Iomega ScreenPlay Director 1TB

TomasMan

I'm not really sure is it a bargain or not, but it does look like a good deal to me.
Peats is selling Iomega ScreenPlay Director multimedia HDD 1TB player for 199 euro, same as Iomega web site, but they have a deal at the moment if you buy player they'll give you for free Iomega USB WI-Fi stick for it, retails at 35 euro.
Good deal or not?

madmoe

Does this play .MKV and x.264 files?

richardw001

There are a couple of 1TB multimedia drives for less than this one knocking about - the emprex and cyclone ones for example.
The reviews of iomega (esp on boards.ie !) in general turned me off these drives.
Peats have a good reputation though - and if they are bundling a wifi dongle with this then it might be a good deal - as they have probably tested the setup. So that is probably worth taking into account as every manufactuer gets bad press !

Incidently I bought an Emprex media player/recorder in the past week from amazon - they have average reviews however they are very cheap and you get a record function as well (approx 100 sterling).

TomasMan

Yes, it does play *.mkv, not sure about x.264 but I think it does. That's one of the main reasons why my mate bought it yesterday, been able to play mkv's.

sonic.trip

I have the iomega screenplay HD and it doesn't play mkv files, are you positive the director does?

If you want a media player that does everything, then look no further than the iTab-38HD. pricey but worth every penny. had one for months now and love it:

http://dbros.co.uk/

ED E

The Eee Box 206 is available now in Europe in a white or black patterned design now, priced at the equivalent of about $440. [via Pocket-Lint]

TBH you could pick up something like ^^^ for not much more than 200 and have a full functioning windows based media pc. Comes with wireless mouse and keyboard and an integrated aerial. Then you stick on codec packs as you like and play any format you want. Just something to think on.

TomasMan

sonic.trip wrote: »

I have the iomega screenplay HD and it doesn't play mkv files, are you positive the director does?

If you want a media player that does everything, then look no further than the iTab-38HD. pricey but worth every penny. had one for months now and love it:

http://dbros.co.uk/

Well I haven’t tried it myself, but that’s what it says on the box, and online.
Playing MKV files is supposed to be one of the new features.

https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomega_eu_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=22152&p_sid=veHqTYRj&p_lva=22159

gleep

Reads of Nassau street (or a shop beside it maybe?) are selling a 1 tb drive for €79. Theres also a 1 tb media player there for €129.
Not sure on the spec or quality, just dandered past it today.

Trevord

Pros:

1. It plays movies

Cons:

1. wifi transfer is super slow. You'll end up using usb cable
2. menu system is poor - no fast way to scroll through stuff
3. remote is poorly designed - you can't tell one button from another. very annoying when you need to find the pause button when watching a movie at night

Verdict: only buy if you can live with these annoyances

blueyedson

I had on of these and brought it back - on the basis that the box states it plays HD files including MKV - this is misleading as it doesn;t play the most common MKV files ..the .264 (Sp) kind of file.

Not worth the money.

sonic.trip

blueyedson wrote: »

I had on of these and brought it back - on the basis that the box states it plays HD files including MKV - this is misleading as it doesn;t play the most common MKV files ..the .264 (Sp) kind of file.

Not worth the money.

This is what I was talking about, the pro HD not playing these files. Thats why I opted for the iTab, has played every file I have thrown at it.

Kilnacash

I have to send back my iomega director, the machine is not great, and their response for any problems is practically non-existant. Have a look at thier forum, lots of complaints, very few answers to problems.
Stay clear.

sonic.trip

Kilnacash wrote: »

I have to send back my iomega director, the machine is not great, and their response for any problems is practically non-existant. Have a look at thier forum, lots of complaints, very few answers to problems.
Stay clear.

I have a Screenplay pro HD as well and its fine if you just want to play avi files etc. have it connected to a wireless access point and transfer is less than 1mb/sec. Not great but saves getting the usb cable out.

If this is for your average user its fine if you want more from a media player I would look elsewhere

jeremyr62

These media players seem to come up a lot. A site I found which seems to have semi decent reviews of most of them and is regularly updated (for now at least) is this one http://www.iboum.com/

They at least explain the pros and cons of the various chipsets.