Stand alone media player suggestions

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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
0
I am in a market for a stand alone media player that I plan to hook up to my Full HD TV, and watch movies and such that I have on my laptop.

I would appreciate any suggestions and comments on what is out there. Aim is to have something cheap and reliable as I hope to update my TV in a year or two and by then I hope I to be able to hook up my TV to the network directly. Hence I do not want to waste too much money.

Is it worth considering wireless network based solution if I only have wireless G on my laptop? I have wireless N router so I would most likely get a wireless n dongle (or internal) for the player. Wired solution is not an option at the moment. Oh I need to be able to push 720p, ideally 1080p as well.
 
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Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
use your laptop - or build crappy htpc - the crappy htpc solution works awesome. with soft-decode to 4K video i'm future proofing. we only need to buy a tv on a revolution and that isn't here yet (AMOLED) - so while i could replace my 5 year old 42" westy - it can rock out for another 5 years at this rate since it still looks pretty good. likewise make a choice that is not going to be thrown away. a $99 dedicated device will be outdated so quickly it's not funny. you want to change your queue on netflix? oh that apple tv doesn't have that feature. wdtv? nope.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
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Hocking up my laptop to the TV is not something I want to do. I tried it for a while, but it too much hustle and it became very slow. I do not have HDMI port on the laptop either.

HTPC is another option I am cosidering. Might go with something like ION nettop
 
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velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
1
81
I'd look at something like the Ruko HD. ~$80 bucks and it can connect to your network, does netflix plus tons of other channels. Since all you mentioned is the playing of networked movies.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
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Sorry should have been more specific.

I want to make a shared folder on my laptop and stream movies from the laptop to the TV. Alternative could be that I transfer wirelessly movies from laptop to the media player.

I am not in US so such things as Netflix and Hulu et. al. is not something that I am interested (more precisely can not access). Roku looks interesting but same as the conent is not available here :(
 
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velillen

Platinum Member
Jul 12, 2006
2,120
1
81
Modelworks said:
Roku is a bad choice right now for watching content you have locally.
Click to expand...

Just curious but how come? Just bad firmware? Only really read the previews and it seemed like a nice little box. Nothing i need or want (already have to WDTV's).
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
velillen said:
Just curious but how come? Just bad firmware? Only really read the previews and it seemed like a nice little box. Nothing i need or want (already have to WDTV's).
Click to expand...


The way roku set up the boxes is through channels. For you to watch anything on the box you have to select its channel or icon. Right now there isn't a channel for local content. Some people have managed to set up web servers on their local pc and serve that as a channel to the roku but it is still not a browse to movie on roku and select the file to play experience.
 
Destiny

Destiny

Platinum Member
Jul 6, 2010
2,270
1
0
hybry said:
I am in a market for a stand alone media player that I plan to hook up to my Full HD TV, and watch movies and such that I have on my laptop.

I would appreciate any suggestions and comments on what is out there. Aim is to have something cheap and reliable as I hope to update my TV in a year or two and by then I hope I to be able to hook up my TV to the network directly. Hence I do not want to waste too much money.

Is it worth considering wireless network based solution if I only have wireless G on my laptop? I have wireless N router so I would most likely get a wireless n dongle (or internal) for the player. Wired solution is not an option at the moment. Oh I need to be able to push 720p, ideally 1080p as well.
Click to expand...

What is your price/budget? And what country are you in? I recommend buying from a re-seller that is local to your country for RMA issues.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
0
I am in Latvia, and should more or less be able to get whatever is available in Europe generally. I don't really want to spend more then 150 EUR ($200 USD equivalent).

One of the first things that I saw and really liked was Popcorn Hour A-200 (I think). Optional WiFi, optional internal HDD, which I have a spare, torrent client, and I can use it as NAS. But the price here is 250 EUR which is over what I am comfortable spending and for a bit more I can get nettop as well.

Other thing I have heard good things about is WD TV Live, which is about 100 EUR, optional WiFi, but no internal HDD. I am not sure will I be able to stream movies on it and I do not want to plug in USB drive every time I want to watch something.

I want to be able to stream the movies or be able to put them on the device through network. Torrent client would be nice extra as well :D
 
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Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
dude just get a crappy box - used pc and win 7 - xbmc+hulu desktop+7media center + (browser) kicks balls over anything.

7media center can wake out of S3 hibernate to record shows if you have at tuner card too. so the power wasting isn't really that much of a deal.

$183 is how much (cowboom) a c2q 2.5ghz,1TB used machine just sold for. (asus essentio with slic2.1)
 
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smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,382
17
81
hybry said:
I am in Latvia, and should more or less be able to get whatever is available in Europe generally. I don't really want to spend more then 150 EUR ($200 USD equivalent).

One of the first things that I saw and really liked was Popcorn Hour A-200 (I think). Optional WiFi, optional internal HDD, which I have a spare, torrent client, and I can use it as NAS. But the price here is 250 EUR which is over what I am comfortable spending and for a bit more I can get nettop as well.

