Ziova Clearstream CS-505 Review

Apr 12, 2007 - small manual together with the Ziova .... especially welcome in families with kids to keep your expensive DVD titles clean and scratch less.
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MPC Intro MPC Reviews are a great “neutral” source for any user or company, offering an in depth opinion on any product from a consumer angle. People involved in development and product design from any Company wish to promote their own products, whether these are good or bad, by review from independent sources which have no links with companies the outcome is unbiased. MPC is one of those unbiased resources. Unlike most reviews which are limited to a few screenshots and some basic text, MPC Reviews are detailed and in-depth, making for a good read with loads of detailed pictures. This allows any reader to have a good idea about the product before purchasing it. That’s what makes MPC different. Reviewed by Hi-Jack, webmaster of www.mpcclub.com , this review is supposed to be your first and best introduction for the Ziova Clearstream CS-505 as most consumers will experience it, executed from a consumer’s perspective instead of based on technical details and specifications, which always look good. We strive together with the brands, to improve and tune the user’s experience with the latest State of the Art Players. This review is non-commercial and can’t be used by anyone or anyhow without written approval of Hi-Jack, founder and owner of the online Media Player community www.mpcclub.com ! Notice: MPC is a consumer oriented Media Portal analyzing products and offering a first impression in their reviews so you have an idea of what you are about to purchase. These are in no way mend to be complete or accurate 100% and can become outdated in due time where several updates have been provided to improve and address issues. Info: Date: 12 April 2007 Player: Ziova Clearstream CS-505 FW Version: 1.1 FINAL 2006 - 2008 MPC Club MPC© Intro Contact MPC: Press: [email protected] Legal: [email protected]

Index MPC Intro ...................................................................... 2 Index............................................................................ 2 MPC Intro ...................................................................... 2 Intro ............................................................................. 3 The Package .................................................................. 3 Networking ................................................................. 3 The Remote ................................................................ 3 The Player: Front ........................................................ 4 The Player: Rear ......................................................... 4 Setup Options ................................................................ 4 Language ................................................................... 4 Audio ......................................................................... 4 Video ......................................................................... 4 Network ..................................................................... 5 DVD Setup ................................................................. 5 General ...................................................................... 5 Firmware Update ......................................................... 5 Info ........................................................................... 5 Conclusion Package and Setup ................................... 5 My Networked DVD Jukebox ............................................ 6 Speed and Speed and Speed......................................... 6 Movie Playback in general ............................................... 7 The Video options ........................................................ 7 Supported Files Tested ................................................. 8 ISO DVD Files .......................................................... 8 The Other Files ......................................................... 9 Playing with Music .......................................................... 9 Showing my Pictures.................................................. 10 Network is my Musical friend ......................................... 10 Online Weather ......................................................... 11 Custom Skinning .......................................................... 11 Conclusion................................................................... 11 Video .................................................................... 11 Music .................................................................... 11 Pictures ................................................................. 11 Player ................................................................... 12 Hi-Jack’s Opinion ....................................................... 12 Pros ...................................................................... 12 Medium Cons ......................................................... 12 Cons ..................................................................... 12

Hi-Jack

Digitally signed by Hi-Jack DN: cn=Hi-Jack, c=BE, o=MPC CLUB Europe, ou=MPC CLUB, [email protected] Reason: I am the author of this document Location: Belgium. No portions are allowed to be copied! Date: 2007.04.12 05:51:05 +02'00'

Intro Waiting is never fun, but if whatever you are waiting for is worth it eventually, it will become a good thing that you did take the time to wait. The Ziova CS-505 is one of those products that kept people waiting for the release with several shifts towards a later release date because of tuning enhancements. There was one thing Ziova would never do, release the player in a premature state. Rather they succeeded in delivering the best of them all, is what we’ll find out during this review on the Clearstream CS-505.

The Package Beside the player, we found a remote control in the box, 2 batteries, and the power cable, network Cable and WLAN Antenna, S-Video and a well created small manual together with the Ziova Application CD-ROM that offers Windows Media Connect and TwonkyVision. It would have been nice to see a HDMI cable in the box or Component so one can use HD capabilities out of the box. This would add little cost to the player but also would complete the package.

