NEO Mediaplayer USB 2.0 500 GB External HD - €150 (Pixmania)

Basq

Just got this forwarded to me in an e-mail.

A back to school special on Pixmania.

The Keops mediaplayer from Neo combines the advantages of an external storage device with those of a multimedia player!
The Keops allows you to play a number of different audio and video formats directly on a television or HiFi system through its large connection system, which includes an HDMI output that's perfect for high-definition televisions.
It’s also able to store lots of files thanks to its impressive capacity, and comes with a remote control for even more user comfort. The Keops will turn your living room into a cinema!

Supported formats:
Audio: MP3, AC3, WAV
Video: MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, Xvid
Photo: BMP, JPEG (up to 5120 x 3840 pixels)
General Information Capacity 500 GB
Interface PC: USB 2.0
Video: composite, S-video, YPbPr/YCbCr
Audio: analogue stereo, coaxial, SPDIF
Transfer Rate Up to 480 Mbps
Size 200 x 153 x 58 mm
Weight 1.2 kg
Required Configuration Free USB port
Content External hard drive, remote control, A/V cable, S-video cable, YPbPr cable, USB 2.0 cable, mains adapter, CD-ROM

Absolute bargain .. would get it except i've my 320GB Argosy from iBOOD. Still might get it though!

slave1

don't think it's HDMI, it has a sister model with one for €179

Basq

Could be wrong but see description:

..which includes an HDMI output that's perfect for high-definition televisions.

slave1

yeah, saw that but look further down for connections and no mention of HDMI, the opening paragraph is the same as the one for the 179 model which does have HDMI, a HDMI would add 30/40 yo yos which would make me believe its a Pix typo

Mr E

The remote for it looks like the one for the freecom network media player. If its a rebranded freecom, then its an absolute steal (including some nice features the argosy doesn't have - like vertical zoom, and the fact that it doesn't sound like a hairdryer).

Anyone know if its a rebadged freecom (perhaps without network capability)?

Edit: the picture of the remote is in the email, not on the website.

Basq

TmB wrote:

(including some nice features the argosy doesn't have - like vertical zoom, and the fact that it doesn't sound like a hairdryer).

Ha ha... how true!

Actually speaking of which.... a bit off-topic... but did anyone take the fan outta their Argosys? I opened mine a few weeks back (so already voided the warranty) and was contemplating taking it out but (a) i can sit and watch stuff on mine for hours at a time so would it be prone to overheat with the fan removed and (b) i had no pliers or anything to pry the fan out with!

slave1

I have that argosy from ibood and its whisper quiet, so quiet I thought it came without a fan, have it on a glass shelf too, it's the one from a few weeks back

j0e

and for the HDMI version due out on the 28th for £119 + £7.10 p&p

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/577308/art/neo/mediaplayer-kiros-500-gb.html

daveg

TmB wrote:

The remote for it looks like the one for the freecom network media player. If its a rebranded freecom, then its an absolute steal

I just noticed that. Has anyone bought this? I have the 320GB freecom drive but would really prefer 500GB. Gonna trawl the web see if I can find a review. Has anyone found any other info/reviews?

gazzer

I ordered one last night but I changed the order this morning to the HDMI version.. Its a good price..

cormie

How do you browse these things if they are just connected to a hi-fi? Is it just next or back options to pick a track or do they have a screen on them like an mp3 player would?

daveg

cormie wrote:

How do you browse these things if they are just connected to a hi-fi? Is it just next or back options to pick a track or do they have a screen on them like an mp3 player would?

I have the freecom one and you'd have to connect it to the TV to "browse" files.

Kazu

NEO Mediaplayer Kiros 500 GB HDMI USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

can this be used with a crt TV

slave1

yep, as long as the tv has composite in, which any modern crt is bound to have, they're typically yellow - video - red and white - audio, you can also get a composite to scart adaptor for pretty cheap just in case your tv does not have composite

diegowhite

Will this play DVD rips ie. vobs?

slave1

vobs are generally mpeg2 ie traditional dvd files so should be no probs, please someone amend if incorrect
anyhow dvdrips are usually .avi whether divx or xvid

jArgHA

pure dvd-rips (non-reencoded) are not divx/xvid they are in the dvd format which as you correctly said, uses mpeg-2 compression. i would imagine that they would be supported by the player but you would probably need to go into the dvdrip folder and manually select the correct vob file to play..

since vob files are a maximum of 1GB a single film is usually split into multiple vob files, but the player should skip from the 1st to the 2nd automatically etc..

jAH

daveg

diegowhite wrote:

Will this play DVD rips ie. vobs?

My freecom plays em just fine.

