ICY BOX IB-MP3011HW-B

The sleek, aluminium-clad Icy Box IB-MP3011HW-B can be picked up for under £120. We put it through its paces in a series of tests to find out whether this ice-cool media centre has anything more to offer than the host of entry-level media centres already on the market.

Great finish, but not so practical

While the aluminium casing is very good quality, the overall design isn't particularly practical. To insert a hard drive (3.5-inch models only), you basically have to take the media centre apart. The problem then is that it's not exactly easy to put back together again, and you have to kind of force the drive into place.


As there's no internal fan, this Icy Box media centre is pretty much silent when in operation—you can just hear the slight hum of the hard drive inside. The remote control is similar to those supplied with most media centres, in that handling leaves something to be desired, as does the overall finish.

Interface: been there, done that

We're not going to spend too long talking about the internal browser software as it's a standard interface that hasn't been reworked in any way by the manufacturer. In fact, it's exactly the same interface that's found in most entry-level and mid-range media centres.


You can only browse files via a computer-style index of folders and files with a preview window on the right. Album covers can't be displayed while tracks are playing and only MP3 track information (tags) is available. You can't make a video jukebox there are no photo thumbnails.

Compatibility: been there, done that (part two)

There are no surprises in this media centre's decoding capabilities either: they're good, but nothing more. Full HD 1080p videos stored on the hard drive pose no problem at all, with smooth on-screen images during playback. We like the fact it can automatically switch to 24p mode but it's a shame there's no 23.976 mode, which can be handy for some videos.


This media centre plays copied DVD and Blu-ray files just fine. Blu-ray menus are lost but they're replaced with a generic menu instead. There's also compatibility for Dolby Digital and DTS (stereo downmixing or multi-channel PCM), which can be bitstreamed to an external amplifier.

Connections: been there, done that (part three)

Here too, there's nothing original about the MP3011. It has the classic line-up of HDMI, composite, component and optical connections. There's a memory card reader on the left-hand side of the device, just next to two USB Host ports.

Networking is covered by a 100 Mbps Ethernet port that isn't all that great. File transfer (to or from a computer) is particularly slow and heavyweight HD videos are prone to glitches.