AC Ryan Playon! HD 2 Network Media Player review

1. Introduction2. AC Ryan Playon! HD2 player (Bundle)3. AC Ryan Playon! HD2 player4. AC Ryan Playon! HD2 player (Internal)5. Playon! HD2 Media Player - GUI 2.0 Interface6. Playon! HD2 Media Player - Testing and Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

KitGuru has reviewed many of the AC Ryan Playon! products in the past and we have always been impressed with their pricing, user interface and build quality. Today we are looking at their new ‘full size' Playon! HD 2 which contains a 1TB hard drive and delivers gigabit lan connectivity.

The Playon! HD2 is the next generation network media player from AC Ryan and features the new RealTek processor which is 25% faster than the last generation unit (now 500mhz). Not only is there Gigabit lan support, but AC Ryan have included a USB 3.0 slave port for fast connection to and from a PC.

With new Social Media functionality is this the greatest and best equipped media player on the market today?

Overview (full specifications available here):

• More format support

Supports BD-ISO and DVD IFO/ISO

• Engage Social Media

Connect with your friends

• Gigabit Wired Networking

For Performance Streaming

• Unique User Interface

Playon! GUI2.0

• Smart Content Management

Autofile Indexing

• USB 3.0 Connection

Faster PCTransfer Speeds

• EZ Drive Slot

Easy Hard Drive Insertion

The Playon! HD2 arrives in a colourful box with information on all sides. There are five versions of this being sold, one without an internal hard drive, then others with 500gb, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB drives installed. You can also add your own drive to a system or replace the one it ships with later.

Inside there are two seperate packages. The main unit under a foam cover and protected between foam inserts and another package which contains all the extras.

The bundle is comprehensive. They include a well written multilanguage manual, power adapter. Also included is a high quality HDMI cable, composite cables and USB 3.0 cable.

Of particular note is the excellent remote control unit which is sleeker and longer than the original. This makes it much more comfortable to hold.

The AC Ryan Playon! HD2 is very similar in design when compared directly against its predecessor. The front looks almost identical with the name of the company highlighted above a large power button. There are four large rubber feet underneath the unit to hold it steady on a variety of surfaces. It is 230mm x 165mm x 60mm in diameter and weighs 590g.

On the side of the HD2 there is a card reader, two USB 2.0 ports and a single USB 3.0 slave connector. This unit can be connected directly to a PC for quick transfer of media files. This is a great idea and we love the USB 3.0 connectivity, as we hate waiting for large media files to copy.

The rear of the product covers all bases. There is a HDMI 1.3 port which can output up to 1080p @ 60hz. There are also composite video and audio connectors, component video connectors, and a Gigabit capable lan port (10/100/1000). Digital audio out is also offered with coaxial and optical output.

On the other side of the unit there is a ‘quick access' hard drive panel. This means you no longer need to whip out a screwdriver to get access to the hard drive bay, for example if you are upgrading storage.

Even though there is no need to open up the unit anymore to get access to the hard drive, we wanted to focus on the new hardware inside.

The new Realtek processor (RTD1185DD) is 25% faster than the old model and there is a Nanya NT5TU64M16GG-AC DDR2 memory module also installed. The Hynix NAND Flash chip (HY27UF084G2B) stores the graphical user interface for the product. There is also a JMS551 USB 3.0 to Sata bridge controller chip installed on the PCB.

Above you will notice a mini PCI Slot for an optional WiFi card.

A small daughtercard resides at the rear of the unit which controls the IR. There is also a small 40mm fan which rests to the side of the PCB to aid with internal ambient cooling.

First start up takes a few minutes, its a non native 1080p resolution to ensure compatibility with a variety of screens, until the software can be setup to suit specific high definition screens. AC Ryan have been highly regarded for supporting their user base with frequent and often dramatic system upgrades so we would assume this device will be updated on a fairly regular basis in 2011.

A.C. Ryan always had a good reputation for a polished and enhanced GUI, and the Playon! HD2 is no exception. The interface is generally quite responsive and it looks great. There are instances when it does stall for a second or two between menus, but on the whole its acceptable. We are hoping they can improve the speed a little over the coming months.

From the main menu its easy to access media folders for video, pictures and audio as well as YAM Jukebox, Internet media, Torrents and device setup. In the middle there is a handy overview of what additional devices are connected to the unit.

There are a variety of settings to cover many situations. We particularly like the support for 24hz 1080p playback as this will appeal to the hardcore media lovers out there. Night mode is a handy option to compress the dynamic range, meaning that lower volumes are possible with less dynamic range. Ideal for late night viewing when you don't want to wake up the household.