Lord Derpington

Ordered one on sat, unfortunately there out of stock till the 30th now .
It'll be next week before i see any sign of it.
Thanks for the find OP

dez_warlock

:mad: Ok I just received the HD this morning but all I got was the hard drive with no remote or cables,no CD-Rom or anything. Anyone here have a similar problem? This is really annoying. Does anyone know what pixmania customer care is like? Any help is appreciated.

Ghost Train

http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485117
some info here saying the no aspect ratio control, and maybe poor browsing

setup sounds a bit more complicated than it should be too

Lord Derpington

dez_warlock wrote:

:mad: Ok I just received the HD this morning but all I got was the hard drive with no remote or cables,no CD-Rom or anything. Anyone here have a similar problem? This is really annoying. Does anyone know what pixmania customer care is like? Any help is appreciated.

Aw man that sounds nasty, just been reading the reviews some guys left on thedvdforums.com and there not 2 impressed either.
Did you get the HDMI version or the standard one?
The delivery of my one has been pushed back till the 05/09/2007 starting to annoy me.. they said that they shippped the rest of the contents on the 28th and ive seen noting


On the customer support i was looking into it and as long as you post it back to them within 7 days there doesn't seem to be any probs, hope that helps in some way..

adrianroche1

hi all,
is it at all possible to record from the tv onto this hard drive?
Thanks!

Basq

adrianroche1 wrote:

hi all,
is it at all possible to record from the tv onto this hard drive?
Thanks!

I'd really doubt it!

In fact, i can pretty much guarantee you can't!

Lord Derpington

ok now this is startin to p1ss me off!
They have pushed the in stock date on again now its the 12/09/2007 and i ordered it on the 25/08/2007.

Does anybody know if ya can cancel an order after its been made, because with the reviews these have been gettin and waitin time. Im beginin to change my mind on this one...

The Freeman

where diid ya read bad reviews on it dude?, all i heard was one person stating the aspect ratio being 4:3 with letterboxing(not confirmed by anybody else) and bad folder set up regarding playing of media from someone else.........and one person didn't recieve a remote control on the cheaper model(i think it was)


seriously thinking of picking one of these but waiting for the reviews to start flooding in first

Lord Derpington

i dunno man, the reviews on the forum that eolhc posted at the top of this page seems some of they guys not impressed.
I dunno doh maybe the hd version is diff. Tbh i would love for it be workin savage, i can always send it back if im dissapointed. Ill post a revoew here as soon as i get it.

The Freeman

greenfly wrote:

i dunno man, the reviews on the forum that eolhc posted at the top of this page seems some of they guys not impressed.
I dunno doh maybe the hd version is diff. Tbh i would love for it be workin savage, i can always send it back if im dissapointed. Ill post a revoew here as soon as i get it.

gotcha;) hope your purchase is a just cause and looking forward to the review....

Daibheid

I bought this from Pixmania, they didn't have the NEo offering at the time.
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/455893/art/storex/club-mpix-355-250-gb-usb.html
The enclosure, interface and remote look identical apart from colour so thought I's post what it was like. In a word brilliant, easy to set up and works flawlessly. It's not so good for MP3s as you do need it hooked to a dsiplay to see what's going on.
The only irritation was that browsing for movies, using the movie button on the remote it tries to draw a screenshot of every movie on the drive on a 3x3 grid. This takes forever and even better takes the same time every time you scroll. Just browse using 'files' and it's a simple fast browser without the preview.
Other than that brilliant.

Regarding Pixmania, I 've had one problem where an MP3 player, coincidentally a Neo, described as having a sandard headphone connector, was bundled with a standard 3.5 mm headphone splitter. This was a waste of a few € but meant the damn headphones were non-standard mini-jack and so harder to find alternatives. Customer service were nice but offered a refund on return of the splitter which was a joke given the cost of postage. So the dodgy HDMI reference on this offer is the same old story of inaccurate specs.

I'm interested in the HDMI version
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/577308/art/neo/mediaplayer-kiros-500-gb.html
I'd like to hear if anyone got one and did it come with a cable 'cos that's an expensive add but at least Farnell and others will do a HDMI cable for a bit less than Pix

Lord Derpington

Daibheid wrote:

I'm interested in the HDMI version
I'd like to hear if anyone got one and did it come with a cable 'cos that's an expensive add but at least Farnell and others will do a HDMI cable for a bit less than Pix

Thats the one ive ordered, ill let ya know as soon as i get it. They keep pushin the delivery time so i dunno when that will be yet.
From the package includes part of the details it doesn't say anything about the cable and i wouldn't say it comes with it to be honnest.
Ya can get them around for about €20ish or the full 1080p cable from pixmania for about €40.

