LabsNetwork video players
D-Link's Media Lounge sports a distinctly different casing to the other devices on test this month: while its rivals take the form of consoles or set-top boxes, the DSM-520's width means it will sit more comfortably alongside hi-fi equipment. Its mirrored front panel is attractive, too - except for the ugly front-facing USB port - and you get HDMI (up to 1080i), scart, S-Video and composite video outputs at the rear. Audio is also well catered for, with optical and coaxial S/PDIF plus phono outputs. The only noticeable absentee is component video, which means you can't use the DSM-520 to feed a high-definition signal to older TVs without HDMI. It's well equipped on the networking front, with both wired and wireless networking built in, and a
When it comes to streaming media, you have a choice of D-Link's own server software, Windows Media Connect or a UPnP AV-compatible media server. You can also play direct from a USB hard disk or USB flash drive, access online radio from Live365.com and watch videos from Totalvid.com (a month's trial is included). While the DSM-520 is officially able to decode and play more formats than other devices, when it came to music it rejected some of our MP3s, and played albums in the wrong order, ordering tracks alphabetically rather than by track number. We were also unimpressed to see that album art isn't supported. Overall, the D-Link looks good on paper, but lacks the finesse of the consoles and the Apple TV. True, it has an elegant case, a good selection of outputs and support for a decent range of media formats; but for a device like this, slick, responsive menus and flawless playback are vital. Until D-Link delivers them, we can't recommend the DSM-520.
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