This page tests the media file playback capabilities of proper Media Players against other devices that can be used to play media. All tests were conducted in April 2011 using the latest firmware available for each device at that time.

We test the IDER I601 and Kaiboer H1055 Media Players against a Samsung Series 5 TV, Humax DVB-T2 PVR, and an Xbox 360 console. All of these items are current products and all cost many times more than either of the Media Players they are being tested against. Video files used are a wide selection of formats chosen to represent what we believe to be in the wild.

Please note that the IDER I6-FH uses identical core hardware (Boxchip F10) and software to the IDER I601, so it's results will be the same. Similarly, the HiMedia 600A and 600B will have identical results to the Kaiboer H1055 as they both use the same Realtek '5' Series (1055, 1185) chipset family.

Product			IDER I601 (also I6-FH)	Kaiboer H1055 (Also TV001 + Himedia 600ABC)	Samsung LE40C530F1W	HUMAX HDR-FOX T2	XBOX 360 with media updates
Price March 2011			£33.99	£54.99	£400	£300	£150
.avi 640x352 MPEG-4 Xvid L5 video. MP3 audio
.avi 624x328 MPEG-4 DivX5 video. MP3 audio
.mkv 1920x816 AVC/H264 L4.1 video. DTS 5.1 channel audio						no audio
.mkv 1920x818 AVC/H264 L4.1 video. DTS 5.1 channel audio						no audio
.mkv 1920x818 AVC/H264 L4.1 video. DTS 5.1 channel audio						no audio
.mkv 1024x576 AVC/H264 video. MP3 audio. Header compression
.mkv 1280x544 AVC/H264 video L3.1. AC-3 audio.						stretched
.mp4 720x400 AVC/H264 L4.1 video. AAC 5.1 channel audio
.mp4 1920x1080 AVC/H264 L4.0 video. AAC audio. Samsung HD camera
.mp4 1280x534 AVC/H264 L3.1 video. AAC audio.						stretched
.wmv 1440x1080 VC-1 (WMV3) video. WMA 5.1 channel audio					no audio
.mov 1248x702 H264/AVC L3.1 video. AAC audio.
DVD .iso				full menus
DVD folder structure			sequential .vob	full menus	sequential .vob	sequential .vob
Blu-Ray .iso				simple menus (1/2)
.m2ts 1440x1080 AVC/H264 L4.0 video. AC3 5.1 channel audio. From Sony HD camera
.m2ts 1920x1080 VC-1 video. Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel audio.
.m2ts 1280x720 AVC/H264 BTSC L4.0 frame doubling. AC3 audio. Panasonic TZ7 camera
.ts 704x576 MPEG2 video. MPEG audio. From Humax SD PVR
.ts 1920x1080 VC-1 video. DTS-HD MA 7.1 channel audio.			dts core only		dts core only
.rmvb 608x256 RealVideo4 video. Cooker audio.
.flv 854x480 AVC/H264 L3.0 video. AAC audio. Youtube.
.ogm 640x480 MPEG-4 XVID video. Vorbis audio.
Video Playback Score			17 /23	22.5 /23	11 /23	5 /23	5 /23
.m4a MPEG-4 AAC 44.1Khz 256Kbps
.mp3 MPEG L3 44.1Khz 320Kbps
.wma WMA2 44.1Khz 192Kbps 16bits
.flac FLAC 44.1Khz 876Kbps 16bits
.ogg Vorbis 44.1Khz 192Kbps
.wav PCM 44.1Khz 411Kbps 16bit
.aif AIFF PCM 8Hz 256kbps 16bit
.flac FLAC 192KHz 24bit
Audio Playback Score			4 /8	7 /8	1 /8	2 /8	2 /8
TOTAL Media Format Score			21 /31	29.5 /31	12 /31	7 /31	7 /31

The results show that both of the Media Players tested outperformed all the other devices. This is despite them both being much less expensive. Outside of basic DivX, video playback was poor on all the other devices. Even a relatively common HD container like .mp4 posed problems, with the Xbox 360 and PVR showing particularly inept support. Audio performance from the other devices was even worse, with nearly every sample file failing to play at all.

With the price of complete format support Media Players now having come down to a very affordable level (at least if you buy from us!), the argument that you don't need a Media Player because an existing device will do the job is shown to be a poor one.

Rather than rely on a device designed to do something else, and where the manufacturer really couldn't care less about you being able to play all those video files you've accumulated, you are much better off with an inexpensive standalone Media Player!