GUIDE TO WIRELESS MEDIA PLAYERS

D-Link DSM-520 MediaLounge Wireless HD Media Player

Manufacturer : D-Link
In Stock : 28

List Price:	$249.99
Price:	$169.99
You Save:	$80.00 (32%)

Features

Effortlessly streams your media from your computer to your home entertainment system
High-definition video playback with digital surround sound
Enjoy Internet radio and downloaded content from premium online services
Access media directly from USB drives
Supports Windows Connect Now technology

Product Description

Experience the high-definition difference with the D-Link MediaLounge Wireless HD Media Player. Stream music, photos and high-definition videos to your home entertainment system and connect it using either 802.11g Wireless or wired Ethernet. The DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player supports your favorite media formats, including high-definition video in either Windows Media Video 9 or MPEG-4 format. Enjoy videos with resolutions of up to 1080i from your high-definition television for the best picture quality. For compatible television systems, the DSM-520 features a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection. Other video connectors include component, S-video, and composite output, ensuring compatibility with virtually all televisions. The DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player includes a USB 2.0 port in the front panel for instant access to music, photos, and videos stored on removable USB flash drives or hard drives. A built-in Setup Wizard makes setting up the DSM-520 simple. Configuring the wireless settings is made even easier with Windows Connect Now. Simply run the Wireless Network Setup Wizard from Windows XP SP2 and transfer the wireless settings to the DSM-520 using a USB flash drive. A sleek 17-inch black aluminum chassis with smoked mirror front panel houses the DSM-520. Audio Playlist Formats - M3U and PLS / Supported Subtitle Format - SRT Outputs - HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), Component Video, Coax Digital Audio, Optical Digital Audio, Composite Audio and Video & S-Video / Certifications - FCC, CSA and CE Dimensions - Length 16.75 x Width 11.25 x Height 1.5 inch / Weight - 5.5 poundsPackage Contents - D-Link DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player / Printed Install Guide / CD-ROM (Contains D-Link Media Server Software, Install Guide, and Manual) / 2dBi Wireless Antenna / Ethernet (CAT5-UTP/Straight-Through) Cable/ Standard Composite RCA Audio/Video Cable / S-Video Cable / Remo

Amazon.com Product Description

All your videos, photos, and music on the big screen. Sound like a good idea? The folks at D-Link have made it easy with the DSM-520 MediaLounge Wireless HD Media Player. And when it comes to video, this device kicks it up a serious notch by supporting HD video streams

Good looks on the outside, and the power to deliver all your media -- including HD video -- from your computer to your home entertainment system. See a detailed view.

The DSM-520 is ready to handle most major media formats.
-- delivered directly from your computer to your home entertainment system. Enjoy all your digital content from the comfort of the living room with the DSM-520 -- and do it all wirelessly, as the device supports high-speed 802.11g wireless technology. Of course, you can also use a wired ethernet connection if you like.

Formats Galore
Thanks to the DSM-520's support for a wide range of media formats, it's ready to handle virtually all of your media, including high-definition video in either Windows Media Video 9 or MPEG-4 format. Enjoy videos with resolutions of up to 1080i from your high-definition television for the best picture quality. Plus, D-Link has partnered with premium online service providers to offer access to a vast array of online radio stations and music download services. You can use the Windows Media Connect feature of Window XP SP2 to playback files protected by Windows Media Digital Rights Management (WMDRM) on the DSM-520. Or, access your entire library of premium downloaded songs and videos directly from the device.

The DSM-520 integrates seamlessly into your home network and entertainment system. View larger.
Picture Perfect
For compatible television systems, the DSM-520 features a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connection. HDMI offers a pure digital connection for both audio and video. Other video connectors include component, S-video, and composite output, ensuring compatibility with virtually all televisions. Meanwhile, optical and coax audio connectors provide clear digital output and support surround sound when used with a compatible A/V receiver. Enjoy your entire music library in high fidelity from your home entertainment system, rather than from your PC speakers.

Good Looks and Expandability
A sleek 17-inch black aluminum chassis with smoked mirror front panel houses the DSM-520, and the stylish unit blends in perfectly with your other home entertainment devices, making your home theater setup complete. Plus, the DSM-520 includes a USB 2.0 port in the front panel for instant access to music, photos, and videos stored on removable USB flash drives or hard drives. Simply insert a USB drive filled with photos into the DSM-520 to showcase them on your home entertainment center. You can also attach a USB hard drive to expand the storage capabilities of the DSM-520. Your stored files on the USB drive can be easily accessed from the unit's user-friendly interface.

Easy Setup
A built-in Setup Wizard makes setting up the DSM-520 simple. Configuring the wireless settings is made even easier with Windows Connect Now. Simply run the Wireless Network Setup Wizard from Windows XP SP2, and transfer the wireless settings to the DSM-520 using a USB flash drive.

What's in the Box
DSM-520 Wireless HD Media Player, remote control (2 AAA batteries included), ethernet cable, A/V composite cable, S-video cable, detachable Antenna, CD-ROM with software and manual, and quick installation guide.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating of 3.00 out of 76 reviews

Rating :
Really average... - P. Piazza, Jun 30, 2008

Well within one hour of setting it up, and against my better judgement, I agreed to the prompted firmware upgrade and about 8% through it froze and 30 minutes later it still did not progress. I shut the unit off by pulling the plug as the on-off switch and reset would not work. It never started again...completely fried...not even a light came on. I got D-Link to agree to send me a new unit (I had to pay for shipping the fried unit to them). About a week later I did get the unit up and running. I even gambled and did the firmware upgrade. I was never able to get the Active-TV feature to work on the replacement unit...ugh! I really wish that I had gotten a PC-on-TV media player instead. Anyway, it has very good resolution and does what it is supposed to do (except for the Active-TV). I got it so I could watch Vongo Movies downloaded on my PC...FF and Rewind don't work. You have to use Windows Media Player 11 as the Media Server because the movies ar protected licensed copies requiring a subscription to view them. I really see no advantage of having this over having a unit that allows you to use your TV as your PC Monitor. I think that you can do everything the DSM-520 can do and more...like access all your programs, too. I had much higher hopes for this media player and it really fell way short of my expectations.

