pivos AIOS HD Media Center Review

It is no secret that I am an HTPC enthusiast.  However, not all applications require the use of a PC to be the main ingredient in a home theater setup.  In some cases, as much as I would like to admit otherwise, a media streamer can do the job just as well, if not better.  To fulfill this need, a slew of manufacturers, from Logitech, WD, Linksys, etc, have created devices that do just this and adding to this list is Pivos.  Pivos, a company that promises to change your mind about quality, functionality, and price.  Enter the Pivos AIOS HD Media Center.

The AIOS HD can deliver more than just a media streaming experience.  The AIOS HD features YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Yahoo Weather, Finance, Internet Radio, CNN, NBC, RSS Feeds, and much more.  Web surfing is handled by an HTML5 compliant browser and is all powered by 500MHz MIPS processor.  The AIOS HD also provides the ability to install a hard drive for data storage (for those that do not have media stored in a central location, ie NAS or Server).

The AIOS sports an exhausting list of capabilities:

Supported Video Codecs

•     H. 264 BP@L3, MP@L4.1, HP@4.1 (720P/1080i/1080P)
•     MPEG 1
•     HD MPEG-2 (up to 1080p)
•     HD MPEG 4 SP/ ASP (up to 1080p)
•     WMV9 VC-1 (up to 1080p)
•     RM/ RMVB 8/ 9/ 10 (up to 720p)

Supported File Types

•     AVI/ MKV/ TS/ TP/ TRP/ M2TS/ MPG/ MP4/ MOV/ M4V/ VOB/ ISO/ IFO/ DAT/ WMV/ ASF/ RM/ RMVB/ FLV/ XVID/ DIVX 3,4,5 for up to 1080p resolution.
•     MP3/ OGG/ WMA/ WAV/ AAC/ FLAC
•     HD JPEG/ BMP/ GIF/ TIF/ PNG

Supported Audio Codecs

•     MP2/ 3, OGG Vorbis, WMA (DRM, and Advance Profile not supported), PCM LPCM, MS-ADPCM, LC-AAC, HE-AAC, COOK, RA-Lossless

Supported Audio Output

•     Stereo
•     Dolby Digital AC3 .1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)
•     Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 (passthrough)
•     Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)
•     DTS Digital Surround 5.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)
•     DTS-HD MA (passthrough & downmix to stereo)
•     AAC 7.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)
•     FLAC

Supported Languges

•     English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Russian, Thai, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese

Supported Subtitle Types

•     SRT, SMI, SSA, ASS, IDX/SUB, SUB