Asus O!Play Mini

Asus has struck a very good rhythm when it comes to dishing out quality HD media players and their latest offering is no different. There are enough HD media players in the market for all budget sizes. However, the cheapest one still hovered around the 5K mark, which is good when you compare the price to when they were first launched. But if you wanted something cheaper you had to settle for either the Amkette Flash TV or the WD TV Mini, both of which played only SD content.

Asus has stepped ahead and broken the price barrier with their latest O!Play Mini by pricing it at just Rs. 3,500 and it does everything the bigger boys do, except for the DLNA part. We thank Asus for promptly sending in a review sample.

Above is a little snapshot of the formats the Mini supports. As you can see, it does everything that its more expensive brethren can do.

Bundle

• Remote with batteries
• AC power adapter
• Composite AV cable
• Quick start guide
• CD (User Manual)
• HDMI cable

Quite a bundle! Unlike the others, Asus throws in an HDMI cable as well, which I think it's about time everyone starts doing, I mean it's not like they cost a fortune.

The O!Play Mini is the size of a little lunch box and is extremely light. The plastic used is tough with no flex whatsoever. There is only a single USB port in the front along with a memory card reader which continues to be a unique feature with their O!Play devices. On either side we have a power LED and an IR port.

The rear consists of the power jack, Composite, HDMI 1.3 and optical audio out (SPDIF).  There's really nothing much besides this on the box. Next let's plug it in and check the interface.