Networking A question many might ask after so many players are available is “Do we need another player like Ziova”? The answer is simple. Yes we do. One reason would be it being the one player that actually will deliver upon the features requested most in a DVD Media Player, features up to now only streaming players where capable of delivering or installing additional software on PC and add-ins for Storage Devices. We are talking about DVD Streaming and SMB. Beside that, the Ziova FW development efforts have clearly been going towards maximizing performance and stability and if these marks are met, then definitely, we need this player to build a bridge between features of streaming players, stability and the an integrated DVD-ROM drive. The fact that it is not again a Syabas middleware solution is already an interesting enough difference for me really. Ziova releases the CS-505 together with the CS-510. The Clearstream CS-510 mainly targets streaming from network resources and comes without integrated DVD drive around €50 less. This review is valid for both units concerning everything that is network related and connection possibilities.

A big cup of java has been served on my desk, ready to kick off and match reality against the hype caused on the scene these last few months by discussions on the Clearstream units. I already unpacked the box, looking at the player here in front of me, ready to be surprised… or disappointed. I calm myself, things always sound better than they are and prepare myself for finding many pros and cons that eventually deliver a full picture of what it is and what it is not!

The Wireless connection supports “802.11 b/g”. The WLAN option is enough for normal Video content (SD), Music and Picture Slide Shows. For High Definition you might opt for a cabled connection over the 10/100 RJ45 socket to avoid interrupts as Wireless b/g does not perform enough for files using high bitrates (Divx HD, WMV9, TS).

The Remote In my personal opinion, the remote does not qualify completely to match the well designed Ziova Clearstream CS-505 player and I’m not sure what is giving me that idea. The numeric buttons are quite big in size, the remote does not fit in my hand that well. Placements of the buttons are well done, except for the operations that are located at the bottom. I would prefer these to be closer to the arrow navigation buttons. From the first time I powered on the unit and the remote, I do miss ability to select the on the Ziova Clearstream CS-505. Mode button would welcome. the remote has would also have used buttons FF/RW and fluorescent. would lift touch, to of the personal

used the output A TVhave been Considering no backlit, I liked the most like Play, Stop, Arrow keys to be It’s all options that the remote finishing the high quality level player. It’s merely ideas.

The Player: Front The Ziova Clearstream CS-505 is based on a full aluminum design and has that quality look and feeling, written all over it. From the left, we find the operation buttons. The Power buttons comes first followed by the SKIP and FF/RW buttons, Stop, Play and Pause and above these last buttons is the Eject. The middle of the player is occupied by the DVD Drive. Nothing special, if it was not that Ziova took care that the part where the DVD Drive is located and the display, is darker then the spot where the buttons are located. In fact, it has the same dark tone that the buttons have which makes the front design look really good. Too bad the pictures don’t show that much detail online that you can recognize these color tones.

Setup Options The full setup of the player is chunked into sections that make changes easier to locate. The Clearstream CS-505 holds no less then 9 categories can be selected from the main list, though some can hardly be called a category and offers just one option like Firmware Update and info. We’ll check them one by one.

Language Language that is supported for the System is English only. It would be matching the targeted audience more if at least Dutch, French, German and English would be available. This is something Ziova must address in the near future to realize more appeal with international markets and consumers.

Audio The right part of the player is occupied by the VFD (display) followed by a USB connection in the front, nicely integrated. If we puzzle all that together, you get the great, simple and astonishing look of the full Ziova design.

The Player: Rear The Ziova Clearstream CS-505 harbors a good range of connection options including the ever so popular HDMI interface with HDCP right beside the 10/100 mbit network interface and under the WLAN Antenna. Composite Video and S-Video are also at the party with the usual YPbPr, coaxial and Optical audio, and the 5.1 RCA connectors (Analogue 5.1 Audio). That makes up for the left rear while on the other side only the Power socket is located. If anyone would miss something, it would be SCART.

Audio Options exist off selecting the Output. Available choices are 5.1 surround and Stereo (Down mixed). For SPDIF there is a separate entry with the options “Encoded Digital” and “Analog / DPCM”. There’s a Volume Control I can enable or disable. All changes need to be applied in the end after which you return to the main list.

