The new Iomega Screenplay Director HD media player is an internet TV and home network set top box that offers HD online movies, YouTube & web TV, and access to media stored on devices on your home network.

The device replaces the old Screenplay TV link which came out in 2008. I got a hands-on look at the new media box while at CES 2010 and it certainly delivers on what it promises with a very reasonable price tag.

You can watch HD movies purchased or rented from Cinema Now, an online movie rental service similar to iTunes and Amazon Video-on-Demand.

Other online content includes YouTube, Flickr, Internet radio, RSS feeds, or podcasts, all accessible through the easy-to-use user interface and remote. Check out the GUI in the video below:

It also comes with a healthy 1TB internal drive and uou can also hook up additional storage via the 3 USB ports.

Home Network Media

The HD Media Player also gives you access to videos and media on your home network in a wide variety formats.

It can connect via Ethernet or Wi-Fi and has DLNA support making watching videos across your home network relatively seamless.

Unfortunately for WI-FI wireless access you’ll need to purchase the Iomega 802.11n Wireless Adapter separately or one of the following supported USB Wi-Fi devices which can be hard to get hold of:

• Trendnet TEW424UB (USB)
• Edimax EW-7316UG (11g USB)
• Encore ENUWI-G (USB dongle)

You could try your luck with another USB Wi-Fi device but quite often they’ve been reported not to work.

Wi-Fi networks tend be a bit sluggish for copying large files and playing HD anyway so you may want to look into a home plug adapter or CoAX adapter to extend your internet connection. These are usually offer a faster and more reliable connection compared to Wi-Fi, but are more expensive.

Full Specs

Media Formats

• Audio Formats – MP3, AC3 (Dolby® Digital Encoding), WAV, OGG, WMA
• Video Formats – MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX®/XViD), H.264, WMV, AVCHD
• Photo Formats – JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG and TIFF
• File Types – .mkv, .avi, .asf, .iso, .vob, .mp4, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .ifo
• PAL/NTSC – Full 1080p high definition (24 fps)
• AV Connections – HDMI, Composite video and audio R/L; Component video: Y, Pb, Pr, optical audio
• Hard drive format: NTFS (default), FAT32

Interfaces

• 1 x RCA Component Video Out – Rear
• 1 x Composite Video Out – Rear
• 1 x Stereo Audio Line Out – Rear
• 1 x HDMI Digital Audio/Video Out – Rear
• 1 x RJ-45 Network – Rear
• 3 x USB – Rear
• 1 x Toslink S/PDIF Out – Rear
• EthernetWireless
• IEEE 802.11b/g/n
• DLNA support

Other

• Versatile Supports many CODECs and file types including H.264 so you can enjoy your entire media collection
• Access online content on internet sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Internet radio, RSS feeds, or podcastsLarge capacity
• Save up to 1500 hours of video, 4,000,000 photos,or 18,500 hours of music on the  1 TB drive
• DivX Home Theatre Certified Includes Iomega Protection Suite anti-virus and backup software solutions

Pros

• Full HD support
• Supports lots of file formats
• 1TB storage included
• Rent movies online and YouTube access

Cons

• Needs separate adapter for Wi-Fi support
• Would like to see more online TV and internet features

Bottom Line

Retailing at $250 the Iomega Screenplay Director HD (model number 34650) is a healthy price when you consider the 1TB storage included (an external Iomega 1TB hard drive is typically $100 or more).

With full HD support, ability to watch videos on the home network, and online TV, movie rentals and internet functions it has a good amount to offer. Lack of built-in Wi-Fi is a real shame though.

Iomega Screenplay Director HD Marketplace – Deals & Discounts

On Amazon:
Buy it on Amazon.

On eBay:

Also See

• The Monsoon Volcano which offers internet TV, placeshifting, home network media playing and more.
• More Internet TV Set Top Boxes
• Homeplug Ethernet Adapters on eBay

A new promising placeshifting device with the potential to become the ultimate all-in-one home TV device is due for launch in March 2010.

The ‘Volcano’ from Monsoon Multimedia (the makers of the HAVA placeshifting line) is WebTVWire’s favorite device from the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. Quite simply this slimline set top box is packed with a variety of promising features.

