D-Link MediaLounge DSM-320

• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 129 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 3 stars

  Great Product - poor firmware

  by James_Bond on April 28, 2005

  Pros: Excellent features

  Cons: Video is broken

  Summary: Yes, I am a cheapskate.
  I bought this product instead of setting up an HTPC.
  After seeing the features (read: impulse purchase)... I knew I had to have one!
  
  Wireless
  
  
  
  ...

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  Summary: Yes, I am a cheapskate.
  I bought this product instead of setting up an HTPC.
  After seeing the features (read: impulse purchase)... I knew I had to have one!
  
  Wireless networking is dismal when talking to my brand new Belkin 125mbps wireless router (20%-30% bandwidth), so I hardwired a 100mbit connection to the device.
  
  The results indicate that there is a MAJOR problem with the current firmware 1.05 which is causing video unplayable and choppy / lockups.
  
  Despite what now appears to be a systemic problem, D-Link support were responsive but singularly unimpressive with their suggestions to try to resolve the issues and assert that it should all work.
  
  My testing indicates that, aside from networking protocol mismatches between windows based operating systems and the device, the main problem appears to be related to movies of certain dimensions (eg 640x480).
  
  If D-Link are out there - "Fix your Firmware" and - add some better diagnosis tools to it please.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Good Deal Product Delivered

  by jrkeck on April 19, 2005

  Pros: Wide array of supported formats.

  Cons: Boring interface, no internet streaming.

  Summary: I bought this product on a whim after reading the reviews. I couldn't pass up the $130 price tag, so I bought it and optimistically hooked it up to ...

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  Summary: I bought this product on a whim after reading the reviews. I couldn't pass up the $130 price tag, so I bought it and optimistically hooked it up to my beloved home entertainment center. Low and behold, it worked after I hardwired it into my D-Link router, not only did it work, it worked better than I had expected. I was quite impressed with the clarity that this box delivers to my TV, and the music files and photos sounded and looked great as well. As for the functionality of the unit, it is pretty basic, you play media that's it. I would have liked some streaming video content, maybe a messenger service or some Tivo/DVR like options. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the purchase I made, but I wouldn't spend over $200 for this. For me it delivered what it said, and nothing much more.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 5 stars

  Great idea, but several tweaks required

  by kpsmith on March 31, 2005

  Pros: Great concept - can deal with images, music, & video. Allows easy connection to on-line music sources such AOL Radio, Rhapsody, and Live365. Provides high-end audio/video connections.

  Cons: Wireless performance is poor - until you switch the internal antenna to aux :) Requires immediate firmware and software upgrades out of the box before it's usable.

  Summary: I was very excited when I received my DSM-320 as it promised to be the best of all worlds for broadcasting images, music, and video to my entertainment center. I ...

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  Summary: I was very excited when I received my DSM-320 as it promised to be the best of all worlds for broadcasting images, music, and video to my entertainment center. I did research several of the competing products and found this one had the best features and offered all the high-end outputs such as optical/coax audio and component video.
  
  Unfortunately, the setup of this thing has now taken over 3 weeks to get right! My wife has been less than pleased with all the time I have spent tinkering with this stupid thing, but I do have some words of wisdom based on my pain & suffering:
  1. Use the ethernet connection if possible, wireless is very flaky
  2. If you want to use wireless
  -use a 802.11g router (11b speed just doesn't cut it for video)
  -open up the DSM-320 unit and switch the wireless antenna connection from MAIN to AUX. This sounds scary, but it's not that bad. Take the screws off the sides of the unit, remove the cover, and look where the antenna wire connects to the circuit board. Carefully remove the silicon glue that's on top of the connector and pull the wire straight up. Then re-connect to the point marked AUX nearby. I got this tip from another website and everyone that has tried this got a big boost in wireless signal strength - mine went from 30% to 60%!
  3. Immediately download the latest version of the firmware and media server from D-Link
  4. Try using an alternative uPnP media server such as Twonkyvision or Windows Media Connect
  
  Overall, this product is a great idea but probably just not ready for mass consumption yet. I'm sure the quality will get better in a few years, especially as the faster wireless standards like pre-N start becoming more accepted. Let's just hope the folks at D-Link are reading all of these reviews and incorporating the feedback into their next revision!

