Price : Too low to display
ASUS O!Play Live - Dolby TrueHD Digital Surround Sound - 4 in 1 Card Reader - Built in Wi-Fi
This review is from : ASUS O!Play Live HD Media Player - Black
O!Play Live Review . I purchased the previous version "ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player" about 1 year ago and really liked it. It has great foreign language encoding and subtitle support. Plays rmvb files which is rare for media player. About 3 months ago, I needed to purchase another media player for my other TV but the old O!Play was out of stock. So, I ended up purchase this one instead. Here is a brief overview of pros, cons and differences between the old O!Play and the new one. Old O!Play ---> Pos of why I love O!Play
- It supports RMVB which is pretty rare for streaming media player.
- It supports Unicode and BIG-5. (Meaning Chinese and Japanese filenames display on the screen perfectly.
- Since it supports Unicode and other language encoding, subtitle works great.
- Supports most of video codecs. Has issue with new MKV encoding that you will need to upgrade the firmware to fix it.
- Able to stream video off PC on the same network. That's very handy.
- Upnp Support. --> Cons
- Very difficult to get through the Windows 7 security. You will actually need to create separate user account and change registry in order to stream video off your Windows 7. This is more a Windows 7 issue. I have difficulties reading Windows 7 files on MAC OS too. Windows 7 just doesn't like to share information with non-Windows 7. You have to completely disable all securities in order to do that. Or, they need to add Windows homegroup support.
- There is no way to bookmark frequent visit folder on the PC. So, you have to go through like 7 layers in order to finally reach your video. Very annoy.
- Displays all UPNP devices. Very annoy to go though the list of UPNP server. It's one per user account on each of your Windows 7 PC. One per DirecTV DVR. That's 5 to 10 UPNP devices that you will never stream from. DirecTV UPNP server is there but unstreamable due to encryption.)O!Play Live--> Pros not in O!Play HD
- Build-in wireless support. You don't need to pay extra for wireless anymore.
- Netflix and Youtube support. I haven't use Netflix so I can't comment on that. I have to say the Youtube app is pretty through and unusable. It has almost everything you can possibly think of for Youtube: account log-in, subscription, and search. It even has Chinese input support which is a big surprise to me. Unfortunately, the app is so freaking slow that I will never use it. It's like a super slow browser from 1995.
- Subtitle support is now front and center with icons to show you what it will look like. Nice addition for people who doesn't know you can turn on subtitle on O!Play.
- You don't need to disable securities and use registry hack to stream from Windows 7 anymore. You can just login as one of your regular user account on your Windows 7. --> Cons compared to the old 0!Play HD
- The remote on the old O!Play is terrible. It has weird layout and IR is not so sensitive. The new one is even worse. They modify the layout so it makes more sense now. But, it's so difficult to press and most of time O!Play doesn't even take any key. It went from 4/10 to 1/10. --> Things that are the same
- Layout is a little different but it's pretty much the same thing. No additional video format. No additional subtitle format nor font. Same useless features such as breaking up video, audio and pictures into different menu options. Useless Internet TV support. Conclusion:
At the end of day, I would still purchase O!Play Live over other media player despite its flaws for the following reasons.
1) It supports RMVB.
2) It supports Chinese.
3) It streams off PC.
O!Play Live Review . I purchased the previous version "ASUS O!Play - TV HD Media Player" about 1 year ago and really liked it. It has great foreign language encoding and subtitle support. Plays rmvb files which is rare for media player. About 3 months ago, I needed to purchase another media player for my other TV but the old O!Play was out of stock. So, I ended up purchase this one instead. Here is a brief overview of pros, cons and differences between the old O!Play and the new one. Old O!Play ---> Pos of why I love O!Play
- It supports RMVB which is pretty rare for streaming media player.
- It supports Unicode and BIG-5. (Meaning Chinese and Japanese filenames display on the screen perfectly.
- Since it supports Unicode and other language encoding, subtitle works great.
- Supports most of video codecs. Has issue with new MKV encoding that you will need to upgrade the firmware to fix it.
