Astone MP-310DT 1080p Media Player Dual DVB-T PVR USB 3.0, Glan $95 Pick up or + Shipping + More

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• 

  pumpkinspice on 19/12/2012 - 13:17

  Wow, MP-310DT for $5 less than last year August, that's pretty good /sarcasm.
  http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/51641

  • 

    seijai on 19/12/2012 - 13:20

    +3

    It's $4 less

    Appears these machines retain their value better than diamonds

• 

  ddhytz on 19/12/2012 - 13:32

  Except for the dual DVB-T tuner what are the adantages compared to WD TV Live SMP?

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 19/12/2012 - 13:46

    +1

    USB 3 on this vs USB 2
    No wifi on this
    No smartphone app controller on this (that I can see)
    Has LCD on the front panel
    Plays RMVB (for Asian drama fans)

    And if my Astone AP-200 is any indication, abysmal firmware support and crappy hardware.

    • 

      Darkstyles on 19/12/2012 - 13:48

      SO basically - if you watch Asian dramas and have alot of large (10GB+) 1080p movies then grab this one, otherwise grab the WD Live.

      Also the dual tuners is pretty good too! I remember the old days when you'd be spending 1K+ on a decent HTPC or PVR to get all this in one box…

• 

  cynix on 19/12/2012 - 13:45

  Can it record directly to a network share?

  • 

    tm001 on 19/12/2012 - 13:56

    Nope, Internal HDD or external USB device (HDD or a memory stick) only. It does support USB hubs (at least some).

  • 

    greenie4242 on 19/12/2012 - 14:07

    +3

    No, only internal HDD or USB attached storage.

    Personally I find the AP-360 a better box, it can be purchased for around the same price. It doesn't allow recording direct to a network share either, but it record from FOXTEL and other AV sources which the MP-310DT can't do. It doesn't have twin tuners, but there's rarely one show on TV I want to watch, let alone two at the same time. The MP-310DT regularly 'forgets' to record TV shows anyway, so it's fairly worthless as a PVR. It has consistently missed many things I set it to record. Episode guide is horrible also.

    The MP-310DT has YouTube support (I can't remember if it's through stock firmware or custom firmware) but it's abysmal so don't waste your time on it, basically it's just the m.youtube.com portal. Virtually inmpossible to search for anything meaningful, can't even find a series of videos even if you type in the exact name. It just seems to bring up random crap results, same as m.youtube.com on mobile phones or "smart" TVs.

    Astone's website has been offline for a few months so there are no forums anymore to ask questions about issues. I don't know if they will ever bring the forums back online, but a small wealth of information regarding how to improve the MP-310DT's feature set with small tweaks and modifications seems to now be lost forever.

    We have three Astone boxes between the family and all have their positives and negatives. There have been no meaningful firmware updates since they were released 2-3 years ago, but plenty of small stupid bugs that have never been fixed. Unless they drop to around the $50 mark I'd probably consider buying a WD TV if one of them fails, as they have a huge worldwide fanbase.

• 

  marantz on 19/12/2012 - 13:57

  Bought this from them over a year ago and specs wise it's still high up the list.
  What other media player has dual tuners, gigabit lan, usb3 for under $100?

• 

  peter05 on 19/12/2012 - 13:57

  does anyone know if there is a web interface or network control available in this unit so i can set recordings remotely? or is there a network pvr like this that has this feature?

  • 

    greenie4242 on 19/12/2012 - 14:11

    Somebody released a custom firmware with a web interface last year, but the installers were on the Astone website's forums. The forums have been offline for a few months now and I have no idea if they'll ever come back online. Basically, the answer is NO. It has no web interface.

    • 

      ropdoh on 19/12/2012 - 14:59

      +1

      If you're after the custom firmware / forums have a look here:
      http://kazzas-corner.com/
      http://kazzascorner.freeforums.org/index.php

      I don't think they are active anymore, but I think you can get the modded firmware(s)

      • 

        greenie4242 on 19/12/2012 - 16:43

        Great website ropdoh, thanks for that info!

• 

  atlas on 19/12/2012 - 14:33

  So hardware aside, how is the interface? Smooth? Fast/slow? Usable? Scraping? Bare bones?

  • 

    greenie4242 on 19/12/2012 - 14:55

    It works just fine to play movies. Movie playback is actually very good. Only had small issues with fast-forwarding VBR Variable Bit Rate movies, but there's a workaround where you pause the movie then frame-by-frame about six or seven frames then press play again, and they come good.

    I wouldn't call it a fast interface, but it's not slow. Network support is good, can watch movies on another Astone box in the house very easily. The optional wireless dongle is rubbbish so don't bother with that unless you're really close to a strong WiFi signal. Fast-forward and rewind over WiFi is very slow and a bit haphazard using WiFi. It also has the ability to copy files from a USB or network server without using the computer, which is great when friends bring photos or videos over on their USB sticks.

    The only real niggle with Astone's playback is that I have to manually set the digital audio output to 2-channel or RAW depending on what is stored in the file. If the file is AAC, it won't output properly, despite my amplifier supporting AAC. If it has AAC audio I have to set it back to 2 channel mode, then set back to RAW to play AC3 or DTS. They've released three firmware versions to 'fix' this issue but they introduced other bugs, and never really fixed the main issue, so I do it manually now.

• 

  figarow on 19/12/2012 - 15:21

  +1

  I own this astone unit, got it last year. Considering the support has finished it should be about 20 bucks….its buggy and there better devices out there. Website has been "under construction" for months now http://astone.com.au/

• 

  SrMoure on 19/12/2012 - 16:29

  My experience with ASTONE is buggy firmwares. So buggy that a media player deleted all the contents of the internal HDD. Why a media player had writing rights was a mystery. But it did happen, and Astone said they were not responsible for the software and they only provided the hardware.
  In hindsight the only good outcome was that I stopped buying stuff from these kind of brands, since at the end there were unusable. It's better to pay $50 more for a better brand with better support than waste money on Astone products.

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  junk3569 on 19/12/2012 - 20:09

  +1

  Personally, i would not buy this device (i am using one), sorry, nothing against the OP. I am using the latest firmware, but still has many issues.
  1. Scheduled a TV record, the unit records, but never turn the device off after recording.
  2. Buggy software, occasionally crashes. Forget about the bell and whistle, you will never be able to use those things such as web surfing, utube…etc
  3. 1Gb network is a gimmit, 1Gb is the 1st second of burss, after that you are running no where close to 1gb.

  I am using this device mainly to record TV(schedule) and play back files on the desktop, yet i am not happy with it. Because of slow loading and buggy. The manufacturer are not helpful at all, i bet the shutdown the forum bc so many ppl complain.