I am looking to buy a standalone HD mediaplayer, but which one to buy? Popcorn? AC-Ryan? HDX? something else? I am trying to keep the price down and don't feel like building one myself, will add 1.5/2TB if not included. So anybody with a mediaplayer that can give me the pro's and cons of the one they own?
I own an E-Great which is a Chinese media player (http://www.egreatworld.com/en/default.html). I got it because I wanted something that would play everything under the sun without any copy-protection or restrictions. I noted that a lot of US players seem to be encumbered with IP/licensing restrictions in terms of what kinds of media and formats can be played. I also noted that they tend to lend support only to established formats which use standard settings, etc. On the other hand, chinese players seem to be happy with just about anything, regardless if it's a non-standard encoding or if the decoding algorithms used are IP protected or something (As if they pay royalties to anyone). (^_^); Actually I think that's why a lot of Chinese DVD manufactures got sued. They were using MPEG decoder chips (or clones) without paying any licensing fees for them.
I've owned a WDTV Live if for a couple of months now. Pros: Plays most files you throw at it - the ability to play mkv's at 1080p without any problems is what sold it for me; Stream from YouTube, Pandora, Flickr, Network streaming, 2xUSB connectors, 1xEthernet socket, HDMI, Component, Composite & Optical outputs, Custom firmware available, Active forums to help with any questions/problems. Cons: Remote control is small, takes a bit of getting used to, Text input via on-screen keyboard is fiddly, The only filetypes i've have problems with are .flv's and one .avi, but that's probably due to a weird unsupported codec, Some YouTube videos are blocked from playing on a TV connected device. I only flashed the custom firmware a few days ago, so I havn't fully explored all the extras yet. From what i've seen so far, it adds GUI customisation options, and a few extra features i.e: the ability to stream YouTube HD videos (by default you only get standard resolution), and to bypass the 'TV connected device' block. Also it adds a web interface, ftp server, and probably some other stuff that i've not messed with yet. For the price (~£85), I think it's bloody good value and i've not had any major complaints. http://www.wdtvlive.com/products/wdtv_live#/highlights
you might wanna check this thread out it has a link to a huge list of features and prices for set top boxes http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30234
Thanks for the replies, tho I think i'll go for the Popcorn Hour A200 after reading some reviews. Anybody own one of these by any chance?
I was going to buy a Dvico Tvix 6600 (even posted a similar topic months ago), but my TV has an internal media player. It's a little bit limited, no DTS support for example, but it plays .mkv and pratically all other video codecs. I just need to conect an USB HDD and voilá.
I've got an HDI Dune Base 3.0, a bit expensive but it just do everything. You can easily stream directly an 1:1 iso copy of your DVD or BD if your are lazy when it come to ripping. It can easily stream video with bitrate up to 60Mbps over SMB without any lag. If you're like me, you might prefer to just get the movies alone, which is great is that the dune support all type of stream supported by the mkv container, you can convert your HD audio stream to FLAC if you want the maximum quality with the best compression or your can leave DTS-MA or TrueHD stream as-is in the container. You can also put the BD SUP subtitle without any conversion. One great thing is that they support their older system after the new came out, The same firmware work on all system. So you don't end up with a system without any update once the new one come out! Check at their website: http://dune-hd.com/index.php?do=players Currently the HD max is their best player. But the Dune Base have all the same feature and since it's from the previous gen you could get a deal I think. You might want to go over avsforum for media player to find more information. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=39 That a look over their website they have a nice selection. Stay away from stuff coming from Syabas (Popcorn, Popbox) I only see comment of frustration from the owner of those device on avsforum.
Just get a ps3, all you gotta do is change the container from mkv to mp4 and it'll play. Most new releases are in h264 so they'll play. Has netflix and hulu plus support.
