The Register®

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/04/asus_o_play_hd_2/

Asus shows media player's USB 3.0 upgrade

O!Play gets SuperSpeed boost. O!My

By Tony Smith

Posted in Hardware, 4th March 2010 16:32 GMT

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Asus has introduced its latest HDD-to-HD TV adaptor, this time adding SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to the media playback gadget.

The O!Play HD2 is set to deliver a wealth of media formats [1], all of which it will display on an HD TV through its HDMI port at resolutions running up to 1080p.

Asus O!Play HD2

Asus' O!Play HD2: the media player with USB 3.0

Content comes from networked sources - there's an Ethernet port on board, and possibly 802.11n too - or from hard drives and Flash keys connected to its USB 3.0 [2] ports.

USB 3.0 is inherently able to support USB 2.0 links, so all your existing hard drives will work with the O!Play too.

The one snap that's come out of Asus [3] shows that the player also sports an eSata [4] connector and memory card slots.

There's no word yet on UK availability or pricing, but the current wired-only model, the O!Play HDP-R1, retails for around £90. The wireless model, the HDP-R3 Air, costs around £140. We expect the HD2 to come in above that. ®