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Product ReviewsPivos Aios Network Media Player 3.5IN HDD HDMI LAN SDHC USB3 UPnP P2P MKV Blu-Ray ISO Support
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19%
36%
34%
9%
2%
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 Rating: Review Date: 04/24/13  |
Cons: No NetFlix !!!
Pros: Build quality is solid. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/11/13 |
Cons: RemoteNo built in WiFi
Pros: Playback qualityQuality construction Comment:
Have been using this player for a while and so far has performed fantastic, has played every file format I've thrown at it without a hitch. Works great in all aspects, only have 2 complaints. First the reception for the remote control is horrible, you have to point it directly and have a perfect clear line of sight at the media player. The second is no built in wifi which would be great for convenience purposes. But still very happy with the player. |
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Rating: Review Date: 01/31/13 |
Cons: bad user interface , but it is not problem for me .I really like the old classic look .
Pros: This is a fantastic player .Will play all types of formats without any issues.Played a 720p & 1080P mkv file .Really smooth , I like it . Comment:
I bought this unit to use it with an old Color Television I Didn't check the internet capabilities of this one . I am not worried about that .I used my WD 500GB external HDD with this one .everything working fine ,will add a 2TB internal HDD later .I have submitted the rebate request . |
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Rating: Review Date: 01/14/13 |
Cons: Slow on the internet access. Don't believe the network is 1Gb. Keyboard issues and not straight forward.
Pros: Faster than the OPLAY, plays all what I played with my OPLAY Comment:
Overall I fell in love with this device. Plays all my videos like a charm. Internet access sucks! Internet access is slow and wen using just the remote, it's not a simple task. More likely to be try and error to find good buttons to move with the webpage. Mouse does help a lot but when it comes time to type, it's not straight forward. My wife watches programs over the WEBTV option and it's simple. With this device you have to try a few things in order to find out how it works. Not much in documentation. |
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Rating: Review Date: 11/30/12 |
Cons: - Have not tried the network options but there are some bad reviews about this.
Pros: - Read all formats I've thrown at it- No issues with swapping the harddrive from computer and back Comment:
First off I DO NOT use the networking options. I personally don't want to bother with it as then I'll need to either buy a powerline adapter, run a long cable through my house, or use wifi which would give bad streaming options when watching full HD videos anyway.I use the swapable harddrive option where I take my harddrive from the Pivos box and put it into my computer's swappable harddrive bay. I've never had a problem so far with harddrive needing to reformat or any movie file formats not being read. I really love this thing as it does exactly what I need it to do. The open harddrive option allows me to use multiple harddrives without being forced to always transfer data to a dedicated harddrive. Also it takes almost no time to read as it's looking through the harddrive and not an inherently slow usb device.I highly recommend if you don't care for network options. |
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Rating: Review Date: 11/17/12 |
Cons: My first unit failed within a month - wouldn't recognize the Hard drive all of a sudden.
Pros: Was cheap, the enclosure is well built out of aluminum and the quick removable SATA drive tray is nice. The remote is an improvement over the initial version. Technical support worked, I got my rebate as well. Comment:
My first unit died early.Custom firmwares available.Playback quality is decent. |
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Rating: Review Date: 11/07/12 |
Cons: The rebate is a lie!!
Pros: It works as it says Comment:
Product is okay to my requirement as i do not use it for internet. However the rebate offer is not valid because 'The postmark of your submission is beyond the required date for this offer'This is the first time i do not get a rebate. I follow every rule and i mail the rebate next day when i received my media player, there is no way that it is beyond the required date. Anyway I will not buy any product from this company in the future. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/19/12 |
Cons: poor menus. confusing on how to set up the jukebox. SLOW transfer speed on network to internal hard drive via SAMBA or FTP.