I already own a PS3, and using PS3 Media Server & TVersity...but I am not happy with it. Many types are not played properly, given you can use transcoding but usually this makes the movie audio go out of sync. Besides that if I copy over an MKV/mp4 or whatever to the PS3 connected to DNLP it doesn't stop copying, it will go over the original size and get stuck. Streaming HD content to the PS3 with or whatout transcoding doesn't work properly because my "server" is a netbook which can't handle the transcoding. Subs: usually out of sync.. Many other little issues that áren't worth mentioning but do irritate me, so I was looking for another solution. So I was looking for a media player to cover ALL codec incl HD, that doesn't run out of sync with audio and has an internal HDD so I don't need to stream :thumbsup: At this point in time I still lean towards buying a Popcorn Hour A200 with a 2TB HDD, allthough I don't like the HTML interface and it has lots of bugs, but looking at others they all seem to have pro's and con's. Hence this thread hoping to get some info from people that own a mediaplayer and could point me towards a good player.
HDI Dune Base 3.0 can hold an hardrive. The system menu is customizable but supported only by third party. This is the program I use to generate my movies menu: http://zappiti.com/ This program generate the menu from your media collectionn and fetch information about the movie from IMDB. Look very nice! The dune support all subtitle I give him, I use most of the time BD sup, but also successfully used vobsub(IDX/SUB) and text .STR. Specs:
Here: Popcorn Hour/Syabas machines. Pros: Plays mostly everything without a hitch. Simple to setup. Usually comes with a remote. Cons: Can't display more than 1 subtitle at a time, limited subtitle format support, some video containers/codecs don't work right and won't play back, some seemingly normal video with odd frame rates and encoding settings won't play back, really slow network port (not even worth using), updates are few and far between with no significant changes, random drop outs when using it as a remote HD, Firmware bugs, Usually no way to adjust overscanning, etc... HTPC (Doesn't have to be build from scratch. Basically anything ION based will do). Pros: Plays pretty much everything without exception and if theres a problem a fix is just a software update away. Can multi-task and run basically anything you want on it, FTP, uTorrent, SSH, Samba, etc. Lots of front ends for movies and emulators like XBMC, WahCade!. Can surf the internet, share Internet with other devices, use it for VOIP/Web camera stuff as you play games, etc. Can replace parts and service if any issues arise. Can use Bluetooth or USB devices. Can load your favorite OS on it, etc... Cons: Could cost more than a movie-only enclosure like the Popcorn Hour/Syabas if your getting a pre-built nettop. Can be more complicated to setup if your not computer literate.
Great link! thanks a lot. just what I was looking for! I think I am going to wait for this one: Popcorn A-210 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ippnPw-KMbI Release date is set to 16 dec.
I was about to start a new thread asking about Boxee, but then I came across this one.... I've been getting more and more pissed off with the PS3's media streaming capabilities these past few months, even in conjunction with PS3MediaServer running on t Mac Mini. So I've spent the past couple of days looking for an alternative. The original plan was to jailbreak a new AppleTV and install XBMC, but from what I'm reading, the Boxee Box is a much better option and plays near enough anything you can throw at it. It spits out a 1080p picture too, in comparison to the Apple's 720p output. The sinking/emerging cube design is also rather nifty too. So, do any of you guys have a Boxee Box? What do you make of the media streaming capabilities? I'm obviously not bothered about Netflix and the such as I'm living on the wrong island, but I'd be interested in the quality of BBC iPlayer and YouTube access.
To be honest, I've been soured on Media Players. Given the cheap prices for ION based machines, I'd just go with an ION based Nettop for around 200-300 dollars. You're pretty much guaranteed it will do anything you want it to do in terms of movies and streaming. Plus if you find any issues with it, it's simply a software upgrade away. Not so with a Media Player. In those cases your stuck waiting for the manufacture to update it for you (If they will even update you at all).
A good buddy of mine used to have an Apple TV. After getting fed up with the output, the annoying remote, and the lack of codec support, he got a Boxee. He LOVES it. Absolutely. He recently ripped his entire bluray collection to his PC and has no trouble streaming perfect rips in the format of his choice. I've seen it in action, and I definitely back it 100%. The remote is cool, too, with the full keypad on the back side of it.
I second rolling your own with a nettop (Acer Revo R3610 - has optical/spdif). I run XBMC on mine, with Windows 7 in the background and it has no trouble with 1080p
