power up the Xtreamer yet but think I should have some time this weekend to get going with it and get a review out. A lot of peoplpe are in the same boat as you, just want something simple that works, and of course the all important WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor)!!!
Thanks for the feedback, any other questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Okay, got to ask: is the banana an subtle inference that it’s so easy to use/install, a monkey could do it, or did do it and left the banana laying around.
Yeah, darn monkey never takes his banana with him when he is done messing around with my gadgets
Damian ~ Wow I can’t believe I missed your mentioning EBAY and AMAZON. I’m just scratching my head on this one because as a rule when I have a question I will read a post several times. I must of been tired or something.
As for the ease of use its important while my significant other is extremely intelligent she had no desire to spend time with anything technical. I gave her a 17″ Toshiba Notebook only because VISTA would not run my Rockwell Automation Software and just getting her to review the FN key and how it works was a challenge. Nope she just wants to turn it on and play. Gave her an MP3 Player and I know she put it back in the box because she wants me to sync her music for her. So it has to be simple otherwise it will become a room ornimant. However she would be happy just to stream the movies on her Toshiba but I explained to her its better on a 46″ Wide Screen TV with Surround Sound.
Oh yea I have to mention my significant other lives in China and will be here sometime next year. So symplicity is everything. Not over concerned with energy savings Chinese people unplug everything so getting her to leave things plugged in will be a challenge. Getting her to understand why we have servers is more complicated then going to the moon.
@ Comp1962 – you are not crazy, what I was trying to say in my previous comment was that since you asked about the reseller I went back and added it in to the post. It was not there when you first read the post, you are not crazy (at least that I know of from your few comments!!!).
Yeah, I hear ya about keeping things simple. I have finally gotten there with my setup where my wife can access what she needs very easily.
Too funny about unplugging everything. If you have a server at your house make sure she stays away from it!!!
Really looking forward to your review…. I am still procrastinating between HTPC, SD200 and….
You WILL make a recommendation, right???
Haha, maybe…. Actually the tough part of there is there is no clue winner. As of now I am still a big fan of the HTPC, especially given how cheap the low power small form factor ones are (Ion, Dell Zino)
I have the Xtreamer, and so far, it plays everything I have thrown at it. I have a windows home server with alot of movies on it, and it plays them all great. I had a linksys media center extender before, and loved it, but it had problems rewinding and fast forwarding avi’s. It also would not play iso’s, which this plays great. I can also fast forward and rewind, like It was actually a dvd. I love it so far, but only using it for a couple days, I don’t know how it will stand up, but so far I will give it 2 thumbs up.
@ MattMann,
I haven’t had a chance to spend too much time with it yet. The one big problem I am encountering right now is that playing any of my hd content (wired via smb from my WHS) is impossible with the Xtreamer. Within the first few minutes the video starts stuttering terribly (one of the reasons why I haven’t messed around too much with the Xtreamer yet, hard t o when it can’t even play back your videos). I haven’t had a chance to read around on the forums to see if this is a known problem or not. Obviously this is something that needs to be resolved so hopefully I can find a solution, but unfortunately until resolved I have to stick it with 2 thumbs down . I will try and spend some more time and ask around the forums hopefully later tonight or tomorrow so I can continue with my review. Although I am having problems it is great to hear that it is working for you
Just kinda curious did you upgrade the firmware to the new 2.0.2. I did, that was the first thing I did when I cut it on, because the picture was terrible, so I thought it might of been just a really old firmware, but after that I realized that it was set to pal not ntsc. I am not using the hdmi at this point. But all the high def seems to play good. I haven’t got a chance to play any blu-ray iso’s yet, but hopefully will this week. Or it might just be the hdmi. But I think that it would be the same process for component or hdmi as per bandwith and decoding?
Yeah, first thing I did was upgrade to the latest firmware. The stuttering is happening on all my blu rays (mkv or ts). Like i said, it pretty much kicks in from the start. I will take a look to confirm that mine is set to NTSC. Component or HDMI should not make a difference.
I haven’t had any problems streaming my Blu Rays with any other devices on the same exact connections. I even tried the Xtreamer on two different connections in my house. Funny enough I wanted to watch GI Joe, turned on the Xtreamer all stutter. Next I turned on my HTPC (connected to same Gigabit switch) and movie played flawless.
One odd thing I encountered (odd in that it would not have been fixed by now) is that to play back Video_TS folders (DVD rips) you have to actually click on the IFO file instead of the Xtreamer recognizing and playing right off the bat.
Yeah I found the IFO thing kinda weird too. I will play some more .mkv to see if I have any more problems. I really wished I had some blu-ray iso’s to try. I just ordered a new blu drive for my home server, so I can rip some to iso and try. That would seem easier that using the Video_TS Folder or a BDMV folder.
I too am on a gigabit network but I know the xtreamer is a 100mbit connection. Kinda limiting, but still should be able to handle the 40mbit transfers of 1080. I will let you know if I come across any problems on my side.
On a side not what do you think about the bright red home screen. Is it just me or would it look alot better if there was some color to it?
The other devices I have tested (SageTV HD200, Myka, PCH A-110) are all 10/100 as well and had no problems with playback. That is why it is an Xtreamer issue (whether just a setting that I need to change or something else).
Yeah, I find the UI coloring to be pretty bad, don’t know what the thought was there…
I just wanted to repost, I used MyMovies to rip a dvd to a complete iso and then played it across the network to my Xtreamer, and it played beautifully. No jumping stuttering or anything. Needless to say, I didn’t get any menus like I do with the dvd, but still had beautiful picture.
@ Matt,
Do you mean Blu Ray Iso? If I recall with a normal DVD Iso I had full menu access, only with a Blu Ray Iso did I lose access to the menu
Yes I mean Blu Ray Iso no a dvd. But it’s funny cause when I mounted the iso on my computer and played it through PowerDVD It went straight to the movie. I had to tell it to back out to the menu. So soon as I get a chance I will see if I can do it through the Xtreamer. And yes on a dvd iso I also had full menu.
I like it a lot
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