Movie Jukebox ft. YAMJ - Demo

Get a sneak peek demo of the Movie Jukebox ft. YAMJ at our exhibitions currently going on in Singapore (SITEX 2009) and Netherlands (HME 2009). In Singapore, the AC Ryan booth has been running the demo since today (Saturday), while in Netherlands we’ll be running the demo tomorrow (Sunday).

Ever since the launch of Playon!HD way back in June 2009, Movie Jukebox was one of the most requested feature. What a movie jukebox does is show you picture thumbnails of movies, when you select it, you see a short description and simply press again to play. This is a more pictorial view of movies compared to a browser list – well, more fun!

When deciding how to add this function, we managed to hook up with the YAMJ Team. For those who do not yet know who/what is YAMJ… YAMJ is short for Yet Another Movie Jukebox. A clever piece of program running on your computer designed to search your harddisk for movies and find the relevant movie photos and information from the internet, automatically. Started as a small project, it has grown to become a favorite Movie Jukebox program, with a strong reputation and a solid team. The YAMJ project is opensource and more development is still going on.

What do we mean “hooked up with the YAMJ Team”? Instead of re-coding our own Movie Jukebox, why not work with the YAMJ guys! It cuts double work, supports opensource community, and gives Playon!HD users a great application. It’s a no-brainer win-win-win partnership. That’s what we did, and the YAMJ guys are more than supportive! Thanks again. And by working with the YAMJ Team, Playon!HD users can enjoy more improvements and more developments from the YAMJ Team that has made YAMJ such a success!

After exchanging some information and some coding, we are happy to say the Movie Jukebox is almost ready. So what this means is that you would run YAMJ on your computer which searches your Playon!HD for movie files, gathers pictures and information from the internet and puts them into your Playon!HD, automatically. Each time you add movies, simply run YAMJ again on your computer and your Playon!HD Movie Jukebox will be updated. cool eh? Thank the YAMJ guys.

At the exhibitions, we’ve prepared 12 movie trailers as a demonstration, so you can see the Movie Jukebox working on Playon!HD. Can’t wait to have it? We ask for a bit of patience while our programmers finish up the final parts. We appreciate your understanding, thanks for the support.

C’mon down to our exhibitions and check out the Movie Jukebox ft. YAMJ demo. Watch out for its release soon, coming to a Playon!HD near you!

Playon! Tshirt @ HME 2009

Playon! Tshirt is out now, premiering at the HME 2009 exhibition in Netherlands. Head on down to our AC Ryan booth to grab the limited Playon! Tshirt before they are gone! For those not in Netherlands, worry not… you’ll find them available soon at our resellers, playonhd.com, acryan.com/forums, and in community forums.

The Playon! Tshirt features the simple and clear PLAYON! graphic, an expression of our view towards life in general – keep it simple, keep it clear, and play on. The left and right sleeve each feature the two Playon! productlines Playon!HD [play] www.playonhd.com and Playon!DVR [record + play] www.playondvr.com. Back of the Tshirt sports the “AC Ryan Empowering the Data Generation”, the powerhouse engine behind Playon! ;). This design is chosen by our forum members in a poll of three designs earlier this year.

Playon!

Skinz your Playon!

That’s right, Skinz your little black box Playon!HD :) The very first Full HD Mediaplayer with Skinz!

Playon! Skinz is a high quality surface adhesive to easily change the look of your Playon!HD. The Playon!HD is a stylish neutral black and has gained a reputation for its styling, users sometimes refer to it affectionately as "Little Black Box". The Black styling fits all furnishing and home decor, stands quietly elegant in any living room.

Well, sometimes the individualistic spirit in us would like to break out and shout to the world, have something a little different. Perhaps for styling reaons, perhaps to feed the rebel spirit in us - some of us are rebels all our lives, some are rebels for a day :) - or perhaps simply just for that touch of difference.

We've created Skinz to be removable and non-tearable. So you can easily put it on, and take it off. It's actually very uncomplex simple fun, try it!

Playon! Skinz is making its surprise debut launch at the exhibitions and is shipping with immediate effect. Orders can be placed at the exhibitions and will be available for purchase from next week online and in retail on www.playonhd.com as well as Playon! Reseller internationally (check Playon!HD where to buy).

Playon! Skinz - skinz your Playon!HD
Created speciailly for you to personalise your Playon!HD
- Easy to put on in less than 1 minute
- Simply remove Skinz backing paper
- Paste Skinz onto your Playon!HD
- If a mistake is made, just remove and retry
- Removable and changeable anytime
- Choose from a variety of designs
- This Skinz is specially for Playon!HD (ACR-PV73100)

FREE Playon! Skinz Offer - when you get your Playon!HD at our exhibitions happening in Singapore (SITEX 2009) and Netherlands (HME 2009), you'll get the Playon! Skinz FREE - pick from one of the limited designs (while stock lasts). Be sure to Skinz it, post a pic and show the world your Skinz'd Playon!HD.

Playon!HD at SITEX 2009 Singapore

The SITEX 2009 exhibition kicks off in Singapore in a couple of hours. Our Singapore Team will be welcoming you to the AC Ryan booth, demonstrating Playon! products and answering your questions. It’s also a great chance for you to see for yourself why Playon!HD is the Best Mediaplayer 2009 (recently crowned in Playon!’s homeground of The Netherlands) and winning awards everywhere. In addition, Playon!DVR TV will also be present. As usual, there will be great prices and cool offers… Free Playon! Skinz, Free Discount Vouchers, check them out here : Playon!HD Sitex Offer, Playon!DVR TV Sitex Offer.

Hold on! Did we just say Skinz? What’s that? Well it’s one of the range of Playon! Accessories making its debut at the exhibition. We’ll post news to launch the Playon! Skinz here, so watch out for it. Or better yet, if you are in Singapore, be sure to head on down to the show to see it for yourself in person.

