Best all around network media player is?

[Informant X]

Greetings!

With Xmas around the corner and what not it's time for me to get some new toys. So here is what's going on.

Currently downstairs I have a HTPC with TONS of movies/shows. It's all setup nice, using Media Center with Media Browser plugin. Works like a dream and the interface is amazing. That being said I want to play those movies upstairs in the great room on my HDTV so I'm in need of a network media player. Don't suggest like XBox or something like that (although it's probaly great idea) because I don't want it. Just want a network media player. Router is actually right there so I can plug it directly into the router. (Only problem is the HTPC is wireless so it might not have the throughput to push 1080p, but I'll probaly either powerline it or go wireless-n soon enough)

Anyway I'm looking for a network media player, that can tackle most formats. I don't really stream stuff online at all so I don't care about netflix and the like. My formats range from mkv, avi, m2ts, mp4 etc. So i'm looking for something good that has a decent interface. Please give me some suggestions of what you all think works really good!

Cheers!

 

[Destiny]

What is your budget? For every price point there are a few good media players... plus you can't really compare one to the other its like apples and oranges...

While there are a lot of media player companies out there with hard ware that shows promise and features... The best ones are the ones that have consistant firmware support and are not buggy...

From my experience - the best media players are the ones that that have Sigma Designs processors in them and at the same time they cost more than cheaper media players using RealTek Processors.

Regarding MKVs - the new MKV Header Compression is giving a lot of media players MKV playback issue. The only company I know that released a firmware with a direct fix and direct support for this was one of the media player I own - the Nixeus Fusion HD... my other media players the PCH-A200 and Boxee Box can't play it - requiring me to either remux it or convert it without the Header Comppression...

 

[Slick5150]

Boxee Box. I've had mine for the last few weeks now and it's AWESOME at playing local content. They still have some work to do on the internet streaming side of it (netflix & Vudu are "coming soon"), but for local streaming it's played everything I've thrown at it without a hitch. 1080p, HD audio, no problem.

And its UI is a vast improvement over the Sigma Design inspired boxes like the Popcorn Hour and other variants.

 

[Emulex]

xbmc ftw

 

[Informant X]

My range is around 100ish, I would spend a little more if it was right. That boxee box looks really sweet actually, but is more than i'd like to spend. :/

 

[sathyan]

If Boxee is too much, check out Orb TV (http://new.orb.com/en/orb-tv/features.html) which goes for $99 or WD TV Live (http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330).

 

[Informant X]

What the dickens, ORB TV!? That's friggen sweet! I already have Orb setup and use it religiously. Will definitely look into this. Thanks!

 

[QueBert]

Boxee Box. I've had mine for the last few weeks now and it's AWESOME at playing local content. They still have some work to do on the internet streaming side of it (netflix & Vudu are "coming soon"), but for local streaming it's played everything I've thrown at it without a hitch. 1080p, HD audio, no problem.

And its UI is a vast improvement over the Sigma Design inspired boxes like the Popcorn Hour and other variants.

Question about it, I watched some videos on Youtube but none seem to go into how some things actually work. I'm assuming it accesses something like ThemobieDB.org online to look up the movies to download posters and movie info. Are you able to add your own posters and info for movies that it can't find? The UI does look pretty cool, but I'd be kind of anal about every movie on my external HD having a poster + info. I'm not so much into the internet streaming, but the local content aspect of Boxee intrigues me. Also how well do you like the remote?

Like the OP I'm looking for a solution, and while $175'ish is more than I'd like to spend but the UI is so much slicker looking than any other box I've seen outside of a dedicated HTPC running XBMC. I don't know if I can resist getting one of these

 

[Slick5150]

Question about it, I watched some videos on Youtube but none seem to go into how some things actually work. I'm assuming it accesses something like ThemobieDB.org online to look up the movies to download posters and movie info. Are you able to add your own posters and info for movies that it can't find? The UI does look pretty cool, but I'd be kind of anal about every movie on my external HD having a poster + info. I'm not so much into the internet streaming, but the local content aspect of Boxee intrigues me. Also how well do you like the remote?

