Iomega ScreenPlay USB 2.0/AV/HDMI/Ethernet, 1TB Director Multimedia Drive

I have had the Iomega Director for two weeks now and I have spent many hours experimenting with it and here is a summary of my findings:

User interface is slow. There is a lot of lag between pressing a button on the remote and seeing something happen on screen. Not serious but annoying.
It does play a huge range of file types for movie and music files.
I bought this box as I want to play mkv files and put the audio through my very expensive amplifier to hear the music or movie on my very expensive speakers. This is where it all got disappointing. I used the optical output to put all audio through my amplifier. The quality of sound was stunningly good. The first 90 seconds of 1080p Blade Runner with a DTS soundtrack was breathtaking, as was the quality of the picture so long as you dont mind the sound stuttering every few seconds. The sound just disappears for a split second then returns. This stutter is present on all types of audio and movie files when played via the optical interface. I tried different cables and different ports on my amp but it didnt change. There is nothing on the Iomega website except a user manual which is out of date as menu options in the manual dont appear in the latest firmware. I had to abandon using the optical output. Next I tried HDMI through my amp and then to TV. No DTS sound is transmitted via the HDMI output. To be fair the website does say that DTS is only "Passed through the optical cable". I read lots of comments on the web where users got no sound at all. By accident I discovered the problem is that you must turn up the volume level on the remote control to get sound from the HDMI port. The volume button on the remote does not affect DTS through the optical port. This cost me hours and nearly resulted in me returning the box for a refund. HDMI has proven stable and good quality but I now cannot use movies with a DTS soundtrack which I find really annoying. I got no reply from the "award winning" technical support but I will persevere until the next firmware update.

A good box so long as you dont want to use the optical port or hear a DTS soundtrack.

I purchased the product because it claimed to play DiVx files and DVD Folders using the .ifo file. Whilst it can play DiVx files it cannot handle ripped DVD folders using the .ifo file and this was confirmed through correspondence with tech support even though the manual explicitly states it can. If you want to use the DVD menus you have to create an ISO9660 iso image. However, if you want to use the optical output you'll have to put up with regular sound drop outs.

Although they state that it can play chains of VOB files by selecting the first in the chain it means putting up with a pause between files and I've also had occasions when it hangs the unit when changing files.

My advice, look for a different unit!

This unit is completelly disappointing. It does not acomplish to do half of the things it's stated to do. First things first, it takes forever to boot. It can take as much as five minutes to be ready to use. Transfering files to the internal HDD it's a pain. The transfer rate must be about 1MB p/sec..Imagine you're transfering a 10GB MKV file to the HDD, how many hours would that take? Not to mention that it crashed a few times while transfering the files. The device was uncapable of reading DVD files ( it did not identify the .IFO file making it impossible to read). It was only possible for the unit to read low bit rate MKV's. Any high bit rate MKV's would make the unit stutter to a stop. What is a low bit rate MKV good for? That's why you have AVI files. Something that might go unnoticed it's is poor handling of subtitles. Instead of reading the SRT files using the timing, it displays the subtitles on a cascade and it repeats the last sentence of the previous subtitle making it very confusing for the viewer. It's also unable to handle subtitles that use symbols from other languages like portuguese. There other series of bugs that would make the unit crash, but they are extensive and I believe I already made my point. I owned a Screenplay ( not Director) and I'm still the proud owner of a Screenplay HD. All its stated to do it acomplishes. And that is the best praise you can give to the Iomega Screenplay. Why Iomega released this Iomega screenPlay Director with so many flaws and Bugs is a mistery to me. They have released a couple of firmwares after I returned this device. If they adress any of this issues I don't know. But from my experience, please stay away from this product.