Final thoughts and rating
A.C. Ryan's Playon!HD Essential provides an effortless way of watching all manner of video formats on a big-screen TV. Sleek in design and now touting the all-new GUI 2.0 for a better navigation and overall user experience, there's little to criticise it from a technical standpoint: it will play practically everything you throw at it.
However, the transition between the regular Playon!HD and Essential models has meant that the newer, cheaper, smaller unit does without a few external outputs and LAN support, and its lack of immediate networked content may well put a few punters off. What's more, the Internet has become so pervasive that, while optional, some form of WiFi should be integrated as standard, we feel.
It doesn't escape our attention that A.C. Ryan is set to release the much-improved Playon!HD2 soon, which eradicates many of the shortcomings we've exposed in our reviews, and we'd recommend folk wait for them before committing funds right now. Looking forward, the company is also planning to release the premium FLUXX player powered by Intel's Atom chip, too.
But, fundamentally, we must not forget that the Playon!HD Essential is designed as a multimedia player first and foremost. In this role it does well, and an online price of £125 for a unit equipped with a 1TB hard drive represents good value if you need a straight-up player that's a cinch to use.
Bottom line: a solid, no-nonsense multimedia player that ships with a much-improved GUI. Worth putting on a shortlist if you can find it at an attractive price.
The Good
Does exactly what it says on the tinExcellent codec compatibility
Much-improved GUI
The Bad
No immediate networking support
Fan noise can be irksome
HEXUS Rating
A.C. Ryan Playon!HD Essential
HEXUS Where2Buy
The Playon!HD Essential is available from Scan.co.uk.
HEXUS Right2Reply
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