Tag: hdmi

Categories
Product Review Smart TV Upgrade Box

Smart TV Upgrade Box Review

If you’re looking for a decent smart TV box out there at the moment, don’t bother. The best smart TV box at this present time is a computer or a notebook with HDMI output. With various players fighting over pole position to release the best smart TV extension for your TV, every single one fails miserably. There are no standards; therefore, not all video formats are supported. As easy as streaming internet content is on your computer, there’s no effective way to do it through a smart TV upgrade box. Those cut down browsers that come standard in most hardware are an insult.
Every single smart TV upgrade box that I looked at to this day has shortcomings on one feature or another. At the moment, at least, online content is best viewed on a computer.

Notebook with HDMI output and a cheap Bluetooth Controller
Notebook with HDMI output and a cheap Bluetooth Controller
In my opinion, get yourself a cheap laptop with HDMI output and Bluetooth support. Equip yourself with a cheap Bluetooth remote control, and you won’t be disappointed. Until smart TV big players come together and come up with a standard, then I’m sticking with my notebook and my Bluetooth remote. It does the trick just fine.

Categories
DVD Player Product Review

Divx Player with USB Input

OK, so you got a whole lotta movies in Divx format. You got it all saved in one large hard drive possibly categorized into multiple subdirectories. You’re sick and tired of watching your collection through your PC, and you want to watch it on the “big screen”. Well, you got a number of options:

  1. If you got an XBOX 360, connect it through the internet, then update XBOX LIVE so you can play Divxs. Plug your external hard drive to the 360 via USB, and away you go.
  2. Plug your PC/laptop via VGA, if your TV supports it.
  3. Get yourself a Hard Drive with a built-in Media Player.
  4. Get yourself a dvd player that support most video formats (including divx of course) that’s equipped with a USB port (supporting USB 2.0).

Higlander Divx Player + External HDDI’ve actually tried all 4 options. I’d say the best option would probably be option 4. I also highly recommend the Highlander HDMI DVD DivX Player. It’s cheap, fully functional, and supports a wide range of video formats. Here’s a run down of all it’s features:

  1. Highlander HDMI DVD Player – Multiregion
  2. 5.1 Channel MPEG-4/DiVX /HDMI DVD Player
  3. Region free
  4. Loader: Sanyo HD65
  5. Solution: MTK 1389HD
  6. Support DVD-R/DVD/VCD/HD-CD/CD-R/MPEG-4/DiVX/HDMI
  7. Support Multilingual Dialogue (up to 8 tracks) and subtitle
  8. Support NTSC/PAL playback
  9. 4x Zooming Playback
  10. Full function Remote Control
  11. Onscreen Display, Parental Control
  12. Selectable Screen Aspect Ratio (4:3 & 16:9)
  13. Dolby AC-3 5.1 Channel Audio Output
  14. Composite Video, S-Video Output
  15. Programmed/Repeat Play Remote Control
  16. Accessories: AV Cables and Remote Control

Pros:

  1. Great quality video through HDMI or Component input
  2. Zoom Playback
  3. USB and SD card input

Cons:

  1. It’s got a wide case and it’s not pretty
  2. Can’t seem to turn off the zoom onscreen display when zooming in
  3. 8 character file name limit makes it hard to determine which video to select
  4. Setting up component display requires connection via RCA first
  5. If you accidentally press reset on your remote control then it restores settings to factory default. This means that you have to hook up your device via RCA in order to switch the display to component

Higlander Divx Player + External HDD CloseupI’d give this device a 7.5/10. For its price and functionality, I’d push that up to 8/10. You can get more information about the product by going here:

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/highlander-hdmi-dvd-divx-player/