Legit Mods and Ends Reviews
Diamond MP1000 Media Wonder Full 1080P HD Player Review
| Manufacturer: | Diamond Multimedia |
| Product: | MP1000 Media Wonder |
| Date: | Thu, Aug 12, 2010 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Legit Staff |
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In the Box and Under the Hood of the Diamond Media Wonder HD
The Diamond Media Wonder HD comes packaged with composite plus stereo and component video cables. Unfortunately, it doesn't include an HDMI cable, so be sure to order one at the same time if you need it.
The player had a full featured 52-button remote (AA batteries, included) which feels pretty good in the hand but must be well aimed.
I knew that this player, like the ASUS O!Play and Patriot Box Office, was based on the Realtek 1073 chipset, but I wanted to get a look inside to see how their implementation differed. A first look, upon opening the case and unplugging the LEDs from the header, shows a very uncluttered interior with the Realtek 1073 nowhere to be seen.
The Diamond player has no fan, so it's completely silent and doesn't add noise to your home theater stack. The circuit board is held in by 4 screws in the corners as well as a couple on the back which support the optical audio and the component/composite video ports. After removing these screws, the board still seemed to be attached, but gentle pressure popped it off. The reason for this resistance was obvious when I could see underneath.
All of the chips are mounted on the bottom of the board with the Realtek chip in the center. Directly under it is the black pad that you can see on the case. The board was being held in by a dab of thermal grease that makes the entire chassis into a heat-sink.
Here you can see the Realtek 1073 with some thermal compound residue. I'm sure that this design helps reduce manufacturing costs as well as dissipate the heat of processing the high bandwidth associated with high definition video streams.
As I was putting the media player back together, I realized what the circular silver indentation was for. It allows you to push the 1073 firmly against the heat sink before you screw it down.
Next Page - Setting Up and Playing HD Content with the Diamond Media Wonder
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