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The Eminent EM7080 hdMEDIA RT arrives in a white and green box with details of the product on all sides. The packaging is elegant and colourful, if nothing out of the ordinary.
The bundle however is extraordinary with a plethora of cables for every possible output demand, including a high quality HDMI cable. A European and UK power connector are included, which is always a bonus.
Additionally, there is a TOSLink Optical Audio cable included, a component video cable, compositive video/stereo audio cable, USB cable and a well written multi language user manual to help set the product up. It even explains how to add an internal hard drive if this is a prerequisite. The only cable we noticed as a strange omission, is a Cat 5e or Cat 6.
The remote control in particular deserves a mention as it is a full sized unit with a very intuitive and comfortable layout. This remote, throughout our testing proved to deliver a very strong signal, and didn't need pointed directly at the player either. When compared to the AC Ryan Playon!HD Essential controller (second from right), it is a much nicer design.
The EM7080 is a moderately priced (£125) high definition (1080p capable) player with HDMI and optical audio outputs with full support for wired and wireless connections. Eminent also sent us a wonderful, fully flexible HDMI cable which can bend into any shape to suit any occasion. They also sent us a wireless 802.11n USB adaptor which is built specifically for this product. In a similar fashion to AC Ryan, they feel that an external unit gives a better signal so they have not incorporated this inside the EM7080.
The EM7080 supports a wide array of video, music and picture files. It even supports ISO rips and an optional hard drive can be installed inside if you wish to have local storage within the player.
The front of the player has two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA connector for external device connection.
The left side of the unit is completely sealed, but the right side has a little area cut out for the installed fan, to allow for airflow.
The rear of the device offers connections for 100mbit LAN, HDMI 1.3, composite, component and digital audio out. There is also a USB 2 connector here as well as an on/off button and a power connector. All digital bases are covered, so bonus points here.
Underneath is a restore button which resets the player back to factory default settings.
The EM7080 is powered by the obligatory and award winning Realtek RTD1073DD media processor that we know and love. This is the same processor used in AC Ryan Playon! and Asus O!Play media streaming products. It is a great choice for one of these devices as it can handle 1080p content with ease. Sadly however the only limitation of this configuration is a lack of support for gigabit network speeds. Its not an issue for streaming 1080p media, but when copying to an optional internal hard drive, it can prove laborous. The small fan which is fitted into the side panel does not generate much noise and we could only hear it in a silent room, registering around 30 dBa.
| Processor: | Realtek RTD1073DD |
| Video Output: | HDMI, Composite Video, Y/Pb/Pr |
| Audio: | Optical (TOSlink) and stereo |
| Hard disk: | Internal 3.5 inch SATA (NTFS/FAT32) |
| Streaming media: | Video and audio |
| LAN port: | 100Mbps |
| USB ports: | 2x host and 1x client |
| eSATA ports: | 1 (Front) |
| Picture formats: | HD JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIF, PNG |
| Video codecs: | WMVHD, AVCHD, H.264, VC-1, MPEG1/2/3/4, MKV, M2TS, TS, ISO, AVI, MOV and others |
| Audio codecs: | DTS, AC3, MP2, MP3, OGG Vorbis, WMA Std, PCM, LPCM, MS-ADPCM, LC-AAC, HE-AAC, COOK, RA-lossless, FLAC |
DVD and BluRay ISO files are supported, however bluray menus will not display. Not a limitation of this specific player, but more of the Realtek platform.
Installing a hard drive is a straightforward process and no external power connectors are required. The drive simply slots into the data and power connectors on the PCB. The unit is built to fit the drive perfectly, with no space at the side.
The Eminent EM7080 hdMedia RT above the AC Ryan players. It is the most compact player of them all, the length of a 3.5 inch hard drive.
Side by side with the latest AC Ryan Playon! HD Essential unit (right). You will notice that the Eminent player offers more connectivity than the AC Ryan player.
