Crystal Acoustics MediaMatchBox
Tiny media player with fantastic format support
Review This minuscule media player from home theatre specialist Crystal Acoustics combines a go-anywhere form-factor with play-anything decoding.
Indeed, if there's a file suffix the MediaMatchBox can’t manage, then it probably isn’t worth playing.
There are basic controls on the player's tum
As befits a box that weighs just 40g and stands barely 16mm tall, there’s not too much to report when it comes to connectivity. Just an HDMI output, an SD card reader and USB. The latter supports drives formatted FAT 32, NTFS or HFS+.
The gadget looks smart enough - it’s black and shiny - and has a green LED which glows bright when active. The device isn’t larger than the flat and nasty remote it ships with. Using this is akin to popping bubble-wrap.
A set-top box you could actually put on top of your flat panel
Control buttons can also be found on the underside of the unit itself. These allow you to find content without recourse to the zapper, which presumably helps if you take the player out on the road.
More likely, though, the MediaMatchBox will find itself Blu-Tack’d to the side of a TV. Thanks to the astonishingly adept Realtek 1055 chip beneath the bonnet, file support is a broad as an elephant’s back. It would probably be simpler to say what it can’t play – but I haven’t found anything yet.
In this regard, it’s a significant step up from the brand’s cheaper player, the PicoHD5.1.
Next page: Teeny, tiny yet packed with codecs
COMMENTS
measurement
"As befits a box that weighs just 40g and stands barely 16mm tall..."
Judging by the photo, surely the correct SI unit of measurement to use would be the Cartman? At a guess, I'd say that's about 0.28Cr.
Make it even better
Why don't they add an Ethernet port? This thing would be cooking on gas then......can any of you guys recommend something like this with Ethernet?
Are you having a giraffe?
It received 85% because it does what its supposed to do perfectly.
If it's not your cup of tea because it doesnt have networking then its not the items fault. If you want a media player with networking, buy one but dont go berating this litte beauty because it hasnt!!!
I dont want or need network connectiviity, so long as i can chuck an SD card/HD/USB flash into this thing at my mates house and watch some HI def film ive downloaded, ripped, whatever, then it suits my purposes.....
Nice!
Now could we get the same thing with an Ethernet port to hook up to a NAS ?
"Not sure why you'd want this so small"
but suspect that's why it's so cheap. No need for it to be big (it's a chip and some ports) and if the unit is bigger the package is bigger, the bill of materials is larger, shipping costs increase.
A DLNA version of this would be very cool. In the meantime though - will that USB port power a 2.5" drive or is this powered 3.5" drives only?
