Review: Asus O! Play Mini
After much delay posting this short review.
The player was with me for hardly 20 mins, which i somehow utilized to squeeze out these points. The Pics have been clicked with HTC Incredible S, so something else which might interest you
Introduction:-
Asus O! Play Mini is a compact media player which is capable of playing most of the video and audio formats apart from the usual picture files. Main attraction is a basic player which promises to deliver while still keeping the pricing to a bare minimum. Sure the player doesnt gives two hoots to future proofing by including the USB 3.0 support, but does provides the goodness of 7.1 surround sound and support for full 1080p. NAS, DLNA and 3.5" HDD support augments the package.
Package Contents:-
1) Asus O Play Mini
2) Composite Cables
3) Ac Adapter
4) Remote for the player
5) Installation Disc
6) Manual
7) Remote Batteries
Asus has taken out the HDMI cable from the bundle when it was announced.
Specifications:-
Dimensions (WxDxH):-
151.85 x 106.7 x 29.03 mm
Weight:-
175 g
Input:-
1 x DC Power In
1 x USB Port(s)
1 x S/PDIF (Optical)
4 -in-1 Card Readers ( SD/ MS/ xD/ MMC)
Output:-
Composite Video
Composite Audio L/R
S/PDIF Out (Optical)
HDMI 1.3
Power:- 12 Vdc, 2 A
Power Consumption:- 10 W
File Systems:-
FAT16/32, NTFS, HFS/HFS+, EXT3
Format Comatibility
Image : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitle : SRT, SUB, SMI, SSA, ASS, IDX, TXT
Audio : MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AIFF, Dolby Digital AC3, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0 +Digital out, Tag ID3
Video : MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, RM, RMVB, VC-1, H.264
Video File Extension : TRP, MP4, MOV, Xvid, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, RMVB 720p, RMVB 1080p, FLV, TS, MTS, M2TS, DAT, MPG, VOB, ISO, IFO, M1V, M2V, M4V
Set Up:-
Setting up the Player is easy as you would like. Plug in the component cables and the adapter at the back and you are set. The regular jazz.
My testing of this player was carried out on Samsung 32" LCD. Stock Settings. O/p was derived via HDMI cable.
First thing which comes to the mind is "Boy! This player is really tiny!!"
Upon firing up the player you are greeted with the set up screen.
You proceed to set the Language and Time.
Through with the initial step, you are presented with a basic menu.
Menu comprises of Movie/Songs/Pics/Folder By/Setting options.
Be Warned, If you select the Movie files option.. and you happen to have a large stash of movies on your HDD, then may the force be with you.
Expected action was to scan only the files on the root of the HDD and display the rest folders simply but the player scans every video file, a la bot spiders of Minority Report, and you ll have to wait a decent bit. I had attached a 160GB hdd and i had to wait frustratingly.
Better option is to select the 'Folder By' option and navigate to your desired file.
The player displays the file names on the right side and opens a small display window on the left.
Interestingly, this is not a preview/sampler on your left. The player will go on to play the entire length of the movie file.
Performance:-
As expected, (although i was a bit jittery)
the player proceeded to play every file i threw at it. Be it the 720p or the 1080p file without any hitch.
Was pretty happy and satisfied with the performance. Then just like a sweeping thought, disconnected the HDD and played the same file directly via the LCD's USB
i noticed the details of the movie file via O Play Mini was a shade lesser. Just a spot.
To put it in perspective, the quality of USB playback was 10/10, Asus scored a very decent 9/10
I found the default level of brightness a shade higher. One quick adjustment in the menu to level 23/24 got things as desired. Nothing to crib about, just a heads up.
The remote could have been supplied with better buttons. Meatier than usual meant that a bit of a play was there while pressing them. But they still did the job.
Positives:-
Form Factor: Seen lunch boxes bigger than this.
Setup: Simple and Jiffy.
Picture Quality: 9/10.
The cheap price cannot be ignored: ~3550 shipped.
Negatives:-
Noticed lag of 2 sec approx in oprations like stop, start.
Lags a wee bit while browsing through files.
Buttons surely are extra meaty. Tactile response is not tight.
HDMI cable not there in pckg.
The lags as mentioned above are there just for the sake of it.
For the price that they are being offered for, i dont think you can crib about it.
Verdict:-
Looking at the Asus O! Play Mini, and keeping the pricing in mind, the thought which comes to the mind automatically is.. that was it too hard for the stellar companies to come up with a device which did just what a player should and not cost a bomb??
The O play mini does that and doesnt burns a hole in the pocket at the same time.
With the pricing of 3550/- shipped that i got this player for, it really is the best bang for money out there as no other manufacturer has offered anything this cheap.
Whatever the little negatives i observed, they are just minor things which can be easily overlooked in the wake of the value for money deal being offered here.
A sureshot purchase for the needy. 5/5 Product.
Update:-
1) New firmware addresses the lag (during menu scrolling) and other UI issues.
2) Confirmed by users that Dolby True HD is working, but DTS HD MA still not supported
3) Price been jacked up to 3975/- now. The new pricing stings a little bit, as price bracket of ~35xx was sweet psychologically. But, it stil remains a nifty solution in its price range.
