Samsung Optical Smart Hub Review: An Interesting Idea, Poorly Executed - bakerdreme1954

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Acts as a portable DVD drive
• Streams multimedia system wirelessly

Cons

• Buggy
• Can't join present networks

Our Verdict

The Optical Smart Hub is an odd duck, but it's proper for the limited scenario where you want a Wisconsin-Fi router, NAS-like storage, and media cyclosis for mobile devices on an independent receiving set network.

It's a Videodisc burner! It's a Wi-Fi hot spot! It's a media streamer! Wrapping your mind more or less the Samsung Optical Bright Hub–a unique storage and streaming product with a singularly unintuitive gens, a confusing visual aspect, and several very specific uses–is rather challenging. In the end the Optical Smart Hub ($130 as of May 4, 2012) presents an intriguing concept for devising use of optical discs in a mobile world, just it stumbles in its design and introduction.

The appearance of the Optical Smart Hub is confusing because information technology looks for anything the likes of a portable DVD burner. In fact, information technology is one. You john attach the Optical Smart Hub to a PC or laptop via its Mini-USB 2.0 port and the supplied cable system, and it will function in on the dot that fashion. Samsung fifty-fifty includes Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus's OEM phonograph record-burning suite.

However, when not attached to a computer or twist, the Optical Smart Hub functions as a DLNA-secure, media streaming Wi-Fi hub. It offers no internal storage other than the DVD aim, but the unit does have a full-sized USB port on the back for attaching firm drives and the like.

The catch up is that, at the time of this piece of writing, the Optical Smart Hub's storage, streaming, and settings were accessible lonesome via its possess integrated Wisconsin-Fi network. You practice the 10/100 ethernet labourer on the back of the device solely for broadband connections. Put to sleep another way, you can't attach the Optical Astute Hub to a router and consumption it as a shared resource on an existing network. You could use the Natural philosophy Canny Hub as your primary router instead of your usual meshwork; but since it has no secondary ethernet ports, you can't use it for connected devices OR even impound a interchange. And if you just said "Who needs wires?" call up that ethernet is quicker and Thomas More secure, if not as convenient.

The Visual Fashionable Hub will occasion as an iSCSI target along its possess network, fashioning the unit come along alike blunt attached ironware. The setup and configuration utility even off installs Microsoft's iSCSI Instigator for you on Windows devices.

The MobileHub guest app that you use to access the Optical Streetwise Hub is getable for both iOS and Android. Interpretation 4.3 of iOS or better is needful, so older devices much every bit the second-generation iPod Touch are out of luck. I had mixed achiever with MobileHub along a third-contemporaries iPad: I was healthy to browse the files connected attached USB drives, too American Samoa CDs and DVDs placed in the intimate DVD drive, merely the MobileHub euphony and telecasting players both came up with an 'baseless twist' error, so I couldn't stream media. Samsung is working on a fix as I drop a line, and says that older iPads are not affected. Samsung also says that it's working on a Blu-ray reading of this product, but the company hasn't yet offered a timeline.

With Android, everything worked as advertised, though the device took a while to catalog the multimedia system files before I could play them.

For PCs and Macs, the Natural philosophy Smart Hub supports playback in whatever coating serves as a DLNA client, such as Windows Media Histrion. However, although the Sensory receptor Automatic Hub showed up in Windows Media Player initially, when I unsuccessful to access music and telecasting it disappeared or gave Pine Tree State an access error.

The Samsung Exteroception Smarting Hub is an odd elude, suitable for the limited scenario where you want a Badger State-Fi router, NAS-same storage, and media streaming for mobile devices on an independent wireless network. Operating room preferably, it would be suitable if the software were adequate snuff. Once Samsung fixes the software–and if the companionship gives the gimmick the power to act As a shared resource on an existing network–this gadget's appeal leave broaden tremendously, handsome you a way to enjoy your ingathering of movies and other disc-based media via your smartphone or pad.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/464225/samsung_optical_smart_hub_review_an_interesting_idea_poorly_executed.html

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