Kaiser Baas Smart Media Player

Dont ! – This thing doesn't have a rewind / fast forward function. You have to manually input the time you wish to go to , which takes forever to do. . It won't play audio for about 40% of MP4s - PC and TV will play them. I am now going to search for another brand, then bin this working unit! Don't buy it.  Show details

Don't waste your money! – What a waste of money. It does nothing but freeze. The remote is tiny and useless. So infuriating! I hate it!! I can't believe that companies woils agree to sell this. And looking at all the other reviews I'm surprised it's still on the market. Angry and disappointed! And now to take it back Harvey Norman have told me they can send it away to be… Read more

'fixed' which will take 30 days.. so now I'll be without a media center and I'm assuming I will recieve another piece of crap anyway.

Regretful purchase. Stay clear – I hope these are no longer on the market because mine has been nothing but infuriating after the first week. It constantly freezes. Picks and chooses when it feels like the external hard drive or even tiny USB stick is connected. And half the time the apps don't respond. Infuriating hardly covers it! What an absolute waste of money.

Heavy jerk! – Recently purchased this due local promotion. To be honest I am not savvy with IT equipment so my daughter handles it. Our previous model was really speedy, my grandson took it to use for own purposes, This one refuses to work, very slowly. Not that recommended you do not get really fast player for money you pay!

Biggest pile of garbage – I took It out of the box, connected up as per manual, no hdmi on TV, had to change display to PAL. I was OK with this for a new setup. External HDD fitted. Couldn't display or find it on menu. Tried different formats for it. Finally found one that works, we'll sort of, turned the unit off. Rebooted and every time I do that I have to reset the… Read more

display to PAL.

Go to the HDD and can't play movies, out of memory.

Spent two days trying to get it to work.

Taking it back today to Harvey Norman, probably won't get my money back.

Under no circumstances buy this piece of garbage

This is appalling!!! – This was recommended to me at office works, it is so non-user friendly, mostly unresponsive, buttons don't work, even when replacing the batteries. I can't even figure out how to fast forward or pause the movie (assuming you actually can manoeuvre it to actually play something!). This should not even be on the market, it's stealing your money!! So cranky!!!

Not perfect but not a bad little unit for the price – Keep in mind this is a low end smart media player with a price to match. I've had it for over a year now. The hardware is pretty slow and the remote is quite annoying as it doesn't have many buttons, (10 including up down left right) although it does the job. Besides these issues I'm very happy with it and what I paid for it. If I don't feel… Read more

like using the remote I just use the wireless keyboard and mouse I have connected to it and I've got Kodi installed and had no issues with running it.

When I first got the thing I had problems with the OFF functionality which only put it to sleep and the units LED was only always red whether on or off and also the Play Store kept giving me errors. Then I updated the firmware and the Play Store fix from their website and it fixed the problems.

I highly recommend it just don't expect a blistering fast machine, you'll need to spend more for that.

Waste of Money – I bought this unit as a present for a tech savvy friend. The sales guy said it was the best on the market and easy to use. How wrong he was. The features of this gadget are complicated and the remote is woeful and so small that it is physically awkward to a oeuvre the mouse and other features. It is not even easy to locate items for example on… Read more

YouTube. Kaiser Bas ought to withdraw this from the market and start again. If you are looking for an easy to use media player don't bother with this one as I can only describe it as very annoying in every way.

Unreliable Product – This has to be one of the most unreliable and problematic products I have purchased. The remote with the system is non responsive (especially with trying to turn the unit off) and you have to stand right in front for it to respond. Have changed batteries many times to see if this was the problem, but it didn't solve the issue. The most annoying… Read more

problem with this is that if I play a media file (usually mp4) which is connected to my external hard drive it sticks quite frequently and also freezes the TV screen picture and the whole system. The product also doesn't seem to like playing any files larger than 4GB as they will also freeze the system, becomes non-responsive and I have to pull the power cord out to get the player to work again as the remote control won't respond. Also had troubles with it playing an ts files, though it is supposed to play pretty much everything.

Not happy with this product.

Not Very "Smart" For A Smart Media Player!!! – Requirement: Stream Netflix and Spotify. I had in my hands (1) WDTV and, (2) Kaiser Baas SmartMedia Player. Went the KB SMP due to it's astounding promises of turning my TV into a Smart TV and BOOM, everything at your fingertips. Well, once my rage subsided and I faced the fact that I had just lost $98, increased my blood pressure, accrued an… Read more

additional HDMI cable and somehow, STILL no Netflix, I realized that the KA SMP is a piece of rubbish. The GUI is ridiculous, the controller difficult and frustrating to use, not even going to mention the useless navigation functionality, actually, I'm not even going to call it a "functionality" because in order to do that, it has to actually have a function. I'm happy to reverse over this box, drive over it, then reverse over it again, just to get my $98 satisfaction out of it. The so-called Android user interface, no, no. I would be kicking up a defamation case if I were Android! This device absolutely offends me. It's rubbish, absolute rubbish.

