AC Ryan Playon!HD Mini 2

Conclusion

Its not often that a true value for money product comes along, delivering almost everything that its more expensive counterparts do for a much reduced cost. The Playon!HD Mini 2 is just that.

With a lower price tag than the full on HD2, the mini 2 is a great choice for anyone that wants a fully featured product without the cost or local storage. If your media setup is nearly complete, here’s the finisher.

Pros

  • Almost all features of more expensive HD2 versions
  • Jukebox is excellent for movie indexing
  • Gigabit network port
  • Lots of output options
  • Streams 1080P HD video and audio seamlessly

Cons

  • Only 2 USB 2.0 ports, no USB 3.0
  • No local storage

6 responses to “AC Ryan Playon!HD Mini 2”

  1. As a satisfied user of the old AC Ryan Playon! HD MINI1 “I wanted to buy new equipment because the gigabit data stream over my gigabit network, and thus the ‘heavy’ files to my TV set could stream without faltering.

    But what happens is that a downgrade rather than purchasing an upgrade.

    The menu where you must scroll through file consists of large icons, which only 8 fit on your screen.
    So, if you have many files in a folder, it may leave you a long scroll until you have found the correct file.
    (There is a ‘list’ button on the remote, but this is a detour, and not at all practical)

    Also it goes very wrong with the subtitles of mkv video files.
    The unit takes the first .srt-file from the folder, regardless of the video file. So you should always manually add your subtitle manually via the configuration sub-menu. (The name of video and subtitle are always identical, with no spaces or dots)
    The previous ‘Playon! HD MINI1 “I had it two years in my possession, I’ve never had this problem.

    Also the sound goes mute, and you can hit a few times forward and backward, to get the sound back.

    At first I thought it were beginners flaws of a new device, but these problems have existed since February 2010, and AC Ryan has still not be able to correct these problems through firmware updates.
    I’m looking for another media-player, because this unit is a bad buy overall. This unit has won prizes, but many buyers experiencing the same problems as me.

  2. This review is unacceptable. The main use of this product is streaming HD content. And you dont even test it and even say “If you don’t want wired, it can manage 300MB/s wireless with an optionally purchased wireless dongle. I doubt it’ll do 1080p at those speeds, but 720p might be possible.” True, the wireless dongle has to be purchased seperately, but every semi-decent review should test it. And you also provide wrong info since it DOES in fact stream 1080p without any stutter or lag (the original Playon HD could not over wireless).

    1. Thanks for the pointers Jimbo. We’ll take it on board and try and improve our next review.

  3. Purchased the AC Ryan Playon!HD Mini 2 with the wireless dongle
    WLAN 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps via USB WLAN adaptor.

    I am having trouble getting it to work. I have followed the set-up manual and am running it through a wireless network connection. PC with NETGEAR WN311B to a NETGEAR Wireless N-300 Modem Router DGN2200.

    What else do I need to do to get it to stream?

    1. Have you setup your network connection through the settings menu?

  4. No Ogg. No Way.

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