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Software
Unfortunately, one of the things I didn’t like
about the MPlay 202 was the software package, and it’s returned pretty much
unchanged. My thoughts on the software are posted in the MPlay 202 article
here, but I’ve included a pile of screenshots from the software that
came with the 202 plus for comparison. If you have any specific questions
about the software that can’t be readily gleaned from these two sources,
feel free to ask in the forums and I’ll do my best to answer it for you.
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Testing
I actually took a lot longer with this item then
is the norm here at EM. I’d received the 202+ just prior to our departure
for CES, and due to scheduling and family business I didn’t get back to this
review for quite a while. But since it was already going to take a while, I
spent more time with the new software to see if it was any different than
the software I’d had before with the 202. I had both familiar and new
problems during this prolonged trip.
One thing that was different is now the software will start up minimized in
the tray, without having to deal with the configuration screen. This is a
plus, as it would always pop up after the scheduled checkdisk/defrag/reboot
that my HTPC runs at about 4 in the morning.
My new problem centered around the way I have set up user accounts in Media
Center. I don’t use a default admin account, and instead have a limited user
account that is the only account that anyone but me has access to on the
HTPC. There are a few software packages out there that don’t seem to
comprehend not running as an administrator, and although not totally
dehabilitating the 202+ software did have an error. It would come up with an
error saying that it had not detected any devices, even though the MPlay was
hooked up and working fine, even after accepting the message.
My next gripe is that the power button does not actually shut the computer
down…the best it will do is hibernate. I sent off an email about this to VL
System, but never did get a concrete answer back even with my extended wait.
Make sure you’re happy with hibernate if you plan on using this feature.
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