Network settings are useful for customised configurations, although our Belkin 16 port Gigabit switch set it up on an IP we had already preconfigured. It is possible to connect a wireless adapter to this system if it is in a location far away from wired connectivity options.

The internal hard drive can be accessed via the menus. You can create folders, delete files, copy files and reformat if you wish. The system had no problem detecting several of our NAS systems.

Many of the interface menus can be listed as text, rather than icons if you wish. By selecting the menu button you can get access to a user interface menu on the right hand side of the screen.

Playback quality is just as good as before, and while it won't offer the same level of adjustment as an Nvidia or AMD graphics card, it delivers well saturated, clear, clean images, especially with high quality source files.

AC Ryan have told us that the chipset is optimised for ‘Full HD Streaming', which to be honest we already had with the previous version of the player. I was able to stream 1080p MKV files across the network to the original Playon! HD unit without frames being dropped. As this system has a gigabit enabled port I was curious to see how quickly it could transfer files from a QNAP 639 Pro NAS system to the internal drive.

Below we have included a video of a 1.4GB MKV HD file which we are transfering to the internal hard drive across a network powered by several Belkin 16 port 1GBit switches.

Sadly the product doesn't get close to Gigabit speeds when transfering data to the internal drive. We measured performance and it was only slightly more than 100mbit across our network. 1080p content streams fine however which is a more important aspect for a ‘Network Media Player'.

AC Ryan told us “The processor is unable to handle large data packets via the same Gigabit Ethernet port. For a standalone NAS system, the chipset used is better meant to handle data transfer, and Gigabit Ethernet improves this by providing a larger bandwidth.

This is not an uncommon problem with media players, with the current Sigma processor also handling high bitrate streaming via their Gigabit port, but data transfer is relatively the same as our players on Realtek. At the moment Realtek is tweaking the data packets configuration to improve in this area, but it will not achieve the intended data transfer rates due to the processor limitation.”

One of the new additions to the product is Social Media functionality. Obviously you need to be connected to a network with internet access.

There are a plethora of options available, such as Twitter, YouTube, FlickR, Picasa and ebuddy. AC Ryan have included the option to use a USB keyboard and mouse which means you can access your social networking sites, or even instant message friends without having to rely on a remote control.

All of these sections open into a well organised menu interface which is intuitive to use. The videos can also be viewed in full screen.

Copying over USB 3.0 proves much better than the gigabit lan interface, averaging a very tasty 127 MB/s.

The AC Ryan Playon! HD 2 is a significant improvement when compared with the original Playon! HD we reviewed last year. The interface has received many interface enhancements which make it much easier to use. The new remote is a significantly better design, being thinner, longer and more comfortable to use long term.

We like the new social networking options and support for USB keyboard and mouse. This means the player can act as a Pseudo PC in a bedroom, ideal for a teenager talking to friends, or looking at videos online. YouTube support particularly impressed us as the system was responding well and didn't lag with higher quality media.

Media support is as good as we have seen, even ISO files and DVD folders would open without a problem, and all with surround sound. MP3's, OGG and FLAC support is also solid and all our media files worked without any annoying issues.

Negatively, while Gigabit LAN is always a nice option to add, it is only slightly better than the last model. It never had a problem streaming 1080p content from NAS systems on the same network, but when copying to the internal drive, the speeds were sadly lacking. A 1.4GB file for instance would take much longer than when moving it to a Gigabit enabled PC on the network (often 10-15 times slower). We don't expect 1000 mbit per second performance, but it would be nice to see at least 200-300mbit across our wired connections. Be aware that when using the AC Ryan single channel Wireless dongle that 1080p video can often stutter and hitch, depending on the bitrate. We strongly recommend the use of high quality cables for 1080p content.

The product is also extremely quiet, generating very little, if any noise. The choice of quality Samsung hard drive and low noise 40mm fan ensures a perfect media experience for a bedroom or living room. It only consumes 17 watts of power under full load, which means it demands less power than an AMD Fusion board, which is impressive.

The 1TB unit we reviewed today costs £179 inc vat from SCAN. Without a hard drive you can pick one up for £130.

Pros:

• Interface looks great
• Hard drive tray concept is brilliant
• Runs quiet
• High quality Samsung hard drive
• Remote is excellent
• Upgradeable
• Wireless connectivity is an option
• USB 3.0 is very quick
• Never failed with any media file we threw at it
• Low power drain (17 watts when loaded)
• Great pricing

Cons:

• Gigabit lan is hardly any faster than previous product
• Wireless struggles with 1080p streaming
• AMD and Nvidia discrete cards offer better image quality and more fine tuning options
• Interface can be sluggish at times, needs some speed enhancements

KitGuru says: An exciting, feature packed product which is sure to sell well for AC Ryan. The price is certainly right.

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