Other thing I have heard good things about is WD TV Live, which is about 100 EUR, optional WiFi, but no internal HDD. I am not sure will I be able to stream movies on it and I do not want to plug in USB drive every time I want to watch something.

I want to be able to stream the movies or be able to put them on the device through network. Torrent client would be nice extra as well :D
Click to expand...

I've been trying to hold of on recommending it, but it sounds like what you really need is a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
0
smitbret said:
I've been trying to hold of on recommending it, but it sounds like what you really need is a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360.
Click to expand...

khmm.. somehow not what i want although not a bad idea in itself. Not sure if they can play all the HD(.mkv) videos without converting them either.
 
Gooberlx2

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
hybry said:
khmm.. somehow not what i want although not a bad idea in itself. Not sure if they can play all the HD(.mkv) videos without converting them either.
Click to expand...

360 media center extender can play mkvs with haali media splitter and ac3filter installed on the host machine. However, certain functionality will be lacking (subs, fast-forward/rewind, chapters, multiple audio streams, etc...)

Dunno about the PS3, since I don't have one.

For the money you'd spend on the console anyway, I also think buying a cheap used/refurb PC + Win7 or XBMC would make for a better solution.
 
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smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,382
17
81
Gooberlx2 said:
360 media center extender can play mkvs with haali media splitter and ac3filter installed on the host machine. However, certain functionality will be lacking (subs, fast-forward/rewind, chapters, multiple audio streams, etc...)

Dunno about the PS3, since I don't have one.

For the money you'd spend on the console anyway, I also think buying a cheap used/refurb PC + Win7 or XBMC would make for a better solution.
Click to expand...

What kind of Win7 machine could you pick up for $199? The software alone will run $100+.

I didn't know that .mkv was part of the equation. 360 and PS3 won't support them natively, but if you use Tversity or PS3 Media Server to transcode on the fly from the host PC, you'll be able to play them no problem.
 
Gooberlx2

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
smitbret said:
What kind of Win7 machine could you pick up for $199? The software alone will run $100+.
Click to expand...

Look for used or refurb. I know I saw a small open box PC at BB not too long ago for ~$180,windows 7included. It would've worked fine as a htpc.

Or, one can go linux with a XBMC or MythTV distro.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
0
Not really thinking about a HTPC option. I have seen some media players with torrent support and I want to make it as a 24/7 box for torrents. Which I can watch afterwards of course.

I live in a small flat so noise is an issue major issue. And would like something that is not power hungry.

Leaning towards WD Live with wifi and custom firmware. Haven't really seen anything else out there. that comes close to in performance with that price.
 
poofyhairguy

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
WD Live is hard to beat for the price. I MUCH prefer the interface on my ION box + XBMC over my WD Live, but that also cost twice as much. For the money its hard to beat the WD Live.
 
Homerboy

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,890
5,001
126
poofyhairguy said:
WD Live is hard to beat for the price. I MUCH prefer the interface on my ION box + XBMC over my WD Live, but that also cost twice as much. For the money its hard to beat the WD Live.
Click to expand...

XBMC On ION will trump anything.
Out of curiosity, what is your box setup? I'm really looking for a super-low cost XBMC setup right now for some additional rooms.
 
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hybry

Junior Member
Sep 14, 2010
13
0
0
Only thing that worries me with WD Live is that I will need to load up custom FW and I am not sure how much I will have to do with comand line or telnet or whatever it is called. I like my shiney GUIs.
Media player itself is sorted, torrent client seems to have webUI, all that I am really worried is rar file extraction, and can it operate if the file system is NTFS (worried about write possibilities for torrent client and rar extractor).
 
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Emulex

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2001
9,759
1
71
smitbret said:
What kind of Win7 machine could you pick up for $199? The software alone will run $100+.

I didn't know that .mkv was part of the equation. 360 and PS3 won't support them natively, but if you use Tversity or PS3 Media Server to transcode on the fly from the host PC, you'll be able to play them no problem.
Click to expand...

i got an hp firebird 802 for $184 open box. it had c2q, water cooling, hybrid power and could do SLI for light gaming, win7 slic (64bit works best) 4gb dominator corsair, external 350watt power supply to remove heat from main system. nvidia mcp 760SLI ambient led ESA control lighting, dual 2.5" SFF drives with raid-0/1/5 support. best buy.

asus essentio,c2q 2.5ghz with 10% overclock on demand ,750gb,intel gma whatever, geforce GT 220 dual-link dvi,8gb ddr2,7hp,on board toslink,hdmi,displayport, $184 too.

i did swap in an ssd to remove noise on the asus and boot it faster. the firebird is overkill for htpc since it has 3-way sli or physx and 2-way sli that would be silly but you could play doom on it i suppose too. since its hybrid power it doesn't waste that which it doesn't need.

little scratch n dent never hurt anyone.
 
Drekce

Drekce

Golden Member
Sep 29, 2000
1,398
0
76
Just wait a little longer and get the Boxee Box. I have a WDTV Live, and while it is pretty good, it is severely lacking in the interface department, and doesn't quite play everything.
 
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