Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link adds BYO storage multimedia playback to any TV

Although it seems like every TV shipping recently comes with USB ports and DivX compatibility packed in, if all you want is the ability to plug in a drive and play, the Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link may be right for you. Equipped with the same HDMI / component / composite outputs plus WAV, WMA, MPEG-1/2/4, MP3, OGG, AC3, AVI, DivX, XviD and JPEG file formats as the ScreenPlay HD, this unit forgoes the 500GB hard drive -- a far cry from the old ScreenPlay days when it was just a HDD -- in favor of a sleek 3.26 x 3.07 x .78-inch profile weighing less than 4 oz. Plug in your USB flash drive or FAT32 or NTFS formatted HDD and play or upconvert SD content up to 1080i with no problem. Granted it doesn't have the power of a full-fledged media streamer but as a $99.95 take-anywhere box (available now in the U.S., Europe later this month) it's probably worth a look.

[Flashpoint @ Aug 6th 2008 11:31AM]

Might as well be called the PORNMASTER 5000

Who would buy one of these except with the intention to turn any television in their path into a porn receptacle?

Even if you'd argue that someone would load one with a bunch of DVD movies, I guarrantee you, a small section of it would be partitioned for porn.

[NHAnimator @ Aug 6th 2008 12:11PM]

Don't know if you heard, but there ARE other types of pictures and video out now.

[BigEd @ Aug 6th 2008 11:45AM]

NTFS support = Winner (for those who need to play back 4GB ISO files)!
I was considering the Popcorn Hour (because of its NTFS support among other things) but this thing is almost irresistible.

[Shane @ Aug 6th 2008 11:51AM]

That's the thing, this let's you separate the storage from the player so you can attach anything to it. You can have your thumbdrive full of porn if you want or you can have a huge external hard drive full of DVDs. Sounds like a pretty smart idea to me.

[Timmay @ Aug 6th 2008 11:52AM]

Can i use my USB zip drive? i know i have it around here somewhere...

[Luke @ Aug 6th 2008 11:53AM]

Might have to get one of these... WAY cheaper than building a media center, and it does pretty much exactly what I'd want it to...

[Bradley @ Aug 6th 2008 12:09PM]

Iomega! Win!

[Matt @ Aug 6th 2008 12:11PM]

Is this thing similar to a mediagate? I was looking to install a mediagate into my car and use the nav screen but if this is better/cheaper I may look into this instead.

[Ben @ Aug 6th 2008 12:16PM]

I considered this but then the dealbreakers:

No 1080p, no WiFi connection for the HDD to network.

[emailtabs @ Aug 6th 2008 12:36PM]

If this is anything like the freecom/mediagate i used to have then you might as well burn/hammer/kill any thought of paying 100 bucks for it.

They can't play certain audio formats, some divx/xvid files don't work and you can't update the codecs. I even went on the knowledge hunt and hacked the £&4% out of it and it was still $&%!

Just spend a little more and get a decent graphics card, a media keyboard and a long ass AV cable for your PC, my "MEDIA BOX" is relegated to being an external USB drive nowadays.

Wish i never spent the cash on it.

[emailtabs @ Aug 6th 2008 12:39PM]

If this is anything like the freecom/mediagate i used to have then you might as well burn/hammer/kill any thought of paying 100 bucks for it.

They can't play certain audio formats, some divx/xvid files don't work and you can't update the codecs. I even went on the knowledge hunt and hacked the £&4% out of it and it was still $&%!

Just spend a little more and get a decent graphics card, a media keyboard and a long ass AV cable for your PC, my "MEDIA BOX" is relegated to being an external USB drive nowadays.

Wish i never spent the cash on it.

[h0mi @ Aug 6th 2008 12:48PM]

Very good. NTFS support is a major major plus.

[greatsunjester @ Aug 6th 2008 12:49PM]

Considering I am looking at buying a 42" 1080P LCD of some brand or another, this might just be a nice extra to allow me to watch downloaded fansub anime (understandably not at 1080p) on the "big screen" instead of my monitor. Hook this up and leave it, then just use a thumb drive to watch what I want. Handy.

[xValentine @ Aug 6th 2008 1:47PM]

I have tons of AVI movies, so this will be good :D

[digitalh @ Aug 6th 2008 2:09PM]

Me want. Where can I get one? I don't see it on the Iomega site (or anywhere else)...

[BigEd @ Aug 6th 2008 2:41PM]

http://www.buy.com/prod/iomega-screenplay-tv-link/q/loc/111/208648389.html

[jwehman @ Aug 6th 2008 3:57PM]

Not only at is it 90.00 at Buy.com but if you sign up for their credit card, you get 30.00 off instantly. Comes out to 60 bucks. Seems like a no-brainer. Add a 1TB external USB HDD that I have lying around and I should be good to go...

[dis guy @ Aug 6th 2008 6:10PM]

As someone who owns the 500 gb version(150$ from costco) I would look out for this phrase in the spec's "480i/480p/upscaling to 720p/1080i" this means that it will not play anything above 480p. It has played anything the Internets has thrown at it excluding MKV.

[dis guy @ Aug 6th 2008 6:11PM]

As someone who owns the 500 gb version(150$ from costco) I would look out for this phrase in the spec's "480i/480p/upscaling to 720p/1080i" this means that it will not play anything above 480p. It has played anything the Internets has thrown at it excluding MKV.

[Marlon Deason @ Aug 6th 2008 8:22PM]

Whoa! Just when you thought Iomega was down for the count, wham! This looks like a versatile little device. This would be great for lecturers and teachers.

[Lynn @ Aug 12th 2008 11:18PM]

I bought one.

It works with my Toshi 320g hard drive, and one of my 8 gig flash drives -- it does not work with two others. It looks nice, it sees the folders and plays xvid and DVD folders complete with menus.

Also, I can't find a manual (much less a firmware update) for this anywhere on the Iomega web site. A serial # search leads to a legacy mp3 player!