Pros: Plays every file type I have, so far. The box itself is very nice, compact, lots of ports and connections, hard drive bay. Comment:
The many flaws of this box detract from its potential. The menu system is rather clunky (even after updating to latest firmware) and slow. The jukebox feature is very confusing and I cant seem to get it to work very well. If you choose to install an internal hard drive, the transfer speeds over the network (using SAMBA or FTP) is slow, around 3-5 MB/s. The hard drive is formatted as NTFS and following the pivos forum suggestion to format as ext3, the speed temporarily went up to 6-8 MB/s. However after transferring a few movies via SAMBA the speed dropped to 2 MB/s until i did a hard reset on the box, and then it would consistently get slow again after transferring a couple big files. I am using all gigabit switches, etc. The problem lies somewhere with the networking in the box, since copying a file from a USB stick to the internal HDD using the menus goes very quickly, about 20 MB/s. NOTE if your format the internal drive as ext3, then hooking up the box to your windows computer via usb3 wont recognize the device.The most important aspect of the media box is how it plays media, and I can happily report that it plays back every file type and codec I have right now. The navigation controls are a bit awkward, much room for improvement.The other goodies that come with it are ok, the apps (youtube, podcasts, etc) and browser are slow and often dont work properly. For example none of the videos actually play in the youtube app.Playing movies over the network works quite well too, but navigating through files and directories is a bit slow over the network.The hardware design of the box is very nice. Its compact, black and contemporary, has a convenient hard drive port. There are HDMI, composite and component outputs, 3 USB2.0 inputs and an SD card reader too.My Recommendation is to forget about the internal hard drive. Instead buy a 500+GB USB3 portable hard drive (2.5" usb powered) and connect that to the Aios via the USB2.0 port. Then when you want to copy files from the computer, just disconnect the portable hard drive and connect to your computer and transfer at USB3 speeds. Then connect back to the Aios box. Sure is a bit of leg work, but you will save hours transferring files. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/10/12 |
Cons: None that i can think of
Pros: Just amazing Comment:
What more do you need. does everything that you need it to do and more. i love this and would buy another one anyday. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/26/12 |
Cons: Front display will only display time in 24 HR formatDoesn't have a full screen zoom option, all zoom options will leave black bars on your screenComplex user interfaceToo many 3rd party firmwares with little differencesThe product feels like a beta productComplex update process that doesn't work well on OSX (OSX keeps trying to extract files that the AIOS needs unextracted)
Pros: It does play a lot of movie typesAbility to add a hard driveHas a front displayGreat device if you're a developerStrong community support Comment:
I read several reviews trying to find a media player, and I had narrowed it down to the WD Live and the Pivos AIOS. I regret buying the Pivos AIOS. I have all my media on a storage server, so the hard drive feature was a nice to have, not a requirement. The user interface feel's cheap, the menu has a full screen stretch, but no files have this option. You can get it close, but you'll never have a full screen stretch, or on 4:3 ratio files, it'll never use the full height of the screen. This is very annoying, and makes my 46 inch TV look smaller. The update process is so complex, and mine actually broke the DLNA feature of the AIOS. Also, it constantly forgets my windows logons for my shares. However, if you are a developer, the source code is available on their website, so you can develop apps and stuff really easily, and share them through their forum. Never the less, I purchased a WD Live after the fact, and I really wish I'd just bought it in the first place, simple update process, full screen movies, mindless operation, it simply plays movies, and offers a lot more features that are easy to use. Also, still never received my mail in rebate. I'd give this 1 star if I could, but I bought this in store without an orderID. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/13/12 |
Cons: Fan noise ... in a bedroom it's a little noisy but you just have to turn the volume up a little bit more.
Pros: Very small and cute device :) Comment:
I've bought this device beacause I needed a small media center for my bedroom. It does the job just fine ! |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/03/12 |
Cons: Horrible interface! Clunky software. Difficult to use remote control. Firmware needs to be updated via USB (rather than over internet).
Pros: High quality build & hardware capabilities. Plays just about every video codec there is. Has 10/100/1000 ethernet. Comment:
This is one of the strangest media devices I have ever purchased, and I have tried many many before. I would call it "bipolar" if it was a person. It has fantastic hardware features, and yet, an abysmal software interface! On the one hand, it has the best quality build I have seen in a device in this price range, housed inside a beautiful brushed metal box, and has just about every method of input/output available, including component, toslink, HDMI, USB, 10/100/1000 ethernet, hotswap tray for a 3.5" hard drive, etc. However, and this is a BIG however, it has the absolute worst interface I have ever seen. The interface is ugly, clunky, slow, and amateurish. It is almost as if they spent so much money on developing the hardware that they had no money left to develop the software! I have upgraded many times to their latest firmware (which by the way has to be done manually by copying a file onto a USB stick and plugging it into the device - why it cannot be done live over the internet like the much older Popcorn Hour I don't know) and the interface remains the same ugly atrocity as before - yes I know, there are endless "beta" firmware which apparently have a better look, but it shouldn't have to be like this. I have heard more recently that Pivos is developing an XBMC type interface, but I am not sure whether this will be available for the AIOS, or if it will only work with their new XIOS box. This device is certainly not for anyone who wants a "plug and play" media player out of the box. For a better media "experience" even my old Popcorn Hour A-100 provides a much more usable interface. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/14/12 |
Cons: Internet support is poor.
Pros: Plays all current video and audio files. Comment:
The internet functionality on this box is very disappointing. Don't bother if that's part of the reasons you want this box. Plays all types of video and audio files well however. Didn't get my rebate and got a lot of running around about it so don't factor that in to the price. Support is through the Pivos forums but the mod there get really up tight if you make any negative comments. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/08/12 |
Cons: - All the internet functionality doesn't work- Browser is slow to the point that you won't use it- I contacted Pivos so many times but nobody reply email to me about my rebate status. I really doubt if they are willing to send the rebate
Pros: Price is reasonable if including the rebate Comment:
The box can only be considered as a media player and I am unable to use any of the internet functionalities. The customer support from Pivos upset me the most. I bought so many unsatisfied electronic product every year, I never come to any webpage to write bad comment once their support show some effort to help me to solve the problem. There is absolutely no support from Pivos. I am really shouldn't spend $120 to buy this box. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/21/12 |
Cons: aois not working on improving software, they spent last 6 months on newer proctuct line.
