REVIEWS / HD MEDIA PLAYERS / ASUS TECHNOLOGY PVT. LTD

ASUS O!Play Mini - Value for Money

20 Jun, 2011, 3:56 pm IST | by Francis D'sa | HD Media Players HD Media Players

USB and memory card reader at the front

USB and memory card reader at the front
Basic, compact remote control
Connectivity options

PRICE IN INDIA

4,400

TECH2 RATING

8.0

AVERAGE USER RATING

How we test

CONTACT

ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd

 reachus@asus.com

 +91 22 6766 8800 / 18002090365

 www.asus.in

In an already crowded HD media player market, ASUS has chosen to launch yet another player. The new ASUS O!Play Mini is a simple, but powerful full HD multimedia playback device, which would make a great addition to your home entertainment setup.

Features
Apart from watching high definition videos on an LCD television using the HDMI interface, the media player can also be used on regular LCD and CRT TVs using the composite A/V output. The O`Play Mini supports full HD 1080p resolution videos in a variety of file extensions, including TRP, MP4, MOV, XVID, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, RMVB, FLV, TS, MTS, M2TS, DAT, MPG, VOB, ISO, IFO and M4V. Audio support for formats such as MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AIFF is also included.

USB and memory card reader at the front

USB and memory card reader at the front

 

 

JPEG, BMP, PNG and GIF image playback is also supported. You can also have subtitles in SRT, SUB, SMI, SSA, ASS, IDX and TXT formats. File system support for external storage drives includes FAT16/32, NTFS, HFS and EXT3. It additionally features Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel surround sound for a complete theater-like experience.

Design and Build Quality
The O`Play Mini is as small as a 2.5-inch portable storage drive and boasts great build quality. The shell is made of a dual-tone matte and glossy finish. The front panel sports inputs such as a USB 2.0 port and a card reader, which supports SD, MMC, MS and xD flash cards. The rear features HDMI and composite audio and video interfaces and an optical S/PDIF port. What the O!Play Mini lacks is an Ethernet port, which could support media streaming over the Internet or media servers on the local network.

Basic, compact remote control

Basic, compact remote control

 

 

Also, an additional USB port would have been beneficial for external 2.5-inch storage drives that require a Y-cable for additional power. The player has absolutely no control panel whatsoever, so you have to rely on the bundled IR remote, which supports all the functionality. So in case you lose or damage the remote, the media player would be almost useless, unless you acquire another remote controller from the manufacturer.

Performance
We found the interface very user friendly, easy to navigate and quite swift while changing between screens, but it can be a little sluggish if the list of movies is too long. The video playback was almost flawless.

Connectivity options

Connectivity options

 

 

The indexing feature is beneficial, especially when you plug in a fairly large storage drive with lots of video, music and photos. The lack of USB 3.0 port, which is present in the HD2, was a little disappointing, but since the requirements of speed are not as high, it could be ignored.

Verdict
Priced at Rs. 4,400, the O!Play Mini is one of the cheapest media out there. Other than missing Ethernet connectivity, it’s got most of the features that you expect from a media player. The O!Play Mini offers great value for money and is the cheapest HD media player you can buy with these features.

Tags: ASUS O!Play Mini , ASUS , O!Play Mini , MKV , AVI , USB 2.0 , HDMI , 1080p , SD , MMC , MS , XD , HD Media Players , ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd ,

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!

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