Man, it sucks the essential doesnt have network port. Id buy it to replace my playon hd in a heartbeat, so i can give my old one to my parents.

Congratulate for new device

Question: can use usb wifi for network?

Will it be possible to make genres in this database such as Action, Romance, Thriller?
In this preview I see all the movies in one directory what makes it hard to choose one.

It's both... depending on whether you are looking at it from "glass is half-full or half-empty". End Nov is a "optimistic" target, so December is a safer answer. Firmware development is hard to pinpoint down to an exact date and sometimes need some room for unexpected issues, esp. when the Playon!GUI2.0 is breaking through with creation of some new things never done before on a realtek sdk eg. desktop link, transparency etc.



The Essential remote control cannot be used on the Playon!HD (has different key codes). I'm curious as to why you would like to know if the remotes work interchangeably?

Hold your horses : ) Playon!HD Essential is NOT meant to replace your Playon!HD. It is launched as an addition to the Playon! family, at a more affordable price range to set new standards in the "entry level no network media player" market, where no Playon! has gone before! Take a look at other no network players available now and you'll see Playon!HD Essential is really a class apart! We are working on comparison charts.

How about keeping your Playon!HD and getting your parents the Essential ; ) hehe

Thx for the congrats. Good question! An Essential Wireless-N USB Network adaptor will be available - making the Playon!HD Essential the world's first no network media player that you can upgrade with wireless network. An announcement will be made soon for the Essential Wireless-N USB Network Adaptor (ACR-WN10002).

For movies view, there is no view by genres, as it requires capturing that information. In the Playon!HD (not Essential) version of the Playon!GUI2.0, there will be YAMJ (Yet Another Movie Jukebox). YAMJ grabs genre information (and other information), so with YAMJ in Playon!GUI2.0 on Playon!HD / DVRHD, you will be able view by genre.

For music, you can view by genre (in all Playon!HD/ Mini / Essential / DVRHD with Playon!GUI2.0) since genre info is in the ID3 tags of the music files.

Retail price for Europe is published in the press release, prices incl. tax are €139 (500GB), €155 (1TB), €199 (2TB). I don't have information about prices in other regions.

If you are in Singapore, there's an exhibition next week SITEX at the Suntec City, our Singapore Team will be there at Booth 5E46 with the Playon! series including the Essential ... hmmm I wonder what the price will be at the show (watch out for the pre-show announcements next week).

Hi Thomas,
thank you very much for your detailed replies. AC Ryan is making the impression of getting more and more professional in many aspects (also marketing strategy). I was already wondering if the new GUI 2.0 for the Playon HD! models will have YAMJ, because it is still very important for many people. Now u gave me the answer.

@Thomas: Could you check with earlier (first page) asked questions too please? Thx