Yesterday I received my HP
MediaSmart Connect x280n review unit and will be taking a look at it this
weekend. I will likely mirror my review
of the Linksys DMA series Extender minus all of the general Media Center
setup content.
If anyone has questions about the unit please let me know so
I can either cover them in the review or reply directly in this post.
Will it play ripped DVDs? The HP and microsoft guys seem to dance around that question
Can you test the performance of the mpeg4 HD playback? What kind of bitrate will it support via a wired connection?
Does it do the nice Media Center UI transitions, or is it like the D-Link extender which doesn’t?
Can you check if it supports the animated transitions on photo slideshows? X-Box 360 does, Linksys doesn’t, and it’s a real shortcoming.
Also if it will support audio types other than 0x80 in MPEG2 streams (so that converting DVD VOBs with PCM soundtracks, such as home movies, will play correctly.)
Noise. I read somewhere that this unit has a fan for some reason…because of the Pocket Drive most people won’t use? I’d disconnect it if I could get away with it, the Linksys and Dlink units don’t have fans that I am aware of.
Please test multiple video formats to see what this will play well.
I’m curious if it can handle 264 any better than the 2100.
In addition to the above:
Can it play Xvid, Divx and h.264 (standard and HD) via the MediaCenter interface?
Will it output AC3 multi-channel audio for Dolby Digital capable audio recievers?
Is there a version without the pocket drive bay coming?
Will this thing use your TV tuners for the HP, XP compatible side?
will media connect be able to record live tv on to the pocket drive? or a external drive?