Sony takes on WD TV with its USB media player

Philip Wong | Nov 11, 2009

(Credit: Sony)

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony is playing catch up with Western Digital's WD TV-series and other multimedia streamers. Its SMP-U10 USB media player is a petite 145 x 24.5 x 106mm contraption that promises "plug-and-play" capability and supports a modest selection of file and encoding formats. Aside from regular MP3, JPEG and DivX files, this stylish kit also plays back AAC, WMA, LPCM as well as MPEG-1/2/4 videos from thumbdrives, digital cameras and portable media players via USB. What it lacks, compared to the latest WD TV Live offering, are dual USB ports which can be a hassle for users who have a storage drive permanently attached to the player as well as onboard networking capability.

(Credit: Newegg.com)

Connectivity-wise, this Sony sports an HDMI terminal that offers 1080p video upscaling coupled with Dolby Digital surround sound. Rounding up the jacks on the rear are the analog component-video, composite-A/V and digital coaxial audio output. Designed to complement HDTVs without built-in multimedia playback systems, the S$109 (US$78.48) SMP-U10 is due mid-November in Singapore. We've not received further information on regional pricing and availability. Here's how the Sony stacks up against a comparable WD TV Mini.

Model	Sony SMP-U10	Western Digital WD TV mini
Multimedia format supported	DixX, MP3, WMA, LPCM, AAC, MPEG-1/2/4, VOB, VRO and JPEG	Xvid, MP3, WMA, WAV, LPCM, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE, MPEG-1/2/4, VOB, MOV, RM, RMVB, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP and PNG
Input ports	USB x 1
Output ports	HDMI, component-video, composite-A/V and digital coaxial audio	Component-video and composite-A/V
Remote control	Yes
Power	External power adapter
Dimension	145 x 24.5 x 106mm	91 x 91 x 21mm
Weight	245g	113g
Price	S$109 (US$78.48)	S$129 (US$92.88)