Emtec Movie Cube N200

Emtec has produced an ambitious media player in the N200: it's a networked media centre that's HD compatible with an SDHC memory card reader.  But it's going to need more than that to produce a winner: the user interface, extra options and build quality are all points that we always make sure to check.

The small frame of the Emtec hard drive is nice to look at, with the frame matching portions of black brused aluminium and others, on the sides, with white plastic.  There's no scren on the front, meaning you'll need to turn on the TV even for listening to music.

Interface and remote: too lightweight

As soon as you switch it on, though, it's far less impressive.  The manufacturer has put no effort into the onscreen interface in terms of looks or practicality.  To tell you the truth, it's one of the worst we've seen in devices based on Realtek's 1073/12833 chip.  It's ridiculous to see the tiny windows which can only display five folders or files at once--on a 1080p resolution display!

It's also impossible to see thumnail previews of all the photos in a folder, or to display a video jukebox with info on every film and the covers from the DVD versions.  The N200 is a long way behind the competition, especially given that its minimalist remote control is almost unuseable: the plastic feels cheap, it's a nightmare to use and the buttons are huge and ugly.

Compatibility: watch out for large files

The hardware inside the N200 is a Realtek RTD1073 chip, which should offer compatibility with a lot of formats, but is poorly handled here.  That means that some videos we tested encoded using H.264 or with too high a bitrate began to get out of sync and then slow down after about twenty minutes.

That still leaves plenty of other codecs, with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP (DivX, XviD), MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, x264) and VC-1 (WMV) all accepted in standard and high definition.  There's room for a lot of container formats too, including AVI, DIVX, MP4, MKV, WMV, MOV or MTS and M2TS.  Multiple-track audio and subtitles are well-managed and easy to access.  You can't however adjust the size, position or timing of subtitles.  DVDs ripped as RIP or ISO files are fine, but Blu-ray discs are only supported as M2TS files, meaning you'll lose subtitles along the way.

Audio compatibility is a little better, with support for MP3, AAC, WMA and OGG.  DTS and Dolby Digital audio tracks are both accessible using a reasonable stereo downmix (the device decodes the digital signal, converts it to stereo and then sends it to your TV's speakers).  Alternatively, a bitstream mode is also available to send the sound signal directly to an external amp.

Connectivity: SDHC, USB and Ethernet

There's a complete range of connectivity options, with HDMI, composite and component video and optical audio.  On one side, you'll find an SDHC memory card reader along with a USB host port, with another of these at the back.  You can use them to plug in a USB key or an external hard drive to provide content, as you can't connect an internal hard drive inside this enclosure.  Finally, network compatibility is provided by a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port and adding a USB WiFi dongle will give you access to wireless networks.