Like the OP I'm looking for a solution, and while $175'ish is more than I'd like to spend but the UI is so much slicker looking than any other box I've seen outside of a dedicated HTPC running XBMC. I don't know if I can resist getting one of these

Yes, it scrapes IMDB to get artwork & movie info based on the files it finds. If you don't like the artwork, or it's wrong (and it occasionally is from what I've found), I believe you can have a .tbn file in the same folder with the same name and Boxee will use that instead.

The remote is... ok? It's simple enough on the front and having a full QWERTY keyboard on the back is nice, the biggest problem is that the keyboard is impossible to use in the dark. There's no backlighting, and the keys are written in a greyish color on black background making them difficult to read even in the light. Avner (head of the Boxee team) acknowledged this was ridiculously stupid (I'm guessing this issue is on D-Link's end, rather than Boxee itself) and that there will be a refined remote at some point. Also, I plugged in a random USB MCE IR receiver and programmed my Logitech Harmony remote for an MCE computer and it can control the box fine as well now.

 

[QueBert]

Yes, it scrapes IMDB to get artwork & movie info based on the files it finds. If you don't like the artwork, or it's wrong (and it occasionally is from what I've found), I believe you can have a .tbn file in the same folder with the same name and Boxee will use that instead.

The remote is... ok? It's simple enough on the front and having a full QWERTY keyboard on the back is nice, the biggest problem is that the keyboard is impossible to use in the dark. There's no backlighting, and the keys are written in a greyish color on black background making them difficult to read even in the light. Avner (head of the Boxee team) acknowledged this was ridiculously stupid (I'm guessing this issue is on D-Link's end, rather than Boxee itself) and that there will be a refined remote at some point. Also, I plugged in a random USB MCE IR receiver and programmed my Logitech Harmony remote for an MCE computer and it can control the box fine as well now.

Great info, it sounds like it's basically running almost the exact Boxee software that's on OSX, which is a very good thing. I don't really like IMDB for my scrapper, but it's a lot better than nothing.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I recently got the Patriot Box from Newegg (they are having a $49 deal w/rebate). I will say upfront that when I first hooked it up, I was underwhelmed. I knew going in I was going to need to update the firmware. The newer firmware was better, but not great by any means. It did what it was supposed to, but I had been using a Pioneer DVD player for the same thing for years, I was really expecting something a bit more outstanding and all-in-one'ish. I was this close to sending it back.

That being said, I changed to a 3rd party software. (mede8tr) I'm sure its not the best, but it is a 100% improvement over the normal firmware.
The networking has not been an issue and worked flawlessly for me once I got around Win7 issues.

There are other 3rd party firmwares that add features that the primary doesn't. It's cheap, and it does what it's supposed to. Probably not the best out there, but it has pretty regular updates and a good customer base support.

My main gripe is simply why do the manufacturers have so much more difficulty making these things work correctly or better GUI interfaces than ppl who hack them?

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Is another PC with WMC + Media browser not an option? I think any network media player is going to be a step down from that.

 

[gigahertz20]

My main gripe is simply why do the manufacturers have so much more difficulty making these things work correctly or better GUI interfaces than ppl who hack them?

Exactly, I own a WD TV Live and the default GUI from WD blows, the newer WD TV Live Hub that sells for $200 only at Best Buy has a much better GUI....and the Hub has pretty much the same hardware as a WD TV Live so I don't know why they don't come out with a firmware update for the older TV Live and Live Plus...well I guess I do know, people would no longer drop $200 for the Hub.

It's always funny though how hackers come out with unofficial firmwares that improve everything, yet the official firmwares never make the changes you want.


For the OP, WD TV Live Plus for $55, very good deal...it plays just about anything, the GUI is not the best but you can browse your movies and play just about anything.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2127729&highlight=

 

[novasatori]

I heard from people that the Popcorn Hour ones are really good, but they are quite complex in configuration and kinda pricey, but they will play everything basically.