- Able to stream video off PC on the same network. That's very handy.
- Upnp Support. --> Cons
- Very difficult to get through the Windows 7 security. You will actually need to create separate user account and change registry in order to stream video off your Windows 7. This is more a Windows 7 issue. I have difficulties reading Windows 7 files on MAC OS too. Windows 7 just doesn't like to share information with non-Windows 7. You have to completely disable all securities in order to do that. Or, they need to add Windows homegroup support.
- There is no way to bookmark frequent visit folder on the PC. So, you have to go through like 7 layers in order to finally reach your video. Very annoy.
- Displays all UPNP devices. Very annoy to go though the list of UPNP server. It's one per user account on each of your Windows 7 PC. One per DirecTV DVR. That's 5 to 10 UPNP devices that you will never stream from. DirecTV UPNP server is there but unstreamable due to encryption.)O!Play Live--> Pros not in O!Play HD
- Build-in wireless support. You don't need to pay extra for wireless anymore.
- Netflix and Youtube support. I haven't use Netflix so I can't comment on that. I have to say the Youtube app is pretty through and unusable. It has almost everything you can possibly think of for Youtube: account log-in, subscription, and search. It even has Chinese input support which is a big surprise to me. Unfortunately, the app is so freaking slow that I will never use it. It's like a super slow browser from 1995.
- Subtitle support is now front and center with icons to show you what it will look like. Nice addition for people who doesn't know you can turn on subtitle on O!Play.
- You don't need to disable securities and use registry hack to stream from Windows 7 anymore. You can just login as one of your regular user account on your Windows 7. --> Cons compared to the old 0!Play HD
- The remote on the old O!Play is terrible. It has weird layout and IR is not so sensitive. The new one is even worse. They modify the layout so it makes more sense now. But, it's so difficult to press and most of time O!Play doesn't even take any key. It went from 4/10 to 1/10. --> Things that are the same
- Layout is a little different but it's pretty much the same thing. No additional video format. No additional subtitle format nor font. Same useless features such as breaking up video, audio and pictures into different menu options. Useless Internet TV support. Conclusion:
At the end of day, I would still purchase O!Play Live over other media player despite its flaws for the following reasons.
1) It supports RMVB.
2) It supports Chinese.
3) It streams off PC.
ASUS O!Play Live HD Media Player - Black Reviews
Better than its predecessors. . First you should know that I own both an Asus O!Play HDP-R1 and an O!Play Air. Both work fairly well but were lacking the online services of Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc... Enter the O!Play Air. Offering the same ability as its predecessors (i.e. playing virtually any format of video, music and picture file you can throw at it from any location) and combining it with an expanded online services hits the sweet spot with the consumer.
My setup is as follows:
1) NAS server offering up music/pictures/videos via UPNP. O!Play Air can find and play them all over its Wireless N connection. All in superb resolution & sound quality.
2) Netflix subscriber, I've watched a couple of movies via the O!Play Air just to see if it works and it does. It works better than watching Netflix on my PS3 due to the faster wireless connection. Video quality is quite good streaming from Netflix.
What I cannot speak to yet is using the provided O!Direct software that comes with the O!Play Air. In fact, the offering of O!Direct was actually rather troubling for me. No where in the product documentation on Amazon or the Asus web site, could I figure out if the O!Play Air operated just like its predecessors or with the use of O!Direct, was it pushing the decoding of all media files onto the media server (i.e. PC or NAS device). Rest assured, that the O!Play Air does do all of the decoding on board. I will update this review when I've played around with the O!Direct software, but for now, I'm watching movies, listening to music & looking at pictures from my NAS device and also enjoying my Netflix membership via the O!Play Air.
One word of warning, be sure that your TV/Projector has an HDMI port on it since that is the only video line out available on this version of the O!Play.
Better than its predecessors. . First you should know that I own both an Asus O!Play HDP-R1 and an O!Play Air. Both work fairly well but were lacking the online services of Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc... Enter the O!Play Air. Offering the same ability as its predecessors (i.e. playing virtually any format of video, music and picture file you can throw at it from any location) and combining it with an expanded online services hits the sweet spot with the consumer.
