The Micca Slim-HD is a good little portable media player. I purchased the device for a recent conference overseas the intention was to connect it to a large HDTV screen through a HDMI cable and run it continuously for 4-days with a looping video from a 500Gb Western Digital internal disk-drive.
As time was running short, I decided to purchase 2 devices one to use as a primary device and the other as a redundant fall-back should the first one fail. When the shipment arrived I noted that the design was a little flimsy. I would have liked to see a tougher enclosure particularly given that it is designed to be portable and can easily be knocked around. In any case, I inserted the internal drive and went to power it up as per the instructions. Unfortunately, the first device did not work so I was relieved that I had purchased the second as a redundancy. I contacted Micca support using the form on their website and in a relatively short period of time "Jack" emailed me and suggested that I buy a 3rd device and return the other through Amazon. I did that and within days the 3rd device had turned up only to find that the power supply did not work. I emailed Jack again and he sent me 2 new power supplies. While there were issues, I found the customer support to be very impressive. Jack even called me at one stage to talk through the issues.
As for the functionality The device will play most popular video formats. I found that some perform better than others. Jack suggested using the MKV file format which I found performed the best out of the many formats I tried. Out of these I found a couple that did not work including the high-end Apple ProRes codec . For most users this won't be an issue unless you're planning to use a professional editing studio to produce your own video content.
The most annoying thing about the device is its speed. At this stage I've only used the internal drive which Jack tells me is the quickest out of all the interfaces but it's still very slow. Finding video on the device isn't convenient but it's not too painful. It's about 3-4 clicks to find a video. The slow responsiveness may also be due to the remote. I find myself clicking buttons several times before the device responds to a command. This is probably due to the limited angle on the remote (you must be directly in front of the device for the remote to work) and the slow responsiveness of the device. As an example, several times I've tried to fast forward through a video only to have the screen message tell me something different the actual video is fast forwarding but the onscreen display is telling me it's rewinding. Also, I've also found that on occasion video files do not appear in the folders, so you have to re-copy the file to the device so yes, there are bugs in the software.
I consider myself a demanding user of the device and expect a lot. Keeping this in mind and given that it's more intended for home use, I was impressed with the system it does what it says it will do. The hi-resolution video looked impressive on the big screen and it performed will over the 4-days of continuous use. There are some limitations that are annoying but easily overcome. If you're looking to use this for a simple portable video player you won't be disappointed. I think the price point is a little high given that new devices are constantly entering the market with internet connectivity, more functionality and better interfaces, so I'd expect to see this drop some time soon.
All-in-all it's a good device which is well supported by Micca's customer service team.
This little unit plays all the major video files and plays them well. With the bonus of being portable. One connection using HDMI and your good to go. Remote is very well desinged and the unit looks fantastic. I added a 320GB hard drive but also tested both the SD card and the USB for playing video. I tested every format that is listed except RMVB and all played with top quality full HD. (Did not have an RMVB file to test). None of the other players I've owned could do this. I've been building HTPC's for about 10 years and have experienced the progress of many portable media players. I have the Xbox and used it to stream video: Too much trouble. Owned the Avox JukeBox by Vantec: Very limited file formats and remote is terrible. I've owned the Dlink DSM 510: Great product but very finicky. Locked up a lot and no internal storage. Owned the Galaxy Metal Gear Tvisto Mini: Nice product but limited formats and took a mess of cables to connect.
Nothing beats a Home Theater PC for quality and usefulness but this Micca slim is kick ass for a portable player...
I would recommend for anyone needing a portable video player. In fact, if you don't need the full features or expense of an HTPC then this unit would make a good HTPC alternative.
Buy Micca Slim-HD 1080p Full-HD Portable Digital Media Player w/ 2.5-Inch HDD Drive Bay Now
I give the Micca Slim HD 4 big stars! A super small, portable, capable media player. I updated to the latest firmware available. I withheld the last STAR for:
1: A few playback issues It cannot play older DivX codec and WMV8/7 codec.
Re-encoding those older files will be a waste of time.
It cannot play VOB files at all
2: The remote Micca needs to improve or boost the IR signal of the remote control. If you
don't point it correctly it's very sluggish. If you're going through contents of
a 1TB external hdd, you will soon find your arms getting tired because of the need
for you to point the remote just at the right level.
Micca also needs to add more functionality on the arrow buttons
(up,down,left,right). I would be nice if you can use the left/right button move
forward/backwards within directories, instead of tirelessly depressing the
"Exit" button to move from one folder to the next. Also the exit button
needs to be just as big as the OSD button since it's constantly being used.
Powering "OFF" the device with the remote is fairly easy but for some
reason powering it "ON" via the remote can be quite a challenge . I have to
point & press at least 3x before it powers on.
Lastly, for some weird reason the DOWN arrow button of the Micca remote
can power ON/power OFF my old single DVD player(I removed the old
DVD player to solve the conflict)
3: Micca's LED power light should turn on/off, a better indication to let you know if the unit
is on or off. Instead it remains on 24/7.
4: File description function does not work: When browsing files, on the top left there is a file
attribute section. Good idea but it does not work. Selecting a file does not
display any information on that file. It would be nice if the file info section
would actually display file info, an icon or a thumbnail for easier browsing.
Back to the Micca Slim HD: This tiny device is an excellent media player it can play many different video formats that you throw at it. Contrary to other reviews, the player itself is very responsive and quick to locate files on a USB external hard drive, flash drive, or an SDHC card (have not tried the internal drive yet since I don't have a 2.5" drive)
Without an internal drive, the Micca Slim HD is very light. I have to twist the HDMI cable so it doesn't keep the player slightly tilted to its side.
