NBOX Digital Media Player

I bought this because my portable DVD player quit working (the drive mechanism failed). This works well as a Video input to the player so the kids can still watch shows in the car. It's nothing fancy, but it does what I bought it for, and it's cheap. It plays Divx files without a problem (I encoded ripped DVDs with Divx Convert). It will not play .iso files, but does fine with .vob files. It can be configured for 16x9 or 4x3 format.The player is small, and looks like decent build quality. The controls are built into the case and are a bit difficult to use. The remote works much better, and is the best way to control it. The menu system looks ugly, but is intuitive. It only displays the first eight characters of the title, but if you select a filename, the title will scroll. I was unable to get a portable USB drive to work with it, but 32GB thumb drives worked without a problem. The SD card slot is not SDHC compatible, so it is pretty much useless.I tried picture display on a whim, it worked, but was slow. It's not something I will ever do. I think it also plays music, but again, not something I will ever do.All in all, this is good for small TVs and portability (pick up a car adapter). I would not buy this for a large screen TV - there are much better networked players out there like Popcorn Hour or TVIX.

I stumbled across this device last year when looking for solid state audio/video players for use in a a haunted house attraction. Instead of having to burn custom CDs, and then play/repeat them, or create custom DVDs that would loop, we wanted something that would turn on and just start playing. This cheap box does the trick! You can copy compatible audio or video files to it, and configure it to auto-play and repeat. Boom, instant video kiosk, or background music without anyone ever having to press a button.We ended up ordering about a dozen of these, and uses them for playing video loops, background audio, sound effects, etc.WARNING: The devices I received were configured for PAL (non-USA) video mode. On the CRT TV I was using, the picture was unreadable until you navigate menus with the remote control and set it to NTSC. I had already configured a box at home (it was readable on my HDTV), so I was able to learn how many times I had to press the buttons and in what order to get to the menu and switch the settings. That was a pain in the neck to do for a dozen boxes when you couldn't read the menus due to the screen being all messed up. BUT, once set up, it remembers the setting.It is picky about video files. I was making files using Final Cut Express (and, later, Pro X) and using the same settings would sometimes work, and sometimes not. In some cases, the non-working video would still show up on the NBOX menu and even preview in the little thumbnail box, but choosing it would not play. Very frustrating. But, I did find certain formats (DVD video) always seemed to work. That's the hardest part about this -- these cheap video playback chips are not quite as forgiving.So, fantastic device for replacing a CD or DVD player. We now use them for many different things -- running video loops in a store, for example. Update a video, swap out the SD card, and ready to go -- no more burning DVDs.It's a great gadget. (Note: there are bigger, better NBOXes, but according to a chart I read, some of the fancier ones that support more formats, do NOT have the auto play capability, which was crucial for our needs).

I have been using this device for about a month almost everyday.WHY I BOUGHT IT?Firstly my old DVD (6 years old) didn't play most of the video formats of today's usage, so I had to convert them into a format and then burn it to a DVD, etc. Since my video collection has increased considerably the process of converting video was becoming time consuming and a complete waste of time.Too lazy to stand up to change the song or movie on my laptop connected to the HT centre and TV set.I didn't have the budget to by one of those boxes that plays many more video formats and also have internet streaming capabilities so I found NBOX very convenient from this point of view as well.Reviews in Amazon.com and [...]HOW IT PERFORMS?So far is doing it well however is has limitations to play newer video formats and codecs but at least it plays the most popular.CONS* it has a red light that is always lit when the devise is plugged in, I've found this quite annoying because it's too bright specially when the room is dark.* New firmwares are inexistent* the website of the provider is a complete joke! (in fact it didn't made me laugh)* the materials and design are VERY cheap (of course it is a cheap item) but you always expect some nice aesthetically details despite the material. It's a device you won't be proud to have in your living room.* the reproduction of audio delivers a quality below acceptable* the UI ( user's interface) is very basic and inaccurate. It screams for an update.* the control buttons on the device are ugly and nearly useless.PROS* It's CHEAP!* nice and functional remote control* capability to reproduce from SD cards and USB thumb drives or a HDSo far it works for my actual needs.

After getting a similar but better device, I have just realized what a pain this device was... Here's why- Interface is horrible. Light green text on light grey - is barely readable.- Navigation is not very convenient.- Remote is very moody, it started working every other time after just a month of using. Than it needed a big hit to work every single time. There are no replacements, and surely enough - the remote died pretty soon, and without the remote this box is useless. So DO NOT BUY!!!

Loved this unit for it's feature and price. However, it died within a couple of weeks. I'm willing to give it a try again, so I send it back for return and am ordering another one.