SITEX 2009 – Singapore Expo - 26-29 Nov (Thur-Sun)
AC Ryan booth : Hall 5 Booth 5D60

Playon!HD at HME 2009 Netherlands

For the first time, both our Singapore and Netherlands team are simultaneously in action! The Home Multimedia Entertainment (HME) 2009 kicks off in Netherlands on Friday. HME is the yearly event to see, feel, touch and bring home the cool and the wannahave stuff. Playon!HD is having the honors of exhibiting as the Best Mediastreamer 2009, awarded by HME. The award will be handed out on Friday evening at the event.

Having won the award does not mean we sit still… on the contrary, the award inspires us to do even more, knowing we can count on your support to have a good time together. Test drive the latest firmware, talk to the Playon! guys, ask your questions, and when you like it, bring a Playon!HD home with you for a cool price. Check out the Playon!HD HME Offer. If you’re wondering what the FREE Playon! Skinz is… watch out for the Playon! Skinz launch news right here in this couple of days or better still head down to the HME and see it for yourself!

In addition, you’ll also be able to feel for yourself the total experience of Playon!HD + the great sound of Harman Kardon audio equipment (much thanks to Harman Kardon, also an HME Award winner). It’s all happening at the Wifimedia booth (Wifimedia is our Playon! Official Reseller). Don’t miss it.

HME 2009 – Jaarbeurs, Utrecht (Netherlands) | 27-29 November (Fri-Sun)
Wifimedia booth : Hall 7 Booth A035

Playon! Reseller family serving 27 countries and expanding

The Official Playon! Reseller family is now serving 27 countries (and still expanding).

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam

In addition to the current 27, Cyprus, Greece, Israel and New Zealand will also be added soon.

Every Playon! Reseller you find on our Where To Buy page has been selected – dedication to customer service, extensive mediaplayer experience, or leaders in the market with innovative products like Playon!HD – each is a quality reseller in their own right.

If you don’t see your country in the Where To Buy list, don’t worry, we are still expanding – you can also help it along by suggesting Playon!HD to your favorite local shop / webshop, or emailing us to tell us your local shop / webshop at rotterdam@acryan.com. You can always get your hands on the Playon!HD from our Buy Now which ships internationally from 3 global locations.

Playon!HD shipping

Playon!HD has been expanding - this Playon!HD shipment is the largest to date. It also marks the first time Playon!HD is shipping to users & resellers from its central stock locations in 3 continents :

Asia : from Singapore to users/resellers in Asia. Shipments from Singapore has already gone out to users/resellers last week.

Europe : from Netherlands to Europe & Rest of the World. Shipments from The Netherlands have just arrived in Rotterdam, some has gone out today and some will go out on Monday.

North America : from USA to users/resellers in USA & Canada (new with “Playon!HD comes to USA” Celebrations),  Shipments from USA will ship out from Ohio, USA next Tuesday.

If you have an order with us and have a shipment date for this shipment, you have or will receive an email from us today and Monday regarding your shipment.

Despite our efforts to ship the largest shipment to date, the Playon! yet again exceeded all expectations (our expectations as well as our reseller’s expectations) – we are sold out (again). In previous shipments, even our resellers are sold out, some within hours. This time, the good news for some of you is that our resellers are not yet sold out (ie. according to our last check – so if you and your friends are planning to get Playon!HD, hurry to our resellers (currently 27 countries and expanding), listed on Playon!HD Where To Buy and check resellers in your country.

If your reseller is already sold out too, or if there’s no reseller in your country, worry not… NEXT DELIVERY : 1st WEEK SEPTEMBER. Yes, this is our honest, clear & direct answer on shipping date. If in doubt, always contact our Rotterdam Team rotterdam@acryan.com for a friendly "straight-up" answer. Tip : Buy now, don't wait for it to arrive. Since the 1st shipment started on 10 June 2009, all the 7 shipments successfully sold, shipped & received by happy new Playon!HD owners all over the world :) have been snapped up before their arrival or within hours of arrival. This despite our doubling/tripling of shipment quantity with each shipment. We appreciate your enthusiasm and understanding. Playon!

Tweakers.net Review says interesting player

Tweakers.net – Netherland’s largest online gathering of the dutch community dedicated to computer talk – checks out Playon!HD. The Tweakers.net review says interesting player for anyone planning to buy Realtek processor-based mediaplayer.

“The player can host a 3.5 " hdd which nowadays are available with up to 2TB capacity and the price per GB drops further, where the available storage capacity meets the needs of space-consuming media files. Moreover, the finishing on the casing is good, the interface with the Realtek fast processor is smooth and the player gets to ‘ready for use’ fast.”

Check out the full review here: (dutch) http://tweakers.net/reviews/1351/ac-ryan-playon!hd-review.html
Google Translation English:  http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://tweakers.net/reviews/1351/1/ac-ryan-playon!hd-review-pagina-1.html

Playon!HD comes to USA

From mid August onwards, Playon!HD starts shipping from within USA. As part of the **Playon!HD comes to USA** Celebrations, we are giving all USA users FREE USA SHIPPING !!

FREE USA SHIPPING Aug/Sep
All new orders in August and September on our Playon!HD Buy Now USA will automatically enjoy FREE USA SHIPPING !! Check it out!

SHIPPING REFUND for pre-paid orders awaiting delivery

If you have already have a pre-order with us for shipping to USA, you will be receiving an email from us informing you of this great news, and informing you that we will be refunding your pre-paid shipping cost of US$20! Isn’t that great news? Tell everyone how happy you are ;)

First USA Playon!HD Official Reseller
We are also happy to welcome GizmoDaddy.com to the Playon! family as the first USA Official Reseller for Playon!HD. GizmoDaddy.com - a family owned and operated online retailer based in Missouri, USA - has been specially chosen for their vast experience with media players and especially for their dedication to supporting their customers. Try them, you’ll know what we mean. GizmoDaddy.com is also offering the **Playon!HD comes to USA** Celebrations FREE USA SHIPPING.

More Resellers soon
We hope to welcome more quality USA resellers soon in the Playon! family. If our progress with resellers internationally is an indication, the USA reseller family will be growing comfortably fast! If you want your favorite shop/webshop to offer the Playon!HD, tip them to contact us for our simple hassle-free quality reseller program.