I tested several 720p/1080p video contents ranging from 5mbps 35mbps(HD-WMV,HD-DivX,HD-XviD,HD-MKV) all files played without a glitch. Many SD video contents played very well.
All in all I highly recommend Micca Slim HD player if you want to watch all your media collections on your HDTV via internal/external HDD.
On a side note: It would be nice if Micca included a simple HDMI cable instead of the very useless composite cable.
05.28.2011 -
UPDATE: I finally bought a 2.5" 500GB Western Digital 'green' hard drive. I copied all my encoded mp4 & mkv files on it, installed it in the Micca slim HD player and I'm glad to report that it recognized the 500GB internal hard drive with no problems and played all my movie files just fine...
11.07.2012 -
Another UPDATE: THE GOOD: Yes, my Micca HD-Slim is still alive and kicking...THE BAD: It's sad that I cannot update the HD-Slim firmware to the latest one because the one posted on the Micca site is just a patch for v120107.. The instruction said I need to have v120107 installed before I can install the latest update. Micca support is unresponsive. I contacted them 3x but no luck, they will not send me the download link of firmware v120107.
NOTE to MICCA Store --Why in the world are you guys hiding the firmware updates?
Read Best Reviews of Micca Slim-HD 1080p Full-HD Portable Digital Media Player w/ 2.5-Inch HDD Drive Bay Here
This is a hard one, because the product is really great. I do read among the other reviews that there are quality control issues, however I haven't run into that.
This is a product I have long dreamed of. A portable device that I can use as a good travel hard drive and also plug into any hotel TV and watch my media with a remote. I say any hotel TV because some hotels have LCD TVs and HDMI but some have old TVs and need composite. Before the Micca, I was using an Archos for this duty, along with a Wii controller for remote control. Before that, a SageTV HD200 and portable hard drive (bulky as heck). Before that another Archos with no remote control (really long cables instead) and before that my laptop with a bulky MCE remote and an expensive bulky box to convert VGA to other output types. So you can image, seeing this product was like a dream come true.
As a Portable Hard Drive
The Micca excels as a normal portable hard drive. It plugs right in and uses USB for power, no power brick needed. I put in a 1TB hard drive and this fit fine. Be careful, as there are hard drives that are too thick. You need to make sure the hard drive is 9.5mm thick, no more.
As a Media Player
It will not play everything, but it plays most things. A bit annoying that it doesn't play mts (HD camcorder format), but if you have a laptop, you can just change the extension and then it plays (no need to convert format). It plays most mkvs and handles 1080p well, however you will run into some it won't play for whatever reason. My SageTV HD300s don't play all my MKVs either, so I expected this going in. There are some advanced sound codec support missing, but again, as expected. Subtitle support is great (PGS missing of course), but I wish I could control the size of the subtitles and I wish embedded subtitles were supported.
The interface is unattractive and plain. Its also a bit annoying, requiring more clicks that it should, but its functional. I'm not a big interface person, I just want to watch my media on the road, so not a big deal for me.
The Bad
The remote range is very short. I don't care which way you turn the unit, some of these other reviews are way off base on this issue or my unit is malfunctioning, because I've tuned it every which way and the range is short. I can prove its just weak IR because I use an IR adapter for my phone and control it that way and do not have any IR issues any more.
It gets hot. I carry a portable laptop cooler with me when I travel (for my laptop) and I stick this on top of it to keep it from overheating. I am not saying it will, but everyone knows heat is bad for electronics.
The biggest problem is Micca! This company is totally unresponsive. I emailed them before I bought the Micca, they did not reply. I emailed them after I bought it, no reply. I emailed them again, no reply. I emailed them again and warned them that I had not written my Amazon review yet, and then they replied! Sheesh!
I do not expect any firmware updates or improvements, as this company is totally unresponsive. You can buy this device from a huge well known Chinese internet vendor for 1/3 the price. You won't get any support when you buy it there, but then Micca doesn't give you any either.
A 4-star product ruined by a 1 star company. Such is the world. However, this device fills a dream product for me, so I couldn't take off any more stars. I wish I was happier about it though, why do good products have to be ruined by bad companies?
Want Micca Slim-HD 1080p Full-HD Portable Digital Media Player w/ 2.5-Inch HDD Drive Bay Discount?
I can't understand why the bigger brands are getting more raves and kudos, when a cheap, unknown chinese brand is able to pull all the strings effectively. I had trouble running certain mkv and flv files on both the Patriot Box Office AND the Western Digital Media thingi. This thing plays every damn file on the planet, I kid you not! Granted, the UI may not be too flashy, but it is adequate and easy to use. Very rarely, there may be a video/audio sync, no issue, just stop and start the file from beginning. Doesn't heat up, is very portable, I am using it as en external HDD enclosure too, and it's a brilliant utility when you need to show something to people on TV.
Plays .m2ts, MPEG4s, MKVs, DVDs, FLVs, WMAs, AVIs and every other video file extension I am yet to come across. You can believe the reviews for once, and if there was anything money can buy best, pick this up!! Don't loose the remote folks, or it's a gonner (no physcial buttons).
Save 50% Off
Although product has no back-up capabilities nor Wi-fi (SHARP suggests backing everything up on paper), I found this product to be very handy. And, you can't go wrong with the price. Has exactly what is described in the product description. Organize your thoughts, time management, contacts, etc...
