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By Christo Myburgh 7 March 2011

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We’ve already done a number of reviews of media players able to display content on television. What we’ve seen more recently is that these devices have become a lot sleeker, can play a larger amount of file formats and have adopted HDMI connectivity, meaning you can connect it to HD televisions to play on full 1080p resolution. 

The same is of course true for Iomega’s ScreenPlay MX HD media player. It will deal with most formats that you throw at it, with the benefit of a solid 1 TB of onboard storage space in the mix. 1 TB is a lot of storage space (for now), enough for a number of regular movie files but also for your collection of larger 1080p files. 
 
Easy to use
 
It is ridiculously easy to connect the ScreenPlay MX HD to your PC (to populate with content), while the same applies to eventually hooking it up to your television, except for the fact than no HDMI cable is included, rather just the regular white, yellow and red composite cable. There’s also a remote control included which makes it easy to navigate through the different file directories and play selected media.
 
Once you've downloaded your media onto the ScreenPlay MX, it sorts your content via videos, photos or music, from which you can then select content to play. The device's interface is sleek but with a slight delay when going through folders.  
 
Iomega also incorporates a private folder for when you use the ScreenPlay as a backup or personal storage device (for which an extensive range of software, including Trend Micro, Iomega QuikProtect, EMC Retrospect Express and MozyHome online backup, are included). Files stored in this private folder will not display on-screen when connected to a TV. Another useful security feature is the parental control password protection that can be set so that certain files cannot be accessed by the kids. 
 
You’ll also find a USB slot onboard the ScreenPlay, which comes in handy if you want to either play content stored on a USB flash disk, or want to connect to camcorders or cameras for quick access to content. 
 
Conclusion
 
The Iomega ScreenPlay MX HD Media Player is a sleek device is you want a no nonsense media player. It truly is hassle free and comes with 1 TB of onboard storage, which you can use to store your content on or backup important files to. 
 
It retails for a very good R1999, which includes a three year guarantee once you register the product.
 
P.S. Before you rush out to buy, if you have a portable hard disk, just check if your new HD TV cannot read movies directly from it – a handy feature that many of the new sets are capable of. 
PROS
Very handy and easy to use, 1 TB of onboard storage, good software included.
CONS
No HDMI cable included, slight delay when scrolling through directories.
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