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 3 stars

  Don't let the "Plays for Sure" logo mislead you.

  by ryanchiara on December 19, 2005

  Pros: Plays unprotected MP3s and browses photos

  Cons: Doesn't play protected media from Yahoo Music

  Summary: Great idea but not fully baked. This product has the "Plays for Sure" logo advertising compatibility with Microsoft's protected WMA format as used by online subscription services. It does ...

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  Summary: Great idea but not fully baked. This product has the "Plays for Sure" logo advertising compatibility with Microsoft's protected WMA format as used by online subscription services. It does NOT work with Yahoo Music. It only works with 3 subscription services and I think (although not sure) you have to create a new login to the service. I don't think it will pull files downloaded to your machine from an existing login (at least this is what the tech support guy at D-Link told me). Tech support at D-Link is not well informed on this product. I had to wait several minutes for the support technician to find out what the product was supposed to do. The supplied PC software is really slapped together. It doesn't automatically add "My Music" and "My Photos". When you try to add them, it can take several minutes to hours before they are available. If you upgrade to a newer version from D-Link's site, it re-indexes the database which again takes several minutes to hours.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  This product rocks!

  by on June 10, 2005

  Pros: Plays just about anything!

  Cons: Lack of mac media server!

  Summary: I do not know what all the fuss is about this product being a piece of junk. I really do not understand why imcompetent users attempt to use technology they ...

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  Summary: I do not know what all the fuss is about this product being a piece of junk. I really do not understand why imcompetent users attempt to use technology they do not understand (802.11G). I have had this product for about 1 year now, since it was available. I have not found much this product will not play (except encrypted DVD's). I have not tried any of the others but I know this product works well for me. I have read so many negative reviews and comments its just not funny. Nothing is perfect, but for what it does, it will surely make anyone who knows what they are doing very very happy. I am not any kind of expert in anything, I just make things work! As for the Mac support, I have seen several opensource media server software that may be ported over to Mac. I might even consider buying another one for my bedroom. I use this exclusively on my 65" Mitsubishi HDTV with Pioneer 815-K reciever. Results may vary, depends on your ability.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  What Garbage!!!

  by cantbebawt on March 26, 2005

  Pros: ZERO ZILCH NADA

  Cons: I would be here all day

  Summary: Pure Garbage. Best Buy would not take it back afer I tried for one month to make it work. So I went back to best buy, put it on their ...

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  Summary: Pure Garbage. Best Buy would not take it back afer I tried for one month to make it work. So I went back to best buy, put it on their floor, and smashed it with a 5lb mini sledge hammer. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. Plays nothing and always get "File not supported. I will look at Linsys or Netgear.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 2 stars

  I wanted it to work, but it never did

  by mebby on March 25, 2005

  Pros: Great idea

  Cons: Does not work as advertised

  Summary: I've been waiting on a good product to stream all of my MP3's, videos and pictures from my PC to my living room for years. This was the ...

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  Summary: I've been waiting on a good product to stream all of my MP3's, videos and pictures from my PC to my living room for years. This was the first product to have serious potential b/c it is capable of streaming protected content that you download from Napster, MusicMatch, etc.
  
  However - I just never got it to work and I tried VERY hard. I'm a fairly tech savy user and I tried everything that I knew. I read every forum available and the only thing I ever concluded on was that I was not alone. Most other users were having similar issues.
  
  I have structured wiring in my house so I wasn't even trying to use the product over a wireless connection which would leave you to believe that I would have the LEAST difficulty in getting the product to work - not so. I could never get the device to keep a constant connection with the server which resulted in very choppy playback of all media. MP3s were annoying sketchy and video was virtually un-watchable. I called tech support several times and they were absolutely worthless. The best suggestion they had was to hook the device directly to my computer to see if it kept a constant connection that way. Why the hell would I want to do that? If I wanted to do that then I'd just sit in front of my computer and enjoy my media there. But I tried just to appease them and it didn't work anyway so they told me I had a bad unit. I exchanged it and nothing was different with the new one.
  
  So basically I wasted about 15 hours of time on this device and I ASSURE you that it just will not work properly. The product was rushed to the market and it doesn't function as advertised. If you just want to stream your music then buy the Roku Soundbridge (I hear that it works very well). If you're interested in streaming music, video, and photos then just wait a little while. I think that Linksys is putting out a product later this year (I think Q4) that is supposed to work very well and I'm sure they won't put a product out without ensuring that it works.
  
