Jeff Gedgaud just did a product review of the D-Link DSM-520 MediaPlayer (the first device powered by MediaMall).  They call the MediaMall feature ActiveTV, and his review of the DSM-520 was as follows:

Ease of Use, Performance: 23/25, Look & Feel: 23/25,
Features 25/25, How much I enjoy 24/25

Total: 95/100

And his review of MediaMall:

"The system is very easy to use and the additional software I installed went automatically to install the Active TV setup and the system had the most up to datefirmware. Active TV is a service provider that adds a section on your media player that has movies, videos and audio like You Tube, MovieLink and VH1 VSpot. You can also get several other pay per view providers such as CinemaNow and Movielink where you can rent or buy full length movies from current release hits to older movies.

These pay per view or monthly subscription services are all available through your PC as well as the media player so you can watch them on your TV or PC. That is one feature that is really nice, especially for finding videos on sites like You Tube, you can browse on your PC to find the content you want and then save it for later viewing. Using the media player to browse for videos is not exactly user friendly so finding them on your PC may be a bit easier. "

Yes - we know the ActiveTV YouTube page is not the best for browsing and searching.  We need to add some features to it -- like an on-screen keyboard and some better browsing features.  It is on the list ;).  We are hoping that YouTube itself will create and manage a great 10-foot UI page, but we're not holding our breath.

I have a question for editors writing about the DSM-520.  Why does MediaMall never get mentioned as the service provider of this great ActiveTV feature?  Is the MediaMall name bad?  Should we call the product Active-TV Player or something like that?  Or is our PR department just really bad (ha! we don't have one -- isn't that obvious?)  We're open to suggestions!

We are excited to launch our blog. We will focus on the Broadband Video industry as well as give you a glimpse of what is going on inside MediaMall Technology's virtual walls. To introduce myself -- I am one of the Founders of MMT (MediaMall Technologies) -- and you can find out the boring stuff about me elsewhere. Here, I want to focus on the interesting stuff -- like why my 14 month old son LOVES MMT. We have a D-Link DSM-520 that enables us to easily watch YouTube on our TV (powered by MediaMall's Active TV technology). My son can watch his favorite YouTube video -- Rhino -- over and over while I work on my computer without a nagging son trying to crawl in my lap saying "Rhino, Rhino, Rhino" over and over. If you have kids, you really get the "over and over" part. It is nice for him to be able to watch Internet videos without sitting in front of the computer screen (and for me to be able to work simultaneously).

Last time I checked, Amazon had the best price on the DSM 520. And -- we are working on getting MediaMall integrated into lots of other devices to enable more folks to use it! Stay tuned.