Well, since i got a LCD TV and my PS3 is already ordered, i was thinking on getting one of those small HDD Media Player boxes. Not now, but maybe in June or July (till them i'll look out for info) I read about the WDTV Live, but that one doesn't support internal HDD. The ones that support internal HDD and i heard about it were: Xtreamer http://www.iboum.com/pr/XTREAMER.php PlayOn!HD http://www.iboum.com/pr/playon.php Any of you have one of those? They are really good players, including for 1080p content? Know any other that is worth taking a look?
I have an E-GREAT player from China. I *think* they sell their hardware to other companies for re-branding as well since I noted that the firmware is kind of generic and works on a whole assortment of similar designed players. Anyway, I went with E-GREAT mainly because it was a Chinese brand (presumably in design as well). The reason I did this is because: 1. Chinese companies generally do what's best for consumers (ie. Makes more money for them) rather than follow arbitrary rules that some US consortium mandates that would make things sucky (Ie. Chinese units usually strip/ignore copy-protection, like HDCP, etc). 2. Chinese markets are filled with pirates goods of every kind. Which means, any device they produce for the local market must be able to run loads of materials. This is especially true, because you can't rely on pirate goods conforming to any kind of standard, so the Chinese players usually play everything under the sun (standard or non-standard). 3. Because they usually sell plans to others and/or clone devices, there's a bigger umbrella for support (In a general sense). Usually a fix or workaround for one model works on another as well) 4. The devices are based on Linux, so you can do lots of stuff with the machines, like Bittorrent, go on the internet, Samba, NAS support, etc. You can even use them as USB hosts for DVD drives and other devices so you can use them without a PC! 5. They usually pre-load lots of content for you free of charge (depending on who you buy from). But that kind of depends on your moral standards (^_^); Anyway E-GREAT is definitely one of the major media player producers in China. So far I've thrown every kind of media imaginable at it and it works like a treat. Also supports external subtitles as well, and non-English languages like Chinese (of course!). About the only time I ever had problems with the device is when I had some badly encoded AVI's which had messed up index's so the player couldn't fast forward correctly without loosing sync. In those places, usually the player is smart and rather than loose sync, it will go "X" and won't let you execute the action. If my player dies, I would get another one in a heartbeat. One of my friends ended up getting some kind of media player from a big US brand. Linksys, 3COM, or something. I forget the exact brand, but it was total crap and gimped. He totally regretted the purchase.
I plan to use it mostly to watch HD concent from TV. Series, Documentaries, and Music Concerts. Most of the series are aired around here on heavily compressed SD quality... The ones i posted seem to do all those things you mentioned yours does. By the way, could you post which E-GREAT mode you have? (so i can check it's specs / reviews) Thanks for the help.
Hrm... I can't remember the exact model since I'm at work, but it's terribly outdated by now probably. Here is a model they produce (They make many models in different styles) which looks pretty similar to what I have: http://cgi.ebay.com/Egreat-EG-R2A-N...C_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item2eaba9279b This one has a different firmware than what I run, but the controller and case is very similar. The only difference is that they consolidated the back panel so it's more nicer than mine. Mine uses a special connector so it isn't as universal. http://cgi.ebay.com/eGreat-EG-M33A-...C_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item2c538ea823 This one uses the same firmware system as mine, except they totally updated it with more features. Now, you can pull your HD out using it's cartridge bay rather than unscrewing the whole thing. Also they changed the controller as well and now I see you can even use your iPhone to control the box. Man, it even has E-Sata support. Now I kinda want one! (^_^); If you get a HD with it, ask them to load it up. Mine came with 1TB of HD content and I got to pick what I wanted. Of course, make sure your buying from a Chinese reseller and not a US one, otherwise you'll likely get no freebies. (^_^);
If i buy one of those HDD Players, i'll buy it from local sellers. The customs around here would love to overtax those things. The R2A model is avaiable at Mercado Livre: http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/...eat-eg-r2a-frete-gratis-alta-definico-mkv-_JM It seems however that the ones i posted before have better support, firmware updates, and mod community.
Oh wow. I totally forgot to take into account your location. Ya, tax might be a problem. From Canada, they don't seem too worried as long as it's marked as a gift, but I know other locations are more careful when screening packages for tax exception. (^_^);
If you do go with E-GREAT or any similar cloned/rebranded system, http://www.networkedmediatank.com/ has loads of information regarding them. The forums was primarily focused towards the Popcorn Hour player (Which is a HD-less unit), but it's based on the same software design and others players that use the same generic plans. They do have have a sub-section called "Other NMT Mediaplayers" for non-Popcorn Hour units, but in general they all fall under the same "umbrella" software so that's why it was included.
Whats wrong with building a cheap media center PC? Plug it in via HDMI and your good (Unless you only have Component but I doubt that, seeing as you just bought the LCD). Heck, if really just want to buy something, Snag an Acer Revo with ION or the ATI graphics. Or you could just use what you have already and use your PS3 for media and all that. I'm not sure what media formats your using but I've played Divx/Xvid, MP4/h.264, and WMV just fine on my PS3. Just some ideas.
I want something that's not expensive. If i went on to build a HTPC, it would cost way much money (remeber where i live). Plus most of these cheap HDD Media Players run YAMJ just fine, making it look just like XBMC withouth much trouble. My TV plays lots of formats through the USB port (including all those you posted), but i want something small to keep all my TV series / documentaries / concerts in one place.
That PlayOn!HD is pretty good from what i've saw/read of it and it seems to be able to do just about anything even play MKV at 1080p