Video The one thing I don’t like that much on the firmware is that you can’t select options from a list. For each option you have to press “ok” to jump to the next. Especially when selecting Video Output this is annoying as the first time you check which options there are, and then you make your choice. Available are PAL and NTSC, PAL and NTSC Progressive, 720p and 1080i in both 50hz and 60hz. No 1080p is supported.

TV Type is limited to 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen. HDMI mode is fixed at Auto unless HDMI connection is established. That will reveal the different resolution options you have including 1080i60, 1080i50, 720p60, 720p50, 480p60, 480p50, 640*480p60 and finally 640*480p 50hz. Again here, it’s a question of pressing OK to switch. What is most annoying to switch to S-Video or Composite / Component, is that you need to disconnect the HDMI cable. A little confusing but since you won’t use it to switch often. It is not a major remark though it could have been easier.

General

Network

Firmware Update

Network Setup harbors all the Wlan and cabled network options where you can select which you prefer to use. Options are Wireless, Wired or even none. The usual options for DHCP use or manually enter the IP settings are possible. For wireless, both WPA and WEP security will be supported eventually (next FW release following the 1.1 final) where in the 1.1 release, only WEP is currently available. Important to mention, for SMB usage, this is also the section where you enter your workgroup details. SMB can only be used in combination with these settings.

DVD Setup DVD Setup is where you pick Widescreen, Pan & Scan or Letterbox. Default subtitles from commercial DVD’s can be set to English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. A parental key can be set along with the parental level. This is the section it also shows the Region your player is set to. Additionally you can enable or disable the bookmark functions and select to override TV-Standards.

The General sections is where you get to set the Auto play functions of the player that can either be enabled or disabled. You can select to have GUI animations or static pages, set the slideshow interval and screen saver. The uPnP can also be disabled or enabled from this panel and there is a commercial skip interval. Not sure what this is used for but we probably find out later. It sounds interesting.

Ziova Clearstream is one of those players that can recover from faulty firmware updates. That is reassuring the consumer they can’t do much wrong when using updates. You can upgrade using a CDROM, USB, PC and directly from the Internet.

Info The last option is the Info window where your IP Settings are shown and the firmware version of the Clearstream CS505. Notice in this image it reflects an older version. All media and feature tests are conducted with a later version. Finally, there’s also the option to restore Factory Settings.

Conclusion Package and Setup The options provided are more than sufficient but sometimes strangely arranged. The constant need of pressing OK is inconvenient but ok since you don’t change setup that much. I like the Setup and its way of breaking down things into separate pages but would have liked it to be a bit more smoothly. If I have to make a major remark, I would think of the Video Output selection where HDMI and the other options are separated and as long a HDMI cable is connected, you cannot change the output. For the remote, I would have wished a TV-Mode option, probably not available because of the way Ziova implemented the HDMI and other outputs in the Setup. I found it weird using the exit button to go “back” in the menus where the arrow on the numeric pad would have been better. After looking at everything, I’d say it’s good but not smooth!

My Networked DVD Jukebox The Clearstream does not hold an internal hard drive and the smart way to go is to circumvent the need to play VJ with DVD’s. That brings us to the capabilities of the CS-505 to use Network shares from PC or NAS Storage. With the integration of SMB and uPnPav support Ziova CS-505 has a wide array of possibilities to enhance your Home Entertainment setup. NAS storage that integrates uPnPav protocol can all be used by the Clearstream products. Amongst the most known ones are Maxtor Shared Storage, NSLU2, Infrant ReadyNAS, Synology, Qnap and more… UPnPav however is not the best choice considering it comes with limitations. For instance, TwonkyVision is not capable of playing subtitles. The UPnPav browsers only handle standard files, so no ISO and VIDEO_TS folders. That’s where Ziova has been smart to integrate SMB as well. This offers one less operational features like arranging files by genre, artists, size and more but supports every single file the player can actually handle. SMB would simply list the content of a Network Share including ISO and VIDEO_TS and the player supports playing these files as if the real DVD would have been inserted. It turns your NAZS or PC into a DVD Jukebox, especially welcome in families with kids to keep your expensive DVD titles clean and scratch less. All one needs to do is store a backup on the PC or NAS. The Clearstream has quite a few tricks up its sleeve compared to the competition. So does DVD ISO playback from network resources have all the options you’d want including progressive zoom, step, Audio and Subtitle selection, Bookmarks and angles, and a search function. The menu interface even has a sort option for files. In case you use an option in the wrong way, a message will show you how to use the option correctly. For instance, pressing “step” during playback of a video…

