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D-Link DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player

76

Good

Avg User Rating
8 User Reviews | add yours »

Pros
Easy network setup
Great audio-streaming options
Cons
Blocky standard-definition video
Buggy video setup

$159.99 - $345.79
From 28 Merchants

Full Specifications
Pricing	$210 (Inexpensive)
Warranty (parts and labor)	One year
Design and usability	Good: 77
Overall ease of setup	Good
On-screen user interface	Good
Device design and build quality	Good
Remote control ease of use and build quality	Good
Documentation	Superior
Ethernet performance	Good: 72
Standard-definition video streaming quality	Fair
High-definition video streaming quality	Good
Audio streaming quality	Superior
Photo streaming quality	Poor
Features	Good: 75
Dimensions (width by depth by height)	16.75 by 11.25 by 1.50 inches
Weight	5.5 pounds
Device display	No
Hard disk	No
Networking	10/100 ethernet, 802.11g Wi-Fi (with WPA, WPA-2, and 64-/128-bit WEP security)
High-definition video	Up to 1080i
Video outputs	HDMI, component, composite, S-Video
Audio outputs	Optical S/PDIF, coaxial S/PDIF, stereo RCA
Bundled hardware	Remote control and batteries, stereo RCA audio/composite video cable, S-Video cable, ethernet cable, antennas, power plug
Bundled software	D-Link Media Server, Nero MediaHome
Supports Apple Store DRM	No
Supports Windows Media DRM	Yes
Major file and format support	MPEG-1/2/4 (up to 1080i), .wmv (up to 1080i), DivX, Xvid (with MP3 or PCM audio), Nero Digital files
Supported photo formats for slide shows	.jpg, .tiff, .bmp, .png, gif
Supported audio formats	.mp3 (up to 320 kbps), protected .wma, .ogg, .wav
Internet radio	Live365, vTuner, Rhapsody
Surround-sound support	Dolby 5.1 through S/PDIF optical or coaxial
Playlist file formats	.m3u, .pls, .wpl
Subtitle format support	.srt
Weather information	None
RSS feed support	None
Internet photo streaming	None
Internet video streaming	Via the PC, will stream video from D-Link MediaLounge partners such as TotalVid.com
DVR/electronic program guide functionality	None
PC application access	None
Multiroom playback features	None
Number of USB ports	One
Firmware upgradable	Yes
Key standards compliance	UPnP AV
Supported operating systems	Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X, Linux

D-Link DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player Review

by Lincoln Spector

- D-Link's DSM-520 Wireless HD Player provides exceptionally beautiful sound. It also comes through with a wide selection of music-listening choices. Not only can it stream protected .wma files purchased from subscription services like Napster (using Windows Media Player 11), but it can transmit audio from sources such as AOL Live, Live365, Napster, Rhapsody, and vTuner. Free sample versions of both Live365 and vTuner are included with the player. The DSM-520 HD isn't able to play back AAC iTunes music, however, whether the files are protected or not.

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User Reviews for D-Link DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player

Reviewed by: CaptainMonkeyPants

Duration of ownership: 2 Months

Strengths: Installed in 10 minutes, plays all my video & audio files seamlessly via 108mb wireless-g. So impressed I ordered a 2nd for another room. Using TVersity as a server - NOT the D-Link software.

Weaknesses: 1 sec or so delay on remote commands (expected since it has to talk to a server) No sorting of files - I'd be thrilled if it would simply directory-browse.

Overall Evaluation: All in all, it's great. Reasonable price with exceptional convenience & performance.
Reviewed by: gorillachicken

Duration of ownership: 5 Months

Strengths: No strengths. If you search DSM-520 and mediaservergui on google you will find a large number of people can't get it to work on their PC. The main reason I purchased it was to use it to watch recorded TV shows which requires you use 1.09 of their software..well this version constantly crashes with the error "mediaservergui application has encountered a problem and needs to close". I have tried it on several PC's with the same result. Tech support admits the version that works with .dvr-ms has a bug but can't tell me when and if they are going to fix it. So another weakness is bad tech support help.

Weaknesses: This will be a lousy product for most. I asked tech support when the bug would be fixed and they could not tell me....nor would they go find out when the next software release is. Tech support also kept telling me to go to menu items which did not exist which was frustrating. I felt Support wanted to get me off the phone not solve problems. The error "mediaservergui application has encountered a problem and needs to close". Will be a show stopper for those that get it....don't believe tech support when they say it's your PC's problem or you are the only one who gets it.

Overall Evaluation: If I were to make a random guess they probably compiled/tested it on a computer with some unique .dll's or libraries that most people don't have...and if your lucky to have those unique files it may work...problem is tech support has no idea what those requirements are. Again a guess is they did not test this on too many computers before shipping it out. I am making guesses because tech support had zero information on this error...hence this has led me to try a bunch of ideas and which led me to some guesses as what is going on. I tried this on a clean install of XP with SP2 and got the same error. I will be returning this product because I have no idea if they are going to fix this. If you get this error I suggest you return it too. Other companies have stopped selling and making media extenders so maybe the DSM-520 is going to be cancelled and that is why they won't fix this bug. Bottom line this bug prevents the product from working. Sincerely wish you luck, Logan

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