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DragonTech ioBox-100HD Networked Media Tank Reviewed - Setup

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Setup

For basic use, setting up the ioBox is as simple as hooking up the right cables and powering it on. By default, the box is set to acquire an IP address via DHCP and auto-detect your output. So if everything goes well, you'll end up on with the initial display as shown in Figure 3.

Main Menu

Figure 3: Home Menu

One thing I noticed during setup was that the documentation is a bit sparse. The unit came with a user manual, and a quick-start guide. But neither had in-depth information. For that, you are directed to the online forums. There's a lot in the forums, but it can be a bit confusing because you get a mixture of info from users and moderators as well as questions and comments about other NMT boxes.

Figure 4 shows the setup screen where numerous parameters can be set, including network settings, screen-saver timeout, A/V output settings etc.

Preferences

Figure 4: Preferences

One notable configuration menu allows you to mount network shares from the ioBox. So if you have a NAS on your LAN or you're sharing a directory from your PC, you can mount it using this menu and the content on it will be available. If you don't want to acquire content using a network share, you can also get it automatically via the UPnP A/V protocol. It's pretty common for NASes to have a built-in UPnP AV server. So if you have one running on the network already, you're set.

Figure 5 shows the Media Source selection screen where the local disks and servers located on my network are shown.

server select

Figure 5: Server Select

There are a lot of ways to move content to the ioBox if you have installed a hard drive. If you want to push your files to it, you can use the setup menu to share your internal disk via either the Windows SMB or Unix/OSX NFS protocol. Once you've done this, you can mount it across the network from your PC and move files over. In this case, it acts much like a NAS device itself, except it lacks common configuration settings such as the definition of individual shares, with privileges, user accounts, quotas, etc.

If that doesn't appeal to you, you also have the option to FTP your files to the box. If you're into downloading content via Torrent, you're covered here as well, since the ioBox has a built-in Torrent client. Just Feed it your Torrent file and it will download your content for viewing.

The ioBox also supports fetching content via a documented HTTP/HTML protocol. This has given external developers the ability to develop creative servers that can interact with the device. Once such server that looks promising is called the MovieJukebox. The idea is that you would run this app on your computer and it indexes your media and feeds info and screens to the ioBox. I had problems getting it to run due to Java version requirements. But as you can see from the screen-shots on the MovieJukebox web page, this app looks promising. Note, however, that you'll need to have a separate server system running to feed content to the ioBox.

If you're going to rely on UPnP AV for getting content, a benefit is that it can interact with other devices that also use the same protocol. One such device, is the iPhone or iPod Touch, at least when you've purchased an add-on app such as Plug Player. Figure 6 shows a screenshot of my iPod where I've selected the ioBox as a UPnP output (renderer), and then one of my UPnP servers as input.

iPod Control

Figure 6: iPod Control

Using this combo, I can use my iPod as a controller for the ioBox. At least that's the theory. In practice, more often than not, when I'd select a video and hit the play button on my iPod, the ioBox would start to play back the movie and then freeze up, requiring me to power-cycle the box. Hopefully this will get corrected because this is a nice combo when it works.



User reviews

Average user rating from: 2 user(s)

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Overall: 
 
3.7 Features :
 
3.5 Performance :
 
4.0 Reliability :
 
3.5
 
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Reliable - Very Happy With Them.

Overall rating: 
 
5.0
Features:
 
5.0
Performance:
 
5.0
Reliability:
 
5.0
Reviewed by Stuart
September 27, 2010
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I've rated this high as it does everything I require of it. I bought 1 IOBOX nearly 2years ago over the popcorn hour as there was a waiting list on the PCH at the time & I figured they were both similar for my needs. I got another IOBOX 1 year later for a spare room.
The house was wired before wireless was half decent or affordable so have not attempted wireless with a dongle. All of the DVD's (ISO) & Blu-Rays (M2TS) I've saved to a NAS in one location (I had hard drives in them initially but they started filling up & I had duplicates on each..) I can watch movies in the front of the house while the kids & their friends watch whatever they want in another room.
The boss was impressed with how easy they were to use so got 2 for a trade display trailer with internal & external LCD TV's. With the trailer we only use dvd (ISO) & pictures on an internal drive & it plays them well. They use the HDMI for pic & sound so its easy to connect up & pack away. For home I use an amp/receiver for the surround.
I dont use the other features of the iobox, if I want to search for pics or shows on the internet, youtube or play mp3's etc I'll use a computer.
Thats about it, I have not had a problem with any DVD or Blu-Ray movie, I use slysoft s/w to backup onto the NAS or internal drives in the work units. As a movie player, its silent, small enough & works when required.

 

Waste of money

Overall rating: 
 
2.3
Features:
 
2.0
Performance:
 
3.0
Reliability:
 
2.0
Reviewed by Keith
April 13, 2010
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I just got a 100HD.

Pros: It played all movie formats that I know of and handles h.264 FF/rewind at high compression.
Cons: Everything else!

I bought this to replace my Linksys DMA2100 because of its poor H.264 support - It now looks like I will have to use it for the "front-end" and this technical monstrosity for the back end.

The user interface is reminicant of 1990 pre-windows application. Streaming set-up is a pain with window 7, but doable if you understand permissions and sharing. The instruction "manual" is a joke - they should have just saved the printing cost. Unit locks up and requires reboot when trying to upgrade firmware. They say it supports USB wifi - not true: Hard connection only on my unit.

Menus are functional with virtually no graphic interface. Movie info (tags & cover art) are NOT supported, so you have to pick your movie based upon its file name. Seriously, who wants to browse their movie collection looking at file names only?!!

The fundalmentals of the unit (Play movie files, view jpg, listen to mp3's) all work fine. But the poor user interface over-shadows this and if you want to use the other features... A vast majority (if not all) don't work as expected! Other than Weather bug (big deal!), the remaining web apps have issues and don't interface well including Netflix. Navigating often leads you down a dead end path with no alternative other than to cycle power! This is crude at it's best!

I suspect that this is a case of rush to market. It is as though they got the design protype working to show proof of concept and quit or they ran out of money and needed to sell some units to continue development. Either way, I'm screwed out of $200 - thanks for nothing Drangontech!

 
 

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