Customer Reviews

Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Media Player and FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST905004CEA1E1-RK

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I don't want to repeat too much what others have already listed. The unit works great for playing your home videos you converted to DVDs just like you're using a DVD player and you don't need to convert any files(provided they are in the standard DVD format ifo, VOB etc) them just copy them off your DVD and you can have access to all your memories. I click on the VIDEO_TS.IFO file and it plays just like I had the DVD in menus and all.

Now for the problem. The unit does not recognize the FreeAgent Go drives. Dock the drive to it and it does not know a drive is there. I purchased both the unit and a FreeAgent Go drive in the last 2 months. The drive arrived yesterday. I had been using a flashdrive up until now using the USB port. Now I wish I did not buy this unit. Unfortunately, the only place people were talking about this issue was on Seagate's website in the forum section. If you can't dock your external hard drive to it, it's not of much use. Perhaps earlier models worked but in this economy many firms went cheap and perhaps Seagate has done this too. It was just too good to be true and I have relied on Seagate for storage for years, and now they have let me down.

***Update, Seagate initiated contact with me and appears may be taking care of the issue. I will update. So far their customer service has been very proactive and they initiated contact with me based on my discussion about it and how many firms do that!**** Seagate did replace the drive based on comments I wrote in a forum. I also purchased another unit for $29 (no drive included) on sale Jan 2010. Both units working well but you may need to use a USB cable to use a larger Go Drive.

Over all this player is a good unit for play back of basic media files. I purchased this unit primarily to play my extensive MP3 collection through my sound system. As other users have mentioned an HDMI output with support for 1080p is notably absent. The player is limited in what file types it supports although it plays my mp3's quite well. The digital audio output is nice and it allows you to choose between LPCM or raw format for external decoding. It would have been nice to have an optical output since some brands of receivers are limited in the number of coax connections available. One huge limitation of this player that perhaps a future firmware update will correct is that it will not use the track number contained in the ID3 data to play the tracks in album order. The unit simply uses alphabetic order so to properly order the tracks for playback every track must be renamed with the track number in front of it. I've also loaded a couple of my favorite standard definition DVD's onto the unit. The display quality was as good as could be expected considering the source material. Audio playback using the raw format to a receiver was good. One irritant though is that it sometimes pauses while switching between video files throughout the film. I was able to overcome this by using my PC to combine the video files into one large file. The downside to this method is that you lose chapter selection and since it doesn't resume playback to where it was stopped this can be a big headache to fast forward all the way to the point you want to resume from. The remote is basic and as most credit card types do it lacks power and must be carefully aimed at the unit. I plan to use a Logitech Harmony One to over come this.One surprise encountered when opening this unit is that it requires two simultaneous USB conections. Not a huge issue but it prevented me from using the single port I have wired on my desk top forcing me to climb behind the PC tower to connect it. Over all I'm pleased with the unit but it definitely has room for some improvement which is why only four stars.

This product works best as an easy-to-use way to access your photos, music, and videos from your living room. You won't need a wireless internet connection. Just a USB port on your PC, an unused A/V jacks on your TV, and a free power outlet. There are limitations, as I explain below.

COMPATIBLE FILES
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According to the info sheet, the following file types are compatible. I didn't come across any problems, but other reviews on Amazon have.

- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2 (AVI/ VOB / ISO) up to 1920x1080i @30fps
- MPEG-4 (AVI / DivX / Xvid) up to 1280x720 @60fps
- Video Resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p; PAL 576i/576p. Supports video (HD and upscaling) up to 720p/1080i.
- Audio (MP3, ACS, WMA, WAV, OGG)
- Photo (JPEG's up to 20 megapixels per photo).

BENEFITS
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- Easy to use software (but not Mac compatible)
- Easy to use TV interface
- Great Seagate external drive (This is the same type sold separately as the Seagate FreeAgent Go 250 GB USB which has good reviews).
- Automatically transfer designated folders on your PC to the external drive for viewing on your TV.

LIMITATIONS
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- Component cables not included. Only RCA cables are included, so you won't experience the higher resolutions without them.
- Not Mac compatible
- The design of the remote looks a bit dated. The dock that connects to your TV looks like an old answering machine.

ALSO NOTE
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If you already have a PS3 connected to your TV, you won't really need this. The PS3 already can copy photos, videos, and music from a memory card or a DVD-rom (that you burn) and store them on its harddrive. You would also save an extra set of A/V jacks on your TV and not need to use another power adapter. There are also shareware programs that can update a memory card with your latest media files.

RECOMMENDED USE
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The people that may benefit most from this product are parents who want to show visitors their latest kids photos on the TV.

This media player is extremely easy to set up. I practically got it to work in 5 minutes just hooked everything up right out of the box and played.

The kit came with 2 docks: a PC dock and a TV dock, or the media player. However, it only came with regular video cable. No component or SVGA cable. Also, there is no HDMI port - this is part of the reason I want to give it four stars. You just got to have HDMI connection now aday! But it does everything it said, so it deserves 5 stars.

Setup is straight forward. I used the supplied remote control to navigate the set up system. The credit card size remote control has to be pointed directly to the media player, I thought it didn't work a couple of times.

There is also a very hight quality 250GB Seagate external drive. It is the same pocket hardrive sold everywhere.

The PC docking station uses 2 USB ports, but I suspect that I can connect the harddrive to my laptop via another cable that uses only one. I copied a HD movie and a few Jpegs to the supplied external hard drive, plugged it in the TV docks and played. It is that simple.

Video and audio quality are excellence, just like you play a good dvd with high-end upconversion dvd player. I set the output to 1080i, same as my HD sattelire receiver. You can also set it to 720p.