All the options you use are having their own little user panel. This is making the player friendlier against the usual display of the option in a small corner. The zoom function for example works with a slider and the arrow buttons server as zoom in or out. Too bad no option exists to shift the picture left and right, up and down enough. The Pan & Scan function therefore is too limited. The bookmark function when using DVD ISO from the network functions fine. What I find inconvenient is that stopping playback brings you back to the main menu instead from where you started the movie. Especially when watching small clips this can be annoying and something that should be avoided.

Speed and Speed and Speed Speed is overrated in many cases as usually you do not run over play lists and movies at 200 miles an hour but it’s almost possible with the Ziova. Every key press triggers reaction pretty fast as long as we are talking about making selections “up and down” from lists. Changes between pages take a bit longer to load, even if only for the menus. Boot time of the unit is about 50 seconds. During the boot process, the background showing up is kind of attractive but too small in size to fill the display when used in HD. This could have been solved by using a HD and SD picture and select the one to load based on the settings used at the moment. Might be, I’m making it a bit to easy with the idea, but I assume it would be possible. It might add some minimal points for the finishing details. Even though the first impression is that the player reacts slowly to change menus, it doesn’t bother me much at this stage. I’m sure when time passes along, it will become more of a problem so maybe a tip could be speeding things up a little. To give you an idea, loading Video Menu takes 3 seconds, returning to the main selection menu takes 6 seconds. Once passed the initial selection, things are faster. Loading directories in SMB or uPnPav mode takes about a second. That’s more like it.

Movie Playback in general The Ziova Clearstream handles a wide range of digital video formats from DivX to TS and WMV9, from ISO to IFO from Network resources over SMB and USB attached storage. Furthermore, uPnP is also possible, all, up to the limitations of the capabilities of the EM8620 chip that excludes H.264.

The Video options With all the conversations taking place in forums revealing expectations from candidate consumers, we already know the CS-505 will not be the final station for many due to the H.264 missing, but it is a great bridge towards newer and more sophisticated models that become more mature during the coming years. None of the competitors is able to compete in the Quality or stability at this level, which the Ziova is clearly showcasing. I have to admit, it’s not “as” advanced or superb as I would have liked it to be today, or as “grown up” as I thought it would be after all these extra months of focus on the firmware and stability, but there is a pretty big gap between Ziova CS-505 and the competition in favor of the Clearstream products from Ziova. Mainly in the category of user convenience we feel several improvements can or could have been made, be better or just faster. For some, Ziova already planned making the changes pretty soon, as development will take a high priority in the coming months. Fast Forward and Rewind might be the main thing people will dislike in general as it is rather slow in starting and skipping it’s way forward. You can start off by 2X and end with 32X both ways.

The Options key on the remote control harbors options that mainly have to do with adjusting image which is nice and easy. No need for searching the buttons in darkened rooms. The zoom option is progressive and is used by increasing or decreasing the zoom level with increments of 0.5. Anyway, instead of listing all the options stored under the Option button, we’ll show them.

