| Manufacturer: Iomega | Product: Screenplay Director HD |
| Price: £179 | Web: Iomega |
Whilst there’s still no sign of the digital media receiver hitting the mainstream in 2009, manufacturers are still working hard to crack the market by releasing a variety of networked music and video players, some with storage and some without. Iomega’s Screenplay line has been around for a little while, and the move from standalone storage to networked storage with media playback is a simple one for the brand. The Screenplay Director HD is Iomega’s latest offer in the DMR space, offering a choice of 1 and 2 TB networked drives with a host of media features including a wide range of format support, 1080P high definition playback via HDMI, internet content (RSS, Podcast, YouTube et al) and advertised support for torrent files.
What’s in the Box?
The Screenplay Director HD, as you’d expect from Iomega’s top of the line digital media player, comes equipped with a host of cables and connectors:
In the box you’ll find:
- Iomega Quik Protect
- Retrospect Express HD (PC)
- Retrospect Express for Mac
- MozyHome Online Backup 2GB Free (PC/Mac)
- McAfee Anti-virus software (PC)
Note that you’ll need to supply your own networking cable if you wish to connect the ScreenPlay Director to your network over Ethernet. Wireless networking options are available, but again, you’ll need to purchase the adaptor separately. The good news, however, is that Iomega do supply an HDMI cable in the box, so no need to rush out and get clobbered by a retailer for a high price, high margin equivalent.
Specifications
The ScreenPlay Director HD supports playback of a decent range of file formats, including:
Video
- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB)
- MPEG-4 (AVI, DivX 3.11, 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, XviD)
- H.264
- WMV
- AVCHD
- VC-1 (SMPTE 421M)
Supported file extensions include: avi, asf, divx, mkv, mov, mp2, mp4, mpe, mpeg, mpg, m4a, m4v, vob, xvid, ifo, iso (DVD ISO), WMV, FLV, TS
Music
- MP3
- AC3 (Dolby Digital Encoding)
- WAV
- OGG
- WMA
- AAC (non-DRM)
- FLAC
Photo
- JPEG
- BMP
- GIF
- PNG
- TIFF
Supported Interfaces
- 10/100 Ethernet for wired network connection
- Wireless Ready support for Iomega WiFi adapters (sold separately)
- USB 2.0 for computer connection and external USB devices
- AV PAL/NTSC — native to 1080i/1080p
24. February 2010 at 1:25 pm
Got one yesterday… I agree with the above.
Had some troubles to keep NETWORK flowing without interruptions (was happening every 2~3 min…) using Wired.
Went to the IOMEGA website and downloaded the latest Firmware, and indeed… resolved the problem.
Some MKV files don't play the sound, not sure if it is because the sound is on some format (digital) or because I’m not using optical, only HDMI.
I'm sure more firmware updates will appear soon.
8. March 2010 at 10:07 pm
I got two of these yesterday and I feel ripped off … the interface is appalling (i cannot stress that enough….brutal) and the startup time isn't much better either, I have the latest firmware.
I am sorry I didn't get an Apple TV… the Apple TV doesn't have the capacity nor does it play as many formats but at least its useable.