More …

If it’s just a free shipping offer, we would have called it just that. **Playon!HD comes to USA** is more than that. It begins Playon!HD’s activities in USA – resellers, news / reviews, community activities. This has been made possible thanks to the tremendous support we have received everyone from USA, incl. USA Playon!HD owners. Your comments, suggestions, enthusiastic support, and encouragement has fueled the Playon!HD growth. Also a big thanks to GizmoDaddy.com’s contribution in making **Playon!HD comes to USA** a reality.

With this new addition, Playon!HD now ships to users & resellers from 3 global locations : Ohio, USA | Singapore (for Asia Pacific) | Rotterdam, The Netherlands (for Europe & International). We are looking forward to bringing you more exciting news.

TIP: Join our The Price Is Right Contest (click the US$ flag to guess the US$ price), now extended to be a monthly contest, and you might win your own Playon!HD.

Playon! Showroom welcomes Harman Kardon

Playon! Showroom / User Test Center welcomes Harman/Kardon’s support. When we told Harman (the guys behind the great speaker/receiver brands of JBL and Harman/Kardon) about our plans to refurbish our showroom and also run a series of FullHD Video & HD Audio tests, they gladly sent down their equipment to complete our Home Theater setup – their top of the line AVR355 7.1 A/V Receiver, and their HKTS-11b 5.1 Home Cinema Speaker System (Netherland’s best selling 5.1 Home Theater Cinema System). With these equipment connected to the Playon!HD, the full HD Audio sound is breathtaking!

Showroom Demo – If you are living near Rotterdam, or planning to visit Rotterdam, why not drop by with your files and hear them in the full home theater feel the Playon!HD and Harman Kardon 7.1 experience.

User Tests – The Harman Kardon AVR355 7.1 A/V Receiver is equipped with HDMI and does DTS and Dolby decoding incl. DTS / DTS-HD / Dolby AC3 / Dolby TrueHD. So we are now able to expand our “Test your File” program to talso est your 7.1 files for you!

Here’s the equipment :

1. Harman Kardon AVR355 7.1 A/V Receiver/Amp with HDMI / DTS-HD / Dolby True-HD
7 x 65W 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver With HDMI™ 1.3a Repeater, Audio/Video Processing and Upscaling to 1080p
The AVR 355 includes a full complement of Dolby® and DTS® processing technologies, HDMI™ repeater capability, Faroudja DCDi Cinema® processing, EzSet/EQ™ equalization, and Zone II and A-BUS® multiroom capability. It connects to a universe of digital and analog sources, as well as to external amps. And with The Bridge II docking station, it will even play, control and charge your iPod. To ensure that everything works together seamlessly, the AVR 355 features a full-color graphical user interface and an eight-device programmable remote. Harman Kardon® founder Dr. Sidney Harman has always believed technology should serve users, not intimidate them. The AVR 355 is a perfect case in point.

2. Harman Kardon HKTS-11b 5.1 Home Cinema Speaker System
Netherland’s Bestselling 5.1 Home Cinema Speaker System, the HKTS 11 home cinema system combines a 10-inch, 200-watt subwoofer with magnetically shielded, two-way center channel and satellite speakers. Advanced features include a line-level Sub/LFE input, music-sensing on/off and a multicolor LED power indicator. Wall-mount brackets for the satellite speakers are included.

3. Harman Kardon HKTS-2b 2.1 Speaker System (3 sets)
same as the 5.1 system, but with 2 satellites instead of 4, and no center.

4. Harman Kardon HKS-4b Satellite Surround Speakers
Recommended amplifier power: 10 - 120 watts
Impedance: 8 ohms
Efficiency: 86 dB @ 1 watt / 1 meter
Frequency response (-6dB): 105 Hz - 20 kHz
Tweeter: 1 x 19mm chassis, with video shielding
Midrange: 2 x 75mm chassis, with video shielding

We welcome all your questions about the Harman Kardon equipment and Playon!HD, also questions like how to connect up Playon!HD to typical a/v receivers in a home theater setup. Join us here in our forums - http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1328

Gadget3 gives Playon!HD a Hot Deal Award

Previously Gadget3, Singapore’s cool gadgets lifestyle magazine, has awarded Playon!HD the Spectacular Award in a test of 8 mediaplayer. They liked it so much that, this time they’ve picked the Playon!HD as a featured product in their August issue, with a Hot Deal Award! nice. Here’s Gadget3’s verdict on Playon!HD :

“This media player covers response time, fuss free accessibility to files and a pleasant display menu that doesn’t overwhelm the user.”

http://cid-454a6850f2afc553.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Playon!HD%20Reviews/ACR-PV73100-Gadget3Hotdealarticle.jpg

The Price is Right Contest continues… now Monthly!

The Price is Right Contest which launched the Playon!HD in June has been so enthusiastically supported by everyone – users came from over 60 countries :) nice! Thanks to the great response, and user suggestions on our forums/email to keep the Price is Right contest going, we’re now extending the Price is Right Contest now to a Monthly contest. Yes, every month a chance to win a Playon!HD. If you tick the “Yes, I would like to receive AC Ryan Newsletter”, we will even include you automatically every month in the contest draw to win the Playon!HD. If however, you prefer not to receive our newsletter, you will be entered for this month’s contest. You are of course welcome check back in every month to enter.

What’s great too is… as Playon!HD expands its network into more countries, we’ll be opening up more currency version of The Price is Right contest eg. Norwegian Krone (hint hint). More chances to win! Well get in the Playon! spirit, spin those numbers, win win win and have fun with us :) http://www.playonhd.com/en/#win

Playon!HD Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor – Order starts now

It's finally ready. We've finally completed testing Wireless-N 300mbps with Playon!HD. We are starting the process to produce them and so everything is finalised and confirmed, expected shipping is early September.

