detail information

Date: July 2008
Device: Hantech Markus 800 Media Player
Firmware: V118
Reviewers: Advocate 96 & Hi-Jack

Now, since 2 people at MPC reviewed the unit, there shall be 2 conclusions and 2 pros and cons lists. Just pick any of both and go with it :) It gives a unique spin to a review, having two people maybe say two total different things. So… what‟s your conclusion Advocate? Fell in love again or not? :)

CONCLUSION BY ADVOCATE 86

The Markus 800 is a good step forward on how media players should be built and presented. It allows the player to be accepted as a proper AV device which looks good and deserves to be part of your Audio Visual layout. I was overly impressed by the aesthetics and internal design of the player.

The downside is the use of a dated Sigma processor which prevents the device from taking on the latest and greatest NMT‟s and DViCo offerings. This could have been the player to knock DViCo of their perch. As it is Hantech have let the device down and whether driven by cost savings or bad advice have failed to be that “DViCo beater”. Don't mistake me here, on every other point the Hantech Markus 800 beats the DViCo M-6500a hands down from its beautiful glossy black casing, two inch LCD color screen, well laid out internals, external power supply and nicely driven menu system. It also appears that Hantech offer good after sales support in the way of Firmware upgrades which is all important from the user perspective. Maybe Hantech can bring out a V2 of the Markus 800 incorporating the Sigma EMM8635 processor or even the newer Sigma SMP865x processor.

I believe the user base would be willing to cough up the extra monies that it would take to include the more powerful processor. Additionally, this would allow for the inclusion of HDMI 1.3 allowing more functionality to be added as is being proven by Hantech‟s competitor DViCo who have just announced the full support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio playback.

The introduction of the LCD screen is an asset and points to the direction that should be taken with players. Other manufacturers should probably buy a Markus 800 to learn how a device should be built and look going forward. The screen allows for Audio file playback without the need for an additional panel but does suffer from the static flaw of not scrolling long file names.

To summarize the Hantech Markus 800 is a good player if you are after standard def and 720p High Definition playback. It is really stretching the limits with Full 1080p playback which it can play, but at lower bit rates. I expect Hantech will develop the firmware further and resolve this issue with high bit rate MKV playback. Well done Hantech, but let‟s see a V2 model utilizing a more up to date and powerful processor, only then will it knock the likes of DViCo from its high tower.

PROS
- Good build quality
- 2 Inch Colour LCD Screen
- USB Slave
- Well laid out internals
- Playback of Audio files without external panel via the LCD.

CONS
- High bit rate 1080p playback
- Dated Sigma EMM8623L Chip
- Static LCD information
- Cheap remote control

CONCLUSION HI-JACK

First… Excuse me again… :) I don't feel the Markus should be compared to the TViX M-6500A at all. I agree the M-6500a has had issues but quality wise and feature wise, it beats the Markus by far (V2). Hence, the difference in chip counts for a lot of that and the HDMI 1.3 recently even made the M-6500A be more ahead.

The display on the Markus 800 is much better in style and quality but brings no features the TViX does not have either like browsing and setting up the unit by the display. It‟s less beautiful but does the same. Anyway, I respect your opinion (not :) )

The Markus 800 is by far the best looking unit I‟ve ever seen and indeed shows what players could look like with a little more effort in that direction. Throw in some aluminum and get rid of the ugly black glossy cheap plastic as it does not do any justice to the player. Black refurbished aluminum would have been better especially since the price is so awfully close to the more powerful competition. Although the build is decent, holding the unit in your hands reveals how light it is and gives you that “breakable feeling” along with it being full glossy black plastic. Although Advocate86 disagrees with me for sure, the plastic used in the TViX is of better Quality, heavier and softer than this hard alternative used on the Markus 800. That‟s monkey piss though and should not matter too much :)

For network, I would like to see the option to add resources “fixed” and auto browsing side by side along with the ability to enter network credentials to make things a bit more secure.

The player‟s abilities, beyond some missing items in the setup for more detailed sound setup are great if you expect the right things for a player using the somewhat (out)dated Sigma chip. Except for 1080p the results have been somewhat disappointing but all else is great ranging from GoTo to bookmarks as features up to playing HD content.

The remote, don‟t get me started. It‟s a rush job and it shows in the layout. In fact, I would go as far as saying the player convinced me in supported formats and looks, but feel, remote and finesse of the display, it didn‟t. It had such huge potential to make the full package work but once past the looks, it somehow went down, but not deep. It all started with the missing HDMI and network cable to complete the package and ended with the bad remote along with the limited Network and Setup options in general.

As with all players, some parts are good, and some are bad. There‟s work to do and Markus should see to it that Novatron will do good things for the player (it's actually Novatron who makes these players and Firmware :) ) as it has made a name that is not so positive in the past. We give them the benefit of the doubt as we feel indeed Markus is a serious company putting their actions where their mouth is and rule this Markus 800 to be a great player. It's the “princess of media players in aesthetics” who wants to be a Queen. It will need some more work to achieve that but gosh… a fun player it is.

Live with the limitations and some quirks and you found yourself a great player. The slightly high price can still be justified by the special features and 2” display.

PROS
- Aesthetics of the player excellent
- 2” LCD color display with navigation
- Overall features (Slow, GoTo, Bookmarks etc…)
- Wide range of formats up to 1080p
- Good company behind it (Hantech)
- Auto SMB and NFS support
- Subtitle support allows enabling and disabling external subs, change position, choose size of fonts in small, medium and big format

CONS
- LCD / Display sync erroneous at times
- Network Guest and Public issues
- No network credentials available
- Network detection sometimes fails first time
- 1080p MKV playback somewhat disappointing
- Subtitles too big sometimes
- OEM (depends on external updates mostly)
- Box contents incomplete

Company Web Site:
http://www.hantech.ca

Estimated EU Price: €279

PS: Some images are outdated concerning the “blue” background. The colors have changed to dark grey as shown in some pictures in this review. We did not feel this was a major change and in fact, found the blue more clear anyway :)

Suggestions, feedback or questions are welcome!

Advocate86 and Hi-Jack
www.mpcclub.com

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