Ziova Clearstream CS615 HD Network Media Player Reviews - CS615

Pros: supported media types, silent, cool running, connectivity options, and capacity expandability

Cons: not 100% stable operations, general networking issues can ruin a good experience,

Other Comments: In order to be satisfied with this media player you will have to accept some faults. First, networking in general can be troublesome. While this not exclusive to the CS615 nonetheless expect playing media over a network connection to be less than perfect. Second, my particular unit has trouble playing back video files completely. A 15 minute video my only play for about 9 or 10 minutes before it abruptly ends. This does not happen on every video, but it has occurred regularly. Third, adding a hard disk to unit slow down response time when shutting down the machine. Before adding a hard drive it would shut down in a matter of second, but afterwards it takes upwards of 40 seconds to shut down. This is probably one of the better network media playing device out on the market at this time. Because of the supported media types vs. the semi-minor networking issues its a tough decision whether to recommend this product. On one hand it is not Ziova's fault with regards to networking everything seems to work okay from their standpoint, but general disconnects and slow throughput make watching media frustrating. Yet, being able to playback a large variety of media types is very nice and there is no need to have several machines or a power hungry computer. 90% of me wants to say this is an excellent device, but the remaining 10% says something better is probably available or is coming shortly.

Pros: SMB and UPnP work very well, included Shoutcast Internet Radio has hundreds of stations

Cons: internal interface IDE HDD only no SATA HDD, no external eSATA support

Other Comments: the unit has been really stable. as expected, i experienced some networking troubles here and there but most were related to permissions setup on windows vista x64. i'm hoping this unit last a long time. it is so nice it would be a shame if it turn out to be a piece of junk and quits working after just after warranty run out. overall, at this point, i am 100% completely satisfied.