Buffalo LinkTheater High Definition Wireless Media Player

Pros: Excellent video quality - upconverts low bitrate files impressively; USB and network storage support, High Def DivX support to 1080i

Cons: Poor navigation, horrible internet support, long startup time, poor wireless functionality

Summary: I bought this unit to replace my D-Link Media Lounge for the support of WMV, DivX and High-Def versions of these formats, not provided with the D-Link.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd stick with the D-Link, despite the lack of support for the many video files I have in those unsupported formats.

First, the highlights of the LinkTheater.

I have network storage for my media files, and the Buffalo supports that wihtout a hitch. I don't have to have my PC on to access those files. In addition, the USB port on the front of the unit allows me to plug in any USB storage device to play media on those as well.

Wired networking isexceptional and easy to configure (wireless is on the opposite spectrum). Unlike the problems I had with the D-Link and buffer issues (even when wired up), the Buffalo performs flawlessly, even when streaming bandwidth heavy HD video.

The video capabilities are the highlight of this unit. DVD playback is quite impressive (although Buffalo claims they can't upconvert DVD due to the MPAA - but tht isn't true, as other players do support DVD upconversion). The algorithms used to upconvert video files is quite impressive. Even in low quality video files, artifacts are not very distinct, even on my Sony 36" Hi Def TV. High Def DivX and WMV HD look fantastic. Although, you don't get any audio with high def Windows Media Video - a problem acknowledged by Buffalo's support. This is supposed to be fixed with future firmware.

Also of note, Windows media video must be encoded in version 9 or higher. There is no legacy support for earlier versions, including many ASF/ASX files.

Audio sounds clear, almost too clear, as compressed audio, like MP3 and WMA, reveal their digital artifacts in my receiver. WAV, OGG and surround versions (DTS and Dolby are supported for passthrough) sound flawless.

Now the bad. Unfortunately, this unit that has so much potential, does not realize it very well.

Navigation is a nightmare. The oddly configured remote has buttons for rarely used setup features that could have been put in a menu. I would have prefered to see buttons for page up and down, favorites, and the ability to shuffle (which is available for DVD - but not anything else) on the remote. Moving through menus requires you to press a directional arrow button to move one item at a time. Holding the button down does not scroll through a list. In internet browsing, the behavior of the arrow buttons seems very random and puts you all over the screen.

The internet link allows you to go to sites in your Favorites folder of your preferred browser, but it is pretty much limited to viewing graphics and text. A keyboard would be a nice addition to this system, as using the remote to enter text is cumbersome.

Media links on the web don't seem to work. I've tried opening streaming audio links and streaming video links and just get a message on the screen that it is opening the audio or video player, but nothing happens. So - no internet radio support either (the shortcut provided to internet radio by the LinkTheater doesn't work either). I miss support for Napster and Rhapsody that I had with the D-Link.

To randomize playback of audio, you must do that in the server software on your PC. There is no way to do it through the LinkTheater's interface.

Finally, the last annoyance, although minor, is that you cannot playback audio with photo slideshows. I loved that with the D-Link, as you could play some great music to accompany pictures.

I really wanted to like this unit. A nearly identical unit by AVEL (?) is available and supposedly offers a better interface and support. For this prioce, either wait for better firmware, or better yet, look for a unit that supports Windows Plays For Sure audio and video.