My setup is as follows:
1) NAS server offering up music/pictures/videos via UPNP. O!Play Air can find and play them all over its Wireless N connection. All in superb resolution & sound quality.
2) Netflix subscriber, I've watched a couple of movies via the O!Play Air just to see if it works and it does. It works better than watching Netflix on my PS3 due to the faster wireless connection. Video quality is quite good streaming from Netflix.
What I cannot speak to yet is using the provided O!Direct software that comes with the O!Play Air. In fact, the offering of O!Direct was actually rather troubling for me. No where in the product documentation on Amazon or the Asus web site, could I figure out if the O!Play Air operated just like its predecessors or with the use of O!Direct, was it pushing the decoding of all media files onto the media server (i.e. PC or NAS device). Rest assured, that the O!Play Air does do all of the decoding on board. I will update this review when I've played around with the O!Direct software, but for now, I'm watching movies, listening to music & looking at pictures from my NAS device and also enjoying my Netflix membership via the O!Play Air.
One word of warning, be sure that your TV/Projector has an HDMI port on it since that is the only video line out available on this version of the O!Play.
ASUS O!Play Live HD Media Player - Black Opinions
Amazing file support fast HD read. . I have the Asus Oh Play Live, the Oh Play Air and the Oh Play mini.This LIVE version is like the MINI (same menus) but more powerfull - with youtube, netflix, etc. But lacks of analog video/audio out.I have another media player (the Western Digital) with Youtube and Facebook (the LIVE do not have facebook) but the WD takes a minute to read an external HD. The live reads external Hard drives in less than 10 seconds!Please notice this version (LIVE) only have HDMI and Optical digital audio out.The youtube interface is slow and bogus, but this is very good to play HD content from your Hard drive, NAS or computer. I prefer to use my external hard drives with my series, movies and music videos, but I have several NAS in the network as well.
Amazing file support fast HD read. . I have the Asus Oh Play Live, the Oh Play Air and the Oh Play mini.This LIVE version is like the MINI (same menus) but more powerfull - with youtube, netflix, etc. But lacks of analog video/audio out.I have another media player (the Western Digital) with Youtube and Facebook (the LIVE do not have facebook) but the WD takes a minute to read an external HD. The live reads external Hard drives in less than 10 seconds!Please notice this version (LIVE) only have HDMI and Optical digital audio out.The youtube interface is slow and bogus, but this is very good to play HD content from your Hard drive, NAS or computer. I prefer to use my external hard drives with my series, movies and music videos, but I have several NAS in the network as well.
O!Play Live . I picked up the O!Play Live after watching an older version of O!Play Air. I liked the interface and it's abilities, so I figured new is better. The packaging was excellent and unpacking was simple and straight forward; as was the connection to the home theater. Connecting to the network was a bit arduous as my wireless password is complex and very long. After that everything worked well. Connecting to Pandora was simple and using the menu was EZ and straight forward. The player browsed my windows network with ease and navigating through the folders was straight forward. The sound quality was excellent. Network TV was pretty lame, video quality was 1960ish and sound was fluttery... enough of that. I will be returning the product for what I consider a major flaw... I cannot connect to a network share by IP address... I have a multi-layer network and my media is on a second layer and I am only able to access it via address. Asus support routed and re-routed me for over 30 minutes before I had someone online that told me the O!Play support group was not working after 3PM EST... it was 5 mountain...Oh well All in all it is a sound product and the quality seems very good... I'd recommend it (and have) to friends... but it does have some draw backs...
A Nice Little Device With Some Missing Features . I purchased this ASUS to do two main things: 1) Play Netflix and 2) Play Audio/Video/Picture files from my computer. It does both very well, but if you're looking for more than that you might be very disappointed.
Pro's:
+Connects to a wireless network easily
+A wired connection to a computer makes playing files from that computer a breeze (However, wireless is a pain. See the Cons.)
