DLink DSM-320 High Speed 2.4GHz

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: OK as a wired music player

  Weaknesses: Everything else

  Overall: I don't even know where to begin. I don't often write reviews, but I couldn't contain myself this time. This product has been an avalanche of problems from the start. And it is not just me, please check all of the online forums about this product (DO NOT read the magazine reviews by people paid in dirty D-Link advertising dollars!).1) The wireless performance is minimal. You will not be able to watch DVD's on it, or any videos requiring a large bandwidth. All my other wireless devices get much better signal strength from the same location.2) The codec support is a joke. There are MANY kinds of video, and just because this thing says it supports any particular format like mp4, don't believe it. It will only play approximately 1 in 4 of my videos.3) It only works with WEP encryption or no encryption! Gosh I wish I knew that before I bought it. SO, since WEP is extremely insecure, this device cannot be used securely with wireless. You may as well go hand-deliver all of your passwords to your neighbors.4) The only remedy to points 1 and 3 above is to wire it with plain old Ethernet.5) The only solution to point 2 above is to spend many hours combing online forums for advice on workarounds to convert your videos to readable formats. Even then, you will have to purchase some software to make it work. The music codecs aren't supported well either, as you may have problems with higher bit rates. 6) The fast forward and rewind functions don't work on most of the few remaining supported codecs! AND EVEN ON THOSE, it only has one speed, about 4x.7) It will keep whatever devices that you are streaming from awake, even when you aren't using it.8) The processor in it is so slow that many of the videos that would otherwise work drop many or most of their frames, making it very choppy.9) On top of all this, good luck getting your rebate (there is usually a rebate with this device). I sent all the required materials to the manufacturer (and I am EXTREMELY careful to read the fine print and follow the instructions exactly). They denied it saying they didn't receive the UPC code. I called them and explained that yes I did send it, and I still have the box, with a hole in it where I cut the UPC code out! They said tough, but we're keeping the $50. And no retailers will allow a return on a box with the UPC code cut out. That made me so angry I could explode. By denying me the rebate, they ensured that I will never buy a D-Link product again.They stole not only the $50 rebate, but really the entire purchase price, as well as the many hours of my life messing with compatibility problems that I'll never get back.My rear is sore from the reaming D-Link gave me.

• Reviewed by: drew010

  Strengths: Easy to set up and easy to use interface.

  Weaknesses: Weak options, many features are frustrating due to their lack of reliability. For a product being made by a large company like D-Link, the product is extremely disappointing.

  Overall: XBOX Media center, written by a bunch of kids for hacked xboxes is a way better product than this unit.The navigation through menus is very slow, playback of video files is choppy a lot of the time, and often the audio will lose sync with the video if you fast forward. The fast forward is one speed and very slow so dont count on fast forwarding a movie. There is a seek mode where you enter the minutes to skip to, but you can only choose that or fast forward, not both.The media server software that comes with the unit is of poor quality, and I find better performance using a third party server (Twonky Vision).In my opinion, they made a poor quality unit because they knew it would sell, and now that it is out they don't plan on releasing any firmware upgrades to improve performance and capability. If I knew what I knew now, I wouldn't purchase this unit. You are better off paying the neighborhood or office geek to mod a 100$ Xbox so you can load Avalaunch and Xbox media center onto it. You'll be much happier with that.

• Reviewed by: Marketstuff

  Strengths: With new v 1.07 firmware & v1.05 software updates, it works flawlessly after quick and painless setup. Music sorting is fast and friendly. Navigation is easy.

  Weaknesses: Lack of .wmv or HiDef support. Some tech reps were great, others absurd. What's up with 365live.com? Couldn't find on web to register. RF may interfere with some remote sensors (not specific to 320).

  Overall: I banged my head against the wall for a day trying to get the original v1.03 software to work with the auto firmware update to v1.07. First tech rep suggested v1.04 but it had several bugs. The v1.05 MediaServer software worked almost perfectly. It still doesn't display correct projected song length and playlist protocol is confusing but I'm hoping these'll be fixed in next update. If I had known how versatile and friendly this puppy is, I would've bought one sooner. Suggestion: let users program streaming video and audio URL's from Internet.

