Xtreamer Prodigy Silver - The Third Dimension

Introduction

With digital media content easily available, many consumers are finding the physical dimensions of their notebook screen or desktop monitor too constrained when it comes to viewing high-definition content. Nothing beats watching a full HD movie on the large TV set in your living room. Having a home theatre PC (HTPC) in the living room is the most versatile option as it can process almost any media type - limited only by the software and codecs used. However, the process of setting it up and maintaining it will be a challenge to anyone but techies at heart.

Compact, convenient and low-cost, media players are widely available and are a great solution to those looking for a simple and fuss-free method of enjoying their digital media content in the living room. In fact, the newer media players have evolved beyond simply playing music and video files, and can now access the Internet. A new trend as of late has seen some recent players incorporating the Android OS as the main software backbone in a bid to take advantage of the host of apps found in the Android ecosystem.

In a scene similar to the smartphone landscape, while both the AC Ryan Veolo and Aztech PlayXtreme 2 sport the Android operating system, they both differ in terms of implementation. And since the current crop of media players are able to playback most of the popular media file formats, the user-friendliness and layout of the interface plays a much bigger role in differentiating between the various offerings.

The Prodigy Silver is the latest media player from Xtreamer to feature the Android OS. However, it sets it self apart from its competitors by including the Android OS as an additional but not compulsory, part of its interface. In an attempt to further set itself apart from the competition, the Xtreamer Prodigy also comes with the ability to tackle playback of 3D media files. Armed with these features, will the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver set a new standard for media players? Read on as we detail our opinion from hands-on trials.

For those wondering why 'Silver' is part of the product's name, that's because Xtreamer has a Prodigy Black that has the all the functions and features of the Silver model, and adds dual-channel DVB-T tuner with digital video recording from these channels. Of course, these extra functions may not be of much use in this region and thus the Silver model is more apt for consideration.

Design

It’s been awhile since we have handled a media player as large as the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver. The majority of consumer electronics, the A/V category included, have seen their products grow smaller and smaller. The Xtreamer Prodigy bucks this trend, though there’s a reason for the device’s bulk.

The Xtreamer is composed mostly of metal and plastic. Eschewing the usual all-black exterior, the Xtreamer Prodigy is dressed in a silver metal top and black front and rear. While the player is mostly hollow inside save for the processing board, the thick metal exterior gives the player some weight. As with other media players we have reviewed, there’s no front display on the Xtreamer Prodigy either. However, the larger size of the Xtreamer Prodigy compared with other media players has afforded it the chance to include a volume knob on the front, which also functions as the power button when depressed. From our experience, the volume knob is likely to be unused unless you're going to be sitting at arm's length from the Xtreamer. An SD/MMC card slot sits beside the volume button. Occupying half of the Xtreamer Prodigy’s front façade is the HDD bay, which allows you to slot in a 3.5-inch hard drive. This is the main reason for the overall large size of the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver media player.

The Xtreamer Prodigy’s larger footprint also allows for more ports to be located at its rear when compared to the smaller media players on the market. It has two USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 slave port, composite and component ports, a HDMI port, optical and coaxial ports for high-def audio and a Gigabit LAN port for a fast, wired internet connection. So for those of you still running the older analog A/V connections, this media player still features them.

The last piece to the design aspect of the media player is its remote that allows you to control the device. Other media players running the Android OS have come up with unique remotes that are either motion sensitive or have a touchscreen in order to fully capitalize on Android’s touch interface. So it strikes us as odd when the Xtreamer Prodigy comes with a standard remote that’s devoid of a touchscreen, nor is it motion-sensitive to take advantage of the Android user interface. We'll detail over the next page on how the remote fared in actual usage. But even before we get to that stage, we've an issue with some of the remote's button functions. While previously we could have gotten away without consulting the user manual, this time we had to consult it to identify some of the functions in proper. That's not a very intuitive design for something that should be straightforward to use.

Features and Performance

Having looked at the design aspects, it's now time to assess how the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver fares in actual use. Nobody likes to be kept waiting for a convenience device like a media player to be ready for use when first powered up. The Xtreamer took about 38 seconds to load the home screen from a fully powered down state, which isn't fast. In its defense, we've seen worse, so it's not exactly slow when you compare with other media players available. Even so, when you consider that some PCs boot up a full Windows OS much faster than half a minute, we do feel that the time taken for media players to boot up can certainly improve (even if there's a huge mismatch of system components used between a media player and a performance class PC system).

Once the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver boots up, you'll notice that it doesn't use the Android OS as the default interface. Instead, you'll be greeted with another simple user interface that gives you an option to use the Android OS as additional layer over the default interface. In essence, it has gotten around the issues of dealing with the Android OS directly as it was designed to be a touch-based interface, which a media player combined with a TV cannot emulate the experience seen on a tablet and smartphone. If you've used or read our reviews of the A.C. Ryan Veolo and Aztech PlayXtreme 2, you would come to know of our concerns with these forerunners heralding the Android OS as the main interface.

The Android tab basically activates the Android OS, so you get to access to Android apps. The Google Play store is absent from the Xtreamer Prodigy, so you get an App centre maintained by Xtreamer instead where you can download your apps. The selection in there is quite limited, so if you want to install apps not found there, you will need to obtain the APK file (the Android app installer file type) of your preferred apps from elsewhere prior to installing on the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver. But if you’re hoping to play Angry Birds or any game/app that requires touch input, then this is where the premise of an Android OS on a media player falters.

