Sumvision Cyclone Micro 4 Media Player

It's great, I love this, I owned an IncrediSonic Ultra Play media player and it wasn't good at all, I have a 5.1 surround sound system and the frequencies were all unbalanced, the bass was too heavy, there wasn't a difference between Dolby Digital and DTS (which I'm gonna get into, let's just say you can't tell the difference)Let's get to the Sumvision, unlike the IncrediSonic with this you can clearly tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p video, it's absolutely great, it's Blu-ray like (depending on the file obviously). I haven't tried 3D files because I don't have a 3D TV (they are pointless unless they are bigger than 60") but I bet they work great the same way.It has Wi-Fi which a nice extra, also means you can play files from the network (your computer) but I haven't bothered using it so I don't know how it work because I don't need it anyway.In conclusion, this is great little gadget (literally it's really small) great sound, great video quality and plays NTFS formatted HDDs. A lot of people ask me why I bought this when I could watch content online, I don't bother answering because I just can't convince them this is the best way. Reason being, you can watch full HD files anytime you want, with online content it's unreliable and laggy, the site can be taken down anytime and sometimes it doesn't work at all, you can't take it anywhere with you, however you will need an external hard drive, I have a 1TB HDD.

I already have have a WesternDigital LiveTV and wanted something for another room. Most media player things seem to be streaming players - i.e. you have to "stream" the video file from your computer to the AV device and thence to your TV. I don't want the overhead of having to have my computer on just to watch something on the TV! I'm also not in the market for mirroring an iPad or tablet on my TV - again it's an unneccesary overhead in my books. I want an AV device that will simply pick up a video file from a networked NAS and play it back on my TV. No computer or tablet required to playback the file. No media server required. I'm also not in the market to pay a rediculous amount of money for such a device! I could build my own from a Raspberry Pi, but I don't actually like the XBMC interface. This version 4 of the Sumvision Cyclone series is the first one that is network enabled, and at under £25 the price is most definitely right (less than a Raspberry Pi). It comes with all the necessary gubbins to work out of the box (except an HDMI cable), and work it does! The user interface is easy to understand and navigate through, and the remote control is responsive. The device automatically gets network information from my DHCP server and sets its time and date. It also has a USB port so that you can plug in a hard drive with your files on it rather than access a NAS over the network - which also works well. Like the WesternDigital LiveTV it plays every file on my NAS, including foreign language films ripped as MKV files (because the mkv container handles subtitles better than the mp4 container) from my DVDs which have vobsub subtitles (the Cyclone doesn't actually list vobsubs on its playable subtitles list on the box). The picture it puts up on the screen is excellent as is the sound. This is a cracking little box, at less than half the price of a WesternDigital Live TV player. It doesn't have all those extra apps like BBC iPlayer or Neflix, but I don't need them, I have enough devices plugged into my TV with those on already! I don't know if its customer support is better or worse than WesternDigital's as I've not had need to contact them, but it certainly now gives us "non-streamers" another box to play with. Very happy with my purchase.

I've been trying to find the right media player for my needs and this is it! I wanted a device versatile enough to connect portable hard drives and USB flash drives directly and also to stream video from my laptop via wifi. This does everything I need.I use this device connected to my non-smart LED TV via HDMI CABLE. The Micro 4 has its own wifi connection so once activated in the setup menu I just enter!y internet wifi ID when prompted and bingo! It it now piggy backing the router wifi as a network device.Now I go to the laptop and ensure that the folders where my video is located are shared to "everyone" (I'm using Windows 7) and the micro 4 can be directed easily to view and play whatever I share from the laptop!In this was I can stream across this mini network full HD (1080p) video without any trouble at all. Using an HDMI cable is recommended (not supplied) as the video/audio source, as I tried the supplied cable and the audio was buzzy and not very good.The remote with the device is of an adequate size and the main navigation button make it quite easy to move through folders and play files from the laptop.The Micro 4 has other functions such as casting video from tablets etc. I don't use that so I can't comment.I am Amazed at just how well the software works in this tiny box. It's well thought out and does exactly what it is supposed to without glitches. The built in wifi is what sold it for me as I don't want a video cable dangling across the room, and being able to navigate and select files from the laptop, using the remote is great. Just as if it was all in the TV!So, if I like it so much then why only 4 stars? Well occasionally the device will not switch on via the remote. It needs a kick start by turning off the power and reconnecting it. It's a very minor hitch and may just be on my device. I decided it's not worth the hassle of sending it back for a replacement.So for the money I've got a neat device that does all I want. Please note that this device does NOT allow the internet to be viewed on the TV. It acts simply as a simple Windows networked device allowing the viewing/copying/renaming of media files (audio and video).