• Reviewed by: PCeye

  Strengths: Ease of use once configured. Sound quality. Analog and digital hook ups. Solid construction.

  Weaknesses: Firmware and related improvements an after thought. Efforts to improve wireless security lacking. Misinformed technical support. Problematic database memory and quirky navigation.

  Overall: I set up a wireless network in my home, and already having my own PC set up as a media server I figured I could use the DSM 320 as a replacement interface for my AV system. I sent my media PC to the basement wired to the router. Prior to purchasing the DSM-320 I wrote DLink Canada asking if the device supported WPA-PSK wireless security (as the other older protocols are easily hacked) and was advised that it did support WPA-PSK. Unfortunately tech support was incorrect. It only supported the older and weak WEP protocol. They apologized and told me it is in the next firmware revision, that has yet to be seen. My firmware revision remains at 1.05ca as of January 2006. If security is important to you, look for other units that support WPA-PSK. The best way to hook up this device is by wire, where you have the greatest bandwidth to stream high resolution video. The moment you go wireless, you step down from 100Mbps to 54Mbps which does not take into account security overhead, distance from your router, etc. Wireless performs well for music (Mp3, etc) and high compression video. High resolution video will choke wireless in certain setups, causing jerky sound and images. The database software as of Jan 2006 seems quite stable on my A7N8X-X based system, and was a breeze to install. The DSM-320 itself has some glitches that can be a nuisance. The unit suffers from database forgetfullness, dropping to the root menu, seeking active servers. It will play an entire movie, but feed it a playlist, chances are that it will play a couple of songs , forget the rest and unexpectedly stop. I have not had this device run for longer than 1-2 hours without my intervention. Use the menu system for a few minutes, and it will unexpectedly dump you right back to the root menu from time to time. Very annoying after seeking through a vey large music or playlist database. Nero Recode can produce MP4's with embedded chapters. The DSM-320 is not aware of these indexes, obligating you to either use "jump" (using a very clumsy interface to type in a time to jump to) or "rev/ff" (that really doesn't work well if you have wireless + security + good quality video settings) to navigate any video file. One can select one means of search, the other, not both. Why? Who is the brainiac who thought this one out? Very frustrating, especially if you recode music DVD's. Worse, the DSM-320 will not play the next available video file in a folder. If a show plays and reaches the end, it will stop. You cannot passively watch a folder full of TV episodes back to back. You must hit "next" just before the show you're watching ends, otherwise navigate the menu and select the next episode to watch (plus run the chance of being dumped to the root menu)...ugh. When it plays back, it does it well. For a multimedia device the sound quality is great, and so is the picture quality. It boils down to how you intend to use the product. If you have a small database of music and the odd video file you will likely not be disrupted by the DSM-320's shortcomings. If you have a large database of sound and video, you will get frustrated by its instability and quirks.

• Reviewed by: xxxxxxxx

  Strengths: Just about any connector you can think of, great concept.

  Weaknesses: Inconsistent compatibility on video files, rca audio signal weakness, weak remote control, software pretty weak. Technology just not there yet.

  Overall: I read the reviews on this product and understood there was a broad diversity of experience, some good, some bad, with this product, but I thought the idea was just too good to pass-up as I didn't want my main PC to be located in my living room if all I need to do is view / listen to media files on my stereo and HDTV. 3 key issues eventually convinced me to return this product. 1) Inconsistent compatibility on video files - tried to play MPEG movie files - sometimes works, sometimes doesn't - same file! Tried Windows Media Connect server in addition to D-Link media server that comes with the unit, but generally the performance was even poorer with Windows Media Connect. Wireless signal was not an issue - I can wirelessly stream the exact same files to my laptop in the exact same location with no problem, and I also use a D-Link 802.11g router; 2) Audio signal output to the RCA jacks was intolerably weak. Didn't try the digital outputs and perhaps this was a hardware failure, but it just didn't perform; 3) Remote control works, but requires explicit line of sight to the unit and doesn't have intuitive feel and interaction with the unit. Setup went reasonably smoothly with the exception of requiring a few tries to get the firmware to update (this appears to be a common experience based on other reviews), and the interaction between the remote and the interface. Would be nice to be able to manage the player and do the setup from your PC (as you would normally do with your wireless router).