500GB media player from iBood Argosy or Pixmania Storex ?

zod

both good value @€;120 I think .. todays ibood

http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/iboodSpecs.php

or

pixmania

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/525074/art/storex/mediaplayer-club-mpix-355.html

which is the better player ?

cormie

I was waiting for the Argosy for a while so I bought it last night when I saw it. I've never read a bad thing about it, besides it used to have a loud fan, but I think that's been resolved now.

Don't see as many features listed on the pixmania one, maybe they both have the same, maybe the argosy has more?

quarryman

I had a keops which is basically a rebranded Storex and it was very quiet. However it died on me yesterday. Well the USB/circuitry died, maybe the IDE cable got damaged. I'd had to open it once or twice as the power button kept getting stuck. I think the repeated opening and closing probably screwed something up.

I've just taken the HDD drrive out and am going to use it in a PC, no great loss.

I'd still recommend the unit, but the build quality is kinda poor.

Onikage

The GUI on the Argosy is pretty ugly but no worse than on any other unit. It has plenty of good features like NTFS support, component video out and an internal SATA connector, all of which are not common on other models in this price range.

cian_r

anyone know how much P&P is on iBood?

rgiller

I think P&P is around €15 but if you buy two you only pay for the postage of one.

Anyway, I have both of these units and I much prefer the Storex. It's much quieter (silent really) and has a better user interface. Plus if you want it in a rush, Pixmania are more reliable to get it out to you in a reasonable amount of time than IBOOD. My advice: go with Storex

cormie

€12, It'll cost you €132 altogether.

cian_r

Also, I recently found this one on eBay. Its costs a liitle bit more than the Argosy, but has alot more features ...

- One Touch Record and Time-shift input video from AV-in port
- Upscale video quality to NTSC/PAL progressive scan, 720p, or 1080i
- Ethernet port
- 750 GB harddrive

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/750GB-LAN-Hard-Drive-Media-Player-Recorder-unit-1080i_W0QQitemZ330248100862QQihZ014QQcategoryZ16178QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Anyone got any opinions on which is better?

cormie

rgiller wrote: »

I think P&P is around €15 but if you buy two you only pay for the postage of one.

Anyway, I have both of these units and I much prefer the Storex. It's much quieter (silent really) and has a better user interface. Plus if you want it in a rush, Pixmania are more reliable to get it out to you in a reasonable amount of time than IBOOD. My advice: go with Storex

I don't like reading things like that after I bought the Argosy last night

Is everything the same supported wise etc? What brand HD's do they use do you know? When did you get the Argosy yourself as I hear they've become quieter?

How much is shipping with Pixmania?

It BeeMee

P&P on iBood is €12.50 regardless of size, shape, colour of the item.

If you look at the Pixmania bundles, for a whole extra Euro you get a proper case for the Storex worth €39
Look here

cormie

cian_r wrote: »

Also, I recently found this one on eBay. Its costs a liitle bit more than the Argosy, but has alot more features ...

- One Touch Record and Time-shift input video from AV-in port
- Upscale video quality to NTSC/PAL progressive scan, 720p, or 1080i
- Ethernet port
- 750 GB harddrive

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/750GB-LAN-Hard-Drive-Media-Player-Recorder-unit-1080i_W0QQitemZ330248100862QQihZ014QQcategoryZ16178QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Anyone got any opinions on which is better?

That'll end up costing you €205 approx, bit more expensive alright.

cian_r

cormie wrote: »

That'll end up costing you €205 approx, bit more expensive alright.

True, but a lot more features, and 50% bigger hard drive

zod

rgiller wrote: »

I think P&P is around €15 but if you buy two you only pay for the postage of one.

Anyway, I have both of these units and I much prefer the Storex. It's much quieter (silent really) and has a better user interface. Plus if you want it in a rush, Pixmania are more reliable to get it out to you in a reasonable amount of time than IBOOD. My advice: go with Storex

whats your experience of each player playing different codecs .. which one plays more different kinds

also are there regular firmware upgrades ?

Neil_Sedaka

I got one of the Argosy units last time around, can't fault it at all, great piece of kit and well worth the money.