From today, the Wireless-N 300mbps is up on the Buy Now page on PlayonHD.com for orders, at €29,- for Europe (for other regions/currencies please check the website – please remember to choose your region : Europe / USA & Canada / Russia / Singapore / Asia / International

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Playon!HD Owners
We know from your emails, there's plenty of Playon!HD users waiting for this  You would have / will be receiving an email offering you FREE SHIPPING. If you have not received the email, worry not. All you have to do is order your Wireless-N USB Adaptor on PlayonHD.com Buy Now and type in your Playon!HD Serial Number in the Promotion Code. You can find the Serial Number of your Playon!HD at the back of your player.

The FREE SHIPPING ships everywhere, to every country.

While this FREE SHIPPING offer is valid on our website, feel free to check with your reseller. Resellers are expected to have the Playon!HD Wireless-N 300mbps option too and each reseller may have a different offer.

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Playon!HD Soon-to-be Owners
You've placed an order with us, waiting for available Playon!HD to ship. As Playon!HD "soon-to-be" user, you can add the Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor. Simply place an order for the Wireless-N 300mbps on our PlayonHD.com website and type in your Playon!HD Order Reference Number as the Promotion Code. The Order form will automatically calculate FREE SHIPPING. You can proceed to make payment. Whether the player and the Wireless-N 300mbps ships together or ships separately - you do not have to worry, there are no extra shipping charges. You can find the your Playon!HD Order Reference Number in the email you received from us confirming your Playon!HD order (the number starts with "074").

If you have ordered with our resellers, check with them for the Playon!HD Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor.In any case, you can ask your questions here too - we are here to help.

==========
New Orders
We’ve received emails from some of you guys, waiting for our Wireless-N 300mbps to be ready to order your Playon!HD… well, go right ahead. While the est. shipping date of the Wireless-N 300mbps is expected to be early September, if your Playon!HD is ready for you before that, we’ll ship your Playon!HD first and the Wireless-N 300mbps in early Sept, with no extra cost at all. Whether the player and the Wireless-N 300mbps ships together or ships separately - you do not have to worry, there are no extra shipping charges.

==========
When ordering the Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor, you can also add Diskje 4GB / 8GB / 16GB and still enjoy free shipping. I'm "pimping" the Diskje because I personally like it very much for its supersmall / superthin size convenience, also worry-free with shockproof and waterproof. I'm listening to music in my car and at home with it (beats a CD anyday), carrying videos with it too. Ok, enough pimping...

back to Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor...

Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor (Optional)

Stream wireless between your network and Playon!HD with the latest and fastest Wireless-N - convenience of network without wires, and yet with fast transmission! That's Wireless-N 300mbps!

Plug-n-Play with Playon!HD
802.11n/b/g
Receive up to 300Mbps (from Network to Playon!HD)
Transmit up to 150mbps (from Playon!HD to Network)
Security keys supported :
WEP (64/128-bit), WPA/WPA2, WPA/WPA2-TKIP (with IEEE 802.1xx), WPA/WPA2-AES (with IEEE 802.1xx)
Supports WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) for easy wireless security setup
Supports WMM (WiFi MulitMedia)
Supports Infrastructure mode (connect to Routers)
Supports Ad-hoc mode (connect peer-to-peer with PC)
USB2.0 / 1.1
Can also be used as Wireless-N 300mbps USB Adaptor for your PC/Notebook

Buy Now Links:

• English : http://www.playonhd.com/en/#buynow
• Dutch : http://www.playonhd.com/nl/#buynow
• Italian : (coming sooner than you think)

* please remember to choose your region Europe / USA & Canada / Russia / Singapore / Asia / International

If you have any questions,

• Email / MSN : rotterdam@acryan.com
• Forum : http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1267

MPCClub review says “Buy it!”

MPCClub – those who have been following mediplayers would have read an MPCClub review at one time or another. The granddaddy of mediaplayer reviews, MPCClub has been reviewing mediaplayer before mediaplayers started finding a place in homes. Many, many players have come and gone through their reviewer’s hands. So, are we thrilled with what the MPCClub review said about Playon!HD ?… two words : “You bet!” :)

“As for the PlayON! HD player itself, I liked it. It is a good player with a lot going for it. If you are looking for a straight up Movie player that will play most formats thrown at it, then look no further the PlayOn! HD can certainly do that. I was impressed by the smoothness of the playback and the colour reproduction, the contrast was spot on and negated any adjustments to my panel settings, which is a sign of a good player… So back to my first Conclusion paragraph, how do I sum the player up in a number of paragraphs, I don’t. I sum it up in two words:“Buy it!””

Read the extensive full review here: http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=799

Techzine.nl says “very good network mediaplayer”

Techzine.nl, the Dutch internet and technology news portal, checks out Playon!HD. Here’s what they’ve got to say about it.

English Translation - “The Playon!HD is in many aspects a very good network mediaplayer. Support for formats and codecs is excellent, the interface excels in simplicity and everything is packaged in a casing with very clean and elegant form, that certainly feels right at home next to your HDTV set ... what AC Ryan PlayOn! have done is to put a very competitive HD network media player on the market with a good price / quality ratio. The PlayOn! HD is currently available for an amount of 149 euro and that is a bargain if you look at what this device offers.

Oiginal Dutch text - “De PlayOn!HD is in veel opzichten een zeer goede netwerkmediaspeler. De ondersteuning voor formaten en codecs is uitstekend, de interface blinkt uit in eenvoud en dit alles is verpakt in een zeer strakke behuizing die niet misstaat naast je HDTV…Desondanks zet AC Ryan met de PlayOn!HD een zeer concurrende netwerkmediaspeler op de markt met een degelijke prijs/kwaliteitverhouding. De PlayOn!HD is op het moment verkrijgbaar voor een bedrag van 149 euro en dat is een koopje als je kijkt naar wat dit apparaat biedt.”

Read the full article here:
Original article in Dutch: http://www.techzine.nl/reviews/652/1 
Google Translation in English : http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http://www.techzine.nl/reviews/652/1&sl=nl&tl=en&history_state0=

Playon! is going online and needs your help!

