Fantec XMP600

Combining a DVD player and media centre, the Fantec XMP600 is an interesting product on paper. Able to decode HD tracks, equipped with an SDHC card reader and with a network connector, it has it all in theory. What does it offer in practice?

Design and build: menus too standard

The XMP600 looks like your standard DVD player. The finish isn't poor, with good quality metal for the casing and glossy plastics on the front. On the right hand side, a basket system allows you to insert a 3.5 inch disc. Practical and functional.

At the front, a tiny alphanumeric display gives the playback time but doesn't allow you to navigate across files when the TV is off. You pilot it with a remote that we know well as it's the same one used on a good number of products equipped with the same decoding chip. The advantages and disadvantages are still the same: average handling, quite thick but plenty of buttons.


The navigation interface is also familiar - the one supplied by Realtec, manufacturer of the decoding chip used. Fantec only adapts the graphics front page, without adding any features.


While navigation is fairly easy to understand, it is nevertheless a shame that the interface doesn't better exploit full-HD TVs. Displaying a maximum of 6 lines is pretty damn poor!


There are hardly any advanced options as you can neither display album jackets, nor place photos in a file in the form of thumbnails, nor set up a video jukebox. To sum up: a summary interface that will be enough for those who just want to play files back but which won't satisfy those who want something more complete, well designed and innovative.

Compatibility: not bad, with DTS support

Basic compatibility, namely the device's capacity to read different types of multimedia files, is very good. Recent HD video formats are well supported and we especially like being able to decode Dolby Digital and DTS (stereo or 5.1). A bitstream mode also allows you to send the audio signal to an external decoder.

An automatic 24p mode allows you to fluidify cinema films. However, films at 23.976 images per second suffer with the display of a horizontal bar which slightly cuts the image.


DVD and Blu-ray backups are supported but you don't get everything. For DVDs first of all: audio tracks and subtitling is conserved. While menus are displayed however, they are done so imperfectly. In practice, it's very difficult to navigate across the interface of a DVD.

For Blu-rays, no ISO backups. You have to fall back on RIPs. Here, the various audio tracks and subtitling is accessible. Menus are replaced by a generic (BD-Lite) menu).

Connectivity: SDHC reader, USB socket and network

There are plenty of audio and video outs with nothing left out: HDMI, component, RCA, SCART, optical and coaxial. There's an SDHC card at the front. You can plug in USB peripherals on one of the USB hosts (one of which is on the side). The USB gives 11.7 MB/s, which is fine, but won't support MKV/x264 video playback beyond 34 Mbps.

One annoying bug: when a USB peripheral isn't used for a few minutes, it will no longer be recognised by the device. You then have to unplug it and plug it back in. Annoying!

Network support is via an ethernet 100 Mbps connection. You can access the media centre from a computer (NAS), to access hard drive partitions from the box and make copies. Nevertheless, best to be patient as you only get a max of 4.4 MB/s here! For streaming, most 1080p videos will be jumpy with maximum authorised speed at 24 Mbps.

There are several available internet services: weather, Picasa, Flickr and RSS flow playback. Once again, Fantec hasn't done any restyling and you simply get the standard internet services to be found on all devices with the Realtek chip, with the usual ugly and impractical results. In Picasa for example, you can't access private photos. A gadget then; don't expect much more.

A BitTorrent client is also included and allows you to download files. A web interface allows you to manage this service from an internet browser. It's austere but practical.