In Part Two of my ASUSTOR AS-202TE review, I take a look at XBMC, connecting the NAS to my TV via HDMI. Read on for details!
In Part Two of my ASUSTOR AS-202TE review, I take a look at XBMC, connecting the NAS to my TV via HDMI. The AS-202TE is equipped with an HDMI-out port, making it a really good candidate to hook up directly to you TV and play back your video files directly. No DLNA, no streaming, just local playback via HDMI,similar in concept to how a home theater PC works. ASUSTOR supplies a version of XBMC to accomplish this. Let’s see how they did!
XBMC
XBMC is an application intended for home theater PC’s that allows you to play back media of all types onto your TV. Here is a bit about XBMC from their website:
About XBMC
XBMC is a free and open source media player application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. XBMC is available for multiple operating-systems and hardware platforms, featuring a 10-foot user interface for use with televisions and remote controls. It allows users to play and view most videos, music, podcasts, and other digital media files from local and network storage media and the internet.
ASUSTOR delivers an interface to control XBMC called ASUSTOR Portal, and it gives you a home landing page to use to launch Google Chrome, XBMC, Boxee and your favorite webpage. You can administer the portal from the portal app on the AS-202TE. Here is the ADM page showing the Portal after I installed it:
Opening Portal helps you to personalize it, add your favorite webpage to it, adjust overscan (something that I needed to do before I taped my demo…you will see that in a minute). Administration of the portal feature is easy and hits the high notes of what I would like to see.
Once you have Portal installed, go ahead and install XBMC from the app store and then ensure that your HDMI Out port is connected to a TV. Turn on the AS-202TE and the TV and you’ll see the portal page; click on XBMC. You’ll need to do a quick installation process, telling XBMC where to find your content; after that you are in business.
Here is an 11 minute video walkthrough of XBMC on an AS-202TE; note that I needed to adjust overscan in the portal app here to improve my experience.
ASUSTOR also sells a remote to use with XBMC for $35; this is essential to a good experience and I highly recommend it. Here is a quick video that demos the remote:
You can buy it directly from ASUSTOR here for $35. In addition, you may want to consider attaching a keyboard to a USB port if you intend to surf the internet using this solution.
Summary
Overall, ASUSTOR has done a nice job of delivering an XBMC experience here, adding media center PC functionality to their NAS units. If you have content that you’d like to share with the largest screen in your house without the need for streaming across your network, this type of system with XBMC installed might be just the ticket.
Stay tuned for the third and final AS-202TE review part, the overall evaluation, coming soon!