Rating :
works great. - R. Bayers, Jun 08, 2008

This product works great. Maybe the reason people have problems is because they are streaming a file from their computer to their router wirelessly, then streaming it from the router to the dsm520 wirelessly. I have my pc connected to my router with a wire, so there is only 1 wireless step (from the router to the dsm520) so I have no streaming problems. As long as you have your network setup correctly, this works great in another room nearly 40 feet away. I considered the DPG1200 because it streams your entire computer screen and has a nice scroll ball on the remote, but it does not have a usb port like the dsm520 (which is great to just hook a big usb hard drive to, then you dont have to worry about streaming through the network at all.) unfortunately you can't get the past the setup screen and use the USB port until the dsm520 recognizes a network of some kind. So you can't just use it for the usb port to play video files unless a network of some sort is around. But it works fine, one back thing is you can only fast forward your videos with one speed. But it has a great picture in picture mode so you can browse files and still watch/listen, and a nice info button which shows the file info (lenght, bit rate, screen size). highly recommended do to what it does.

Rating :
Awesome Wireless Media Player !!!! - A. Gordon, Jun 04, 2008

After years of downloading from newsgroups, I've amassed a library of thousands of hours of music, videos, movies, etc, and I was tired of having to sit at my computer to watch my media files. That said, I decided to take the plunge and get a wireless media player.

The Apple TV aside, there is a lot of such products on the market, and I was afraid that whatever I chose would be a pain to use. Anyway, let me get straight to the point. This product rocks. First up, I used an open source (i.e. Free !!) media server (TVersity) as the media server. Every review I read states that the software out of the box is a piece of junk.

Once I had the media server software set up, I pointed it to all my media files. Then when I received the DSM-520, I installed it, turned it on, and it found my PC no problem. If you have Microsoft's Firewall (or any firewall running you must either disable it or configure it to allow the DSM-520 to communicate with the media server software (I just turn mine off)). Additionally, I am not using wireless, so I didn't have to go through the hassle of setting up the wireless encryption key.

Initially, the DSM-520 wouldn't play a few video files (not supported formats I suppose), and DVD VOB files didn't have sound. However, upon first reboot of the machine, it told me that there was an update available. After installing the update, DVD VOB files played perfectly, and the number of incompatibilites reduced dramatically.

For video files that wouldn't play, I used AVS Video Converter to convert them to AVI files and they played perfectly.

You'll need to spend about 30 minutes learning to use all the features that comes with the remote, but I was amazed at all the features and capabilities of this product:

1. If you surf to another media file while playing a media file, it remembers where you left off and offers to resume playback if you go back to the original file you interrupted.
2. You can fast forward through media using the FF/RR key (for slower jumps), and Pgup/Pgdwn for faster jumps.
3. The Picture in Picture is very handy to surf your library while running a media file.
4. One button access to Photo/Music/Video files.
5. Many video files that appear so so on your PC, looks like DVD quality on the TV. DOn't ask me why, it just does.
6. You can customize the device to stream content from the Internet.

For larger households you could get, 3 or 4 of these things for different TV sets, and/or a stereo system. This device has tremendous potential.

My only beef with this product is this: How much trouble would it be to have a decent DVD player software included in the firmware? I mean, yes, it plays DVD VOB files fine, but you can't navigate the DVD files on disk as you would a DVD player (i.e. menu, jump to chapters, etc.).

I paid $[...] at Tiger Direct and thought I got an excellent deal. WIth Rebate, Amazon has it for $[...]. Nuff said.

So if you're sitting on a fence and not sure what product to get.... D-Link DSM-520 will not be a disappointment. Just don't forget to update the firware immediately after setup. Great job D-Link!!!!

Rating :
Lousy performance - Justin Fink, Jun 04, 2008

I bought this product back in December '07 and have yet to get it to work properly. The player is very slow and loses signal, or has to re-buffer constantly. It can't even get through an entire song without stopping a couple of times, then it just freezes and requires a restart. I've installed the newest firmware, but that hasn't fixed anything. Customer support assumes that I'm an idiot and that it's my fault that the media player isn't working right. It'll sometimes let me stream Rhapsody music through it, but then decides to stop working. The USB port works only periodically as well. Wish I would have taken this back a long time ago.

Rating :
Best electronic product I've ever bought - Matthew Gisonno, May 20, 2008

Hands down best product I've ever bought. Do not use the software that came with the hardware... simply use windows media player as the media server and then you can shut down windows media player and never open it again, but you'll be able to see all your newly downloaded movies, pictures, music, etc.

I read all the bad reviews and was mad after ordering this product, but once I received it, that quickly changed. Setup was a breeze, it noticed my network right away, entered my network key and it was right online. I read about the slow remote respond time... it's slow... but not THAT slow... gez people. The HD picture is awesome, start up time is a little slow, but not more than 20 - 30 seconds from boot to watching a movie.

My pictures look great, plays all my music, and I've just started watching XVID's and it works great. I was skeptical about how it would play movies over the network, but it streams them flawlessly. I do have a friend who bought the same model and his unit is farther away from his router and reports low network connectivity. Hope this helps.

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