After much delay posting this short review.
The player was with me for hardly 20 mins, which i somehow utilized to squeeze out these points. The Pics have been clicked with HTC Incredible S, so something else which might interest you
Introduction:-
Asus O! Play Mini is a compact media player which is capable of playing most of the video and audio formats apart from the usual picture files. Main attraction is a basic player which promises to deliver while still keeping the pricing to a bare minimum. Sure the player doesnt gives two hoots to future proofing by including the USB 3.0 support, but does provides the goodness of 7.1 surround sound and support for full 1080p. NAS, DLNA and 3.5" HDD support augments the package.
Package Contents:-
1) Asus O Play Mini
2) Composite Cables
3) Ac Adapter
4) Remote for the player
5) Installation Disc
6) Manual
7) Remote Batteries
Asus has taken out the HDMI cable from the bundle when it was announced.
Specifications:-
Dimensions (WxDxH):-
151.85 x 106.7 x 29.03 mm
Weight:-
175 g
Input:-
1 x DC Power In
1 x USB Port(s)
1 x S/PDIF (Optical)
4 -in-1 Card Readers ( SD/ MS/ xD/ MMC)
Output:-
Composite Video
Composite Audio L/R
S/PDIF Out (Optical)
HDMI 1.3
Power:- 12 Vdc, 2 A
Power Consumption:- 10 W
File Systems:-
FAT16/32, NTFS, HFS/HFS+, EXT3
Format Comatibility
Image : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitle : SRT, SUB, SMI, SSA, ASS, IDX, TXT
Audio : MP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AIFF, Dolby Digital AC3, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0 +Digital out, Tag ID3
Video : MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, RM, RMVB, VC-1, H.264
Video File Extension : TRP, MP4, MOV, Xvid, AVI, ASF, WMV, MKV, RMVB 720p, RMVB 1080p, FLV, TS, MTS, M2TS, DAT, MPG, VOB, ISO, IFO, M1V, M2V, M4V
Set Up:-
Setting up the Player is easy as you would like. Plug in the component cables and the adapter at the back and you are set. The regular jazz.
My testing of this player was carried out on Samsung 32" LCD. Stock Settings. O/p was derived via HDMI cable.
First thing which comes to the mind is "Boy! This player is really tiny!!"
Upon firing up the player you are greeted with the set up screen.
You proceed to set the Language and Time.
Through with the initial step, you are presented with a basic menu.
Menu comprises of Movie/Songs/Pics/Folder By/Setting options.
Be Warned, If you select the Movie files option.. and you happen to have a large stash of movies on your HDD, then may the force be with you.
Expected action was to scan only the files on the root of the HDD and display the rest folders simply but the player scans every video file, a la bot spiders of Minority Report, and you ll have to wait a decent bit. I had attached a 160GB hdd and i had to wait frustratingly.
Better option is to select the 'Folder By' option and navigate to your desired file.
The player displays the file names on the right side and opens a small display window on the left.
Interestingly, this is not a preview/sampler on your left. The player will go on to play the entire length of the movie file.
Performance:-
As expected, (although i was a bit jittery)
the player proceeded to play every file i threw at it. Be it the 720p or the 1080p file without any hitch.
Was pretty happy and satisfied with the performance. Then just like a sweeping thought, disconnected the HDD and played the same file directly via the LCD's USB
i noticed the details of the movie file via O Play Mini was a shade lesser. Just a spot.
To put it in perspective, the quality of USB playback was 10/10, Asus scored a very decent 9/10
I found the default level of brightness a shade higher. One quick adjustment in the menu to level 23/24 got things as desired. Nothing to crib about, just a heads up.
The remote could have been supplied with better buttons. Meatier than usual meant that a bit of a play was there while pressing them. But they still did the job.
Positives:-
Form Factor: Seen lunch boxes bigger than this.
Setup: Simple and Jiffy.
Picture Quality: 9/10.
The cheap price cannot be ignored: ~3550 shipped.
Negatives:-
Noticed lag of 2 sec approx in oprations like stop, start.
Lags a wee bit while browsing through files.
Buttons surely are extra meaty. Tactile response is not tight.
HDMI cable not there in pckg.
The lags as mentioned above are there just for the sake of it.
For the price that they are being offered for, i dont think you can crib about it.
Verdict:-
Looking at the Asus O! Play Mini, and keeping the pricing in mind, the thought which comes to the mind automatically is.. that was it too hard for the stellar companies to come up with a device which did just what a player should and not cost a bomb??
The O play mini does that and doesnt burns a hole in the pocket at the same time.
With the pricing of 3550/- shipped that i got this player for, it really is the best bang for money out there as no other manufacturer has offered anything this cheap.
Whatever the little negatives i observed, they are just minor things which can be easily overlooked in the wake of the value for money deal being offered here.
A sureshot purchase for the needy. 5/5 Product.
Update:-
1) New firmware addresses the lag (during menu scrolling) and other UI issues.
2) Confirmed by users that Dolby True HD is working, but DTS HD MA still not supported
3) Price been jacked up to 3975/- now. The new pricing stings a little bit, as price bracket of ~35xx was sweet psychologically. But, it stil remains a nifty solution in its price range.
