HD Media Player -decision.

[GEOrifle]

Guys, i'm using PS3 for all downloaded files and movies, looks fantastic and upscales too but PS3 is limited by playing some type of files(MKV).
Does worth to buy HD Media Player and which one?
I don't have(for now) TV with HDMI so COmponent Cable output(5) must be.
I like ARGOSY($80 on sale) because you can install HDD inside but SONY or WD does a better job? Quality ? More options?
UPCONVERTING A AMUST.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-82438004-L04D

WD? SONY? ARGOSY ? ASUS ?

 

[PrinceMyshkin]

Before you buy additional devices, I would look into either software alternatives; PS3mediaserver or mkv2vob, if you have a computer on your home network. I use both, but prefer to transcode my mkv files using mkv2vob since I can then either copy the files over to the internal ps3 drive or ff/rw with no problem when streaming on my home network.

With PS3mediaserver, ff/rw would be limited due to mkv transcoding.

I never heard of ARGOSY so cant comment, and it looks like you've already looked at WD (WD tv live plus?).

 

[GEOrifle]

I wanted to save PS3 just for gaming(complicated hardware, easy to break).
I don't like WD because can't add HDD inside and second i need Component (5)cable
connection before HDMI, third they are so many WD versions i'm confused.
What about SONY's HD media player which just released ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882105511

And one more:What about to build Media Center PC instead HD boxes? Where i will win and where lose ?

 

[sdifox]

I wanted to save PS3 just for gaming(complicated hardware, easy to break).
I don't like WD because can't add HDD inside and second i need Component (5)cable
connection before HDMI, third they are so many WD versions i'm confused.
What about SONY's HD media player which just released ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882105511

And one more:What about to build Media Center PC instead HD boxes? Where i will win and where lose ?

WD does come with a component breakout cable. Audio is a separate cable, but it's included too.

 

[thomsbrain]

mkv2vob is free, easy, and screams through files as fast as your hard drive can keep up, even if you have a slow processor. It's a very minor inconvenience to get any mkv files onto the PS3.

 

[GEOrifle]

Sorry, i'm done with PS3.
I need something for movies.
HTPC ? Is it a better solution than HD Media Player ?
For sample PATRIOT "Box Office" is for sale $59 after $35 MIR, tell you the true it has TERRIBLE revievs as a HD player and as a support.

 

[Modelworks]

If you want an MKV player then the WDTV LIVE Plus will do it nicely.
It also supports netflix.I play a lot of content on one and out of hundreds of things I have played I only encountered 1 file it would not and that was because the person had encoded it with some really odd settings , even VLC wouldn't play it.
The Live PLus is the latest model and sells for about $99.
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...Z60I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288224600&sr=8-2
There is also custom firmware that can add things like movie sheets if you want to spend time tweaking. But if you want something where you can select a file either off USB or network and click play and just have it work then it works well.

 

[Aharami]

I have a WD TV Live. Although I love it, i'm starting to like it less since it doesn't support TrueHD and DTS-MA. I searched thru the WD forums and seems people have been requesting WD to support HD tracks for a while now, but WD claims it is not possible because of licensing fees with HD tracks. Although I dont understand why WD would have to pay licensing fees if they just pass the HD tracks to the receiver or TV to decode and not decode the HD tracks themselves. Regardless, it doesnt look like WD will support HD tracks with the TV Live. I was hoping the third party firmware like WDLXTV will make the HD tracks work, but still no dice.

I love this little thing, but it's a shame that this issue will make me look for another device that suports HD tracks. Maybe I'll just build a HTPC for my media room

 

[Destiny]

I have a WD TV Live. Although I love it, i'm starting to like it less since it doesn't support TrueHD and DTS-MA. I searched thru the WD forums and seems people have been requesting WD to support HD tracks for a while now, but WD claims it is not possible because of licensing fees with HD tracks. Although I dont understand why WD would have to pay licensing fees if they just pass the HD tracks to the receiver or TV to decode and not decode the HD tracks themselves. Regardless, it doesnt look like WD will support HD tracks with the TV Live. I was hoping the third party firmware like WDLXTV will make the HD tracks work, but still no dice.

I love this little thing, but it's a shame that this issue will make me look for another device that suports HD tracks. Maybe I'll just build a HTPC for my media room

I think the Nixeus Fusion HD can decode, bitstream, or passthrough those audio... they are one of few network media players out there that are licensed and certified by DTS and Dolby Digital... I don't have a receiver to test mines on so I can't confirm myself about HD Audio. To confirm you can ask them directly. Or read their offical thread on AVSForum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1265806

But so far I've play every media file in all sizes and audio and I have no issues - again my Fusion HD is just connected via HDMI to my HDTV...