It should be taken off the shelves as it is a hazard to people's health and patience.

The settings resemble that of the Android OS. Neither here nor there.

The selection of movie/music/settings/apps menu, I'm pretty sure a 3-year-old designed it.

No idea how to close open windows. No idea how to get out of frozen applications.

No idea how to go from top menu's to within the application options without flicking from mouse option to pointer to mouse to ...instant rage.

I might as well just have connected my HTC One to my TV, in fact....that's a bloody good idea!

If I can just stop one person from buying this redundant piece of plastic, then my work here is done.

Kaiser baas, freezers, shops recording. Rubbish – Complete rubbish, more of a hassle than its worth, keeps freezing, battery don't last more than 1hr, shops recording by itself. Wouldn't buy again..... Total rubbish wish I'd never bought, will be going back asap, don't buy it you will be wasting your time an money.

Quite A Good Unit If You Install KODI – I wasn't a fan of the unit when I first set it up but after doing some research and then installing KODI (was XBMC) on it from the KB store it became a totally different unit. In fact I reckon it is my best Media Player now, compared to a WD Live and 2 Astones. I am going to get a second one for my Home Theatre room and do the same.

What A Crap Product – We purchased 8 of the media players for a project and after few months 5 of them are not working. What a crap product they are selling, they are polluting the market with the rubbish. My suggestion is don't get close to this product as it is a waste of money.

Such a headache product – I bought this media player as it was on sale at JB. I did not have high expectations but I was pleasantly surprised at the start when it was going well. Then the real trouble began! I connected two USB drives and it recognises only one of the two. Internet connectivity is sluggish with YouTube etc. Set up is real easy but the software is crap. Kaiser Baas after sales service is rubbish, don't go for this product.

Horrible, Worst Product I've Ever Bought – If you're looking for a device that works with all your applications, then please leave this page immediately. The Kaiser Smart Baas Player is the worst experience I've ever had with a hardware device. This device started out OK at first but this last month has completely stopped working. The device's interface is the worst I've ever seen - the… Read more

Motorola RAZR from 2004 has a better interface than this pile of garbage. It's almost as if they spent a month developing the smart player, lost funding, but said [censored word removed] it, release it anyway. Don't buy this product please, I urge you it will not end well.

Absolute Crap! – Yes, I had the same problem, use my tv remote to adjust volume and the movie stops and goes back to the home screen have to start again, or put tv remote right up to the tv! Also, no way to get the other play options on the bottom of the screen, no way to rewind or fast forward. Remote very laggy, rang Kiaser Bass sent me another remote, but not… Read more

much better. Bought this because a WD one I bought was [word removed] but this just as bad. Never again.

Does not perform. Bitterly disappointed – Nothing more to say other than it is a non performing accessory. The previous model was very good. I will return it. Purchase date was july 2015. I am a senior person. The support team are pleasant enough, unfortunately what they offer as advice, unfortunately does not correct the fault.

Not smart, no grunt, not HD & too limited – Bought it from JB-HiFi 6 months ago, over a Chromecast, because the little android box had ethernet, USB and SD ports plus Google Play store. A terrible device, which had SO MUCH PROMISE being an Android thus extensible, but v.poorly designed with very limited SD memory for apps (not even extensible/expandable) and performs poorly for HD. The… Read more

interface is pretty laggy. I tried everything, it works poorly for XBMC/Kodi and badly suited for Netflix apps. They simply had to leave the device with native Android, (with the option of a simplified UI), and a decent graphics accelerator. It's good for Miracast but doesn't work with Samsung devices, worked OK with a Win8.1 Tablet. Don't waste your money like I did, there are far better HW devices out there.

Not good at all – Purchused for use of xbmc. Very slow and nothing working properly. Couldn't update xbmc so called Kasier Baas. They told me to download the play store though the KB store then download the newer version of xbmc called kodi. So I downloaded play store then tried to download kodi, wouldnt work. play store would crash. turned off then back on. no… Read more

good. done a complete reset. Tried again now the KB store won't work. Nothing works as it should.

