Actiontec Wireless Digital Media Player

Reviews: Networking

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Richard Poelling
Kurtis
Actiontec
May. 1, 2005

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Introduction

As if the constant barrage of multimedia hitting us on a daily basis isn't already enough to drive us mad, many manufacturers are attempting to move that content from one form to another. Whether it is going from the cable box to the computer or the computer to a portable player! someone, somewhere, wants content someplace else. After all, these companies wouldn't put forth the effort if they didn't think there was a market for these products.

In front of me today is a product which claims to make the media content from your computer available on your home entertainment center. All those MP3's and AVI files you have stashed on your computer can be unleashed from the dull 17" monitor and hurled at you in full surround from your massive entertainment center (*size may vary). As if that isn't exciting enough, Actiontec has also made this product 802.11b compatible. Now let's hook up Actiontec's Wireless Digital Media Player and get to testing.

First impressions

I am a big fan of MP3's, having consolidated my music collection into digital format many years ago. I enjoy listening to them on the computer, but sometimes, my computer speakers just can't give the music the quality that I like. This also goes for recorded TV programs. Recording TV using a TV tuner card is handy, but sitting in front of my computer to watch my programming does take some of the joy out of it. Even a cheap TV is larger than most computer monitors. This is where the digital media receiver comes in. By acting as a bridge for your audio and video files to your home theater system, you are able to properly enjoy your digital content.

Upon opening the box I was greeted with a very slick looking silver case and! a PCMCIA card? - I'll explain that in a minute. Also included was the usual remote control and a couple of cables. The device itself is very unassuming to look at; there are absolutely no visible buttons on the front or even any visible lights. Only by turning the thing around and looking at the rear do you get an idea of what this device can do. On the rear are a plethora of video and audio outputs, everything from the usual composite to the optical outputs usually found on the higher end A/V components as well as a DVI output for all you HD fans. Also included is a 10/100 Ethernet jack to hardwire the device into a network, if you so choose, and lastly, the power cable input.

On the side of the device, a small slot is covered with a rubber insert labeled "wireless." Here is where the PCMCIA card comes into play, making the media player operate wirelessly. Unfortunately, the wireless card sticks out considerably from the side. This really detracts from the overall clean looks of the device. I would much rather have a small antenna or at the very least, have the PCMCIA card fit almost flush as it would with a laptop. Either way, looks aside, what is most important is how well this thing works. The only way to find out is to sit back and enjoy some digital content.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Installation
Page 3: Testing
Page 4: Quality Check & Conclusion

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3 User Comments

1 - Posted by Nick on May 1, 2005 - 8:15 pm

What was the video quality like on the unit? Any of the digital media players that ive worked with had a software component resident on the computer that transcoded the files into a mpeg stream that got sent over the wire. The quality was decent but any motion had some rather unsightly pixellation. Does this player work the same or does it actually play the file right off the computer?

2 - Posted by Rich on May 1, 2005 - 11:16 pm

From the looks of it I would say that it actually decodes it in the player, otherwise a lot more stuff should have worked. The video quality was pretty good, if the source is a good one, there is no reason you shouldn't get a nice picture on your tv. Just make sure you have a hard wired connection. I was really surprised that it 802.11b couldn't handle the stream, but then again, it is 802.11b. I had some video files which had been recorded from either HD or satellite and they looked amazing, even on my crappy TV using component video.

3 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on May 4, 2005 - 2:14 pm

I've got a similar product for my PS2, the GameShark Media Player (http://www.madcatzstore.com/store/viewItem.asp?idP...). Everything runs perfect (wired) as long as the file is encoded correctly, and that has only been a problem on a couple of occasions. Usually, things work just fine straight from download, and it sure beats my S-Video out, and messind with dual-monitor through TV-out is a pain..

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