Digital Home Thoughts: O!Play HD2 From Asus Launches This Week

"It was back in March that we last heard about / saw ASUS's O!Play HD2, so it's totally understandable that you've completely forgotten about the sleek-looking multimedia server. But don't you worry, it's back now and ready to make sure you never forget that it is the "world's first USB 3.0 multimedia center." Launching this week in the UK for £109 and in the US on October 25 for $129.99, the O!Play HD2 is a lot like the previous O!Play Air HD with its streaming capabilities and 1080p support, but it's been updated with a USB 3.0 port for speedy HD movie transfers, a slot for a 3.5-inch hard drive, and an iPhone remote control. With support of tons of video / audio formats it'll probably be a solid alternative to the streaming-only boxes, but we'll wait on the reviews to make a call on that one. Hit that read more button for a full rundown of the specs and a flowery press release."

I think the one feature that makes this device interesting for me is the USB 3.0 support, which will certainly make transfering video and audio files fast. It seems to have the same features as most other media center devices out there such as supporting a huge range of media codecs, HDMI output, as well as the requisite flash card ports. At a price of £109 or $129.99 it's not badly priced and I look forward to seeing how this one fares in reviews.