Help us with your favorite sites – fill up our survey form. We are conducting a survey to collect a huge list of favorite sites from all over the world, and users of different age sex and age group. From this, we can check out the cool sites you want to see on the Playon! - Video sites, Photo sites, Internet Radio, Podcast, News Portals, Torrent sites, RSS Feeds and more! Please do make it a point to fill in your Age group, Sex and country. Because every country has its favorite radio stations, every age group has its favorite music sites and every sex has its favorite websites, we would like to make sure we’ve got sites for everyone.

So if you want to see your favorite Dutch video portal, French news sites or your Russian internet radio in the Playon! … what are you waiting for? Fill in the survey form, tell us! We are listening,

TIP: Tell your friends to come fill in the survey too!!

Tell us now! http://www.acryan.com/playononline

Playon! is going online and needs your help!

Help us with your favorite sites – fill up our survey form. We are conducting a survey to collect a huge list of favorite sites from all over the world, and users of different age sex and age group. From this, we can check out the cool sites you want to see on the Playon! Please do make it a point to fill in your Age group, Sex and country. Because every country has its favorite radio stations, every age group has its favorite music sites and every sex has its favorite websites, we would like to make sure we’ve got sites for everyone.

So if you want to see your favorite Dutch video portal, French news sites or your Russian internet radio in the Playon! … what are you waiting for? Fill in the survey form, tell us! We are listening,

TIP: Tell your friends to come fill in the survey too!!

Tell us now! http://www.acryan.com/playononline

Video : Installing 3.5” HDD in Playon!HD

It’s easy to install a 3.5” Harddisk in your Playon!HD and turn it into a “tera” media library! The Playon!HD takes any SATA/SATA2 harddisks, and we’ve tested and confirmed harddisks up to 2TB! Perfect for all the space-hungry Full HD videos. While the Playon!HD can play files literally “anywhere”, from internal harddisk, from external harddisk, from usbdisk / usbsticks, from mediacards, from wired network, from wireless network, from internet (new feature coming soon)… the importance of the internal 3.5” harddisk is sometimes overlooked. Why have we designed Playon!HD with an internal 3.5” harddisk? Because fundamentally, the best way to play and enjoy Full HD Videos with HD Audio is to play it from the internal harddisk. 3.5” harddisks simply gives you the most storage capacity (and of course the best per gig cost). And as the world and you move further and further into Full HD, we’re sure you’ll appreciate even more that you’ve chosen for Playon!HD’s ability to install a 3.5” Harddisk. Mind you, 2TB is not the limit. It’s just the biggest capacity harddisk available now for us to test. And as you can see from the video, when it’s time to upgrade the harddisk to say 4TB, it’s as easy as a loosening and tightening a few screws. Long live Playon!HD and 3.5” HDD ;)

New Flash on Playon!HD website

In the weekend, we’ve added a new flash to the Playon!HD website. The new flash with 5 animated scenes presents the Playon!HD’s key features and uses. It autoplays, and you can click on the flash tabs to move between the scenes. We hope this new Flash gives you a good overview of the Playon!HD. Do you like it? Tell us in our forums in this thread – Do you like the new flash on PlayonHD.com

Playon!HD The Price is Right Contest 3 Winners

Here’s the final confirmation. The 3 lucky winners of Playon!HD are:

1. H. Flipsen from The Netherlands 
2. M.P. from USA
3. T.Y. Wong from Singapore

They will each receive their own Playon!HD in August when it ships with DTS Downmix. Don’t worry if you did not win, we’ll be running more contest – it’s fun for us too. In fact, The Price is Right has been so popular that we’re thinking of running it again in country specific versions. Is that a good idea? Talk with us, tell us in our forums in this thread – Is it a good idea to run The Price is Right Contest again?

Playon!HD Contest – Winners Notified

Quick, check your email inbox!! (and your spam box too, in case it landed there)… why? We have sent out emails to inform The Price Is Right Contest Winners by email. You should look for an email from rotterdam@acryan.com with the Subject “Playon!HD Winner (real, not spam)” ;)

Did I just say Winnersssss? Yes! Originally planned with 1 Playon!HD prize, we’ve gotten such great response from y’all that we’ve upped the prize to 3 winners. We’ll post the winner names next week, once we have their permission to do so. The Price is Right entries came from more than 50 countries! nice, we like!

If you did not win, thanks for supporting AC Ryan Contest. Hope you had fun with the contest and fret not… there’s more contests coming up to win more Playon!HD – stay tuned!

Test your file on Playon!HD

We’ve heard a lot of feedback from users “my old player does not play this / that, can you check if it plays on Playon!HD”, or new Playon!HD owners exclaiming “wow I threw a bunch of files at it and it plays them all”… well, we are proud that Playon!HD plays it “all” … why “all” in inverted commas, it plays all files for most users. And only a small percentage of exotic, extreme files does not play – and those will not play in any other mediaplayers too and will only play in a computer with the fastest processor. In short, we are very proud that Playon!HD plays MORE files than any other mediaplayers before it.

So if you are thinking of a new mediaplayer, why not test your files with us. We’ve run this testfile service in our Rotterdam showroom and in Singapore exhibitions – it’s been very very popular and we have happy users! So we are extending the “Test your File on Playon!HD”.

• Online - Forums
  Come on in to our ACRyan.com Forums. You can post a link or upload a file. And if you prefer it not to be public, you can pm us the link or attach a file too. We accept files up to 100MB, good size for samples. Here is the forum thread
  http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=910
  
• Online - Email
  Sure, we accept “Test your File on Playon!HD” by email too
  Email us at rotterdam@acryan.com with link or attachment (yes we are set up to receive huge emails)
  
• In Real Life – Rotterdam Showroom
  Our Rotterdam showroom is open Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm, you can come by with your HDD / USBdisk / DVD-R / any media, with or without appointment
  
• In Real Life – Singapore Exhibitions
  Our Singapore office is very active with exhibitions. At every exhibition, you’ll find our friendly staff helping you with “Test your File on Playon!HD”
  
• More exhibitions / events / locations
  We’re planning more exhibitions and events and will include the “Test your Files on Playon!HD”. Watch out for more news,

Send your files in!

