I-O Data has recently announced the US release of their popular Japanese HD media player, the AVeL LinkPLayer2. While we've previously discussed the merits of
WMV versus DiVX for high-definition, this player bridges that gap nicely. Boasting both WMV– and DiVX–HD, MPEG2–TS for those downloaded clips, as well as Slingbox networking functionality, it seems to fill that niche we have mentioned on the
podcast for ways to get your HD content on standard DVD media. It plays back the usual smorgasbord of video and audio formats like XviD, MP3, AAC, Ogg, JPEG, PNG, and others. It also is ready for Rhapsody and CinemaNow accounts, and can
read RSS feeds so you can get your HD Beat fix while you watch your content. You even get a coupon for a free HDNet WMV disc included. So where does it go wrong? For starters, it doesn't
upconvert standard DVDs. They are simply outputted to your set at 480p. Also, there is no digital video output, only component (not such a problem for viewers like me who only have analog anyway, but surely a hassle for those of you with digital matrix switchers). Finally, the player isn't certified for DTS - although it isn't clear from the specs whether this simply means they can't put the DTS–certified logo on the case, or if it doesn't support DTS at all. In any case, if you're
waiting out the next–gen DVD war, or just want a way to placeshift content over your network using the player and your Slingbox, the LinkPlayer2 will be available at CompUSA starting August 1st.
posted Jul 12th 2006 12:46PM
Off topic I see their USB external BluRay writer is available for purchase $999.
Does it play x.264?
This has been available in the US for quite a while, from IODATA USA's web site http://shop.iodata.com/. I have owned one for over a year. It actally used to upconvert DVDs over the component outputs, even though they claimed that it didn't, until a recent software upgrade removed that capability!
No, it doesn't play H.264.
Nigel how's the PQ?
The picture quality is excellent for playing DivX and DivX HD, which is what I mostly use it for. DVDs look good too (even without the upscaling), but the DVD drive is very noisy. (You can slow it down through a setup menu, but I had problems with it not wanting to come out of pause if I did that.)
There is a user forum at http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum
I bought one of these players last year, and it's quite good. PQ was excellent for DVDs, DivX, and MPEG Transport Stream files. I had a lot of problems playing back higher bitrate MPEG2 TS files but the most recent firmware update included a feature to spin the drive faster, and that solved the problem. If you want one with a digital output JVC sells an identical model as the SRDVD-100U. And as far as I know the player will pass a DTS signal with no problem. The only drawback I found was the player only supports external USB drives formatted in FAT16 or 32, which limits file sizes to 4GB. But you can hook it up to a network and stream files from a PC or Mac.
I've hade one of these since they first came out (about year and a half ago.) Great unit although some firmware issues. You can downgrade to a less buggy firmware the WILL upconvert DVD's for you. (October 2005 was a good one.) If you roll your own HD DVD discs, this is the way to go at least until the format war is settled between BlueRay and HD-DVD. It does do DTS without a problem. While the 4GB file size limit is a problem, but only for USB devices, a UDF formated DVD will do a MPEG2/DivX/WMV9 file over 4GB no problem on a DL-DVD. Also with Home media server, this is also not a problem since it's streamed from a computer (if comes with the software for that) or Network storage (like my ReadyNAS.) The file size limit is determined by the server only. If also supports Windows Media connect and I can even play MovieLink movies on it via DRM through Windows Media Connector.
Nigel:
I'm not sure if you're aware of this development, but it is possible to re-flash your player to an earlier version that supports rollback. Go here for more information:
http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showthread.php?t=1424
The 08/04 FW has worked *wonderfully* for me. It seems to be the most forgiving with regards to .ts files at the expense of a few "trivial" features.