Review - Freecom Mediaplayer 35
The Freecom Mediaplayer 35 is basically a caddy or case for a standard IDE (PATA) hard drive. What it does then is turn that hard drive into a full media centre. Connecting the mediaplayer via Composite or S-Video cable to your TV will allow you to watch movies, play music or view image files through your TV with no extra hard ware of software.
The device is controlled by a remote which gives you ease of access from your sofa. A great benefit of the Freecom mediaplayer is that you can fit any size hard drive you like from an old 40GB drive that is sitting unused in an old machine to a brand new 500GB+ drive. While you find enough music and movies to fill the drive you can easily use any spare space as extra storage without it effecting the playback functionality of the mediaplayer.
The mediplayer is easy to connect to both PC and TV. No software is needed to add/remove files or to enable playback through your TV. The mediaplayer also has the option of a LAN connection so you can add it to your network. The advantage of this would be that you can stream the files from your PC to the mediaplayer without having to install a hard drive and keep taking the machine back to the PC whenever you wanted to add new files.
The Freecom Mediaplayer 35 is a great space saving device for me, not only does it store both mp3’s and movies digitally saving shelve space it also prevents me from unplugging something to plug in either the DVD player or Hi Fi as this acts as both. My movies are stored in div x format <strike>along with the occasional download</strike> meaning there is not even a need to keep the original DVDs in the living room they can be boxed up in the attic.
The only disadvantage for me is that the device isn’t wireless enable so I cannot move files to is without unplugging it and plugging it back in at my PC. I guess with the amount of mediaplayers that are now available recording from the TV would be an obvious improvement but it does a great job for me.
Do you use something similar? Would you consider a Freecom mediaplayer?
Tags: , div x, dvd, Freecom Mediaplayer 35, movies, music
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May 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
That is a sweeeeet! player! I am going to have to go check it online and see how much it is!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Think you are looking around $150 with out a hard drive.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
This is excellent, I like the fact that I can go straight into my TV and watch movies, etc. off of it. I wish it had wireless capabilities though.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I agree, the wireless capabilities prevent this from being as good as it could be especially when rivals offer similar products that are wireless enabled.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Sweet player indeed though i’d like wireless capabillities myself too.
Perhaps in the future?
May 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Freecom do have another model that is basically the same as the 35 but with wireless built in… its the mediaplayer-350 WLAN…. recently they have also produced a newer version 450-WLAN
May 26th, 2008 at 10:10 am
The interface is still pretty poor, though - it ain’t for the faint hearted.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hi there, Your post Review - Freecom Mediaplayer 35 expressed my opinion exactly. 40gb mp3 player is an interesting topic with pros and cons that can be argued.