5 star Award from Test by HDLand Blog

HDLand Blog, the French experts on all things HD, checks out the Playon!HD with some screenshots. They are impressed with Playon!HD’s excellent video image quality, fast boot-time, and gives the Playon!HD an excellent 5 star Award. http://www.hdlandblog.com/2009/06/acryan-mediaplayer-playonhd-le-test.html

Last Call : Play n Win – The Price is Right

Last call for the Playon!HD – The Price Is Right Contest. The contest ends tomorrow 15 July 2009 (Wednesday). A winner will be randomly picked and notified by email. Already entered the contest, cool! soon you might be the winner of the hot new Playon!HD.

Not yet entered the contest? What are you waiting for? Takes less than 30 seconds! Choose the currency of your choice (there’s 5 versions available – EURO, US$, SEK Swedish Krona, S$ Singapore Dollars, AU$ Australian Dollars), spin those numbers and guess the correct price! Get the right price and you’ll be able to enter the contest. C’mon take a break – it costs nothing, you might actually win! :) http://www.playonhd.com/en/#win

Playon!HD wins Hardware.info Magazine Award in 17 player test

Hardware.info Magazine, well-known Dutch technology magazine tested and compared a total of 17 Mediaplayers! Wow. No stranger to the mediaplayer scene, they’ve tested and reviewed all kinds of mediaplayers in the past years as the mediplayers grew as a product type, so it’s no surprise that they have very high standards. Only 2 bronze awards are given, only 2 awards in a field of 17! :) – WDTV and Playon!HD. We are very proud that Playon!HD has received this award. In an earlier first look preview, Playon!HD already impressed the Hardware.info editors with the extensive media file types that they threw at Playon!HD and it played. Now this award confirms Playon!HD is ahead.

Which Playon! Tshirt?

So you know we like Tshirts, and we know you like Tshirts too, who doesn’t!?! It should come as no surprise that we want a Playon! Tshirt, and there will be one – yay!!! We do need your help though, to decide which Tshirt cos it’s as much our Tshirt, as it is your Tshirt!

We’ve put up a poll in our ACRyan.com/Forums C’mon in and vote your Tshirt.

New look PlayonHD.com website

Playon!HD is gearing up for official launch, getting ready with the opening of the new look Playon!HD.com site. With this new layout, you can easily bookmark with your favorite digg, twit, del.ic.ous etc. Also gets the site ready for more products for the Playon! family using tabs on top. Subscribe to newsletter and change language (currently English and Dutch), all clearly located at the top section. The Playon!HD news feed runs on the front page so you are always updated. The Buy Now page now supports offers to specific countries / areas. Same too with Contest, we are now able to run different Contests for different areas of the world – truly international! And best of all, check out the Where To Buy, we’ve hooked up with our trusted partners to bring the whole Playon!HD experience closer to you. We will be welcoming even more partners in the coming weeks. The good news is that the coming July launch/shipment will see the Playon!HD shipping to our partners. The slightly not so good news is that – uhm omg we hear from our partners that many of the Playon!HD’s going to them have already been pre-reserved / pre-sold. Well actually good news from our sales perspective, and actually also good news for Playon!HD users too… the more Playon!HD out there, the stronger the community is, the more we can have fun and a big future with! Cheers! Play-on!

Playon!HD wins Gadget3’s SPECTACULAR Award & Testwinner

AC Ryan Playon!HD has been awarded with Gadget3 Spectacular award in Gadget3 Lifestyle Magazine July 2009 issue. To top off the award, Playon!HD is also named Testwinner in their test of 8 Full HD Mediaplayers.

"The ACR-PV73100 gets the glory because of its package of affordability, userfriendliness and convenience. These are complemented with efficient media playback capabilities that introduce music in vibrancy, movies in distinctive quality, together with eye-catching aesthetics. It’s uncluttered, simple and comprehensible selections speed up navigation, and leaves the other players biting its dust.”

Read the review here: Gadget3 Spectacular Award – AC Ryan Playon!HD

ps. Gadget3 magazine’s review is the first published print review, more print magazine and online reviews coming (some have completed testing and waiting to be published, some are still testing them). Online site previews are here : Hardware.info takes a First Look hands-on with Playon!HD and here : StorVision.nl’s first look at the Playon!HD.

Video : Playon!HD intro movie playback and viewing photos

Finally, a video showing a brief introduction to the Playon!HD. After a quick intro, the video goes on to show the Playon!HD in use. A handy File Copy that copies/moves file from anywhere to anywhere (USB, Mediacard, HDD, Network). Next comes the Browser with a preview window, a few HD movies are played. You can see the resume play (from where it was last stopped), fast forward (did you notice the mkv file being fast forwarded at 32x speed?) and file information turned on/off. The video wraps up with Photos – rotate, zoom, slide show. Well, go watch the video if you have not. ;p

Wanna see more videos? Have a particular feature / thing you wanna see? We are taking requests …

Video : Playon!HD wizzing through photos

Found this video on youtube showing Playon!HD handling photos. We thought it’s cool to blog it here since there has been quite some interest about “how fast does Playon!HD load and flip through photos”. It seems a pet peeve of some owners of existing players is their slow handling of photos. Glad to say that the response from the users to this video has been generally “gee that’s fast”. I guess it’s great for wizzing through millions of vacation photos – families and friends beware! it’s gonna be the obligatory back-from-vacation-photos time soon ;p

Many thanks to the guy who made this vid, thanks for helping out and spreading the word. We appreciate it. Keep on postin those vids, we might just blog it here when we see it.

Video : Playon!HD Setup Walkthrough

This Playon! Setup video was made to show our resellers who were keen to see the features in the setup of Playon!HD. We decided to put this video up publicly for users to see as well – why not!

offtopic: Are you wondering how we recorded this video with perfect framing (the display screen is exactly fullsize and perfectly fitted to the video). Well the video is recorded with Playon!HD’s “brother” – the Playon!DVR TV. Yes, we are people who do use our own products. Hook up Playon!HD’s A/V-out to Playon!DVR TV’s A/V-in and record away.