 

[Aharami]

I think the Nixeus Fusion HD can decode, bitstream, or passthrough those audio... they are one of few network media players out there that are licensed and certified by DTS and Dolby Digital... I don't have a receiver to test mines on so I can't confirm myself about HD Audio. To confirm you can ask them directly. Or read their offical thread on AVSForum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1265806

But so far I've play every media file in all sizes and audio and I have no issues - again my Fusion HD is just connected via HDMI to my HDTV...

seems to cost considerably more than the WD TV Live. I still dont understand why WD would have to pay for DTS-MA and TrueHD licensing fees if they just pass it thru to the receiver or TV? Don't licensing fees only come into play when you decode a stream?

 

[slackerinabox]

I hate my WD TV Live - it's VERY spotty when detecting network shares. I'm not sure if a firmware fixed it, but I had much better luck with the asus o-play. My favorite, however, is my new apple -tv. It just works! I do have to convert to mp4 but gotsent is lossless and quick so I didn't mind.

 

[Modelworks]

I hate my WD TV Live - it's VERY spotty when detecting network shares. I'm not sure if a firmware fixed it, but I had much better luck with the asus o-play. My favorite, however, is my new apple -tv. It just works! I do have to convert to mp4 but gotsent is lossless and quick so I didn't mind.

There is nothing wrong with the WDTV network detection. It uses the standard linux implementations of samba. Every single instance that someone has reported have been attributed to user errors in their network configuration.

 

[Modelworks]

seems to cost considerably more than the WD TV Live. I still dont understand why WD would have to pay for DTS-MA and TrueHD licensing fees if they just pass it thru to the receiver or TV? Don't licensing fees only come into play when you decode a stream?

The reason they have to pay is because both companies dolby and DTS apply licensing fees based on if the hardware contains the ability. Sigma chipsets do all the decoding in hardware, there is no software running on a cpu like in a pc. To be able to pass through DTS-MA the chip has to have that feature enabled in microcode so that the DSP chip can recognize the format and then pass it through. WD decided not to pay licensing for that code.

The box does pass through TrueHD and DTS though, just not DTS-MA.

Dolby and DTS are both a pain to work with. I had to go through lawyers just to buy a single decoder chip years ago.

Here are some players that pass and decode all formats of audio
http://www.netgear.com/products/home/hometheater/media-players/NTV550.aspx
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productinfo&item_id=12
http://www.egreatworld.com/en/product-detail-247.html

 

[Aharami]

WD decided not to pay licensing for that code.

that's the root issue though. WD is such a big company. Im sure they can negotiate a deal with Dolby and DTS. Hell I'd pay extra for a updated firmware that enables DTS-MA passthrough. Customers have been asking them for a year now, but they keep ignoring.

The box does pass through TrueHD

not in my experience. I burned a copy of a movie to my HD with just the TrueHD track into a mkv using makemkv. When I try to play that using my WD TV Live, I get a message saying 'unsupported audio', and no audio

 

[Modelworks]

that's the root issue though. WD is such a big company. Im sure they can negotiate a deal with Dolby and DTS. Hell I'd pay extra for a updated firmware that enables DTS-MA passthrough. Customers have been asking them for a year now, but they keep ignoring.

WD is not the most consumer friendly company. I was asked to be an official forum moderator for them and turned it down because I don't like how they treat customers, especially with the netflix bait and switch they pulled.

There has been talk in the home brew community of enabling DTS-MA but doing so would be illegal and whoever does it would be a prime target for a lawsuit so it has remained just an idea.

not in my experience. I burned a copy of a movie to my HD with just the TrueHD track into a mkv using makemkv. When I try to play that using my WD TV Live, I get a message saying 'unsupported audio', and no audio

The TrueHD audio is passed only on HDMI so make sure you have that connected to a receiver that supports it and that you enable digital as the output in the WDTV audio menu. The container for the file needs to be m2ts not mkv.

To convert to m2ts its easy
http://www.smlabs.net/tsmuxer_en.html

 

[Aharami]

i have it connected via hdmi and have audio out to digital. I tried tsmuxer, but it doesnt seem to recognize the TrueHD track. When I add the mkv into it, I get the message "Unsupported format: Some tracks not recognized. This track was ignored"

whats an easy way to burn straight from blu-ray to m2ts?