The seek slide bar is extremely useful here since FF/RW isn’t much of a big deal. It is in fact the only option I feel could be slightly better performing beside that I noticed that using ZOOM in AUTO HDMI modes sometimes make the image disappear for a second or two. (Seems to be an issue with “some” TV’s Implementation of handshake on HDMI). This was less by setting HDMI to 1080i manually or any other output resolution but never disappeared totally and made priority on the list at Ziova for investigation. Further options during play, for instance, if you don’t like the slide bar for whatever strange reason (I love it), you can use the Time Search functions which utilizes a few seconds to jump inside a certain time of your movie files. Repeat functions during playback of movie files does not work which might be a limit for using the Ziova as commercial player or to display movies in a Video-Store and so on… One more item that might have been a little more “informational” is the info on files. Though I never use it personally, I’m sure many do. The info shown by pressing “info” on the remote is rather limited. The title of the movie or file is shown, it’s size, total length and elapsed time. No info is delivered on screen for which codec is used for Audio and/or Video. Options as “bookmark” and “Step” are only available in DVD mode (Commercial DVD or ISO files). Functions as Slow Play and A-B are not implemented which is rather a shame as it would lift the value as DVD player. I almost feel sad myself for the missed changes in “really” finishing the total picture. Subtitles are supported in several formats. We tested all included with the DivXTESTCDv2.0 and found SRT, SUB and SSA working well. Since version 1.1 Ziova added a shade for the subtitles and even though we would prefer outlined fonts, Ziova met us half way by limiting the shade to the places used by the subtitles and not the whole width of the screen. Good thinking behind that…

Subtitles are off course centered at the bottom and have good readability but. Too bad you can’t change font size or shift subtitles up and down. Also syncing is not available if the subs become out of sync.

Subs on Ziova: Notice how the shade ends where the text ends which is great to limit the interference with the total image. One step further on the scale of appreciation would be outlined fonts. The functions and features are sufficient but some are missing for convenience, especially while using DVD files I missed features as Frame By Frame or Step and A-B. Before I forget, I must add that Ziova has implemented a small sorting feature in the interface to allow sorting of files by size, type, just shuffle and name.

Supported Files Tested With all the formats and encoding options, it is impossible to support all files equally well. The Ziova Clearstream has a long list of files it supports but is missing a few too and does not handle some files fully as they are supposed to be. Many decisions have been made in the process for choosing stability over bogus support of files.

ISO DVD Files DVD files, it has become so popular over the years and can hardly be missing on any player released since 2007. Ziova understands both ISO format and RAWDVD, better known as VIDEO-TS folders or IFO Parsing. Also in these files there is a difference in tools used to make the ISO files or backup DVD to your hard drive. We tested files created with different tools and all played fine including animated menus, selections, subtitles, chapters and everything else. The main advantage of having ISO files stored on PC, NAS or any other network resources, is that you can stop playing DVD VJ as you can simply select the movie and fire it up, without searching the DVD. This is only part of the gain you have by making digital copies of your collection, also with kids it is better safe than sorry and what better way to have ISO (DVD) files being ready at the click of a button. So, ISO and IFO passed MPC’s tests for the full 100%. Only remarks made ware about missing options like A-B and Step. Most other features are available, including bookmark and maybe, after you played an ISO file, the player returns to

the main menu is a little annoying, slow and unnecessary. I would prefer it returns to the directory the movie was selected to play.

The Other Files We can’t possibly list all files and all tests we done but leave some main impressions about our experience with files from all “major” categories. BivX is supported as long as both Audio Streams are made with AC3 2.0 to AC3 5:1. The fun using different languages in files and ability to switch these during playback.

especially if you consider FF/RW (silent) is supported too on music files. With the same sorting functions as discussed before and ID3TAG support (V1), this is a big progress against some of the competition. You can browse the list of files while you are listening to a music file and use the sorting functions which uses some of the ID3Tag information including Name, Artist, Album, Genre, shuffle, Random and then some more like Name and Type. Random only functions within the same folder as usual.

We had no issues with WMV9 (none DRM as the player does not natively support DRM, nor does any other player at the moment). When your files are protected, you will have to use uPnP Media Software like Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Connect to stream from PC to the Ziova player. Both Matroska and OGM seem not supported which some will consider a lacking feature but many have not even heard about these formats, let alone use them. The reason behind this is memory issues as both formats eat loads of memory and will only run stable on much stronger chips like the EM8634 expected next year. Never the less, we would love to see players support these and though it is never mending to be in the Ziova CS-505, we enlist it as an official request. DivX and Xvid files passed flawless, including Qpel and Xvid with Bit stream enabled though it’s still best to remove it to avoid issues along the way. These make up for the most popular formats used daily but in addition you have WMV9, TS, Nero Digital up to 1080p and even more… Beside the missing formats, no remarks on the supported file types. In addition to the list of supported files, you get very stable playback in general with just about the functions you’d expect, although we can always come up with some more.

