REVIEWS / HD MEDIA PLAYERS / AMKETTE

Amkette Flash TV HD Player

18 Aug, 2011, 9:34 am IST | by Karan Shah | HD Media Players HD Media Players

Amkette's Flash TV HD Player

Amkette's Flash TV HD Player
Remote receiver works over a very limited range
The circular structure with ports running along the rim
The User Interface

PRICE IN INDIA

3,995

TECH2 RATING

6.5

AVERAGE USER RATING

How we test

CONTACT

Amkette

 rahulg@amkette.in

 +91 9310 675585 / +91 11 26389876/7

 www.amkette.com

Manufacturers, it seems, are developing HD Media Players a dime a dozen and Amkette have followed suit by recently releasing their portable Flash TV HD Player. After reviews for the Iomega Screenplay HD Media Player and the Yodigito FV-1 Android TV, we tried out Amkette's new Flash TV HD Player that offers HD video playback whilst being affordably priced under Rs. 4,000. Here's our review about Amkette's latest media device.

Amkette's Flash TV HD Player

Amkette's Flash TV HD Player

 

 

Design and Build Quality

The Amkette Flash TV HD Player is a small, round and extremely light-weight device. It sports a blue LED grid on the front and all the connectivity ports run around the rim of the circular-shaped player. The Amkette player has composite video, component video and HDMI output connectivity ports. It also has one USB port and an MMC card reader slot along with a slot for the power cable. The top has a glossy black finish with Amkette Flash TV HD written along with the DTS, Dolby and HDMI tags. The back has an indicator description for each connector slot present on the cable.

Remote receiver works over a very limited range

Remote receiver works over a very limited range

 

 

Features

The player supports a wide variety of video formats including AVI, ISO, MKV, Xvid, WMV9, MPEG4, M2TS, RM and FLV (including support for H.264, x.264 codecs). The audio formats supported include WAV, MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, LPCM and Dolby Digital Plus. Now, that is quite a decent variety as far as playback formats are concerned. The player also supports automatic scanning and segregation of various media types. However, that feature seemed to take a lot of time to segregate our content from the hard drive. There is a music centre that allows creating playlists for favourite songs, but without an inbuilt memory, the whole idea of a playlist doesn't really fit in as the player takes the same time to access files every time an external device is connected. Besides this, the player also has an Auto Video Mode which chooses the best resolution for you to watch your media.

 

User Interface

Amkette has a standard user interface but it definitely doesn't disappoint. There are five widgets for Movies, Photos, Music, File Manager and Setup. An all-black and orange interface does seem to light up the whole screen and the files are displayed in a neat list. This might become a problem if a single file from a number of similarly named files needs to be picked. There is no option to change viewing options from list, to say thumbnails, or icons. But, a sweet, simple yet impressive user interface is what the Amkette Flash TV Player is about. 

 

 

The User Interface

The User Interface

 

 

Performance

When we started the player we had some difficulties with the range of the remote control which actually dampened the experience. First up, we slotted in an SD card and the player was able to playback each and every test video we tried. The HD videos played seamlessly too. However, the videos would show up in the music tab, which was no problem as such. But every time we tried playing a video when it appeared in the music folder, the player would throw up an error. After that, we connected the external HDD and the player took a whole seven minutes to load all the files in their respective folders. The remote responsiveness also becomes erratic. The third time, we connected both the SD card and the HDD together and needless to say, the player became extremely slow in responsiveness. The player got a little hot too, but playback didn't stutter whatsoever. A little patience will definitely come in handy! 

 

The remote has the standard buttons that come with most remotes but it does have a few extra buttons that provide added functionality. The OPS button allows data transfer between two connected devices. But since the player has only one USB port, the button doesn’t really serve its purpose. The OSD button allows display of on-screen functions like file repeat one, repeat all, shuffle and loop through a single button. 

The circular structure with ports running along the rim

The circular structure with ports running along the rim

 

 

Verdict

The Amkette Flash TV HD Player has a market operating price of Rs. 3,995. It is definitely better priced than some other players out there in the market, but for a couple of thousands more, there is the option of the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD Media Player that also supports network streaming. However, Amkette's Flash Player is an extremely small device and will definitely provide added functionality to your HDTV. It does not support 3D video playback, has no Internet connectivity and does require a little patience during its operation but at that price, it might just be the device you're looking for to make the most of your TV's features. 

Tags: Amkette , Amkette Flash TV HD Player , Amkette HD Media Player , HD Player , Media Player , Amkette Media Player , Amkette Player

Would you buy it?




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How We Test

The Tech2 Labs receives many products every single week and each of them is tested with the utmost care and highest level of objectivity. There’s a constant effort to reduce and totally eliminate subjectivity. Each product is tested according to set test processes so the same test scenario is used.

Verdict
The ratings awarded to a product are derived from a number of tests and calculations, keeping certain important factors in mind. These factors consist of features, performance, quality and value for money. In case of software and some other categories, build quality might be replaced with ease of use or ease of installation. Products are compared with other products in a similar price range or product category.


Features
The features component of the score is rated based on the kind of features present on a particular product. Features are a big part of what people look for when they’re buying a new product such as a phone or a camera.

Performance
The performance score is derived from the benchmarks and tests run on the product. In case of the subjective scores, an average of the scores given by the group of reviewers is considered.

Build Quality
The build quality of a product is important so that it doesn’t fall apart after some use. The build quality scores from the way the product is designed and the kind of materials used in the product.

Value
Value for money comes from the fact that a cheap product is able to provide most of the performance of a higher priced product. Once again, value for money is judged by comparing pricing and performance of products in a particular price range or category. 

There are many other aspects of the product that are looked at such as the bundled software and accessories. All of these scores are aggregated together to form the final score.

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.

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