I have not tried the software that came with it. I think the software provides some advanced capabilities that allows syncing your multi media libraries to the harddrive. I will install the software when I have time and update this review.

I wish this player supports HDMI and higher HD resolution, but 1080i or 720p is most people will ever need. HDMI cable is cheaper and easy to hook up. I now have a bunch of wire hanging off my TV!

It's awesome playing HD movies that came off my HD video camera. I highly recommend this player if you have a lot of those. Not that I recommend it, but if your buddy also has this player, you can swap drives with him and watch his movies!

6/20/09 Update:

I love this so much I bought one for my brother as a gift. I also tried the WD media player and thought that this Seagate is far better. When you have to drag a USB drive with power cord around, you'll appreciate the clean design of this player. It also has none of the jerkiness found in other player. It can only play up to 1080i, but most of us wont see the differences. But you have to option to plug in a USB drive with this player if you want to.

Still love and highly recommend it.

I had high expectations for this media player. It is good looking and easy to use...UNFORNATELY... it DOES NOT PLAY your home movies unless they are converted to a particular format.

MOVIES:
We own Canon digital cameras and a Flip Video Camera... Both are very popular, yet movies taken with these cameara DO NOT WORK on this player. You get pictures... no sound....

Tech support informed me that we would have to change the CODECS for these videos... This is very time consuming and not for the novice. It takes longer to change codecs than it took to make the video. With over 200 hours of digital movies... this player IS NOT the answer.

We are returning it to buy a Western Digital which has LOTS of CODECS built in to the system, so we can just play our movies.

The movies play on our computer with a 2002 copy of windows media player... Apparently the new Seagate Theater Player is not as sophisticated as the old technology.

Pictures:
It makes a great slide show of all your pictures.

If all you want to display on your TV is Pictures, buy this unit.

If your movie codecs match seagates player, buy this unit.

If your movie codecs DO NOT match the players...do not waste your time....

Got on closeout for @ $90. My main use is taking HD TV recorded on living room computer (by Hauppage USB TV dongle) to watch in our bedroom. Hour programs end up @ 6 gig. Picture quality & sound excellent. As others have pointed our this one does not have HDMI. I tried component video output without success, so hooked up composite, picture seems great on Sony HD TV.

When I received my FreeAgent Theater, I had dreams of leisurely viewing my movies and my photos and listening to my favorite music...all digitally and from one space-saving device. Upon opening the packaging, I was less than impressed with the glossy, black plastic of the FreeAgent. Encouraging however, was how simple the set-up and operation of the device was purported to be in the manual.

A little over two hours later, more than a little confused and agitated, I realized that the FreeAgent device had mistaken my existing external Seagate hard drive with the new one I'd received in the mail along with the device. Fortunately, my data on that drive was not lost, only modified. I finally went to the Seagate website and downloaded a firmware update. I was able to install that easily with a spare flash drive. Still, the device was confused with my original Seagate drive which I use only as a backup device.

Frustrated, I moved forward and was able to load test photos, music and movies onto my existing external drive and put the FreeAgent Theater through its paces. The music played well through my entertainment center. Most impressive was the quality of the photos. They loaded quickly - even those taken at full quality on my 10 Mega-pixel camera. The slide show feature proved to be a nice touch. The quality of the photos was gorgeous on the large TV screen in high definition. Perhaps it could have been even better if the device had had an HDMI interface, but the component video connection served well.

Lastly, I tested a few movies in DIVX and MPEG formats on the FreeAgent Theater. I attached the device to a multimedia projector via the S-video and RCA audio inputs. Both video formats seemed "mushy" - my low-tech term for poor-quality. The same movies connected to the projector directly from my computer were much crisper.

I was depressed initially that Seagate didn't include support for the Apple computer aficionados. This is an XP and Vista only product. However, I found a nice workaround that allowed me to download my media from my MacBook Pro onto a flash drive. The same flash drive could then be inserted into the convenient USB port in the front of the Seagate Theater. My movies, photos and music - all portable again! I was able to plug other external drives into the USB port as well. These all worked flawlessly. I began to warm up to the Seagate Theater just a little more,

Nonetheless, first impressions are everything. I still found myself longing for a device that would bond with my trusty Mac. HDMI support and a carrying case would be nice pluses, too.

Given that this is the first version of a multimedia product, it has great potential. I do anticipate seeing several other rival companies responding with their own knock-offs in the very near future. Portability is its strong suit. Paired with a multimedia projector, it's a sure-fire bet for a fun-filled backyard movie night.

Seagate makes newer models that are much, much better for the price, such as the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+1080P HD Media Player STCEA201-RK or the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV STAJ100.

No MDMI is the thing people need to know about this device, it uses old RCA cables, so it is the way of the dodo bird already, obsolete product.Again NO HDMI Cable support

I recently returned NOT ONE, BUT TWO of these players! The first one arrived with a defective eject button which caused the included hard drive not to attach to the player. I sent that one back for a replacement and the second one arrived with the exact same defect. Both players arrived brand new, in the unopened shrink wrapped retail packaging. Not wanting to strike out a third time I opted for a refund. The seller that I attempted to purchase this player from NO LONGER SELLS THEM!!!

To be fair, I do own this player, but the ones I own were purchased almost a year ago. One from Amazon and one from a big box store. Those work fine and if you purchase a player without the defects, it is a good deal, and a nice mid-range player. It will play most files that you throw at it, has a preview screen, handles subtitles, and is pretty simple to navigate. Just make sure that you check that everything is working on the player as soon as you take it out of the box!