Shi Ning RM668 HDMI Full HD Media Player Review

Shi Ning RM668 HDMI is a multi video file format HDMI player that supports full HD playback.
Currently Bizgram is selling it at a stock clearance price of $139 SGD with a free HDMI cable.

Features
° Video out resolution 720p, 1080p
° Supported photo formats: JPEG, M-JPEG, BMP，TIFF，PNG.
° Supported Audio formats: MP3,WMA, M4A(AAC)
° Supports TXT text file reader
° Supported Video formats: TS, TP, RM, RMVB, H.264, AVI (DivX, XviD), MPEG1(VCD), MPEG2(DVD), MP4, MKV, VOB, MOV and more.
° With HDMI, YPbPr, Stereo composite audio output and coaxial SPDIF output support
° Supports internal 2.5-inch (SATA) hard drive
° Supports flash memory cards SD,MMC,MS (Built-in reader)
° Supports USB external hard drive
° Support USB and card insert at the same time, and can switch to each other
° HD Movie Playing

Test Setup
Display: BenQ G2400W with HDMI in
Player: Shi Ning RM668 RMHDD HDMI player
Accessories: 01 x Monoprice HDMI 1.3 cable (the one that comes free have problem with my G2400W, at times the HDMI signal breaks for the BenQ G2400W, probably a real full HD TV is more suitable for the test)
Audio: 1 x earphones connected to audio out jack of BenQ G2400W.

The Shi Ning RM668 from Bizgram comes with firmware 06.05 which cannot be found anywhere on the official Shi Ning.
Shi ning RM668 firmware was flash to 04.23 instead since that’s the latest available from the official site. Only changes noticeable will be the bottom left logo changing from
MPEG-2 H.264 720P/1080P to the official Shi Ning’s chinese logo as well as the firmware number changing from 06.05 to 04.23.

Filename	Format	Resolution	FPS	Codec	Screen Grab	Playable with sound?
01.mp4	MPEG-4	1920x1080	25	8949Kbps AVC video, 128Kbps AAC LC audio		Y
02.ts	MPEG-TS	1920x1080	25	7Mbps AVC video, 384Kbps AC3 audio		Y
03.avi	XviD	624x352	29.97	1013Kbps MPEG-4 Visual XviD, 160Kbps VBR MP3 audio		Y
04.mkv	Matroska	1920x1080	25	3924Kbps MPEG-4 Visual, 128Kbps CBR MP3		Y
05.mkv	Matroska	1280x720	25	3627Kbps MPEG-4 Visual, 128Kbps CBR MP3		Y
06.mpg	MPEG-PS	720x576	25	7Mbps MPEG-2 video, 224Kbps CBR MPEG-1 Audio layer 2 audio		Y
07.mp4	MPEG-4	1280x720	50	5466Kbps VBR AVC video, 128Kbps AAC LC audio		Y
08.mov	MPEG-4	1920x800	23.976	9368Kbps VBR AVC video, 96Kbps AAC LC audio		Y
09.mpg	MPEG-TS	1920x1080	29.97	38.8Mbps VBR MPEG-2 video, 384Kbps CBR AC3 audio		Y
10.rm	RealMedia	1280x532	23	1372Kbps RV40 video, 128Kbps AAC-LC audio		Y
11.rmvb	RealMedia	704x396	23	612Kbps RV40 video, 32Kbps Cooker audio		Y
12.rm	RealMedia	1728x720	23	1372Kbps RV40 video, 128Kbps AAC-LC audio		Not supported
13.rm	RealMedia	1920x800	23	1372Kbps RV40 video, 128Kbps AAC-LC audio		Not supported
14.rm	RealMedia	1024x576	24	1372Kbps RV40 video, 128Kbps AAC-LC audio		Y
15.rm	RealMedia	1280x720	24	1372Kbps RV40 video, 128Kbps AAC-LC audio		Y

Conclusion – Pros

• Shi Ning RM668 plays almost any files it is marketed to play
• Video playback quality is excellent even for a 1920×1080 50FPS progressive video file
• Easy switching between video output of 720P and 1080P using the remote control provided
• Reads NTFS formatted external hard drive
• Picture tuning mode allow calibrating of colors on-screen to suit your requirement
• Subtitle merged into MKV can be turn on/off using the “SUB” button on the remote
• External subtitle file can also be turn on/off
• Plays MP3 with support of basic ID3 tags but audio interface looks horrible
• Build-in SD/MMC/MS reader is handy

Conclusion – Cons

• Player lack networking and Bittorrent functionality
• Does not support older televisions as there are no composite video connector available
• RMVB support only up to 1280x720P
• Text reader is crappy. It doesn’t recognized carriage return in a plain text file.
• Even without an internal 2.5″ SATA attached, player heats up very quickly
• Lack video resume/bookmarking capablities
• No function to allow seeking to the time code you wanted
• Unable to change subtitle font size
• Audio equalizer between profiles (Standard, Music, Movie and Sports) lack major difference. Except for Music which sounded louder with slightly more bass.
• Subtitle feature does not support styling (Italic tags)
• Not all video formats in MKV container are supported, hence it’s best you bring the video files to try before you buy
• DTS audio decoding not supported

Over rating: 6.5 / 10