With a standard remote, it’s impossible to play or interact with any Android app that requires touch input. An option is to purchase the Xtreamer wireless mini keyboard which is basically a remote with a full QWERTY keyboard and a small touchpad. As seen on this accessories page from Xtreamer, it's actually a generic controller that's also bundled with the Aztech PlayXtreme 2 media player that we reviewed. If you’re intending to go this route, we have to remind you that it takes some getting used to as you will need to have some hand-eye coordination with the your fingers swiping the touchpad while eyes are on the TV screen.

Back to the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver's main user interface, it's pretty standard for a media player, with a tabbed layout for easy navigation on a simple remote control (just like what the Xtreamer is equipped with). The Media Library is where you will spend most of your time rummaging through your various media content, while the "Favourites" tab allows users to compile their favorite files, regardless of the file’s location.

The Media Jukebox option within the Media Library makes browsing your various video files very quick. That's because the movies are laid out in thumbnail format, with their respective movie posters as the thumbnail. As long as the player is connected to the internet, you can select the "Get Movie Info" option and the player will obtain the relevant movie information and poster to be stored inside the respective folder. Do remember to have your movie files and folders named as cleanly and simple as possible; unnecessary characters and symbols will make the process of obtaining movie data much slower or even fail in some cases.

As with any other media player in the market, the Xtreamer Prodigy had no problems whatsoever handling video files, including full HD ones. One of the main selling points of the Xtreamer Prodigy is its ability to tackle 3D media content and so we put it through its paces by running some 3D movie files. Keep in mind that processing 3D media files is more taxing than normal files and we're glad to report that playback was smooth and uninterrupted in our trials. If you happen to have a number of 3D media files and own a 3D TV or projector, then the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver is probably one of the few media players on the market currently that you can turn to at the moment.

If you intend to have digital copies of your Blu-ray movies, no worries there as the Xtreamer Prodigy plays BD-ISO (including 3D BD-ISO) files just fine. The only concession you will have to make is that since the original Blu-ray menus are unavailable, a BD-Lite menu is there in its place. Blu-ray movies all tout high-definition audio as well, and if you’re an audiophile for movie soundtracks and special effects, the Xtreamer Prodigy has you covered with its support for 7.1-channel Dolby True HD and DTS HD audio formats.

While we give kudos to the team at Xtreamer for trying to make it as hassle-free as possible to operate the media player with its simple user interface, it’s just too slow to even navigate the screen with a standard remote. Sometimes the player would freeze up for a few seconds, only to self-resolve and work again. Thankfully the Android OS is not the default OS, as we have noticed that turning it on slows down the overall experience even more as the player gets sluggish at times. Unfortunately, when compared to the more recent media players, navigation around the Xtreamer Prodigy’s UI is comparatively slower. We tried browsing the web with the built-in browser (with Android turned off), and promptly gave up after five minutes because without a USB mouse and keyboard, you're not going to make much headway.

**Updated as of 20th November 2012** -  We've updated the rating of the product after factoring other similar products in the market. As such, our conclusion has also been updated.

Conclusion

Despite more recent media players coming in smaller packages, the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver opts for a larger chassis to house your choice of an internal 3.5-inch hard disk drive, providing a lot of flexibility in terms of storage. Depending on where you intend to place your media player, size could play a major factor in your considerations and the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver's sizable build loses out if you can only accommodate compact options.

Of course the main selling point of the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver is that it is one of the few media players that support playback of 3D video files. So if you’re hoarding a stash of 3D movie files and have a 3D TV, then the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver is probably one of the few choices available for your consideration. While the user interface of the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver is simple to navigate, it is sluggish and unresponsive at times, even more so with Android layer turned on. With recent media players having made advances in the responsiveness of their user interface, it seems the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver has taken a step back in this regard.  Despite Google Android OS being present on some of the more recent media player releases, at this moment, we feel that the Android OS and interface is best left for touch-based devices like tablets and smartphones. On media players, their presence is more of a gimmick. Even though having access to a host of Android apps may seem good on paper, most of the apps are optimized for a touch-sensitive interface and is difficult to even navigate the user interface without any touch input.

As a media player, the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver does what it's supposed to do with aplomb. Format support is strong, there are no problems with full HD video playback and it is one of the few media players on the market to support 3D video files. Even so, we do find it hard to justify its S$345 price tag as its sluggish interface mars the overall experience and there are plenty more affordable alternatives available should you not require 3D video playback capability nor the many analog I/O ports that the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver offers.

If you definitely need to have 3D video playback, you can also consider the A.C. Ryan Playon!HD3D media player. It offers most of the features found on the Xtreamer Prodigy Silver and also allows for installation of a 3.5-inch hard drive as well. The only difference is that the A.C. Ryan Playon!HD3D costs much less as it doesn't offer an Android platform - this means less expanded functionality if you like to fiddle with gadgets. From our usage experience of the various Android platform implementations on media players, one is unlikely to find much advantage in their existing form and control. For those still interested, Xtreamer Prodigy Silver's actual retail price is less than the suggested retail price.

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