Nixeus Fusion HD Network Media Player

[Destiny]

Did anyone get theirs yet or heard of any reviews?

I got mines last Friday and so far it plays all the media files I have thrown at it. Including large 1080p high bitrate movie files.

Here is some tech info:

Processor: Sigma Designs 8655 - 500MHz CPU/FPU & 333 MHz IPU (Dual Core?)

Video Output: Up to 1080p60

Media Storage: One Internal Hard Drive up to 2 Terabytes, Two USB 2.0 to connect two external Hard Drives, One eSATA connection.

Networking: 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 B/G/N - USB Wireless N Dongle is included

Network Attached Storage Function and SAMBA Server feature

Built in Web Browser - YouTube, Facebook, Google, Yahoo...but flash is currently not supported

Two Year Limited Manufacturer's Warranty <--- This was the main reason why I bought it.

Here is the link if you would like more info:

http://www.nixeus.com/catalog-4.html


2010 to 2011 Reviews:

Maximum PC March 2011 Review
Nixeus Fusion HD Network Media Player (NX-100) Overall Score = 8 (out of a possible 10)
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/nixeus_fusion_hd_review

Ganesh from AnAndTech Reviewed this Media Player... Nice write up and nice review
Here is the link to his review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4206/nixeus-fusion-hd-review

 

[metalmania]

That's a great media player. They sell the same model in China for $180. I read some reviews there. Web browser, Bittorrent, internal HDD, even a USB keyboard!

I am using an Asus O!player (R1). After upgrading firmware, the player can do Youtube, flickr, and so on. There are about 50 internet TV channels too. But there is no way to use USB keyboard and run Bittorrent.

 

[Destiny]

That's a great media player. They sell the same model in China for $180. I read some reviews there. Web browser, Bittorrent, internal HDD, even a USB keyboard!

I am using an Asus O!player (R1). After upgrading firmware, the player can do Youtube, flickr, and so on. There are about 50 internet TV channels too. But there is no way to use USB keyboard and run Bittorrent.

My brother has the Asus O!play...he loves it... I installed an internal 2 Terabyte HDD in the Nixeus Fusion HD and he streams some media from my Nixeus to his ASUS in his room...

I just plugged in a dell USB keyboard and mouse and it worked!! I just figured out how to use the bittorrent thingy..downloading an Asian/Chinese cartoon for my nephew right now... :awe:

 

[Destiny]

I got an e-mail from pc4usa that they are having a promotion and I just thought I'd share:

$199.95 with free premium HDMI 1.3 cable and free ground shipping (lower 48 states).
http://pc4usa.com/nixeus-fusion-hd-network-media-player.aspx

So far it has some good user reviews.


It is normally $219.99 on Amazon and other places and does not include HDMI and free shipping.

(Sorry if I posted this on the wrong thread or forum - just thought I'd share)

 

[KK]

What is the best device out there that does this sort of thing. Just started looking at these media player thingys, so I have no idea what to look for in these things. Any help I would appreciate.

 

[Destiny]

What is the best device out there that does this sort of thing. Just started looking at these media player thingys, so I have no idea what to look for in these things. Any help I would appreciate.

It depends on what you are looking for it to do... there are many options out there and not all are perfect or there is not one that can do everything... Are you looking for internal hard drive support? Friendly user interface? Great customer service and product support (consistantly new firmwares for new features or to fix bugs, etc)...

The Nixeus is the easist one I have used so far... I also have a Popcorn Hour A-200 and ASUS O!Play.

Media Players with Sigma Designs chipset usually provides the best overall video/picture - and most of the top media players use this chipset, but it is a little bit more expensive - and it cannot play RMVB/RMB files.

Media Players with RealTek chipsets can play RMVB/RMB and almost everything that Sigma can play.

 

[KK]

It depends on what you are looking for it to do... there are many options out there and not all are perfect or there is not one that can do everything... Are you looking for internal hard drive support? Friendly user interface? Great customer service and product support (consistantly new firmwares for new features or to fix bugs, etc)...

The Nixeus is the easist one I have used so far... I also have a Popcorn Hour A-200 and ASUS O!Play.

Media Players with Sigma Designs chipset usually provides the best overall video/picture - and most of the top media players use this chipset, but it is a little bit more expensive - and it cannot play RMVB/RMB files.

Media Players with RealTek chipsets can play RMVB/RMB and almost everything that Sigma can play.

I got alot of various different format videos I'd like to be able to play. That would the main thing. Secondary things would be web browsing, I'm not sure what else these things could do. Would definitely want it to have a hard drive for storage.

 

[KK]

Ok, I broke down and bought one, right now I'm trying to figure out which hard drive to stick in it. any ideas on that, seems like the reviews over at newegg are hit and miss. would I want a slower rpm drive that runs cooler? I would think that onces it's reading, a 5400rpm drive and a 7200rpm drive would be about the same.