Playing with Music Music is on top of the Main Menu which to my personal taste is a little awkward. The Media Adapters mainly serve as Video Player for me so Video on top would be more suitable for me. Never the less, the Ziova has quit some tricks up its sleeves for Music playback. It is no iPod or Slimserver of course, but goes a long way to add decent music abilities to the player on top of its main goal, providing Video capabilities. First, there is the range of files supported from MP3, AAC, WMA9, FLAC and OGG in addition to AC3 and DTS (Pro is not supported in MP3, WMV9 or OGG). This is quite impressive,

The interface allows up to 35 characters of the titles being displayed so naming conventions as Barry White – The First The Last My Everything cause no issues, even if the titles are not shown completely. One small remark would be the Info options being too limited if you would like to review a file. The small windows sliding up at the top is just a little too small to contain enough info we would need when even using the Info button.

This is for me, the first player that will actually convince me of having had enough development thoughts and efforts taking place on the music section to make it mean something more on top of Video for a media adapter.

Showing my Pictures After having success in the Video and Music section, the Ziova CS-505 stands in front of the hard task to please me in the Picture section too. After all, we review units to make remarks and not become blindly satisfied with everything. Supported formats are JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG. That should make up for quite some possibilities in mixing up a slideshow for which you can set the Interval to switch between images.

The process is rather easy and divided over different pages. First you select Web radio from the main selection menu. Then you select to play from your favorites or from Shoutcast stations, then select the type of lists (TOP 40, Random, Genre or keyword search) and start your selection. The list is long but you can make things easier by tuning in to some station and then browse the others, changing whenever you want. Once you found a station you would like to tune in too more often, you can select to save it as a favorite.

As long as you are within reasonable resolutions and size the player performs well. Higher then 3mb the files need few seconds to load (1-5 depending on size). Options are available only during PAUSE mode so using Pan & Scan or ZOOM is only available if paused under the OPTIONS button. ZOOM is progressive but there is no rotation.

Network is my Musical friend If just Music support is not enough for you, then you will be pleased with the additional web radio implementation on the Ziova Clearstream CS-505, which is based upon Shoutcast. Thousands of radio Stations are waiting online to tune in and to make selections a bit easier, there’s some filters being used for showing lists by Genre… If the search for channels is even then considered a bit hard with so much choice, you can save favorites once you found the ones you like best.

Here comes the real deal… You can even add custom streams of stations not listed by default on the shoutcast servers. This can be done under favorites by entering the URL to the server stream.

Well, there’s a lot to discover and has clearly been influenced by feedback from the scene. All it needed was a listening ear on the other side and it seems Ziova has been listening very well and done some research. All of a sudden, I don’t care about the delays anymore but do care about what it has leaded to. Should keep that for the conclusion.

Online Weather

Video

One small extra you can find on the Ziova player, is the Weather Online function. Here you can select your country or region and select weather forecast for a couple days to be shown. Simple, but pretty and handy to check weather as you leave for far destinations.

Amazing. If you have no need for H.264 today, this player will be the link for you to the future, in a year or 2 where H.264 will have become much more common then today. Where in the last two years progress was made in small steps causing people to buy a player each 6 months to keep up, I believe the Ziova today shows a mature player (except pictures) that can bring you 3 to 4 times that far, towards the EM8634 players. ISO and IFO, wide file range in other file types and stable playback. The only wish I have left is some more languages being supported for subtitles to match the international needs. It can be done by modifying the FW but this is not some normal users would do and would best originate from Ziova. Further, some features are missing for DVD operations.

Music Awesome, excellent, brilliant, enhanced, easy, great. Not only is the range of files supported good, the Ziova is the first “DVD” player in this range that actually makes sorting functions available to a level that it is actually worth mentioning it too. The features like FF/RW are welcome, browsing lists during music play is available and the interface is well done.