FAQ Updated

FAQ has been updated about : simultaneous display, FLAC 24/96, AIF/AIFF, UPnP Mediaserver – MediaMall’s Playon, Tversity, connecting multiple Playon!HD, NTFS read+write, FAT32, mutliple partitions, USBdisk, Click here to read : www.playonhd.com/faq

FAT32 partition on Playon!HD

NTFS read+write support is the preferred feature in mediaplayers. Playon!HD’s default system is NTFS. For whatever reasons you may have, perhaps you still wish to have a FAT32 partition. The Playon!HD supports NTFS as well as FAT32, both with read/write.

The Playon!HD formatting utility (when installing a new hdd or when you choose format in the setup) formats the main data partition as NTFS format. The reason is simply because FAT32 cannot support files larger than 32GB while NTFS can. As a Full HD mediaplayer, we expect to have many HD video files bigger than 4GB.

However, for any reasons at all, if you prefer to use FAT32, you can!

• Connect your Playon!HD to the computer via USB (Playon!HD’s USB slave port to Computer’s USB host port)
• Install a partition editor in your PC, there are many available eg. EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition (freeware, Windows), iPartition (commercial, Mac)
• Use the partition to resize the NTFS partition (your data will not be lost as long as the new partition size is big enough for the existing data)
• Create a new partition from the as FAT32 partition
• Done – you now have 2 partitions in your Playon!HD – one NTFS, one FAT32
• There are 3 hidden/unknown partitions – please do not edit or delete these partitions. They are created by the Playon!HD for system use.

Once done, you can connect your Playon!HD to TV (remember to unplug the USB cable connected to the computer). In Playon!HD, when you Browse HDD, you will now see 2 drives. Everything works as normal on the NTFS as well as the FAT32 drives. You can play, copy etc.

ps. For Mac users, OS X does not support NTFS read+write built-in. If you are thinking of creating a FAT32 partition purely for this reason, it is possible but not the recommended solution. The recommended solution is to install a NTFS driver in your Mac. Once installed, you can easily read+write Playon!HD’s NTFS drive and also all other NTFS drives running in Windows PCs. Here you can read/download NTFS-3G a widely used free NTFS driver for your Mac.

PlayonHD.com new look 7 July 2009

Yes, PlayonHD.com will be officially launched on 7 July with a new look. While we’ve been busy shipping the Playon!HD to happy new owners, we’ve also been busy working on new firmware and a new website too!

The current site you are seeing is a pre-launch site with essential information. Come 7 July, the site will be “upgraded”, not only cosmetically. The new site will have more “rich media”, screenshots, video reviews, user experience, where to buy and new announcements. Watch out for it.

Playon!HD FAQ published

We have published a FAQ document using google docs. The document can be found via this shortcut www.playonhd.com/faq

It is a compilation of frequently asked questions and will be kept updated with more questions. We hope this will let you understand the Playon!HD, its features, functions and cool abilities. Naturally you are welcome to speak to us whether in person or online via email and forums. We understand that every individual will have different needs and we look forward to answer all your questions.

Questions can be emailed to rotterdam@acryan.com or simply drop your questions here on the comments of this blog.

AC Ryan Playon!HD launched to a flying start at PC SHOW SINGAPORE

Just a week before the PC SHOW 2009 in Singapore, AC Ryan announced an addition to their Playon! productline – the Playon!HD FullHD Network Mediaplayer. While it is known that AC Ryan will be launching a player-only model to go alongside its Playon!DVR TV (a recorder-player model), the early release of the Playon!HD caught everyone by surprise. The first Full HD Network mediaplayer shipping with a consumer-friendly new price level. Initially greeted with a small dose of skepticism whether it could be too good to be true, any doubts were immediately wiped away on the first day of the show as AC Ryan presented the Playon!HD not only as demo but also “first release” stock – not a vaporware but an actual product you can try, and when you like, buy it! Users were invited to bring their harddisk, usbsticks, memory cards with their media files to test and play with Playon!HD. Once word got out, there was no stopping. Originally planned with stock for the full 4-day exhibition, the Playon!HD were totally sold out 2nd day into the show. Users came, tested, bought and went home happy. Those who came too late were equally excited and a queue of reservations has now formed in Singapore for these Playon!HD, doubling what was sold on the first 2 days. AC Ryan staff in Singapore would like to thank all supporters for your understanding and appreciate your enthusiasm.

The Playon!DVR TV also continued its run of success, achieving BESTSELLING DVR at PC SHOW 2009.

Playon!HD shipping to happy new owners

Yes, the Playon!HD is here in Rotterdam! Today we saw a constant stream of users picking up their pre-reserved Playon!HD – nice talking with you, as you can see we’re product people and do enjoy a chat :) Thanks too for supporting our new Playon!HD launch. For those having it delivered to you, packages are also going out today and the coming days. Limited stock, hurry if you have not reserved it with the reservation form on www.playonhd.com “where to buy” section.

Congratulations – you’re the proud new owners of the first in a new generation of Full HD Network Mediaplayers affordable for everyone :)

Have you reserved and not heard back from us?

We received a few emails from users that they have made a reservation in the past few days but have not yet heard back from us. We checked our servers and noticed in the past few days this week, there was a huge surge in the traffic load… don’t worry our servers are totally capable of handling traffic. But our reservation form script was not perfect and it could have dropped a few reservation form submissions. Sorry. We have re-written the reservation forms and they work perfect now.

We reply requests for Playon!HD information and reservations within 1 working day.

So if you have made a reservation in the past few days this week and have not heard from us, please do it again, or contact rotterdam@acryan.com directly. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.

Playon!HD pre-shipment in Rotterdam on Wed 17 June 2009

Already launched and shipping in Singapore with a hot welcome (thanks, guys), and expected to launch in Europe in July, a shipment of Playon!HD arrives in Rotterdam on Wed 17 June 2009. Priority will be first given to reviewers and press, and also our dear friends and fans of AC Ryan who has made reservations. Seeing the surge of reservations we have been receiving, we expect to ship the Playon!HD by mainly reservations until demand “normalises”.

