Multimedia (also plays DIVx off a memory card) Digital DVB-T Set-Top Box £19.94

fishfinger

Purchased one at my local set it up with a hard drive through the USB and it works a treat.

ma6jrp

Will it play DVD VOB files off hard disk?

BrAinZ_2

Looks like they have sold out

fishfinger

ma6jrp wrote: »

Will it play DVD VOB files off hard disk?

No.
The Multimedia Digital DVB-T TV Box is not only a digital TV receiver, it also supports MP3 and most of the popular video/audio formats such as JPG, MPEG 1/2/4 and DivX. Simply slide a memory card (SM, CF, MS, SD, MMC or XD) or a USB storage devices such as a flash drive or external hard drive.

eddee_2

I saw this but was put off by this review: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=686014

Nikkai A27HA

This post is more of a warning to people considering buying this STB that anything else - Google failed me when searching earlier. I brought the Nikkai Multimedia Digital DVB-T Set-Top-Box from Maplin today when I was returning a different faulty (Nikkai - that should have put me off!) product. I thought £39.98 for a Freeview STB which can play DivX off USB keys, SD, CF and USB Harddisks was rather attractive..... Anyway it turns out my original instinct (too good to be true) was right - it's a pile of poo.

Firstly I open the box, obviously a return as the lead bags were open and some channels (Multiplex 2 and A only) were in the channel list - no big deal I thought, probably a student in the area who couldn't get a signal in their room, not too surprising in this area. First the good points - 1. It's surprisingly small, around the size of an old VHS tape. 2. The supplied aerial works surprisingly well on my DAB tuner - about the best non-amplified indoor aerial I have tried. Stuck on my noticeboard it got BBC National DAB with an error level of 11 (the dipole I use has an error level of 9) and signal level of 8 (vs 16). On TV the aerial is also surprisingly good - analogue Five is as good as the picture from the roof aerial (i.e. excellent) while six (BBC TWO, Central, Channel 4 from Waltham; and BBC ONE, Yorkshire TV, Channel 4 from Belmont) of remaining eight analogue channels are reasonable, and on my IDTV Multiplexes 2 and A worked without any picture breakup (can't comment on audio as that no longer works on the IDTV ) - however with the box nothing could be picked up using the supplied aerial.

Now for the bad stuff

Firstly I plug it in with the supplied composite cables (easily accessible if it was a pile of tat) Anyway the screen is flickering a bit in the menus but nothing too much to be concerned about (the Wii did the same too) - but then it finished tuning - and boy is the picture awful - looks like low quality DivX movies on Freeview channels. Taking the fact that the Wii looked rubbish on that input I decided to disconnect the SCART from my amp and connect it to the STB (This SCART connection is S-Video on my TV) - this resulted in a noticable picture improvement (noticable on the AV input of my TV before selecting the SCART AV-2 Input ), alas it still isn't as good as the output from my Pace Twin (RGB SCART) or even Daewoo Setpal (RF Channel 68, two channels from the VTR on Channel 66). From what I can see the box is permanently in 4:3 Pan&Scan with no option of telling it I have a widescreen TV, although it appears to obey AFD's. Having to use 16:9 and 14:9 zoom just highlights the poor picture. Obviously designed for areas with no LCN's as the channels were in the EPG randomly - with the radio channels in a different list - no interactive either, rather surprising since it carries the Digital Tick mark. Multiplex D was breaking up too. Sound occasionally goes out of sync too.

Anyway as I already have a Freeview STB (or three ) and the main reason I was attracted to this was for playing DivX's without filling landfill with DVD's I decided to plug my USB key in.... This is where it gets interesting - supports MPEG, DivX and even plays DVD's ripped to a USB Harddisk in file format (i.e. with a VIDEO_TS folder not ISO) and SD - Plays other formats and cards but I haven't tested. The interface is functional but ugly as sin (think mid 1990s VTR), but that's no deal breaker. Yet again there is no option to say the TV is 16:9*so 16:9 Zoom is needed - unfortunately unlike my DVD Recorder this doesn't fill the screen properly, and the quality is noticeably worse.