Daibheid

Neat -needs an IDE drive and is on backlog if you order now for about 4-6 weeks.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITAG=FAQ&ModuleNo=221173&doy=7m9#faq

their last special order i nthe media player space, the Life Box just about doubled in price post offer so might be worth booking an order or if you see it in your local store....

I'd suggest though that unless you have an IDE drive already the total price might start to make a HD DVD recorder better value.

quarryman

mine arrived today. the non-HD version.

slick piece of kit. can't wait to try it out on the TV.

skywalker

Wonder why they didnt put a network port on these, reckon Id pick up on of the hdmi ones if they had.

Lord Derpington

ok my hdmi version arrived today (finally)

First off arrived with An Post, and i noticed that the box was damaged to my horror thinking i could be in for trouble....

I opened the other box and found no packaging around the hdd inside, and the other box is a good 3inches too big for the hdd box which was also damaged and for some reason a loose plug was lying in the base of the box.

I opened the hdd box and upon picking it up i heard a rattle from the case like a loose screw inside the case. My fears were comin true....

The plug is a european plug and looks like your suppost to cut off the end and wire up the other one that was floatin round in the package, outside of the hdd box. I had a reverse eu adapter anyway so i was ok.

I yolked it up the comp anyway and it all seemed grand and trew across a movie in divX, hooked it to the tv and away she went (after a bit of fiddlin wid cables and that dam tv out button..)

The player seems to be running pretty smooth, but it looks like the lights in the front are slightly out of line and rattle is really annoying me. Also the hdd feels like its floppin around a bit inside the player? Is this normal for an exHdd?

I have requisted a replacement, purely cos i was so pissed wid it.
Anyone else recived there order?

daveg

Today ibbok special maybe a good alternative 500 GB Argosy mobile video HDD HV356T € 159,95

http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/order.php?affiliate=iboodmail

Gryzor

basquille wrote:

Ha ha... how true!

Actually speaking of which.... a bit off-topic... but did anyone take the fan outta their Argosys? I opened mine a few weeks back (so already voided the warranty) and was contemplating taking it out but (a) i can sit and watch stuff on mine for hours at a time so would it be prone to overheat with the fan removed and (b) i had no pliers or anything to pry the fan out with!

u don't need to take the fan out....once u remove the back plate....u can just unplug it, and leave it in place...thats what i did.....never had an issue with overheating....

it seems ibood have 500GB version of the argosy on today...€159 notes

gazzer

I ordered the HDMI version of the NEO Mediaplayer back on 25th August. I paid by laser and the money was deducted on the 27th. Since then though any time I check the status of my order it is in the 'proces of been validated by customer services'.

I know pixmania were out of stock of the player but I have emailed them 5 times in the last 2 weeks to ask them what is happening but they have never replied. There is a phone number on the webpage for ordering but there doesnt seem to be one for making enquiries. Its really pissing me off at this stage. Anybody else have a problem ordering this product?

fast74

Hi,
Orderd mine yesterday (HDMI, 500GB version), 19 sept, and received a mail today to say that my order has been dispatched along with a link to the parcel force website. Currently the status of the order is "WDM Online", whatever that means.

I'll review it when it arrives.

Shane

WarZoneBrother

does anyone know if this can be used for ps3? or can you get a ps3 external hard drive?

gazzer

I was a very happy man today.. After over a month my NEO mediaplayer arrived, however my joy was shortlived. I connected the player to the mains and the usb cable from the player to my laptop. A message came up saying that new USB hardware had been detected.. Fine.. However when i go into 'my computer' there is no drive coming up for the player.. only the usual drives C, D, E. Anybody else have this problem? I have turned the laptop/media player on and off about 20 times at this stage but still nothing is coming up for a new drive. I inserted the disc that came with the player but that didnt run.. just gave me a list of different programs and i havnt a clue which one to run.

netmann

The hard drive might need to be formatted before you can use it.

whiterebel

TBH, I won't buy from Pixmania again. Their systems and Customer Service are shocking. I ordered a DVD Burner from them on 6th June which came up with a 3-4 week waiting time. I cancelled the order, and advised them by email. That night it showed up as shipped!!! Pixmania said refuse delivery as they couldn't stop the order leaving the warehouse anyway (?) and they would refund my credit card. They refunded it on Monday.....yep nearly 4 MONTHS and numerous emails later. They didn't refund me for the shipping either. They kept saying they needed the stock back in their warehouse, despite the fact DHL confirmed they had received it back on July 2nd. Not one of them would pick up the phone to check with another department to confirm, all I kept getting was they had opened an "investigation".
Never, ever again.