How to reserve? Reservations : http://www.playonhd.com/wheretobuy.php

Should you be interested in seeing the Playon!HD for yourself, make an appointment with us to come by our showroom in Rotterdam – rotterdam@acryan.com – we are cool with your questions.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic response – gives us an added drive, feeds our development souls and puts a smile on our faces :)

StorVision.nl’s first look at the Playon!HD

Storvision.nl, community and news site specialising in storage related (mediaplayers, network storage etc), also got a chance to have a first look at the Playon!HD. They tried out the Playon!HD and this is what they have to say:

“Gisteren hebben wij de kans gehad om het apparaat te proberen, en de indruk was zeker zeer positief. Niet alleen konden we geen bestanden vinden die NIET werden afgespeeld, maar daarnaast was de beeldkwaliteit bijzonder goed, en de interface zeer gelikt. Dit in tegenstelling tot bijvoorbeeld de wat ouderwets ogende interface van de NMT’s.

Wat opviel is dat de A.C.Ryan als een van de weinig spelers ook bestanden van en naar een netwerkshare kan kopieren. Zonder hulp van een PC dus. Ook kan hij downloaden via Bittorrent. Als met al een apparaat dat zeer veel kan en goed presteert. En dat voor maar €149,- voor de 0GB versie.”

English translation:
Yesterday we’ve had a chance to try out the device, and the impression is very positive. We could not find ANY files that cannot be played, also the video quality was especially good and the interface nice. This in comparison with the older looking interface of NMT’s.

What stands out is that AC Ryan’s player is one of the few players that can copy files to and from a network share, without doing it from a PC. It can also download via Bittorrent. Already a good device that does much and performs well, and that for only 149 euro for the 0GB model.

Link to original article (Dutch) : http://www.storvision.nl/2009/06/12/nieuw-van-a-c-ryan-playonhd-full-hd-mediaplayer/#more-346

Hardware.info takes a First Look hands-on with Playon!HD

Hardware.info a leading magazine and online community in The Netherlands for digital / computer product news makes a scoop with the first hands-on look at the Playon!HD. They had the opportunity to have a brief hands-on with Playon!HD and immediately grabbed the chance. Hardware.info is very experienced with testing mediaplayers and has extensively reviewed many players online, in print magazine as well as video reviews in their Hardware.info TV. We are excited about what they have to say about the Playon!HD,

Hardware.Info liet de PlayOn!HD alvast eens het standaard testtraject doorlopen, en de speler geeft een positieve indruk: de meeste bestandstypes en codecs worden probleemloos afgespeeld, inclusief lastige H.264 en VC-1 bestanden. Net zoals we zagen bij de O!Play is de chip in deze speler duidelijk sneller dan we tot dusver gewend waren, het menu reageert vlotter en bestanden worden sneller geladen.

English translation:
Hardware.info first puts the Playon!HD through a series of tests and the player makes a positive impression: most file formats and codecs are played without any problems, including “troublesome” H.264 and VC-1 files. Just as we have seen with the O!Play, the chip in this player is clearly faster than what we’ve been used to so far, the menu reacts faster and the files are loaded faster.

Link to original article (Dutch) : http://www.hardware.info/nl-NL/news/ymiclpqXwpyabJY/AC_Ryans_nieuwe_Full_HD_mediaspeler/

Playon!HD walkthrough

This is the first walkthrough for our brand new and spectacular Playon!HD. Equipped to be the best full HD mediaplayer out there, we will run you through it’s main features!
On the picture below you see the remote and main device. The remote in the actual product will have the logo printed on it instead of a sticker. This was only done to illustrate there will be a logo.

First off, the menu screen:

Looks HD already huh! Here you can select File Copy, Browser, Setup and Internet Radio.  Of course, when properly set up you will mostly use Browse to explore your multimedia files. The File Copy and Setup can also be accessed with a push on the button on the remote. So you don’t necessarily have to go back to the main menu for those.

Next up, some Setup screens:

 

In the last picture you see a completely new thing. Extensions! Yes, the applications are now in the form of add-on apps. By default the Playon!HD is shipped with seen applications. This means you will have a webbased Bittorrent client and a NAS client (Samba) that you can use to access the Playon from your PC.

And the last one i wanted to point out is that there is another added extra which allows you to stop watching a video, and at a later time, resume it again. The timeline data is automatically stored. Nice! Oh and you can also switch off the preview of each file while browsing.

Now, let’s see the Browser!

As you can see, some things have been added like the Cardreader and UPnP is there by default. As we have the 500GB model here, i will go to Local HDD to see what we’ve got there. See the BT folder? That is the folder which is automatically created when you start using the Bittorrent client. Here all files will be downloaded to. When completely finished they will show up here, so in the meantime you won’t have files which you cannot play (yet).

Going through our Video folder, of course we are watching MKV files, this one in particular is nearly 7GB.

Needless to say, the movie quality is excellent. But it does show that the Playon!HD has no problems whatsoever to process these big files. No glitches, no artifacts, just smooth playback and razorsharp images. By the way, the skip ahead button now acts as a chapter skip as well. You need to know this but actually it works pretty well!

Of course you can also play Apple HD files like MP4. These are sometimes smaller in size but still pretty darn sharp on screen.

 

 

Well that concludes this walkthrough, i hope you enjoyed it and i am sure you cannot wait to get your hands on one now!

Introducing the new Playon!HD with Contest The Price is Right

psssst... we've got a new product and you're the 1st to know! PlayonDVR TV gets a new brother – Playon!HD

The newest Playon!HD FullHD Network MediaPlayer.
Together with the new release, comes a new contest "The Price is Right".

As a friend of AC Ryan, we're inviting you to give it a go at winning this hot new Playon!HD. Click on the picture to be taken to the Playon!HD site and contest.

More news about this new Full HD player follows soon. TIP: PC Show 2009 (Singapore) | Dreamhack Summer 200 (Sweden).