Kingwin KH-300 Sound Xtreme

Access to the interior of the KH-300 is via four thumb screws, one on each corner.  Once these are removed, the top aluminum lid opens up exposing a small piece of PCB.  This is where any IDE 2.5" drive containing your movies, music or pictures is installed.  The last pic below is a shot of the Kingwin KH-300 beside my watch for scale.  Nothing like carrying 100 gigs or so in the breast pocket of your coat.

     

The remote is a big piece of the action here.  All the functions for photo/video viewing or music play are incorporated here.  Pretty much everything you can thing of down to a mute and volume control.  Unlike most remote controls, the KH-300's remote is powered by a small 3v battery like you've seen in any number of mainboards.  The only problem with the remote is that it is the only way to operate the KH-300 media player.  Lose this remote and you are screwed.

Setup and Operation

Setting up the Kingwin KH-300 was no more difficult that putting some pics, music and a DivX movie on a 2.5" drive and plugging everything in.  Once you are powered up you have your media play options in the palm of your hand.  I experimented with the KH-300 by hooking it up to a standard television with the included RCA Composite Cables.  My thinking is that one of the strengths on the Kingwin Media Center, aside from office presentations, is taking the KH-300 on overnight trips so you wouldn't have to rely on Hopkinsville, Kentucky Channel 4 for your evening viewing pleasure if you get stuck out in the boonies.  We didn't run into any problems with operation in the least.  The pics below look a bit odd but that was just the effect of my snapping some pics of the television screen.  The picture itself first hand was sharp and clear.

  

The 2.5" HDD we used here was partitioned, hence the Hard Disk 1 and Hard Disk 2 option.  Didn't want to confuse anyone.  :-)

Conclusion

The ease and simplicity of the Kingwin KH-300 Media Center was noteworthy.  Having access to data in blocks only limited in size to that of your 2.5" HDD is fantastic.  Putting this at your fingertips with such a compact media player is icing on the cake.  Keep in mind that when you think 'Media Player' that doesn't always mean watching/listening to things in your easy chair at home.  The included remote and variety of cable connections makes giving presentations or trainings at the office a breeze. 

While the unit itself is small enough to fit in the breast pocket of a jacket for easy transport, there are enough cables that these can't be transported as painlessly.  This really isn't a big deal though.  What is a big deal is that you really need to keep track of the remote.  If you loose it, you can kiss the use of your KH-300 Media Player goodbye.  Outside of this consideration, the Kingwin KH-300 Media Player is a fine product that is equally practical in the home or the office.  And one that we can easily recommend.

Pros

• Stand alone ultra compact media center

• Supports most all video formats

• Included VGA, RCA Composite, S-Video and USB cables

• Remote rocks!

• Compact

• Inexpensive

Cons

• Lose the remote and you're in big trouble

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