D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player, 802.11g, 54Mbps, Audio/Photo/Video, UPnP AV

Rating:
Summary: THIS PRODUCT IS A JOKE!
Review: Everybody else hit the nail on the head. DLINK is selling a product that is apparantely still in development. I have been unable to get a single MPG or VOB file to play more than 13 minutes into the file. At that point it locks up. Dlink takes 1 week to offer back lame responses. I'm on the latest 1.02 firmware, and the server software is still at 1.0 -- definately, definately, definately AVOID this expensive nonworking product.

Rating:
Summary: Lot's of potential, but not ready for prime time yet
Review: I just bought this device, and it's definately got a lot going for it in the "wow, cool!" factor. Unfortunately . . . it really isn't ready for public release yet. D-link insists that most of the known issues will be worked out with software fixes . . . but the units on shelves now are just a buggy mess.

Most of the problems have already been described in other reviews, but I'm unable to get a solid wireless signal to the device and have no desire to run a hard-wired line to my living room at the moment. I've tried a new router, replacement antenna, and moving the equipment around as much as conceivably possible . . . to no effect. Video and Audio still skip too much.

Also, for what video I could actually get to play, much of it is in widescreen and the device has no options for adjusting aspect ratio, so the picture's just stretched vertically over the whole screen. A letterboxing option on the remote would be a nice addition.

Rating:
Summary: Late to market and still broken
Review: I just received my Dlink DSM-320. I was initially excited about the product, but after attempting to use it I quickly realised that it needed another 3 or 4 months to be ready for prime-time. Let's start with the big issues:
1. Component out is broken.
I tried this on 3 different TVs with component out (Sony Wega, JVC IArt and Pioneer SD-643-HD5) and each time the picture was displayed with a severe blue cast (everything was shades of blue). I tried another DSM-320 and the same problem existed, even AFTER the firmware upgrade. How something like this could slip by Quality Control I have no idea.

2. Wireless compatibility is pathetic.
I have been using wireless networks since they came out. I am somewhat familiar with configuring them. My entire wireless network is DLink AirPlus XtremeG running at 108Mbs, with compatibility for 54Mbs and 11Mbs hardware. This worked because I had people connect their laptops to my network for printing and browsing the web. I, of course, had SSID Broadcast disabled so I typed in the SSID into the DSM-320 along with my other network information and it refused to find my network. After turning down my network speed and broadcasting my SSID it connected, but then refused to download the firmware update. It was stuck at zero. The machine froze and I had to pull the plug to reset the machine. Playing videos started well, but 2 minutes in the machine would freeze with no network activity and the plug would have to be pulled. In short, the wireless functionality was terrible, and I like DLink stuff.

3. Does not maintain the aspect ratio.
I bought this planning to use my machine as a video jukebox. I have a dedicated TV card (Hauppauge PVR-250) and schedule my TV recordings over the internet. The DSM-320 was going to allow my to watch these videos on a TV instead of the computer. Also, I have a large hard drive that serves as a movie jukebox. The movies are kept in their original widescreen aspect ratios (16:9 or 2.35:1). I was very surprised to notice that the DSM-320 did not display the black bars required to make the picture look normal. It filled the screen with the picture and made everyone look tall and skinny.

Those are the big problems, it is also plagued by the slow menus and horrible server software mentioned in other reviews. I guess the biggest compliment I can give it is that when connected to a wired network, and while using s-video, it worked great. Even the wife could navigate the menus (slowly), play music (provided I had setup the M3U playlist for her on the server computer), look at pictures and play videos. Unfortunately, there are other products that will do those things better and cost $100 less. Do I think the DSM-320 has potential? Yes, but it needs several firmware upgrades to fix those big problems I outlined. I'm not waiting for that though, I'm sending mine back.

7-16-04