Remote feels cheap and nasty, box doesn't pick up from the remote half the time. Waited about a day playing around with it and getting nowhere.

Just a cheap piece of crap box they installed android onto. No function works properly

DONT WAIST YOUR MONEY AND THINK THE ONE YOU GET MAY WORK PROPERLY BECAUSE IT WONT. THATS WHAT I THOUGHT.

Best think is to get a MiniX Neo M8

If it's a Netflix (Aus) device you want, don't buy this!!! – I bought the Kaiser Baas Smart Media Player (one of the most expensive on the market in the same category) because there was a big sticker on the box saying "Netflix compatible". What a JOKE! Netflix does not come as a pre-installed app and only operates as they have bundled the Media Player with Hola! to try and skirt permissions. I got an… Read more

error message every time I opened Netflix. While the content eventually loaded, the interface was SO terrible, and the remote SO clunky to use that I was literally unable to access huge swathes of Netflix! I could not scroll through episode lists or change seasons so, after several minutes using the terrible remote to navigate (in computer mouse mode) to the play button, I was able to watch the first episode of a few TV shows... but never the second episode, let alone the second season.

For other apps, I can't really give a review as I found the interface just simply too difficult to bother trying other things out. I returned this media player after the second day for a full refund (NOT Netflix compatible in my opinion!) and have since bought another product on the market for nearly half the price that works seamlessly - Netflix is even pre-installed! (If you're interested, it's the TV streaming product brought out by a very well known 'fruit' company ;) )....

Don't waste your time or money on this product! There are a whole host of competitors out there doing a MUCH better job for half the price! :)

Disappointed - the dumb version worked a lot better – I have been using the Kaiser Baas Media Hub for over a year and was very happy with this unit, so i decided to upgrade to the Smart Version : Kaiser Baas Smart Media Player, I was disappointed with quite a number of points - powering on takes almost a minute, the huge lag between the remote and the device or it could even be the device processing… Read more

the commands ;very frustrating when trying to input your log in details, remote control was missing vital buttons like sound volume, sleep timer, video playback buttons which was included in the previous model, some apps could not be installed such as Stan because the drive is root able, when i was watching Netflix and tried to adjust the volume on my Samsung TV using my Samsung remote the smart media player would stop the movie mid stream and return to the main menu.

Sadly a pain in to use – I went into JB Hifi to get a replacement WD Media Hub for my sister who after three years of abuse from children had finally died. When I went in, they had none but had some Kaiser Baas products. I had recently started playing with Android and after seeing the potential of Android, decided it might be a worthy replacement. So we bought it and… Read more

took it home. The unit was tiny and so was the remote. Not saying that is a bad thing but on picking it up, it made you wonder if there was anything it it. The remote sadly is confusing to use and the signal is weak.

Android is an amazing operating system that will allow you to make it your own with some tinkering. Kaiser Baas could have built it to be streamlined for those that want something simple. If you want advanced, click a button and then you have everything. Android kept thinking the media centre was a mobile or tablet which also told me that it had not been setup correctly.

XBMC (the main media centre of the device) stopped functioning, I removed it and then spend over two hours getting it back. On finding it again, it then told me I had to have accounts with the amazon store app which I also had to install just to use XBMC.

Navigating and using the onscreen keyboard was annoying and took so long to type in the simplest of statements. Trying to navigate around the pages some of the time did not work and I had to keep resorting to mouse option and using the arrows to get around the screen.

Sadly, the whole experience was very off-putting and I really have no desire to use android media centres again. On a smart tv, sure but on a media centre, no. While the WD media centre had on a fraction of the apps, at least it was simple to use if all you want to do is watch movies from an internal or attached Hard Drive or USB stick. If I want to surf the net, I'll use my phone or computer. Not a tv as the remote is a horrible replacement for a keyboard.

Anyway, tomorrow, I am taking it back to JB Hi-Fi for a WD Media Centre. If they do not have one in stock, I will happily order it in and wait.

Side-note: JB Hi-Fi are awesome. It was me that made a bad choice and I always go to JB for electrical good. They ROCK!

Crippled android – Bought this for netfix. It works ok for a couple hours then needs to be reset. You can't run chrome or YouTube because android services are disabled. Its so crap that I will try upgrading the firmware with a pure jellybean firmware. The remote is cumbersome and does not allow access to all netflix options.

Absolute rubbish – Purchased 12 months ago, used twice and then the remote went missing. Just ordered a new remote and the device has no power at all. Tried 3 different cords and power points and absolutely nothing. Very disappointed with quality. Don't waste your time with this one, there are far better products out there.

