Raoul D - First and Foremost

First and foremost – the myka team was very generous in regards to a shipment-situation we had and even threw in a goodie – so we were off to a promising start.

First and foremost – I like the box, I like it a lot. I have been toying with several home-servers, set up some systems already and all somehow lacked in a simplicity to use. Put to the test, my 6 year old daughter got to play the bunnie-movie with very little help and that speaks for the GUI.

The setup is easy, the machine very quiet (which was a concern form me) the hdmi setup done in a jiffy. I do understand the warning to read at least one little leaflet that was in the box in regards to the resolution-setting and switching. Potentially could save you a lot of grief. All in all the box was hooked up the home-cinema and the network in maybe 15 minutes.

The interface is a good first launch, lacks from a purely visual perspective a certain sexyness. Windows Media Centers and Apples do have nice effects in them. But it is nice, functional and does what it needs to do. The file-navigation still needs to prove how it handles a couple of folders, subfolders and files.

The video-playback is smooth – I tried some 1080p sources and they played beautifully, without stuttering. So far absolutely no problems there.

 So I am very happy with the box. If there is one minor criticism. Even though the box is stylish and surprisingly small, the lights up front really bug me. The front-panel somehow does not shield the green and red led sufficiently so that in a dark room you have a blurred green and flashing red front. Less strong lights and a better shield, so it doesn’t overflow would do the trick. Then again. You can also just hide the thing.

 Very curious how it evolves from here…