+Netflix streams fast even over the wireless
+Netflix menu resembles the netflix.com website menu instead of the menus on things like the Xbox360
+Some odd internet apps like Weather and Stocks are somewhat helpful
+Internet TV and Radio, nothing you wouldn't expect to be free here, but still an added feature
Con's:
-More of a Windows 7 problem, "homegroups" make connecting this device wirelessly to your computer a pain, although doable with some patience. Connects through a wired connection to a computer very easily however.
-The remote is a bit clunky and annoying when you have to type in something long
-No HuluPlus or Amazon Video on Demand (maybe in an update?)
-The YouTube internet app isn't very good. The menus and YouTube itself are too difficult to navigate. Add the difficulty of entering words with the remote and you have a frustrating app.
Overall:
I'd say if you're looking for a netflix streaming device and also want to connect and play files from your computer this could be the perfect device for you. If you need HuluPlus, Amazon Video on Demand, or a good YouTube watcher look elsewhere.
Pro's:
+Connects to a wireless network easily
+A wired connection to a computer makes playing files from that computer a breeze (However, wireless is a pain. See the Cons.)
+Netflix streams fast even over the wireless
+Netflix menu resembles the netflix.com website menu instead of the menus on things like the Xbox360
+Some odd internet apps like Weather and Stocks are somewhat helpful
+Internet TV and Radio, nothing you wouldn't expect to be free here, but still an added feature
Con's:
-More of a Windows 7 problem, "homegroups" make connecting this device wirelessly to your computer a pain, although doable with some patience. Connects through a wired connection to a computer very easily however.
-The remote is a bit clunky and annoying when you have to type in something long
-No HuluPlus or Amazon Video on Demand (maybe in an update?)
-The YouTube internet app isn't very good. The menus and YouTube itself are too difficult to navigate. Add the difficulty of entering words with the remote and you have a frustrating app.
Overall:
I'd say if you're looking for a netflix streaming device and also want to connect and play files from your computer this could be the perfect device for you. If you need HuluPlus, Amazon Video on Demand, or a good YouTube watcher look elsewhere.
Cons Review
Why make a pretty good product so bad . I own several of the R1 and R3 (Oplay and Oplay Air). Both have it positive and negative sides, but are working fairly well. I just got the new Live gadget and must say it's horrible. The menu looks like developed in the communist Soviet Union (graphic wise). The fireware is buggy, does not keep the network passwords all the time and the movie directories are not shown line by line.The remote is a little smaller than the previous version and less intuitive but not improved in speed.The Netflix stuff can be disabled but does pop up anyway when hitting a button too long.All in all, I truly like the older versions much better (would give 4 points for that). This one will go back to Amazon...
Feature ASUS O!Play Live HD Media Player - Black
- Supported Audio Formats:
- MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, WMA, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0+Digital Out, ID3 Tag, Dolby TrueHD Decoding & Pass through
- Supported Video Formats: .mp4, .mov, .xvid, .m4v, .avi, .asf, .wmv, .flv, .mkv, .rm, .rmvb, .ts, .m2ts, .tp, .trp, .dat, .mpg, .vob, .iso
- Right I/O: 4 -in-I Card Reader; SD/MMC/MS/xDLeft I/O: USB 2.0; eSATA/USB 2.0 combo;
- ResetBack I/O: S/PDIF(Optical); HDMI; Build-in Wi-Fi; LAN; Power(DC-in)
- O!Direct brings you instant media streaming from PC to O!Play
- Rich Internet Media Services with Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, RSS, Internet TV/Radio, Stock, etc
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Product Details
EAN : 0610839349494UPC : 610839349494
MPN : O!Play Live
Brand : Asus
Color : Black
Weight : 3 pounds
Height : 5 inches
Length : 11 inches
Width : 8 inches
Binding : Electronics
Manufacturer : ASUS Computer International Direct
Model : O!Play Live
Publisher : ASUS Computer International Direct
SKU : 01912K-000
Studio : ASUS Computer International Direct
Where To Buy
You can buy ASUS O!Play Live HD Media Player - Black on Amazon . Click here to Read More