Not quite as bad as some people think – I read the reviews of the Kaiser BAAS, then tested a WD TV-Live player, which although it performs better and is also better to use, is very limited in what you can actually do with it. I also tested a ChromeCast, which works ok, but has its own little problems. Then I got the chance to tet the kaiser Baas product. The Kaiser Baas Smart Media… Read more

Player is a LOW END Android device. It doesn;t do anything fast.

Now that I have that out of the way, here's what I found.

It is easy to set up as long as you can follow a few prompts on the screen.

You absolutely must give the horrible little remote clear access to the box. Point straight at the front from no more than a few metres.

You need to wait for the remote to register.

Don;t forget the button that changes from 'button mode' to 'mouse mode'.

Actually using the device is easy for anyone used to Android. I did not have to load any special application just to watch videos except when I wanted to use XBMC. But the built in video player does take a while to acess movies.

I suggest a new user try it out wth a flash drive with only a few videos on it before trying a USB hard drive. Once the thing worked out how to find files it was fine. It just takes a while. At not stage yet have I opened any kind of file manager.

The same when I click on the music icon or the pictures icon. I have to wait while it scans the media to find appropriate files. For android phone or tablet users, think of it as the delay you get when you replace the external SD card. Now when I want to change media I power the device off, remove the old media, then power back on. I'm sure this is unnecceassary, bt it always finds my new files, especially on a big drive loaded with lots of stuff.

Another hint. If you can, try using separate USB devices for videos, music or pictures. I think it maes scanning quicker,but it is only a suggestion.

Back to that WD TV-Live. It have half a dozen applications, only a coupl eof which can be used in Australia. The YouTube one, and something else that I can;t remember. Other than that, in Australia it is pretty well only a local network or hardware streaming device. More or less useless to me.

But the Kaiser Baasm for all its other shortcomings, is a little Android computer, and while its internal storage is a bit limited, it has access to the play store.

I have a Filipina girlfriend, so I watch Pinoy (Filipino) movies with English subtitles. I went to the play store and installed an app called Viki, which plays internatioal movies (about 80% are Korean I think). Tere is one Filipino Historical Drama I like, 165 episodes. Think Game of Thrones in a tropical paradise and you have the plot.

I'm used to watching this in full HD on my tablet and having it slow and jerky and regular freezes. So I was quite prepared for the same thing on the Kaiser Baas - and I wasn;t disappointed. However, I switched to a lower, but decent resolution and got a vry goo picture. So the quality of streaming video you can watch is dependent on your stream. I found the same, testing an App called Popcorn Time. Which works by the way, but might be less than legal, so I am not recommending anyone use it.

Now I also have some moves I ripped in HD Blu-Ray at 1080p on USB media. I found the same lag another reviewer mentioned. but dropping to 720p gave me a nice sharp playback with no problems except lip sync. but I see lip sync problems on many of my devices. On my computers I fix that by using VLC media player from Videolan. And of course, being an Android player, i can install VLC from the Play Store.

There are also apps to allow it to be set as a DLNA device, and many other useful apps in the Play Store apparently allowing it to pair with stuff. I haven't tested this yet, but my TV has bad sound and I am going to see if the Kaiser Baas will pair with a Bluetooth sound system.

So my conclusion is that the Kaiser Baas Smart Media Player is far from perfect. However at less than $100 in Australia it is a lot better than the ChromeCast at $45 and while the Kaiser Baas picture playback is not as brilliant as the WD TV-Live at $130, it will do many more things.

Slightly lower quality, considerably lower price - and dropping, and much more versatile. If you can drive an Android phone or tablet you will quickly get used to the Kaiser Baas Smart Media Player. If you want top quality, high resolution and powerful computing, you will be disappointed.

I love the thing!

Very poor! – The device is extremely tedious to set up and use. It is Android based and is extremely slow to respond. To access USB devices you have to open an app and navigate to the file you want to play, not via the video icon on the start screen. I found it wouldn't play many of my video files and so I had to install additional apps. Then, even after… Read more

deleting apps that I would not use on this device (eg facebook, skype, NBA, etc), it ran so sluggishly that it was virtually unusable. Video files would stop and start. The picture quality was poor and despite the source being surround sound it would only output 2 channel sound. I bought it on special for $65, but it is still over-priced.

On a positive note, I was able to navigate to NAS devices and stream from them, but there are much better ways to do this than this device. Has a good 5V 2amp power adapter. Poor video and sound quality. Very sluggish.