Pros: inexpensive, easy to use, 3.5" hdd, front usb+sd slot Comment:
/simple to use, hacked software on aios forum is better.high bit rate 1080 .mov files stutter badly. can tranfer from macbook using network cable and samba server(SLOW). pc and camera tranfers are easy. good value, if i ever get my rebate. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/08/12 |
Cons: The User Interface is not the best design compared with PBO.
Pros: Similar to Patriot Box Office but with extra features such as Web app to Youtube, Yahoo Mail and etc. Besides, it support Keyboard and mouse. Comment:
I purchased this on device when it was on sale with Mail in rebate. Sent the rebate and not sure it will come back or not. Overall I feel it was solid built and worth the money. Thank you NCIX to carry this product. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/07/12 |
Cons: Network transfer suck
Pros: That box play iso file. Comment:
This box is awesome. It can play alot of audio and video files.Very easy to setup. Menu can be modified.The network speed isn't good. It take over 50mins to transfer a bluray on my network. This is a know issue with realtek network card. I can easily remove the hdd and plug it in my Thermaltake BlacX Duet Dual to transfer all my files. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/27/12 |
Cons: Original firmware is absolutely AWFUL.Glitchy when playing movies.File transfer over the GB Lan to internal HDD is very slow.
Pros: Plays almost anything you throw at it.Excellent hardware capabilities.Thank god for the Xtreamer firmware crack. Comment:
This is just pretty much a Patriot Box Office with a few hardware updates.Again, just like the PBO, excellent hardware but very poor software but thankfully there are alternatives out there.Now that I have it I'll use it but would definitely would not buy again. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/05/12 |
Cons: Interface could use improving.
Pros: Excellent reliable player. Price. Comment:
I've been very happy with this media player. I don't think you can beat the value for price paid. I transfer files wireless back and forth without a problem. You can also load up a decent hard drive, slip it in, and away you go. Haven't found a format it won't play. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/05/12 |
Cons: -doesn't support all the wifi dongle-Browser is very slow-poor UI
Pros: -support almost all the media files formats-hot-swap Hard drive bay-very good video and audio quality-usb 3/Blu-Ray ISO-price Comment:
This is my upgrade from WD media player live. Bit better that WD, but not as good as I expected it to be. Had to switch to wired, wi-fi is slow. The browser is very slow and apps are useless. On the plus side, full-size remote, supports USB 2/3. Plays almost all the files including ISO. Audio/Video quality is good. I got this for $59.99+tax and for that price its a satisfactory unit. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/03/12 |
Cons: bad interface, need to be tech savvy
Pros: Easy Install, good quality Comment:
I bought this for my father to use to stream his movies from his computer to the media box and is working fine for him the interface is a little hard and needs some getting used to |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/28/12 |
Cons: RemoteNeeds better appsKeyboard is hard to use
Pros: Supports different Media file formatsHard drive baySize Comment:
I love that it can play all sorts of media file formats. The price was great when on sale. The interface is hard to go through and using a keyboard seemed weird. Other than that I like what it does. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/24/12 |
Cons: - Weak web browser- No Flash support- For the tech-savvy user
Pros: - Plays any kind of format- Customizable subtitles- Constant software upgrades and new features Comment:
This little box plays anything you throw at it, for an excellent price. I still couldn't find a video or subtitle format that wouldn't play on this. However, the lack of Flash support in its very slow web browser hindered my plans of having a good webTV to watch non-European soccer.Also, you gotta be ready to download and install new firmwares and read forums and instructions in order to activate new features. Tech-impaired users can use it, but will miss a lot of great features that come up frequently. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/17/12 |
Cons: No Flash in Browser
Pros: Value for money spent Comment:
For what I spent I would say that I got good value for my money. WiFi connection wasn't all that great so I went with hard wire. Plays all my video and music files. Installed a 2tb drive for storage, networked it to all my other computers, no issues. Browser isn't all that great and it doesn't do Flash but then that is not what I bought it for. YouTube is not a problem, good on the 'big screen'. Some small issues (remote control must be pointed directly at unit) but over all a worthwhile purchase. One note though, get a USB mouse for it.. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/17/12 |
Cons: Poor interfaceRemoteApps are uselessHDMI 1.3 and cannot support 3D files and Movies
Pros: Supports many Media file formatsHard drive baySolid Unit and Hard to break it Comment:
When it comes to play different media file format this is a very solid unit. It easily and without delay can play all file formats.The interface is very poor and it is a duplication of lots of no name Chines media player. I hope Pivos will come with a better version of interface.Applications are useless. Very slow and hard to work (You tube,...)There is no user friendly Web Browser and HTML5 cannot support either Flash or Silverlight.Remote is another pain and designed by unprofessional.Unit has good potentials but bad interface make it overall poor.I recommend to pay a little bit more and have a unit with better hardware and interface. |
Plays all video formats flawlessly, no matter the container. While the Aug2012 firmware upgrade improved the interface, I still find it rather slow and buggy. The video quality is excellent though. If it can handle youTube it should have no problems handling Netflix. I hope Pivos adds Netflix support in the near future.