The Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ has the usual network media-player abilities. It accesses video, music and photos stored on your computers and home network devices, and then plays them on your connected TV and home theater. It can also stream Netflix, play YouTube videos, show Picasa and Flickr photos, and handle other video and text feeds.
What makes this media player unique is that you can easily download and synchronize all your media files to a Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive. The drive fits into a slot on the media player allowing you to directly play all of media files on your home theater and TV.
Features:
- Plays video, music and photos from network-connected devices.
- Built-in dock for FreeAgent Go portable hard drive to directly connect to the unit; includes syncing software for automatic media syncs with computer(s)
- Two USB connections: to connect hard drives, cameras or camcorders, or for use with a USB wireless dongle or USB keyboard.
- Internet streaming from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, MediaFly, VTuner, a number of RSS video and text feeds, weather and finance.
Pros:
- Plays a large variety of file formats, including iTunes.
- Automatic media file detection and sync to the FreeAgent Go portable hard drive.
- Portable hard drive docks directly into the media player without cables.
- Small and compact unit that you can pick up and reconnect it to another TV.
- Easy-to-use main menu.
- Easy-to-create slideshow with music.
Cons:
- Slow to connect to large media libraries.
- Slow to load large files.
- Indexes the files on the Freeagent Go hard drive each time you turn on the unit, so you have to wait to access the files.
- Poor remote control-to-unit communication.
- Wireless dongle drops connection to the internet more often than other network media players.
Easy-to-Use Home Screen
The FreeAgent+ home screen is straightforward and easy to navigate.
Photo (c) Evan Gonzalez - Licensed to About.comThe FreeAgent Theater+ HD has a straightforward onscreen menu. You can navigate to specific media, to specific devices, or to online services by clicking icons on the home screen.
There is an icon for the docked FreeAgent Go portable hard drive, another for network devices, and a third for media servers. If you connect a camera or other device to the unit, an icon will show up here so that you can access the photos, videos or music on that connected device.
It is easy to recognize and navigate through files to find the one you want to play. Simply drill down through the file structure the same way you would on a computer.