Looking for an external hdd media player needing suggestions

[leglez]

We are looking to replace the DVD players at work with hdd media players like the WD TV. I am wanting to find one that has an actual hdd. Like a 500GB, I would also like it to be reasonably priced, $50-$100/media player+hdd because we will be purchasing ~10. They will be used to store a few hundred disney movies that are ~750MB each, along with 25-50 children's music albums. The TVs we use are mostly 27 or 32" Vizios, if they had HD hookups that would be nice, but not needed as of now since all our videos are standard definition.

Anyone have any suggestions for what I should look for?

 

[Soundmanred]

You'll have to increase your budget if buying new, even with internet pricing.

 

[ericlp]

most come with a usb port to hook up a usb hard drive. you can get a 500 gig drive for 50 bucks and a Media tank for around 100 - 150 bucks. There are however some lower cost western digital players that don't have a cat 5 cable you can get for 80 bucks or so.

 

[Modelworks]

You can get something like this for $89 but it will not play back HD content.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-014-_-Product

So if you want to do that in the future you would have to buy all new players.
If I were doing it now and wanted to keep the budget as low as possible I would get:
http://www.amazon.com/Argosy-HV335T-...ef=pd_sbs_op_9
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barrac...9364669&sr=1-2




Total is about $150 and that will play all the content.


The thing with all these media players is they all use the same chipsets, either the Sigma 86xx series or the Realtek. The Sigma chips are faster than the Realtek. The differences in the players comes mainly from the firmware , case and ports.

Here is a good list on the players out there right now
http://www.iboum.com/net-media-players.php

 

[leglez]

Ended up getting an NBox from Amazon for ~$30 + a 1TB Western Digital Drive for $70. Loaded up quite a few movies and it works great for the price.