AC Ryan Playon!HD 3D Network Media Player - Throwing 3D Into the Mix

Introduction

You have a number of media files on your PC, but watching them on your monitor while seated in an office chair isn’t the most comfortable of options. Hooking up your computer to your TV set is one viable alternative though that will require a long, unsightly video cable (often, it's more than a cable when you factor in the audio portion) connecting both machines. So just how do you enjoy your movies and videos in the comfort of your couch or bed?

The solution comes in the form of a media player, which in most cases, is basically a small box that holds your content and plays them back on your TV (or any display device it supports). While earlier generations of media players required you to put in a hard drive to hold the files, the affordability of external HDDs and flash media storage have resulted in many recent models not offering such an option. Moreover, most of them now sport built-in wired or wireless LAN support so that you can stream content residing anywhere on your network. In terms of format support, the last major shift was arguably the inclusion of 1080p video playback. With chipsets getting increasingly powerful, you'd be hard pressed to find a recent media player that can't support full HD video playback. In fact, a media player works even for those who don't download files or rip their discs. With built-in Internet connectivity, there are truckloads of web content to consume.

An established name in the media player space, AC Ryan has recently unveiled its flagship offering in its Playon! line of HD media players. Called the HD 3D, it supports various 3D video files and has built-in wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n) support. At S$249, it's S$50 more expensive than the Playon!HD2 that has neither of these features. If you're looking to future-proof your purchase, should you just pay the small premium and get the HD 3D? Read on for our thoughts.

Design

At first glance, the Playon!HD 3D looks almost like its predecessor, the Playon!HD2. But upon closer inspection the Playon!HD 3D has a slightly smaller mass: while the height and width remain the same across both models, the HD 3D’s length measures 20.5cm, compared to the HD2’s length of 23cm.

Despite shaving off 2.5cm from the HD2’s length, the HD 3D remains a relatively bulky media player, compared to the like of the WD TV Live and Aztech PlayXtreme 2. That’s because it has provisioned some space internally to accommodate a 3.5-inch SATA 3Gbps/6Gbps internal hard drive. There's no need to open up the player to do so however. On the left of the player is an EZ Drive slot; just undo the two catches on the bay cover and pop the internal hard drive in. While we like our media players as small as possible, there are valid reasons for having an internal hard drive. For one, network bandwidth during streaming becomes a non-issue if you were to store your files locally. Take note though, the S$249 retail price doesn't include the hard drive.

One other thing we noticed was the HD 3D features a matte surface all around with the exception of the front plate, which remains the same glossy plastic that was used on the HD2. Perhaps AC Ryan caught wind of our dislike for the HD2’s glossy plastic surface which displayed fingerprint smudges and scratches too clearly.

On the right side of the HD 3D, you've four USB 2.0 ports, which is nice in case you ever run out of space for the internal storage and need to hook up some external drives. There’s also a USB 3.0 slave port at the rear which isn't meant for connecting to an external USB storage device. Rather, you use it to connect to your PC (acting in Master mode) for file transfer at USB 3.0 speed. This is handy when you've mounted an internal hard drive to the HD 3D and you would like to quickly transfer large media files into or out of the media player.

In terms of video and audio outputs, there are composite and component jacks (both use the same set of stereo audio phono jacks), and a lone HDMI terminal. Digital audio is served via S/PDIF - both TOSLINK (optical) and RCA (coaxial) connectors are present.

The remote remains the same as the one that came with the Playon!HD2. If you've never handled the HD2, the remote is slim and long (you know, like a TV remote control), which make is easy to hold. The remote sports a circular d-pad, which is easier to use compared to the four-way arrow d-pad some remotes come with. Almost all of the player’s functions and playback options can be accessed with the remote even while playing your preferred media file, which is a plus point. For example, you can adjust the video and audio settings via the setup button. Without this button, the conventional method would be to exit the video, adjust the settings, and then resume playback again. On HD 3D, exiting the setup menu will bring you right back to the video, making it less disruptive to your viewing experience.

Features and Performance

Now that we're done with inspecting the exterior of the Playon!HD 3D, it's time to see how it really performs. For bootup, it took about 22 seconds before reaching the home screen. Surprisingly, we were greeted by a different home screen compared to the one used on the Playon!HD2 and Playon!HD Mini2. Suffice to say, unlike the AC Ryan Veolo, the HD 3D doesn't use Android as its operating system. In a nutshell, while the previous UI of the Playon! series was easy to navigate, the Playon!HD 3D’s UI is even simpler in design. And this isn't a bad thing at all, since we found responsiveness to be very much improved. Of course, this is also in part due to its faster 750MHz CPU (compared to 500MHz on the older models). By the way, the HD 3D is based around the Realtek RTD1186 SoC.

The Playon!HD3D had no issues with any of the video files we threw at it, even the full HD videos with high bit rates. 3D media files played back smoothly as well. And while the A.C. Ryan Playon!HD2 occasionally stuttered and displayed blocking artifacts when playing 10bit video files, the Playon!HD3D suffers much less from these issues, though they are still present. We tested a 10bit video file and the entire video played back smoothly, but there was this instance when we experienced the video skipping back to the beginning after it started playing for two minutes. In the Playon!HD3D’s defense though, only a full-fledged HTPC will be able to playback 10bit videos without any issues.

If you’re looking for more features such as that found with Android based players or more Internet services, then you might find yourself disappointed with the Playon!HD3D. In terms of Internet services there's not many options available. But that's not really a drawback if all you're interested in is to enjoy your media content that you've obtained. After all, most services and websites such as Facebook or Picasa do much better with a mouse and keyboard form of input as opposed to navigating and entering text with a remote control.

Conclusion

Despite shedding some weight when compared to the A.C. Ryan Playon!HD2, the newer Playon!HD 3D is still relatively large when compared to the smaller Playon!HD2 Mini or Western Digital’s WD TV Live. Of course you get to slide in a 3.5-inch internal hard drive but if space is a luxury you can’t really afford in your home entertainment setup, then perhaps you should look at more compact alternatives.

But if you happen to be hoarding a sizeable amount of 3D video files and have a 3D TV, then the Playon!HD 3D is one of the few available choices you have for media players supporting 3D video playback. One thing we liked about the Playon!HD 3D was its simple and responsive user interface which lets you get down to enjoying your media files as soon as possible. Format support is strong (though as with all media players the Playon!HD 3D has issues with 10-bit video files), and there’s digital and analog I/O ports for everyone.

In terms of additional features the Playon!HD 3D doesn't have much to offer. While we felt that the exclusion of Android as the OS (or even as an optional layer for the UI) was a good move, the number of internet services and apps felt limited. But as a media player, the Playon!HD 3D definitely meets the mark and makes the whole experience smoother and more enjoyable. So if you’re just looking for a media player without relying on all the fancy apps or internet services, the Playon!HD 3D offers good value with its ability to playback 3D video files and its EZ drive feature to slot in an internal drive for massive immediate media storage.

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