 

[Modelworks]

i have it connected via hdmi and have audio out to digital. I tried tsmuxer, but it doesnt seem to recognize the TrueHD track. When I add the mkv into it, I get the message "Unsupported format: Some tracks not recognized. This track was ignored"

whats an easy way to burn straight from blu-ray to m2ts?

tsmuxer can do it if you have the copy protection removed or you can just use anydvdHD

http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html

M2ts really is a better format than MKV if you want to maintain the same quality, but the size of the m2ts files can be huge, upwards of 20GB.

 

[Destiny]

seems to cost considerably more than the WD TV Live. I still dont understand why WD would have to pay for DTS-MA and TrueHD licensing fees if they just pass it thru to the receiver or TV? Don't licensing fees only come into play when you decode a stream?

If they pay for the licensing of course, their media players would cost more... but WD main goal is to sell more external Hard Drives and Hard Drives is their core product... and their media player line up does that very well for them... if their core product were media players they probably would pay for licensing and perodically release firmware updates to fix issues and add features - instead if you want new features you will have to buy a newly released WDTV media player... i.e: the New Western Digital Live Hub just released a few days ago - but it uses the same chipset as the WDTV Live Plus...

 

[Destiny]

The reason they have to pay is because both companies dolby and DTS apply licensing fees based on if the hardware contains the ability. Sigma chipsets do all the decoding in hardware, there is no software running on a cpu like in a pc. To be able to pass through DTS-MA the chip has to have that feature enabled in microcode so that the DSP chip can recognize the format and then pass it through. WD decided not to pay licensing for that code.

The box does pass through TrueHD and DTS though, just not DTS-MA.

Dolby and DTS are both a pain to work with. I had to go through lawyers just to buy a single decoder chip years ago.

Here are some players that pass and decode all formats of audio
http://www.netgear.com/products/home/hometheater/media-players/NTV550.aspx
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productinfo&item_id=12
http://www.egreatworld.com/en/product-detail-247.html

I agree... if people want those things they will have to pay for a more pricer media players like the ones you have listed... if not, just build your own HTPC - but it might not be as portable...:biggrin:

 

[GEOrifle]

All Media Plauers got Upscalling or just some of them?
Just SONY MP shows Upscalling capabilities.

I wanted to buy ARGOSY Media Player and install inside 3.5" 2TB HDD by myself, it's only device supporting 3.5" HDD's, 2.5" doesn't worth it :my TRANSFORMERS movie is just 100GB size and TRANSFORMERS 2 another 90GB size.
Here is ARGOSY one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...006&cm_re=media_player-_-82-438-006-_-Product

 

[sdifox]

All Media Plauers got Upscalling or just some of them?
Just SONY MP shows Upscalling capabilities.

I wanted to buy ARGOSY Media Player and install inside 3.5" 2TB HDD by myself, it's only device supporting 3.5" HDD's, 2.5" doesn't worth it :my TRANSFORMERS movie is just 100GB size and TRANSFORMERS 2 another 90GB size.

err, why is your transformers 100GB?

 

[GEOrifle]

Special 2 Blu Ray disk editions, this gonna be quality one .
That's why i need 3.5" HDD supported Media Player.

 

[sdifox]

Special 2 Blu Ray disk editions, this gonna be quality one .
That's why i need 3.5" HDD supported Media Player.

lulz. quality one for those movies... What are you watching them on? ... I would rather have an external enclosure.

<=== 10 external e-sata/usb2.0 enclosures + 1 usb drive dock.

I would not want to risk having the heat of the hdd kill the media player.

 

[Destiny]

All Media Plauers got Upscalling or just some of them?
Just SONY MP shows Upscalling capabilities.

I wanted to buy ARGOSY Media Player and install inside 3.5" 2TB HDD by myself, it's only device supporting 3.5" HDD's, 2.5" doesn't worth it :my TRANSFORMERS movie is just 100GB size and TRANSFORMERS 2 another 90GB size.
Here is ARGOSY one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-006-_-Product

What file format is it in? MKV, Blu-Ray ISO, m2ts...? There are very few media players out there that suports Blu-Ray ISO playback and even fewer play with BLu-Ray Menus or Braunching...D:

 

[GEOrifle]

What file format is it in? MKV, Blu-Ray ISO, m2ts...? There are very few media players out there that suports Blu-Ray ISO playback and even fewer play with BLu-Ray Menus or Braunching...D:

m2ts.
So how do you like ARGOSY ?
Various file formats are supported including Blu-ray ISO/DVD Folder/H.264/WMV9/VC-1/Xvid/MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4/RM/RMVB video, MP3/WMA/OGG/FLAC/AAC/Dolby Digital/DTS audio, as well as BMP, GIF, PNG and JPEG images.