SmallNetBuilder

Under the covers

Usually, I like to dig into a device to see what software it's running internally. But with a stand-alone little device like this, and with no firmware image to dissect, it's hard unless you start probing for serial or a JTAG port. So this time I'll have to leave that to others who are prepared to dig out a soldering iron. But we can at least see what hardware components are being used.

The TV Link is a dual-sided board. Figures 10 and 11 show both sides of the TV Link circuit board with the case removed.

Figure 10: Main Board Side 1

Figure 11: Main Board Side 2

The main chip visible in the center of the board is a ESS Technology 8381 chip. It's responsible for most of the decoding and DVD handling that is going on. This chip is oftentimes found in consumer DVD players. HDMI support on the board is via a Silicon Image SiI9034 chip. The USB interface is a Genesyslogic gl824c

Closing Thoughts

In general, I'd have a hard time recommending this product for any serious music playback or photo slideshows. It might work fine if you need to take it somewhere for a specific slideshow or if you just have simple playback needs. But it has fairly crude capabilities compared to other higher-end devices I've used. I also have the same reservations for general video playback. It was fairly flakey with my motley collection of miscellaneous files.

For example, although it has limitations too, my current multimedia player of choice, the AppleTV has a very slick user interface with extensive capabilities for slide shows and music playback. And the Netgear EVA8000 that I reviewed a while back is a true HD device and plays back nearly all files in my library.

But neither of these products is portable and both are priced over $300, while the TV Link is a pocket sized, sub $100 device, so its limitations aren't all that surprising.

But where the TV Link shines is ripped DVD playback. If you want to experiment with ripping all of your DVDs to an external USB drive and don't want to spend the time re-encoding, this little device just might fit your needs and allow you to reclaim all of the shelf-space that a big DVD collection takes.