On first attempting to play a DivX going through the video menu the audio is pure static, but through the file menu it is fine. For a generic Made in Taiwan (if you see this label the correct translation is "I'm cheap, you may want me, but I'm crap" ) electronics device the remote is surprisingly good and responsive, but suffers the usual problem of poor labelling - however considering the tat some manufactures pump out it's not too bad. The PSU is one of those generic bricks that have various clip on ends to convert to the local supply (like the Creative a normal figure of 8 cable can be slipped in to replace the adaptor) - the adaptor was a swine to get on in the first place, but appears to be fitted together soundly. The manual - as usual a poorly translated pile of crap - they may as well not have bothered. The box itself feels cheap and tacky and SD cards can be hard to get in without looking directly in the multi-card slot. *In fact my DivX DVD Player (Eltax) and DivX DVD Recorder (Philips) suffer the same fault when playing DivX's Can anyone recommend an inexpensive and small device that can play DivXs and MPEG's off USB (and preferably SD)?

Can anyone who has bought one say whether that's an accurate review?

Thanks

fishfinger

Cannot give an in-depth review on mine other than to say the menu is not hard to negotiate it found all the free view channels although I had to move them to the correct order, picture and sound quality was as good as the freeview box it has replaced the menu on the remote is easy to understand although as previously stated no interactive.
I have connected a hard drive with divx movies and music to the USB it does take about ten seconds for the unit to recognise all the files on the hard drive but plays the movies and music with no problems, sound and picture quality are good I have tried scart and s-video all seem ok.
Again I have tried the unit with a SD card with equally good picture and sound results.
I can only say personally that I am extremely happy with the unit it does what I wanted to do and at a good price and I am going out this afternoon to buy another for bedroom.

ma6jrp

fishfinger wrote: »

Cannot give an in-depth review on mine other than to say the menu is not hard to negotiate it found all the free view channels although I had to move them to the correct order, picture and sound quality was as good as the freeview box it has replaced the menu on the remote is easy to understand although as previously stated no interactive.
I have connected a hard drive with divx movies and music to the USB it does take about ten seconds for the unit to recognise all the files on the hard drive but plays the movies and music with no problems, sound and picture quality are good I have tried scart and s-video all seem ok.
Again I have tried the unit with a SD card with equally good picture and sound results.
I can only say personally that I am extremely happy with the unit it does what I wanted to do and at a good price and I am going out this afternoon to buy another for bedroom.

Can you get DVD VOB files to play using the hard drive?

r2b2

Received mine in the post this morning.

I seem to have got the faulty one that was in the review above, as there is no colour and lines all over the screen when connecting through SCART. Might be a cheap SCART cable though.

Plugged my external hard-drive into it and it took a couple of minutes to sort through everything and let me watch something.

Couldnt find any channels on either the aerial in the box or the one in my room. Need to try it on the house aerial though.

This will be good if it can pick up channels in my area, and I can sort out the line/colour problem. If not, its goin back or on eBay. Good price though.

beerbellybill999

robertblay wrote: »

Received mine in the post this morning.

I seem to have got the faulty one that was in the review above, as there is no colour and lines all over the screen when connecting through SCART. Might be a cheap SCART cable though.

Plugged my external hard-drive into it and it took a couple of minutes to sort through everything and let me watch something.

Couldnt find any channels on either the aerial in the box or the one in my room. Need to try it on the house aerial though.

This will be good if it can pick up channels in my area, and I can sort out the line/colour problem. If not, its goin back or on eBay. Good price though.

You will probably find that the the the tv format on the Unit is set to auto(auto only detects type of media used not type of TV)and is the default and your TV is Pal only. If you go into setttings and select Pal,it should work.

jinkssick

This is a real and unbiased review of this little multimedia player.

Positives:
Incredibly small and light
Worldwide charger meaning a great travel companion
Interface is simple to use
DivX s DO play straight from a USB, MPEG1 and 2 too, VOBs stutter in action scenes,
Tried an XD picture card, no go.
Played a DivX file that stuttered heavily with my Yamada


Negatives:
Has some stupid little bugs, like thumnail showing video sometimes ending up in the bottom right hand corner when it should be at the top
Sound glitch with around 20% of video files that is stopped straight when pressing MENU and then leaving MENU.
Divx or Xvid quality has a 5% decrease compared to my Divx Yamada.Lets be honest the interface design and PSU is just utter poor, tacky as hell (but dont confuse this with not being able to operate it easily)


will update as I find other pos neg.