GUIDE TO WIRELESS MEDIA PLAYERS

D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player, Audio/Photo/Video, 802.11g

Manufacturer : D-Link
In Stock : 32

List Price:	$199.99
Price:	$125.00
You Save:	$74.99 (37%)

Features

Transfer Speeds Up to 54 Mbps
Supports all popular media formats
Allows you to access digital media content stored on your PC, browse your music files, watch your videos, and display your photos
Connects Wirelessly Using 802.11g or Via Ethernet
Compatible with Windows 98SE, Me, 2000 or XP

Product Description

D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player - The Wireless Media Player from D-Link merges your abundant digital entertainment collection on your PC, with the comfort and convenience of your living room. It's slim design fits into entertainment centers easily, and once attached to your TV, you can wirelessly stream your audio, photo, and video files. Navigation of your content is easy with D-Link's intuitive user interface and included remote control! Audio Compatibility - MP3, WMA, WAV,&Radio AOL Video Compatibility - MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, QuickTime,&XviD Image Compatibility - JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, GIF, BMP,&PNG

Customer Reviews

Average Rating of 3.00 out of 142 reviews

Rating :
Don't waste your money - Frank Garabo, Jun 23, 2008

D-Link DSM-320 Wireless Media Player, Audio/Photo/Video, 802.11g
This product appears to be running a linux-based OS, and will "crash" on any video file that is over 4 GB in size, and sometimes on smaller files. I was able to get a full refund after sending samples to their engineers who never fixed the problems. I replaced this unit with a LINKSYS WMCE54AG, which is a real Media Center Extender (and cost about $100 more) although it will randomly crash on occasion requiring a complete reboot by cycling power.

It should be noted that none of these units is supported on WINDOWS VISTA: in the inimitable Microsoft fashion, VISTA will only support the XBOX 360 as a media center extender. This is why I still run the XP version of Media Center edition and have refused to "upgrade" to VISTA.

Rating :
DSM 320 Media Player - David Cross, Jun 13, 2008

I bought the DMS 320 to use with Tversity to stream content from the internet to my TV. The 320 actually works pretty good. I can send video and audio via wireless and the picture is regular definition 640x480. The problem is there are only a few streaming channels that work with Tversity and the Dlink media server software only plays content that you have on your hard drive. The bottom line is if you have lots of movies or music on your PC this isn't a bad option for getting them to your TV or stereo. If you want to display streaming content especially flash, you'd be better off using a RF modulator and the S Video output of your video card (If your PC has Svideo out).

Rating :
Junk - Michael J. Taylor, May 24, 2008

This was recommended to me by a friend and I have to say it's the worst thing he ever suggested. I just took this thing out into the street and destroyed it. I never could get it to play music without stopping and starting and almost every time I turned it on the "No Server Found" message came up and I had to reset all the settings.

Rating :
Solid, fairly priced, entry level media player - Jay Banks, May 14, 2008

If you are expecting too much from the D-Link DSM-320, you will probably be disappointed. Having two of them now, it honestly rates around a 2.5 out of 5. It is frustrating because several popular formats won't play on it. It claims to play AVI files, but h.260, as well as a host of other popular versions of AVI and MP4 files will not play. The audio tends to get out of sync toward the end of a feature-length film, not to mention that the audio is too low anyway. Fast forward is quirky and rewind just flat out sucks, and the remote could be a little better. It is supposed to be wireless, but if your AP only runs in B mode, playback will be very choppy...but wired with a CAT-5 and using a short shot of wireless in G mode worked perfectly for me, even with both units playing at the same time. That said, I ditched the Windows software for Mediatomb running on Ubuntu linux, with Iriverter as my main encoder. It is possible to get a 90 minute film down to 800 MB +/- a hundred MB or so, and put 200 movies in two - three hundred gig. Even at that compression, video looks near-cable quality to cable quality, in my opinion. Animations and non-letterbox TV series look exceptionally good on my TV (not a large screen TV). Higher quality is certainly possible, but I was looking for the tightest compression that was still watchable. It is even possible to play back a VOB file (but if the VOB is in multiple parts, it will only play one part at a time). With all that said, it is hard to beat the price of the DSM-320 (just plan on getting some amplified speakers to go along with it to boost the audio). The trick with the DSM-320 is that you have to stick with an encoder that you know will work with it, like Nero Recode or the free and very easy to use, Iriverter. If you think you are going to just download and watch movies on your TV, you are in for a big disappointment, because 3 out 4 of them probably won't play. But if you stick with formats that you know will work on it, it will work well enough that you should feel you are getting your money's worth from it. I will say, for all of its suckage, I like it enough that I will probably get one more for another room in the future. You just have to 1) realize its faults when you order it. 2) Realize its price compared to other media players. 3) Realize that it is fairly priced for what it does...and if you aren't expecting too much from it, you will be very happy. Really, you can spend less than 100.00 dollars and in 30 - 45 minutes (or less), stream movies, MP3s, and jpgs to your TV. If you are a perfectionist or want HDTV, spend 200.00 to 300.00-plus on the higher-end stuff...just don't get a DSM-320 and then PMS over it, because that is what you will do if you are expecting too much from this entry level device. (And here is a hint: If the audio gets out of sync, hit rewind and then play, and it usually re-syncs, or at least it does for me).

Rating :
Great Media Player with the right router! - M. Grant, Apr 27, 2008

My wife fell in love with this thing instantly. It was purchased for our daughter, so that she would be able to watch her shows that we had recorded, there are more than a few. After the first week my wife wanted to throw the thing out the window! It would lock up on her constantly, or show jerky video, all things that had been mentioned by previous reviewers. However, I discovered that I was using an older wireless g router that was just barely able to keep up with the transmission/ reception demands required by this player to work well. I upgraded my router to a trendnet TEW-633GR (I was also waffling on the idea of a D-Link DIR-633). I chose such a powerful little router specifically to be able to handle multiple heavy load requests from either the player or from my other computers. Since the successful installation of my router I have had nothing but constant and consistant play on this machine.
Pros: no wires. no moving parts. connects to entire library. After firmware upgrade will play all movies directly from my NAS Buffalo Linkstation Live.
Cons: I can't stand the menus!
Other thoughts: If its not connecting the way you would like, then you may need to upgrade your router.
ENJOY!

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