takeMS MediaStation Review

We’ll start of with the bundle of this mediastation package. I prefer to have older/legacy A/V cable for connecting to TV-set. I don’t know how much people have CRT based TV-sets or latest generation of LCD TV. What’s worth mentioning here is the fact that I haven’t noticed any difference between connecting takeMS MediaStation via HDMI or A/V cable. The only thing that I’ve noticed is the difference when playing some movie, in that situation you can see with your eyes the obvious difference between A/V connection compared to HDMI. But when you play music or jut looking at the pictures, you won’t notice any significant difference.

Speaking of connectors and cables, HDMI cable is not included but I don’t think it’s some minus in complete bundle of this MediaStation. You just can’t have all of the cables included, at least not for the bargain price of takeMS MediaStation easy!

Next bundle item is Infra-red remote controller. It’s the only device which is able to control the MediaStation easy device. The device itself is very light and fits in hand very comfortably, and it has buttons made out of soft rubber and are very easy to control. What’s odd the remote controller is one cm wider then the MediaStation. IR-remote control is working on one 3V CR2025 battery which is easy to replace when needed, from it’s down side.

The control commands are simple and effective, so you’ll need only a few minutes to learn them all.

Setup, navigation and controls are very intuitive and you’ll be able to learn them in no time. Rest of the bundle includes AC/DC 5V, 1.5A adapter which is obligatory for MediaStation to work properly. So it’s the main power source for this device to operate. Last of the bundle includes printed manuals in English and also in German language. On mini CD you can find additional user manuals in Spanish, Portuguese and Croatian language.

 Now it’s time to write about MediaStation easy product. As you can see from the pictures it is really small and light, and if you put cork near it, you can see how small it really is! It weights only 108 grams, with dimensions of 76*76*19 mm. The picture is taken with one standard plastic cork, so you can imagine how in reality this device is small! You can carry it in your packed and all you need is to connect it with AC/DC adapter and cable for connecting it to TV-set.

You can travel with this device anywhere since it’s very light and useful to have at home, work or when you’re on holidays. MediaStation easy is made from aluminum, painted black with nice polished finish. On front side you can see LED power indicator. In standby mode LED color is red, and when the device is turned on LED color changes to blue. Next to it is infrared remote receiver and I must say that it functions great.

It has great reception and accepts command from 5-6 meters away from MediaStation. USB port is also located on the front side, so you can connect any USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 USB stick. It can read any 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives, but they must have external power supplies to work properly. I have also connected USB hub with 4 ports, but the MediaStation was unable to recognize USB devices connected to it. I assume that USB hub haven’t had any power source connected to it, so devices didn’t have enough current to work properly. I haven’t had the power supply for this hub to test this feature in more details.

Speaking of USB devices I have encountered one weird issue. I have connected 8 Gb TDK Trans-IT USB stick, and afterwards 16 Gb TDK Trans-IT USB stick. Both of them are formatted with FAT32 filesystem, and when I’ve plugged them in MediaStation I was unable to read any media from it (pictures, movies or music). The weird thing is that when I’ve connected both of TDK Trans-IT USB sticks to desktop or several laptops, I was able to read them without any problems. I’ll try to resolve this issue with takeMS technical support, and also with TDK technical support. In either case, I’ll update my article with the conclusion on this issue.