Custom Skinning We are not done yet. Remember where I said it feels kind of strange to see Music on the top of the list instead of Video? If it is a problem, then you can simply make your own skins for the player and arrange everything to your personal liking. It won’t be that easy but also not that hard as tutorials will be written eventually and help is available online from the scene. That said, it’s time to write a long and nifty conclusion that reflects my personal opinion on the Ziova Clearstream CS505.

Conclusion I’m going to run through the separate sections as I have something to conclude about them all and would be mixing things too much if I wrote it all up in a general comment.

One minor remark, if your TV remains on, changing songs will bring it out of the “screensaver” which is a minor thing to fix in the near future. Keep in mind I said there are things to discover not mentioned in the review, like using the player without the need of turning on the TV. NO. Not for Video, for Music  Even though the display is limited in characters, it does the job. Consider that a bigger display would mean much bigger amount of money to be paid and we are already spoiled a lot on the hardware.

Pictures I can be very short concerning pictures. Good support for files, no options beside slideshow, ZOOM and Pan&Scan. Rotations is missing so make sure your pictures are correct before playing. Seems true, nothing can be equally good in all parts and for Ziova the weakest link is the Picture section, while the player itself, the Music and Video parts make up for it more than enough. Should be improved nevertheless…

Player Now, considering the price range of the player being at the same level of the competition but is made out of full aluminum, has a decent PSU and no lack in Quality anywhere (except remote a little bit maybe to y personal taste) we are more than happy to pay the price. In addition, you get 32 MB Flash Memory (usually its 8 or 16 only) and the 64 MB memory (standard). The Flash keeps the door open for future enhancements and additions. No fighting for room inside, there is plenty!! This is extra cost for manufacturing and doing so without lifting the price to the end user is unique… Add to that all the licenses needed for the supported files that exceed the usual, then you know we are talking about a product made with the intention to please the consumer and not fill pockets of some director behind a desk. Add to that the endless efforts of Ziova in public to keep in touch with the scene, and we have a serious partner that delivered a serious player. It all sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Let’s find out my personal opinion.

Hi-Jack’s Opinion It’s fun and great to see so many different sections succeed for a change, adding features to make things more convenient and easy, versatile. That is exactly what we found in the Clearstream CS-505, except maybe for the Picture section. For the first time, there’s more to a media player then Video alone, being in the case of Ziova the Music support, Web radio with custom radio’s that can be added in a breeze and saving favorites. Did I mention FLAC support? The hardware, the additional increased memory, the extra FLASH memory, the aluminum design, the license fees for all the formats. I can’t see where Ziova manages to keep the price below radar to be competitive with the competition (€299). I’m not 100% satisfied (I never will by the way), some things remain slow or could be improved like FF/RW, returning to main menu, not returning to main menu after ISO playback and so on… but all these are small things against the “great” things that work so well and stable. Don’t expect perfectness, don’t expect impossible things. For €300 you get a stable bridge towards the future that includes all the absolutely needed functions and features today and some more. It can and will become even better in the near future.

Pros -

Fresh and Easy Operations SMB and uPnP supported ISO / IFO support Web Radio (Shoutcast) Custom WebRadio and Favorites Skinning Options Wide support of files Stability and Quality of player Extra BIG FLASH Memory USB FW Recovery (Not possible to flash the player to death as you can recover from SUB stick) Shaded Subtitles Excellent price Balance FW Update: 30 Seconds Progressive ZOOM

Medium Cons -

Remote ok, not great No SCART (No Problem) Sometimes slow return to main menu Return to Main after ISO playback Screensaver has tiny little bugs

Cons -

Languages Supported (subs and interface) DVD Options missing Direct Remote buttons for TV-OUT Boot Time Picture Options limited Matroska and OGM not supported Limited Info on files

Even though the player can improve, the price balance and features shredded our counting systems where even some missing options, some slow operations and an almost non existing picture section, could not cause any harm to the conclusion or scoring. In the range of EM8620 players, the Ziova is the new NR1 on the scene. We’ll just ask it improves more in the future, subject to the remarks made.

MPC Partner for Ziova: www.planet-shop.eu