AC Ryan Playon!HD Media Player

[Rob Williams]

With a great number of media players available on the market, picking out the right one can be tough. AC Ryan hopes to stand out with its Playon!HD, an option that does a lot more than just play media. It can also act as a NAS, and even handle your torrenting duties. Does it do all of these well enough to be worthy of a purchase?

Read through Brett's full look of AC Ryan's Playon!HD media player and then discuss it here!

[Optix]

That's a pretty sweet setup. I've been toying with the idea of getting something like this to replace our DVD player. While I may not go for this exact model it does bring up some features that I'd like to see on whichever one we do decide on if we decide to go this route.

[Brett Thomas]

Originally Posted by Optix

That's a pretty sweet setup. I've been toying with the idea of getting something like this to replace our DVD player. While I may not go for this exact model it does bring up some features that I'd like to see on whichever one we do decide on if we decide to go this route.

I do think it's a good BASE. AC Ryan is releasing a HUGE firmware and GUI redesign in December, so I'll probably even write up a bit of a 1-pager on the improvements. I'm looking forward to that, as this has a LOT of potential.

As it stands now, though, caveat emptor - I much prefer an authentic HTPC with the much nicer "ElementHTPC" linux distribution running it. It's easy, clean and works with just about everything you throw at it (including 1080p), on an NVidia ION board. If I'm gonna spend $150 for something that kinda sorta works, I'd rather spend $250 and make it work WELL.

[Rob Williams]

Originally Posted by Brett Thomas

I do think it's a good BASE. AC Ryan is releasing a HUGE firmware and GUI redesign in December, so I'll probably even write up a bit of a 1-pager on the improvements. I'm looking forward to that, as this has a LOT of potential.

This I am interested in seeing. A good GUI can make a device like this. I just wish we'd also see support for things like Netflix or Hulu, since they are slowly becoming a de facto standard. Either way though, the main beef I have with this unit is its GUI, so any improvement there would be appreciated.