 

[Modelworks]

I like that it can use an internal drive and has wifi inside. Also passes DTSHD and Dolby HD. Too bad it is the 8655 chip though, netflix support would have made it perfect.

A 5400rpm drive is fine for a media player. The max for a blu-ray playback is only 6MB/sec and any SATA hard drive is 35MB/sec bare minimum.

 

[Modelworks]

I got alot of various different format videos I'd like to be able to play. That would the main thing. Secondary things would be web browsing, I'm not sure what else these things could do. Would definitely want it to have a hard drive for storage.

It will play all the formats listed in the specs but the files have to match those specs exactly. Media players have been getting a lot of negative comments from people expecting them to play anything a pc can and they cannot. They are designed to play the industry specs only and not ones that people have tweaked outside of the norm.

 

[Destiny]

I got alot of various different format videos I'd like to be able to play. That would the main thing. Secondary things would be web browsing, I'm not sure what else these things could do. Would definitely want it to have a hard drive for storage.

I know for sure it can't pay RMVB/RMB - it cannot see that file stored in my USB Device.

It can surf the web - but it doesn't support flash yet.

I like that it can use an internal drive and has wifi inside. Also passes DTSHD and Dolby HD. Too bad it is the 8655 chip though, netflix support would have made it perfect.

A 5400rpm drive is fine for a media player. The max for a blu-ray playback is only 6MB/sec and any SATA hard drive is 35MB/sec bare minimum.

Really? I didnt' know that... I bought a 7200 RPM Seagate HDD - but it was on sale and I got it for $39 for a TB at TigerDirect.

Ok, I broke down and bought one, right now I'm trying to figure out which hard drive to stick in it. any ideas on that, seems like the reviews over at newegg are hit and miss. would I want a slower rpm drive that runs cooler? I would think that onces it's reading, a 5400rpm drive and a 7200rpm drive would be about the same.

They are selling the Nixeus on new egg?:hmm:

 

[KK]

They are selling the Nixeus on new egg?:hmm:

Nah, hard drives.

 

[gigahertz20]

Anandtech is suppose to do a roundup of all the media players, I hope they do. I have a WD TV Live and a Popcorn Hour A-110 and so far my TV Live has not played back 3-4 movies and has had some glitchy video problems on several others. Whereas my popcorn hour has played back those same files fine. They both use Sigma processors so I'm guessing it's just firmware issues for the WD TV Live.

The WD TV Live is a good media player, but I wish Western Digital would push out more firmware updates to correct some of the issues, like it not wanting to play back movies that have dual audio tracks in mp4 files. The last firmware update was in March so I guess it's not a priority to them, just sell more units.

 

[Destiny]

Anandtech is suppose to do a roundup of all the media players, I hope they do. I have a WD TV Live and a Popcorn Hour A-110 and so far my TV Live has not played back 3-4 movies and has had some glitchy video problems on several others. Whereas my popcorn hour has played back those same files fine. They both use Sigma processors so I'm guessing it's just firmware issues for the WD TV Live.

The WD TV Live is a good media player, but I wish Western Digital would push out more firmware updates to correct some of the issues, like it not wanting to play back movies that have dual audio tracks in mp4 files. The last firmware update was in March so I guess it's not a priority to them, just sell more units.

I see 4 new firmwares on their website since I owned this media player. There have been quite a buzz about their support on other forums:
See here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1265806

Found it when I Googled Nixeus Fusion HD...:awe:

 

[KK]

question, do you format the drive before putting it in the nixeus box? Should have the drive tomorrow and the nixeus friday, I was curious about that.

 

[Modelworks]

question, do you format the drive before putting it in the nixeus box? Should have the drive tomorrow and the nixeus friday, I was curious about that.

You don't have to format the drive with any of the media players that use the sigma chipsets. They can read, Fat, Fat32, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3 . All your media will remain on the drive so you can just install an existing drive.
If you have a linux system use EXT3 format, it is actually somewhat faster on the boxes because the boxes run linux natively and use that as the native file system. With NTFS sometimes the box will be slow starting if the power was cut unexpectedly because the boxes take longer to run a check on the disk for errors.

 

[KK]

You don't have to format the drive with any of the media players that use the sigma chipsets. They can read, Fat, Fat32, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3 . All your media will remain on the drive so you can just install an existing drive.
If you have a linux system use EXT3 format, it is actually somewhat faster on the boxes because the boxes run linux natively and use that as the native file system. With NTFS sometimes the box will be slow starting if the power was cut unexpectedly because the boxes take longer to run a check on the disk for errors.

This would be a new drive I'm getting, so should I format it prior to sticking it in?

 

[Destiny]

This would be a new drive I'm getting, so should I format it prior to sticking it in?

I had an existing hard drive formated as NTFS and just popped it in and it work with no need to format...