It is essentially does all of the following:

• HD placeshifter – Allows you to view 720p high definition streams of your home Cable TV connection and home video library over the internet.
• DVR – Plug in your cable box or other TV source and you have the typical DVR functions of recording and playing TV.
• Internet TV – Right not its YouTube for online video and CinemaNow for paid movies. In the works are many other web TV services including Boxee and Netflix.
• Apps – The device should also allow you to play on Twitter and Facebook as well as do a lot of other stuff like play games and check the weather through third-party apps.
• Live Broadcast - It can even broadcast video from your home live across the internet.
• Home Network Media – Access and share video and media across your home network wired or wirelessly.

Soak up some pics and watch a video of it in action…

An Internet TV Set Top Box

In addition to placeshifting the device also tries to be an internet enabled set top box like the Roku. It can play a variety of content including videos from YouTube and on-demand movies from CinemaNow.

Simply putting YouTube on the TV screen will make a lot of people happy, and makes the PopBox, which lacks YouTube streaming, look a lot less appealing when this slim little box can access the biggest video site on Earth.

Digital Video Recorder

Monsoon describe the DVR feature as being akin to TiVo with a recommendation engine that records your favorite TV for you. The typical DVR features of pausing and rewinding live TV are also present.

It doesn’t come with an internal tuner so you will need to hook it up to your cable box or other TV source. Lacking a tuner will mean that you probably won’t be able to record and play different TV stations at the same time.

The DVR can also be accessed remotely so you can manage your recording schedule.

A Media Extender

It doesn’t end there however! The Volcano can also play videos off local storage media via USB, eSATA and UPnP. It even crosses into media extender territory with support for DLNA meaning it can access DLNA compatible devices on the home network.

It can also stream files over a home network over UPnP, and video streaming in this fashion is also planned.

To be clear you can both access media on other devices and play them, and other devices can access the Volcano and play the media stored on it.

App Crazy

Monsoon is very keen on getting as many apps for the Volcano as possible. Already guaranteed for launch are YouTube and CinemaNow, but also planned is Twitter, Netflix, Facebook, Last.fm, Boxee and many more.

App production is open to third party developers.

A TiVoToGO-esque Function

No it doesn’t stop there either! You can copy videos from an attached set-top-box (say your recorded programs on your DVR) and quickly export them to external media, or the integrated storage that is planned on later models. This is a bit like TiVoToGo.

A Placeshifter

Simply connect to your home theater using the software available ot PC, Max OS X, iPhone, Symbian, or Windows Mobile smartphone.

To stream content over the net it uses a 150kbps uplink speed, as well as H.264 video compression technology developed by Monsoon

A Live Broadcaster – aka SlingCatcher

Also planned for the Volcano is the ability to stream live (or recorded) video from your home across the internet. This is what the SlingCatcher does.

If the Volcano can pull all this off it will be a media extender, Slingbox, SlingCatcher, Internet TV set-top-box & TiVoToGo machine all in-one!

Monsoon looks set to take the place of Slingmedia as the innovative company coming out with ground-breaking disruptive technology. Slingmedia seems to have lost its disruptive passion when it was taken over by Echostar (aka DISH Network).

Volcano Features Overview

• All-in-One video convergence device combines major features of TiVo, Slingbox/HAVA, Roku and Remote DVR features for a fraction of the cost
• High-quality video playback
• Includes hardware remote control; smartphones and computers have on-screen remotes
• Free app with EPG supports Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones
• Streams high-quality video at H.264 and MPEG-4 standards at 150kbps
• Enables full remote control and channel changing capabilities of any TV source such as Cable, Satellite, DVD or TiVo
• Wireless N for video uplink and broadcast throughout the home
• Smooth video over 3G as well as Wi-Fi
• Browse EPG for schedules, series and episode descriptions
• Built in infrared to control set-top box remotely
• Multiple users can have recordings on the Volcano hard-drive and access them independently

GUI Let Down?

According to Dave Zatz the GUI is a little rough around the edges so usability could be an issue, although Monsoon did say the interface is stll being worked on and improved. The media interface is Cover Flow-esque (like how you browse albums on the iPod) which looks promising.

The box design however is certainly very sleek (pictures coming shortly), it is a thin black design with a healthy selection of inputs and outputs on the back.

How Much?

The Volcano is expected in March in a 4GB flash memory version for $199. A Pro edition will also be sold for $299 which features a more healthy 250GB drive. A lifetime or term-based subscription will also be needed, but details on this have not yet been released.

Buy Monsoon Volcano

As soon as the Monsoon Volcano is available to purchase it will be listed here:

Also See

• DISH Network DVR with Slingbox technology
• More Slingplayer & Placeshifting News
• Monsoon HAVA placeshifters on eBay