Pivos AIOS Network HD Media Center PTGMCART35-US – 3.5" SATA I/II Hot Plug HDD Drive Bay HDMI LAN SDHC USB3.0 HTML 5 Browser UPnP P2P MKV Blu-Ray ISO Support

Pros: Works

Cons: Rebate never came, Support never answered, Emails were never replied to regarding rebates. Never Returned Calls.

Other Thoughts: It's no better than a WD Live, etc. Would have been worth it - had the rebate been fulfilled. I never comment on reviews, but this one really did it for me, because I crossed all my t's and dotted my i's. They never even responded to my requests. Will make sure all in my circle know not to buy from this manufacturer. Seems like I was scammed.

Pros: Plays all the file formats that I throw in including iso files with menu. Detects internal hard drive every time without a problem. Has the most USB ports in compare with other media player.

Cons: Freezes sometimes when pressing buttons on remote control too fast. Yellow background causing difficulties in reading the screen. (This bothers me the most. I almost return the player bacause of this). Streaming on wireless is not good enough (hesitation/freezing from time to time). Poor instructions: I have not figured out how to use the HTML5 browser as well as all features related to the internet.

Other Thoughts: This is my first review ever (I've never written a review before). I wrote this review because several other reviewers complained that their internal hard drives, in many cases, were not detected. (I had a similar problem on another media player of a different brand before. After doing what I describe below, the problem was fixed). I want to share what I did and hope it may help.

In my case here, I use a 1.5TB hard drive with a couple hundreds avi, mkv, vob and iso files with menu on it, and everything works fine so far. Below is what I did:
1. Use the Pivos player to format the internal hard drive (i.e. do not use Windows to format it). Then copy files to the internal hard drive through the USB3 connection.
2. Be patient when power up the player: after selecting "File Manager", wait until HDD appears on the menu before pressing any button.
It works for me. Good luck.

Now, for the rating: If I could figure out how to use the HTML5 browser and the internet, I would give it a 5 stars. For now, it's a 4-star player because it plays all the files I have on an internal hard drive. In addition, it plays all the files on a 2TB external hard drive plugged in an USB port. Besides, it has lots of features at an excellent price.

Pros: Was a cost-effective choice due to the rebate offer during the Holidays last year.

Cons: The internal optional hard drive feature did not work right off the bat. It did not recognize any hard drive. Contacted Tech Support and after a week of troubleshooting, sent the unit in for replacement. My internal hard drive got detected but after one day, it disappeared from the selections. Back to square one. I wasted enough money and energy on this product and now purchased a brand-name product, which works as advertised.
The menu is not as straight forward as other units from other manufacturers.
Bottom line: not recommended!

Other Thoughts: The saying is true...you get what you pay for.

Pros: Small with strudy metal construction.

Cons: Aweful software. Slow response. Browser is almost unuseable. Remote cheap and barely works.

Other Thoughts: Connected it. Played with it for a few hours and packed it back up for return.

Pros: Plays lots of formats. HD quality video, digital audio

Cons: Unstable, horrible UI, terrible remote, cannot consistently perform intended functions, internal hard drive recognition issues

Other Thoughts: Ultimately, you will be disappointed. IN SHORT, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND PURCHASING.

The box looks nice from the outside (aside from the completely useless display), and has decent components. However, performance and overall user experience is sorely lacking. The gigabit ethernet can only sustain file transfers around 3 megs per second. Two different hard drives I've put in there are accessible only sporadically. The GUI is downright atrocious. It freezes and hangs too often. The remote is a total joke - you better have a harmony if you actually want to operate this thing.

It's a shame because the AIOS runs linux and could be used for lots of great things. When it does work, it plays files well. However, it cannot do this on a consistent basis.

Pros: Its cheaper than a WDTV, plays Blu Ray ISOs and highly compressed media much better than a WDTV/roku2.

Cons: Stock firmware is an eyesore, hacked firmware is ok, but in the ends its all really laggy. Web interface is slow, and so is FTP. The data scrapper in this is weak compared to the WDTV, you basically can only use themoviedb, and there is no scrapper for TV shows or music.

Other Thoughts: This is a great player if all you're looking for is no-frills playback of blu ray ISOs, highly compressed MKVs, and etc. However, if you're looking for any other functionality, such as anything related with meta data, its useless. The interface is slow, but it gets the job done. I had gotten it for $50 after rebate, and for the price it was nice. However, I decided to step it up a notch and just get an HTPC. I really like the WDTV, but if you're on a budget this thing is hard to beat. If you're budget is a bit lax, then get the WDTV, and if you can build an HTPC, then there is really nothing better....

Pros: It works ! New TV with all the bells and whistles but a very poor media player. Gave up trying to get the TV to play media files and just went with a media player. It works great. Plays everything. Very good scaler/de-interlacer outputs clean 1080p. No, EXCELLENT scaler. Beats the pants off the scaler in the $2000 TV. Full function remote

Cons: Start-up can a little slow. Has too-many features (for me that is). Remote is good but not great, can be too sensitive and is very directional.

Other Thoughts: You can nit-pick all you want to but at the end of the day, its an excellent media player. With the rebate, this thing is dirt cheap and playes media files very easily. Tons of abilities that most people will never need. With a little fine tuning, they could double the price and become the dominant box on the market.

Pros: I down-rated this unit for poor support. I did get a very courteous and well written reply a couple days after I wrote that review. Pivos DOES answer tech support questions. You may need to be patient.

Cons: n/a

Pros: Lot of connections, 3.5" internal hard drive.

Cons: Don't buy if intend to use internal hard drive to store files. Twice the hard drive was not detected. Took the hard drive out and put in in an external 3.5 encloser, and it works fine. Both times I formatted the drive installed in the player. it worked when I first loaded files into it. When I tried to play the files next time, the internal hard drive is not detected. Their forum shows a few people have the same problem.

Other Thoughts: Updated to the latest firmware but did not help. Bought it because of the 3.5" internal hard drive. Thought I could put a big size internal drive in there. Disappointed.

Pros: It plays everything I throw at it, any format, from anywhere on my network (I have 2 NAS devices). It has gigabit, 3 USB ports (including 1 USB 3.0 port), AND the possibility for an added built-in HDD. Latest interface is much cleaner and prettier than the original that was loaded when I got it. Can stream video over any format (composite, component, and HDMI). Videos cue up quickly and look great, even on composite.

Cons: * #1 (HUGE) strike ... sometimes the machine gets into a "do loop" of restarting itself randomly. I can't figure what's happening when it does this. Only solution is a hard "off" using the physical switch in the back. My connections are nice and solid, so it's not that. No other devices (TV, blu-ray, DVR) have any issues with power. This is really annoying, and sometimes it's accompanied by a wireless disconnect either (I'm using the PIVOS n-adapter -- not sure if this is the adapter or the AIOS).
* menu system is clunky and sluggish. My wife is going to struggle with using this to play videos in our network library for our daughter. There SHOULD be a way to create a library of networked locations (as there apparently is for an on-board HDD).
* It disconnects from the wireless network randomly (though I've never had it done it while actually PLAYING a video, just navigating folders), and then takes 5-10 mins to reconnect -- not sure if this is the AIOS or the adapter.

Other Thoughts: I bought this to be able to stream my library of videos from my NAS storage to a TV that doesn't have HDMI. It works for that ... but can be annoying in the process. I've done some research that suggests that a 3rd party firmware can do some network short-cutting (but that's sad if PIVOS can't get better firmware itself).
I really would like to LOVE this device, and for the most part, I do like it. However, there's some user-unfriendliness that's keeping it from being really great.