Freecom MediaPlayer XS

Once in a while we get an extraordinary gadget for review that has a function cool enough to make us sit up and take notice. The one I'm reviewing today is a product called MediaPlayer XS from a company called Freecom. What does it do? It plays multimedia off your USB hard disk, making it an external multimedia adapter. Describing the device may not amount to much, so I decided to check out what it comprises and what it can do.

Design and Features
It's a small, flat, rectangular box, with gently sloping sides. This makes the base a little broader than the top face. There are no quirky design elements, which I feel is a good thing. The shorter faces have the I/O options. One has the power input, remote receiver and AV-out. All the plugs are provided, along with a power adapter, SCART adapter (not that we should care in India), and a remote with included batteries.

The formats supported by the MediaPlayer XS are AVI, with MPEG 1, 2 and 4 (that includes DivX/Xvid files). It does not do Matroska and QuickTime (which should not be expected ever, as it’s an Apple thing after all). It supports MP3, WMA and WAV, but no Flac, APE etc. It has a regular composite out, so high resolutions are not a possibility, sorry.

Performance and Conclusion
Having said that, the product does what it claims perfectly, and plays videos smoothly. However, while playing it on a large-screen TV, it made the files burst into pixel blocks. This is if the files are highly compressed and low bitrate (read: 1 CD DVD rips). It is perfect for smaller screens though. Easy setup and a simple user-friendly GUI are some other advantages.

The sticker price of the MediaPlayer XS reads Rs 6900 (MRP), which may seem expensive – but I'm told the street price is lower than that by a couple of thousand, so ask around. It's certainly a cool gadget that does its job well. Hardcore video enthusiasts need to tread with caution, however, for it doesn’t support advanced stuff.