My only concern now is, if the remote packs in (which remotes in our house do sometimes, due to my two young lunatic kids) it will render the player useless, as there's no controls on the unit

patch

I bought an argosy as well last year.
It stared whining the odd time, then the pc stopped recognising it.
I just opened it up and now use the internal drive fine in my pc.
I emailed ibood and got no reply, zilch.
I'd be slightly wary of argosy and VERY wary of ibood.

adrndmond

I also got this earlier this year off Ibood.
Excellent device, haven't had a problem with it. No noticable sound while watching movies.
Highly recommended

dez_warlock

I also got one of these earlier in the year and was wondering if others are able to turn it off completely using the remote or button at the back?
The blue light never goes off for me until I plug it out which i really don't want to keep doing. I've tried holding the button and everything but to no avail. Is it even possible at all or is my unit faulty?

patch

dez_warlock wrote: »

I also got one of these earlier in the year and was wondering if others are able to turn it off completely using the remote or button at the back?
The blue light never goes off for me until I plug it out which i really don't want to keep doing. I've tried holding the button and everything but to no avail. Is it even possible at all or is my unit faulty?

It turns off. When you hold in the button, the blue light turns yellow while it is powering down.

dez_warlock

Yeah I just tried that but it's still not working. Thanks anyway.

Neil_Sedaka

Yeah, should power down (no lights) by holding the button in for a few seconds.

leuler

Was going to order the pixmania one, but found this on boards. Don't know if this is an isolated case.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055248584

Ozeire

STOREX MediaPlayer CLUB MPiX-355 500 GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

Now

€ 99 Inc. VAT




Not sure to go for this or


IOMEGA Screenplay 360 GB USB 2.0 External hard drive

€ 82 Inc. VAT

sgarvan

I bought this one about 6 months ago and have had no problems.
A bit more expensive than the others listed here but it has wireless/network capability

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/882210/art/freecom/network-mediaplayer-450-w.html

rgiller

To answer a few of the questions here:

1. I would absolutely recommend the Storex player. It's quiet, has a great user interface, has buttons on the player (incase the remote packs in) and has played any codec I've thrown at it.

2. Argosy is a great little device too, but it's much noisier. I usually have to pile cushions around it or throw it in the cabinet to shut it up. It also played any codecs I had. It should power off if you hold the button down for a few seconds.


If the Storex is €99 on Pixmania, as someone posted, I would definitely go for that. So much user friendly entertainment for so little money...

keith_d99

This might be worth a look for those who want to consider something that outputs and plays HD also

http://www.popcornhour.com

I have one and it's the dog's! Needs a wee bit of techy know how though

cormie

Another one on iBood today, has VGA out which I would have preferred to use:

http://www.ibood.com/site/eu/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum=1&topic=23261

masterK

Anybody come across something for less than 200 that has HDMI?

kingaaa

Onikage wrote: »

The GUI on the Argosy is pretty ugly but no worse than on any other unit. It has plenty of good features like NTFS support, component video out and an internal SATA connector, all of which are not common on other models in this price range.

The Argosy gui is quite plain, but very functional and identical to the file system where you have all your multimedia files stored, what ever way you have them stored on your pc is the way you will see them on the argosy.The storex on the other hand tries to do too much with the user interface. The main window is divided into 3 seperate windows, and there is a preview window which is quite un-neccisary.If your files have names longer than 8 carachters you wont see the full names which is a pain in the arse when you have tv programmes stored with the episode season, number and name.

cormie

Don't suppose there's any way to get a visualisation plugin for the Argosy when playing MP3's?

Also, I'm using the argosy with a projector and the image is slightly cut off at the sides

kingaaa

cormie wrote: »

Don't suppose there's any way to get a visualisation plugin for the Argosy when playing MP3's?

Also, I'm using the argosy with a projector and the image is slightly cut off at the sides

Did you try going into the setup and changing the aspect ratio? I have to say, I've been fiddling with the storex foar a few days now and that preview window is a major let-down, any body know how to get rid of it? I tried the Storex site but its crap, and emailed their customer service but no reply.

Robertoni

kingaaa wrote: »

Did you try going into the setup and changing the aspect ratio? I have to say, I've been fiddling with the storex foar a few days now and that preview window is a major let-down, any body know how to get rid of it? I tried the Storex site but its crap, and emailed their customer service but no reply.

I bought one of these also and was disappointed with the help on the web site. On the right side of the remote control above the volume is a button marked file, press this and it brings up the file list.

Hope this helps.

kingaaa

Robertoni wrote: »

I bought one of these also and was disappointed with the help on the web site. On the right side of the remote control above the volume is a button marked file, press this and it brings up the file list.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, I can do that but I cant see the full file names because the preview window gets in the way.