That and the Dune HD,

 

[Emulex]

why spend all that money on something a cheap used quad core will do all day long once moved into a nice small chassis (or get an SFF). then you won't cry when a new format comes out by the scene that you get skippage.

my rule is:
if you can't decode it all in cpu (using one commercial codec) - the machine is not good enough spend and extra $20 or so.

unless you watch tv like 20 hours a day - i doubt the power savings will be there. 7mc wakes up to record then goes back to sleep. rather fast.

 

[Modelworks]

My main gripe is simply why do the manufacturers have so much more difficulty making these things work correctly or better GUI interfaces than ppl who hack them?

The reason is because they are in it for the money more than anything else. All they want is a product that can do what it is designed to do and at the lowest cost. Very few companies care about quality anymore. If it can sell and not cause a revolt from customers that is good enough for them.

There is basically two main companies in the set top box market, Sigma Designs and Realtek. They both distribute a stock set of software for the chipsets they produce . Most companies will change the logos, backgrounds and menu items and call it a finished product. If the consumer complains about a feature the companies complain to the chipset maker to add the feature in the sdk rather than try to create it themselves.

I have run into this so many times it makes my head hurt. Currently ran across it on bluray players. Many of them cannot read NTFS from USB connections. Why ? They didn't put the feature in the firmware. These players run linux, have more than enough free memory for the features but it isn't supported because the manufacturer just decided to not bother.

 

[dfuze]

I had a WD TV Live Plus box but recently got rid of it, like others said I didn't like the GUI very much. Figured that just before I got rid of it they did a firmware update to not just do Netflix but also added Blockbuster streaming which is a nice option for those interested. I am back to using my old modded xbox classic with xmbc and really enjoy that.

 

[ImpulsE69]

why spend all that money on something a cheap used quad core will do all day long once moved into a nice small chassis (or get an SFF). then you won't cry when a new format comes out by the scene that you get skippage.

my rule is:
if you can't decode it all in cpu (using one commercial codec) - the machine is not good enough spend and extra $20 or so.

unless you watch tv like 20 hours a day - i doubt the power savings will be there. 7mc wakes up to record then goes back to sleep. rather fast.

Well if it was just me, I'd probably do that, but in truth, it's more for the wife than me, and HTPC's as good as they are, just aren't a fool proof simple thing. I'm looking for something that requires less work from me and takes up a small space. For the most part, I've never had issues with anything playing..and really for $40-50, why bother with all the stuff you need for a HTPC? These things pick up and go anywhere with no trouble. Much like todays phones/mp3 players are much better than the old days of putting a mp3 pc in your car

 

[joutlaw]

Well if it was just me, I'd probably do that, but in truth, it's more for the wife than me, and HTPC's as good as they are, just aren't a fool proof simple thing. I'm looking for something that requires less work from me and takes up a small space. For the most part, I've never had issues with anything playing..and really for $40-50, why bother with all the stuff you need for a HTPC? These things pick up and go anywhere with no trouble. Much like todays phones/mp3 players are much better than the old days of putting a mp3 pc in your car

Exactly.

I have a Zotac ZBOX with the Atom/ION combo running Win7 x64. While it works great most of the time it's not perfect.

I have a Seagate Theatre+ and I can plug a usb thumb drive in and it works everytime. My wife can even figure it out. I keep this in our bedroom for her.

 

[Emulex]

no doubt i use the antec micro fusion 350 - has plenty of space for the cheap asus essentio it came from. maybe got $300 in it and it can decode 4K video all day long. any format you throw at it in cpu or gpu assist. might need to add a nic to record more shows at once) but even so playing a blu-ray while recording two shows doesn't sweat 10% on all 4 cores with occasional spikes - no frame drops. as long as it can do that. also its very important to switch to 24p mode on video's recorded in 24p rather than play the inverse telecine junk. that drives me bonkers.

 

[tysjiang]

I have the popcorn hour c-200 for a while now and highly recommend it. Configuration is slightly more complex than the others but we're really talking about taking 20 minutes more to learn it instead of 10. The model c-200 is a bit pricey but there are cheaper models that do virtually the same thing like the popcorn hour a-200 or newer a-210. It has played everything I've thrown at it.