I then bought a hard drive and installed it and the Nixeus gave me an option to format it as NTFS....

Does this answer your question?

 

[Destiny]

Ganesh from AnAndTech Reviewed this Media Player... Nice write up and nice review

Here is the link to his review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4206/nixeus-fusion-hd-review

They have a YoutTube Channel demonstrating some of the features and here is a new one they posted quoting all the reviews they got:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_qVp8Ri2A

 

[dclive]

Ganesh from AnAndTech Reviewed this Media Player... Nice write up and nice review

Here is the link to his review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4206/nixeus-fusion-hd-review

They have a YoutTube Channel demonstrating some of the features and here is a new one they posted quoting all the reviews they got:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_qVp8Ri2A

Why would one want this for $180 when one can get a Patriot Box Office for $45-ish and take advantage of VideoWall (Mede8er) and other nifty features?

 

[Destiny]

Why would one want this for $180 when one can get a Patriot Box Office for $45-ish and take advantage of VideoWall (Mede8er) and other nifty features?

I don't own a patriot box so I don't know... but from what I read the Patriot Box cannot do these features/functions that the Fusion HD can do: (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Dolby TrueHD Bitstreaming
DTS-Master Audio Bitstreaming
DTS-Master Audio Downmixing to Stereo
Supports both 3.5 and 2.5 internal HDD supporting up to 2 Tera-Bytes
eSATA port for faster file transfers
Includes Wireless-N adapter
SAMBA File sharing/streaming
Built-in Web Browser (No Flash Support)
No Need for transcoding software for streaming media playback
Bit-Perfect Device.
NAS -(With installed internal HDD) Media Server that can stream or transfer files to other media players, PCs, and devices (including Android phones)/tablets)
ShoutCast 2.0 Internet Radio (4000 stations)
Live365 Internet Radio (600 stations)
Supports up to 1080p60 (Patriot Box only does up to 1080p24)
Sigma Designs 8655 chipset = better picture quality than RealTek 1073 chipset (known fact)...
384MB DDR2 RAM (Patriot box only has 128MB)
and many other stuff...

Overall they both have their pluses and minuses... what works for me may not work for others... my advice is to get a media player that does what you need it for (no perfect media player for all)....

 

[dclive]

I don't own a patriot box so I don't know... but from what I read the Patriot Box cannot do these features/functions that the Fusion HD can do: (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Dolby TrueHD Bitstreaming
DTS-Master Audio Bitstreaming
DTS-Master Audio Downmixing to Stereo
Supports both 3.5 and 2.5 internal HDD supporting up to 2 Tera-Bytes
eSATA port for faster file transfers
Includes Wireless-N adapter
SAMBA File sharing/streaming
Built-in Web Browser (No Flash Support)
No Need for transcoding software for streaming media playback
Bit-Perfect Device.
NAS -(With installed internal HDD) Media Server that can stream or transfer files to other media players, PCs, and devices (including Android phones)/tablets)
ShoutCast 2.0 Internet Radio (4000 stations)
Live365 Internet Radio (600 stations)
Supports up to 1080p60 (Patriot Box only does up to 1080p24)
Sigma Designs 8655 chipset = better picture quality than RealTek 1073 chipset (known fact)...
384MB DDR2 RAM (Patriot box only has 128MB)
and many other stuff...

Overall they both have their pluses and minuses... what works for me may not work for others... my advice is to get a media player that does what you need it for (no perfect media player for all)....

It (PBO) does almost all of that, key feature being SMB mounts and ability to play just about any format natively (ie no transcoding).

I don't see the advantages to the $200 product. For example, the web browser in the product is horrible. The RAM point is academic. DTS-HD is nice, but how many really have 7.1 vs 5.1? etc...

PBO is _really_ slick with MediaWall and MEDE8ER firmware. Cool stuff. Takes an afternoon to set up, and best if your movies are in their own subfolders on your SMB share already (and best if you can download scraping tools for all the IMDB artwork, etc.) but overall, this is one very, very slick product!

 

[LikeLinus]

Where are you getting a Patrio Box Office for $45? Cheapest it shows on Froogle is in the $85-90 range.

 

[dclive]

It's all over slickdeals and the other deals websites - happens every month or two; don't know if it's happening now but it's very common.

 

[dclive]

Extensive editing done, so I thought I'd post again:

It (PBO) does almost all of that, key feature being SMB mounts and ability to play just about any format natively (ie no transcoding).

I don't see the advantages to the $200 product. For example, the web browser in the product is horrible. The RAM point is academic. DTS-HD is nice, but how many really have 7.1 vs 5.1? etc...

PBO is _really_ slick with MediaWall and MEDE8ER firmware. Cool stuff. Takes an afternoon to set up, and best if your movies are in their own subfolders on your SMB share already (and best if you can download scraping tools for all the IMDB artwork, etc.) but overall, this is one very, very slick product!