Latest Update (24th Jan, 2011)
Youtube - Internet browsing and Youtube videos on the Media Player
youtube.com/watch?v=YQDsVoxD7JE
youtube.com/watch?v=xuqAbReO7gg
Youtube - Unboxing Videos uploaded:
youtube.com/watch?v=zPgsevRFG7I
youtube.com/watch?v=8KGJb4ivwFg
It’s been a while I have written reviews here on Mouthshut and I am glad to be back here.
I am a gadget freak and whenever I get one, I have to write a review and here I am writing away about the new Seagate FreeAgent Theatre+ HD Media Player.
Ever since I got a 32"LCD TV over a year ago, I always wanted to play HD 1080p content on it. Several occasions I plugged in my home desktop PC or the laptop to play HD content.
I started researching about building a Media Center PC solely for the TV but the cost of building one was way too high. Researching over the internet I found out that you can buy a Media Player that will play all the available video/audio formats for you and at a very affordable price.
I checked out various different brands like Netgear, Western Digital, Seagate, Amkette, etc. I settled for the WDTV Live media player but it costed about Rs.7, 500 here in India.
In the US it costed somewhere around Rs.5000 and I did not want to spend the extra 2, 500 and waited to get one from the US.
The reason I settled for the WDTV Live was its ability to play all the video formats and also connect to the internet/local network and play media off networked devices or Youtube, netflix, etc. I had to get myself something that would last a while.
I went to the local computer market today called CTC (Chenoy Trade Center) here in Hyderabad. I wanted to buy a PC for my friend and during our research of different processors and motherboards my eyes fell on this Seagate Media Player box.
I immediately asked the shopkeeper to show me the box and reading the specifications I was totally moved. It was a media player that did everything the WDTV Live did. It played all the formats of videos you can download today, get on the internet and even access media from shared network devices.
Then came the moment of truth. Holding my breath I asked the shopkeeper how much it cost and I was dumbfounded. It costed only Rs.5100. I decided to go for it instantly.
I bought it without a second thought. The MRP on the box stated Rs.6000 but then CTC is where you get everything at wholesale price and not MRP. Along with this I also bought a 1.5 Meter HDMI cable.
I got the device home and did a little un-boxing video too! I will share this video on youtube as soon as I upload it. I will update this review with the link when the video is ready on YouTube.
Then, I connected it to the TV and I started reviewing all the videos I had stored (on a 320GB Freeagent Go Drive) from 10 years back. The media player flawlessly played the .MKV, .m2ts, avi, mpeg, 3gp, rmvb, xvid, divx, wmv, avi and even the .vob files I had copied from a Marriage DVD of my cousin.
It was awesome! The music too sounded great and images as 12 Megapixels showed up instantly.
I am yet to get the network wire routed from the router to the TV area and in a couple of days will have that done as well. That’s when I can truly test the internet connectivity and YouTube streaming on the device.
This is a great device at a very affordable price if you want to view HD content on your LCD or your CRT TV. The only flaw is there is no CD/DVD player, but that’s fine.
I download and play content from the internet faster and better quality than a VCD or a DVD.
I suggest this to anyone who wants to buy a media player for themselves and do not want to compromise on features or brand name.