Review: Plextor PX-MX500L media streamer and player

Media streamers have come a long way over the past couple of years. Previously the sole domain of enthusiasts, usability has greatly improved and they’re now appealing to the mass market.

Although Plextor’s PX-MX500L can stream media over your network, it also has a hard drive, which means you can store all your content directly on the device and avoid the problems associated with streaming.

The built-in storage also means it can hook up to a TV source to record programmes.

At the rear, component, composite and Scart outputs are joined by HDMI, while two USB sockets let you hook up memory sticks or external hard drives. There’s also a B-type USB socket, allowing you to attach your PC or notebook and transfer movies, music and photos directly. A fan sits alongside these connections, but it’s quiet and you’re unlikely to notice it during use.

A big disappointment is that there’s no built-in Wifi, leaving you to either hook it up to your router via an Ethernet cable or use some form of powerline networking. It’s a shame because, although wireless isn’t perfect for all types of media streaming, most 802.11g networks are capable of providing the throughput required by standard DivX movies and, most certainly, audio files.

Installation is relatively simple, although you are asked to format the drive during the process. The hard drive is divided into two sections: one for recording, the other for general multimedia file storage. These sections are further split, allowing you to specify how much space you want reserved for media files, recorded TV etc.

It’s an unusual setup procedure and one we’ve not seen on any other media players, but thankfully there’s an Auto format option for those who simply want to start using the device.

Unlike most media streamers, which either use the sharing function of Windows Media Player or their own software when streaming content over a network, the PX-MX500L uses standard Windows folder sharing. The advantage is that it’s very easy to set up since all you need to do is share those folders you want the device to be able to access.

However, it also means the device will list all the other shared folders on your PC, which may or may not contain media files.

Once up and running, navigating around the menus is tiresome, not least because you’re left to trawl your way through directory structures. It’s also pretty sluggish, especially when viewing a folder full of videos, since it will attempt to run a preview each time you move down the list.

It’s faster when accessing contents stored locally but still not ideal. And with no scroll feature, if you’re in a folder full of files you’ll find yourself becoming extremely frustrated at how long it takes to browse.

On the plus side, the device lets you copy content between the network, internal hard drive and any attached external drives. However, with no progress bar you’re left guessing how long each transfer will actually take.

Thanks to its built-in hard drive, the PX-MX500L can also record or time-shift live TV. But its lack of electronic programme guide (EPG) means there’s no option to schedule recordings, with the unfortunate result that you have to manually press the Rec button whenever you want it to record.

If you have a camcorder, you can import video directly to the device and perform basic editing.

As far as quality of images goes, we’ve got no complaints. Standard-definition video looks good, and if you’ve got any HD content the PX-MX500L will do it justice; it’s worth noting, however, that it can’t play 1080p content, nor can it handle WMV files, HD or otherwise.

Audio is of a similarly high standard, and the analogue and digital (optical and coaxial) outputs mean you shouldn’t have any trouble hooking it up to a surround-sound system. However, you can’t set up playlists or even activate a shuffle mode, which is very disappointing.

The PX-MX500L has its plus points, such as the large hard drive and decent HD playback, but we were disappointed with the usability and limited nature of some of the other features (not least its inability to schedule recordings).

Firmware updates may sort some of the issues, but if you’re after a media streamer with a built-in hard drive the Archos TV+ comes highly recommended - it might not have HD support, but it completely eclipses the PX-MX500L in terms of features and usability.

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