CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 06/21/2006
- Released on: 11/01/2005
We admire the physical design of the ScreenPlay. It's handsomely clad in silver and black, and the top-mounted buttons for controlling playback are logically placed and thoughtfully labeled. Score one over LaCie's Silverscreen, which has no controls on the drive. As far as installation goes, there's nothing to it: the ScreenPlay is a plug-and-play USB hard drive when attached to a PC and operates much like a DVD player when outputting to a TV or other display. The supplied superthin, membrane remote control sports a logical layout, as well, though the buttons are all the same size and shape, making it difficult to use without constantly glancing at it.
When the ScreenPlay is attached to a PC, you won't need the supplied AC adapter--the power running across the USB bus is enough to power it. However, when you're using it with a TV, you'll need the adapter unit as well as the proprietary breakout cable, with its stereo RCA audio, composite video, and S-Video feeds. Don't lose this puppy: it connects to the ScreenPlay with an odd combination mini phone-jack/edge connector that you'll probably never find at the local Radio Shack. Alas, the ScreenPlay lacks the digital output of its LaCie Silverscreen rival.
Our first glance at the ScreenPlay's interface brought high expectations. It's simple, and as far as it goes, elegant. Unfortunately, it soon became painfully obvious that the designers never tested it with more than a few files onboard. The unit searches for files every time you enter photo, movie, or music mode, and the wait can be maddening if you've loaded more than the aforementioned few. And, there's no key repeat function, so you must press a button every time you want to move to a new item or page down. With 1,000 MP3s on the unit, this gets old quickly. Even more unfortunate, you can't avoid the constant scrolling; there's no categorization, alphabetical indexing, or organizational features whatsoever.
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