Avel LinkPlayer Networked DVD Player

Authored January 29, 2005

I've been trying different various networked media players since they appeared. They've all sucked to varying degrees. I then ordered the Avel Linkplayer (from I-O Data) from Digital Connection.

This unit costs $250 but unlike most other networked media players is also a full featured DVD-player. The unit lacks any wireless ethernet capabilities (although high-bitrate video really requires a wired connection anyway).

You install a small server application on a PC or Mac (this is needed for the D-link player as well). In this application you define which folders are made available to the player via the network. Network set up with a DHCP server (as in my LinkSys router) was completely painless. Here are some screen shots of the application in action:

Music library configuration screen.

Video library configuration screen.

The player takes a while to turn on (essentially this is a Linux PC so the boot process takes a while), but no longer than 5-8 seconds (which annoys my wife to no end). Once it's on you can use the remote's "power" switch to put the player into a low-power sleep mode from which it can awaken instantly. However, in this "sleep" state the player still puts out a signal which confuses my auto-sensing component switch-box.

This means that in my case I have to manually power down the unit (the power switch is a manual toggle). If you don't have such an automated switch-box then this problem will not affect you at all. Personally it's the most annoying aspect of the player for me.

The player is also, in my opinion, pretty ugly compared to my stylish Sony player it's replacing and the front panel controls are minimalist (the Sony had a complete complement of controls including a joystick). Here's a picture of the player along with my Sony Receiver and Comcast DVR Cable Tuner:

The LinkPlayer in its natural habitat.

A close-up of the LinkPlayer's right-side control panel and USB port.

Lastly in the negative column is the fact that as a Japanese product the unit won't work at all with non-learning universal remotes (or, frustratingly with the Fisher Price "InteracTV" unit). Avel states clearly on their FAQ that they just don't provide codes for such remotes. The remote that ships with the LinkPlayer is perfectly adequate but nothing special. Here's a picture of that:

The LinkPlayer remote control unit.

That's it for the bad: the pluses far outweigh them. The unit has a full complement of outputs (component video is provided by an included D4-to-component connector). There's also a front-mounted USB port which can accept computer media placed on a USB memory device or even from many flash card readers.

The unit is a high-definition unit from the ground-up. It can play DVDs at native resolution (generally 480p) but can, itself, handle any standard HD resolution (480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i). I think the picture quality is amazing, but I'm no expert. On my 32" Samsung CRT set to 1080i DVDs are markedly sharper.

But all of that's honestly just gravy - the networking options are why you'd really buy this thing. Any they don't disappoint.

Turning the unit on places you into a navigator menu: it will display icons for a DVD in the drive, a Flash device in the USB port and an icon and computer name for each server found on the network. Clicking on a server offers you the choice to explore photos, music or video.

The LinkPlayer Login Screen.

Photos actually cause the most problems with this player. It appears that the server software attempts to create thumbnails for each image (a process which sends the host computer's CPU usage through the roof). However photos are organized in the same folder structure as they are on your computer and are thus very easy to find.

Music playback is incredible. The unit supports MP3, ACC, WMV, and Ogg Vorbis. You can explore music as folders, by genre, artist, etc. Playlist support is still lacking and the unit unfortunately does not honor the track number in the files (it lists them alphabetically). If you're the type to prefix filenames with the track numbers or you just don't care about the track order then you're set.

You can also set a music folder to be played in the background when viewing photos and a photo folder to be shown as a screen-saver when listening to music.

Where the unit really shines is its video capabilities. The unit supports WMV (the only unit I've seen that does) and DIVx - both in High Definition resolutions. WMV support is generally good although I've only two WMV HD files to test (one plays perfectly the other plays fine but with no audio). The unit also supports xVid and MPEG (1 and 2). So far about 90% of what I've thrown at it plays just fine. The unit has no trouble playing most of the video I've downloaded from various sources.

It plays nearly all the high-quality video I've tried - sometimes better than my computer does (for example we've downloaded captures which have audio-sync issues in Windows Media Player, but play fine on the LinkPlayer).

Some files lack audio (due to a lack of the right audio CODEC being available on the LinkPlayer) and some are pretty flaky (odd bit rates or resolutions). Those few files that don't play are generally the smaller computer-only files (things that you might download from joke web site or the like).

If you're not the networking type these files will also work if simply copied to a USB memory device or recordable CD/DVD (I've only tried a handful so far - but they've all worked). Of course the device also supports standard VCD/SVCD discs as well.

I've not tried it yet (it's still in beta and I haven't needed it) but Avel also offers a Microsoft Direct-Show capable "Advanced Server". In effect this replacement for the packed-in LinkServer pipes anything that can be viewed or listened to with Windows Media player to the Link Player. It can also support files with DRM schemes that the LinkPlayer doesn't natively handle. Finally the advanced server also offers greatly enhanced playlist and large-library management support.

Using the included "basic server" CPU usage is negligible (except, as noted, when creating photo thumbnails). When not in use directly CPU usage is zero. When streaming high-quality video CPU usage never spikes higher than 10% on my system but generally stays at less than 2% (albeit my system is a 3.04GHz P4 with a Gig of RAM). So far I've seen no stability or other issues with the LinkServer.

There also seems to be complete Mac/iPod support but I've no way to test that.

Support for the product seems quite good - however (as you'll notice if you visit the product web site) the support is definitely not provided by native English speakers. If you're already used to Japlish then you should get along fine, but otherwise you might find it frustrating. For example here's partial instructions from the FAQ page:

"Please try to check this page when you meet setup or working trouble. You need to choose the question category ex) AVeLLink Server, Files, Screen, USB, or something. And then, you will arrive the goal by the instructions."

Expect a lot of this if you want to read through the company information or instructions.

The LinkPlayer has handled nearly everything we've thrown at it with grace. Future firmware releases are already planned which will add enhanced format and Windows/DIVx DRM support. There's even talk of adding basic web browsing to the machine (remember, this is just a Linux-based computer).

Also if you really want wireless Avel has announced that a wireless version of this unit will be available sometime in 2005.

If you're looking for a device of this type and can't afford (or just don't want to pay for) a full home-theater PC this box is the closest you'll find to media-sharing Nirvana. If you download or capture video regularly and have regretted not being able to get that video to your expensive (and more comfortable) home theater system you should seriously take a look at this unit.