  Bottom line - The MediaLounge marketing will get you excited but it just flat out does not work as advertised. Some people have gotten it to work, but they are the minority. Don't waste your time.

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Returned first second says Intel not Dlink and works!

  by doghouse on March 16, 2005

  Pros: Intel version works like a charm, outstanding!

  Cons: does not support DiviX, and only plays 1 song w/o playlist

  Summary: I purchased my first one, and entered the 128 bit encryption only to have it fail... You have to enter the values in uppercase hex only! Then I would power ...

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  Summary: I purchased my first one, and entered the 128 bit encryption only to have it fail... You have to enter the values in uppercase hex only! Then I would power it off and it would not recognize the network on reboot.
  Customer support answered promptly, listened to what I did and they told me to swap it.
  
  In the Windows Media software the name changed from D-Link Media Lounge to Intel MediaLounge. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It works extremely fast out of the box and works great.
  
  The only complaint I have is playing more than one song. You have to use a playlist. (or I have not figured it out yet) The same thing with pictures, you have to manually flip through them. I would purchase one for my parents if it would flip through the pictures every (x) seconds. That would be the bomb! Heck I would get them a x-mas presents this year!

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  1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  Horrible Company, Horrible Product

  by snaildarter on July 15, 2007

  Pros: OK for wired music player

  Cons: Horrible for everything else

  Summary: I don't even know where to begin. I don't often write reviews, but I couldn't contain myself this time. This product has been an avalanche of problems ...

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  Summary: I don't even know where to begin. I don't often write reviews, but I couldn't contain myself this time. This product has been an avalanche of problems from the start. And it is not just me, please check all of the online forums about this product (DO NOT read the magazine reviews by people paid in dirty D-Link advertising dollars!).
  
  1) The wireless performance is minimal. You will not be able to watch DVD's on it, or any videos requiring a large bandwidth. All my other wireless devices get much better signal strength from the same location.
  2) The codec support is a joke. There are MANY kinds of video, and just because this thing says it supports any particular format like mp4, don't believe it. It will only play approximately 1 in 4 of my videos.
  3) It only works with WEP encryption or no encryption! Gosh I wish I knew that before I bought it. SO, since WEP is extremely insecure, this device cannot be used securely with wireless. You may as well go hand-deliver all of your passwords to your neighbors.
  4) The only remedy to points 1 and 3 above is to wire it with plain old Ethernet.
  5) The only solution to point 2 above is to spend many hours combing online forums for advice on workarounds to convert your videos to readable formats. Even then, you will have to purchase some software to make it work. The music codecs aren't supported well either, as you may have problems with higher bit rates.
  6) The fast forward and rewind functions don't work on most of the few remaining supported codecs! AND EVEN ON THOSE, it only has one speed, about 4x.
  7) It will keep whatever devices that you are streaming from awake, even when you aren't using it.
  8) The processor in it is so slow that many of the videos that would otherwise work drop many or most of their frames, making it very choppy.
  9) On top of all this, good luck getting your rebate (there is usually a rebate with this device). I sent all the required materials to the manufacturer (and I am EXTREMELY careful to read the fine print and follow the instructions exactly). They denied it saying they didn't receive the UPC code. I called them and explained that yes I did send it, and I still have the box, with a hole in it where I cut the UPC code out! They said tough, but we're keeping the $50. And no retailers will allow a return on a box with the UPC code cut out. That made me so angry I could explode. By denying me the rebate, they ensured that I will never buy a D-Link product again.
  
  They stole not only the $50 rebate, but really the entire purchase price, as well as the many hours of my life messing with compatibility problems that I'll never get back.
  
  My rear is sore from the reaming D-Link gave me.

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• 3 stars

  Poor wireless performance

  by BombasticTurtle on March 14, 2007

  Pros: Listen wirelessly to music stored on your computer.

  Cons: Freezes very often when streaming wirelessly.

  Summary: I have owned the DSM320 for nearly two years now, and am terribly disappointed with its wireless performance! It plays only but "once in a way" and frezes once too ...

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  Summary: I have owned the DSM320 for nearly two years now, and am terribly disappointed with its wireless performance! It plays only but "once in a way" and frezes once too often. Not a product that I would recommend. I plan on something better this time. Maybe a Roku Soundbridge.

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