The totally cool tricks of the ASUS O!Play BDS-700 media player

December 12th, 2011 in .Home Entertainment & HTPC .Products
Mrs Mario
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It has been SO much fun playing around with the ASUS O!Play BDS-700 media player over the past few weeks and in the process I’ve discovered some really cool tricks that make its performance that much more fun.

asus o!play bds-700 media player

The first of these I discovered purely by accident. I was prowling through the instruction manual, looking for a solution to my tricksy streaming issue, when I found that I could use my iPhone as a remote control for the BDS-700. Oh yes, a smartphone remote control.

Your smartphone does need a web browser, has to be connected to a wired or wireless router (the same router that your BDS-700 is connected to), and then you are away. To do this, just turn your ASUS O!Play BDS-700 media player on, then use the arrow keys on your remote control (the one included in the box) to navigate to the setup menu.

Once you’re in there go to Network and then select Connection Status. The player’s IP address will now be displayed. Next you need to enter this IP address into the URL of the web browser on the smartphone and then the application of the player’s remote control will appear. Ta da!

asus o!play bds-700 media player

This is particularly brilliant for things like listening to audio CDs without having to turn on the TV first and navigate to the various menus. Just use your smartphone to do the hard work for you. I rather enjoyed the fact that I was in the kitchen making Christmas cakes when a hankering for some Christmas music hit me. Instead of having to beetle into the lounge to set everything up, all I had to do was tap the preset settings in my iPhone and the O!Play BDS-700 started playing the disc in the drive.

Fortunately that disc happened to me my Christmas music disc. Brilliant.

Another fabulous trick that I discovered isn’t really a trick at all, certainly not like the smarphone remote control factor. This was just the rather happy enjoyment of the intelligence built into the ASUS O!Play BDS-700. I tend to turn off everything every night. It’s all about the environment and green tech management here at Mrs Mario HQ.

asus o!play bds-700 media player

So, when I had turned it all off and on again the first time, I was delighted to see that the ASUS O!Play BDS-700 not only immediately asked me if I wanted to watch the DVD in the drive, but also offered to restart from the same place that I had left off the night before.

When you are watching a TV series (as I am), having to go through the security warnings every single time you want to watch is extremely tedious. I know that this feature is common to many media players, but it isn’t generic so the O!Play gets some extra points for this fab feature.

Right, so I have managed to answer most of the questions I’ve been asked so far but if you have any more, please fire away. I’m only going to have my mitts on this tasty tech for another week before I move onto my next project…

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  • Ove Andersen

    So it is not immediately possible to turn on the BDS-700, turn on your receiver, put a CD into the device and play it, without you have to turn on your TV, navigate through menus and then start playing?

    I had hoped that it would be simpler, and you could easily start playing audio CDs just using the remote (like the good old CD and DVD players). But it is possible to smart for such simple usage :(

  • Anonymous

    Actually you can:

    Answers from the BDS-700 team:

    It takes about 25~30sec to boot up. Turn on the player and put the audio CD in.Then wait until the disc icon on the VFD lights up. Press theplay key on the front panel or remote controller. Music will start to play!

  • Mrs Mario

    Hi Ove

    The team has already replied but yes, you can play it instantly. That was badly written on my part I’m afraid. I’ll be talking about it in more detail at 3pm today.

  • Ove Andersen

    Sweet, that’s more like it :)

  • Anonymous

    Hi Ove! The team has already responded but you can read more about the Audio features of the O!Play here… http://techinstyle.tv/products/home-entertainment/awesome-audio-with-the-asus-oplay-bds-700-media-player/

  • http://aaa1232.myopenid.com/ Guest

    When is it going to be available? I’m waiting impatiently as it seems to be the best product in this price range (esp. BDS500), but how long can we wait? Isn’t it ready yet?