| Manufacturer: QNAP | Model: NMP-1000 |
| Price: $399/£276.88 | Website: QNAP |
QNAP has produced an appealing Multimedia player that can fit in with most any decor. The hardware is excellent and it has the right connectors for any device you might want to plug it into. The NMP-1000 could use some enhancements on the software side and a lower cost to make it a must-have multimedia device.
Today, I am taking a look at my very first multimedia device, the QNAP NMP-1000. Well, not actually the first, in that my 2 boys have Xbox 360’s. These Xbox 360’s are their 24/7 gaming machines, so while I did get hold of one once to see if I could actually configure it as a WMC extender, that was the extent of my multimedia experience with the Xbox 360.
As you might guess, I was quite exited about the prospect of trying out the NMP-1000. Partly because I am quite interested in seeing how well I could get a multimedia device to work with my WHS, and more importantly, demonstrating the capabilities of such a device to my wife. The ability to watch movies “On Demand”. Listen to music on the AV receiver. And to get all nostalgic looking at the digital pictures we have accumulated over the years.
Dang, I may be able to talk her into getting one of these thingies!
As you can tell, I live in the dark ages! Actually, I have my little world (the “man” office) with all my computer junk, er, “equipment”, and just about anything else that is digital. To have the ability to actually make use of our HT setup to watch ripped movies, view pictures, or listen to music makes me feel like a kid again! Well… almost.
Enough of that. Let’s get back to business. As a primer to the NMP-1000, you might want to read my unboxing post before you continue reading this review.
The Company
Who is QNAP?
Mission
QNAP Systems Inc. is the “Quality Network Appliance Provider” and we pledged to become the world’s leading Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Network Video Recorder (NVR) solution provider.
Company
QNAP Systems, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 2004 and is dedicated to bringing world class NAS storage, professional NVR video surveillance, and network video players to consumer, small/medium business, and entry level enterprise market segments. QNAP leverages not only hardware design but also a growing core competency in software engineering that is precisely focused on bringing to market products that offer the highest available performance coupled with outstanding reliability, scalability, and ease of installation and use. QNAP is a multi-national company with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, and subsidiary offices in China and the United States.
Core competence
The core of QNAP’s development comes from a group of designers and engineers with extensive research experience and education in the IT and electronics industry. By listening to and sharing with our customers on a daily basis, we enable our core innovation and development to be customer driven.
Products
We apply strict manufacturing standards to ensure the lowest defect rates. Our manufacturing facilities are ISO 9000 certified and our products come with UL, FCC and CE seals. As a responsible and leading edge company, QNAP is actively working on its designs to reduce its environmental impact by meeting and exceeding the regulations of various countries. Regarding this topic, all QNAP products are 100% RoHS compliant. Additionally, we thrive to reduce energy consumption whenever possible. By all means, QNAP wants to provide the highest quality products to protect your most valuable data.
30. November 2009 at 11:40 am
For $100. you can get the PCH C-200 which is a way better machine, plus you can add blue ray to it
30. November 2009 at 11:51 am
Interestng subject. I have been wondering if I should consider adding a multimedia player like this, or just hook-up an PC next to my home AV receiver. As you mentioned, most of the disapointments came from functionality and file compatabilities, where no single hardware manufacture will be empowered to save the whole world. On hte other hand, as the ‘Media center’ is getting much better in Windows 7 than in Vista, No one would doubt that eventually whis home entertainment market will be Microsoft’s, just like the OS for pcs.
30. November 2009 at 9:06 pm
Honestly it looks like QNAP is trying to charge a premium price for outdated hardware (they are just now bringing the Sigma 8635 to the market when this chip has been out for over a year and manufacturers are starting to move on to the newer Sigma chip). I agree with don, I would rather recommend someone buy a C-200 for $100 less and at least get the latest sigma chip plus chance to expand with a BR Rom drive (I won a C-200 and although buggy at first the latest beta firmwares have resolved many issued I had). Honestly, for the price QNAP is trying to charge I would instead recommend the Dell Zino HD and get a full fledged HTPC for the same price.