Streaming Media Player/Blu-ray Player

[Durvelle27]

Need some help picking out a good HD Streaming player for use in my HT. It must have an optical port as that's the only way i can get sound and 1080p would be nice but not mandatory. It will be used with a Acer H5360 Projector. I want to to stay below $60 if i can. I have looked at the Roku LT & WD TV Play Media Player. I would mostly be using it to watch Netflix, Vudu, Hulu Plus, and streaming movies off my PC

 

[smitbret]

Well, from your description the WDTV Live would be the obvious choice. It is sooo much better for local streaming. The Roku has better online services and a better GUI but you'd need Plex installed on a PC somewhere and create a Plex channel on the Roku for local streaming. The WDTV just needs folders to be shared and is OK for NetFlix, Vudu, Hulu, etc.

 

[Durvelle27]

Well, from your description the WDTV Live would be the obvious choice. It is sooo much better for local streaming. The Roku has better online services and a better GUI but you'd need Plex installed on a PC somewhere and create a Plex channel on the Roku for local streaming. The WDTV just needs folders to be shared and is OK for NetFlix, Vudu, Hulu, etc.

I don't mind installing Plex

 

[boomhower]

Never tried the Roku but I love my WD Live box.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Don't get the LT if you go Roku, just splurge and get the Roku 3. It is much faster and does 1080p (even though you might not think you want it). Yes it's above $60 but it's well worth it with Plex and 1080 Netflix.

The remote alone (even though it's really for games) is tons better than the credit card remote you get with the lower tier Roku's.

If you look around on Amazon you can get it for around $80

 

[Durvelle27]

Don't get the LT if you go Roku, just splurge and get the Roku 3. It is much faster and does 1080p (even though you might not think you want it). Yes it's above $60 but it's well worth it with Plex and 1080 Netflix.

The remote alone (even though it's really for games) is tons better than the credit card remote you get with the lower tier Roku's.

If you look around on Amazon you can get it for around $80

It cost a good amount more but it also doesn't have an optical port so i wouldn't be able to get audio



This kinda looks good

WD TV Play Media Player WDBMBA0000NBK-HESN

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815140004

 

[smitbret]

The Play is a better box for local streaming than the Roku but lacks support for a couple of older containers and codecs that the older WDTV Live and Live Hub do (.avi is one, I believe). You may wanna just check out the supported codec list on the WD website and see if you have any unsupported files.

 

[Durvelle27]

The Play is a better box for local streaming than the Roku but lacks support for a couple of older containers and codecs that the older WDTV Live and Live Hub do (.avi is one, I believe). You may wanna just check out the supported codec list on the WD website and see if you have any unsupported files.

File Formats Supported
Video - AVI (****, AVC, MPEG4, VC-1), MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T/M2TS (MPEG4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, AVC), WMV9, FLV (AVC)

 

[smitbret]

File Formats Supported
Video - AVI (****, AVC, MPEG4, VC-1), MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T/M2TS (MPEG4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, AVC), WMV9, FLV (AVC)

Whoops, my bad. Had to double check. It's .mpg and .vob that aren't supported anymore. They're legacy containers but I know I have a few movies in those formats. In fact, if you have DVD ISO rips it looks like they may not work since it specifies ISO(AVCHD) for the Play and ISO/VOB for the WD Live..

 

[Durvelle27]

Whoops, my bad. Had to double check. It's .mpg and .vob that aren't supported anymore. They're legacy containers but I know I have a few movies in those formats. In fact, if you have DVD ISO rips it looks like they may not work since it specifies ISO(AVCHD) for the Play and ISO/VOB for the WD Live..

All movie files I watch are either Avi, MP4 or MKV

 

[smitbret]

Nice. I haven't personally had the opportunity to use the new GUI with the Play but from what I've seen it looks like a mild improvement over the WDTV Mochi interface, which isn't bad. The 8 year-old has been able to handle it for the last couple of years so how difficult can it be?

If you don't need the .iso and mpeg-2 codec support this would appear to be the device of choice. The internet streaming library isn't as large as the Roku, but support for local streaming without transcoding is simply much better. If WD could just add Amazon streaming it would be the perfect box in my household and I would buy 3 more, 1 for each TV.

edit: Just noticed that the play doesn't support DTS audio. Once again, you'll need to check your codecs, but DTS is common in many .mkv files. Almost never found in .mp4 or .avi.

 

[Durvelle27]

Nice. I haven't personally had the opportunity to use the new GUI with the Play but from what I've seen it looks like a mild improvement over the WDTV Mochi interface, which isn't bad. The 8 year-old has been able to handle it for the last couple of years so how difficult can it be?

If you don't need the .iso and mpeg-2 codec support this would appear to be the device of choice. The internet streaming library isn't as large as the Roku, but support for local streaming without transcoding is simply much better. If WD could just add Amazon streaming it would be the perfect box in my household and I would buy 3 more, 1 for each TV.

Yea I see that but it does have the online services I care about so that's all that matters and thx

 

[Rio Rebel]

. If WD could just add Amazon streaming it would be the perfect box in my household and I would buy 3 more, 1 for each TV.

You're not the first person with this sentiment, and WD isn't the only device with this problem.

My Rapsberry Pi with XBMC was chugging along with Amazon Prime until suddenly they decided to change things, and now only specific devices support it (along with web browsers).

 

[rbk123]

Just noticed that the Play doesn't support DTS audio.

The Play will pass through both DTS and DTS HD if you have it hooked up to a receiver that can decode either, it just won't play DTS natively if you don't. The prior WD devices can pass through DTS but not DTS HD because they were licensed for DTS (since they can play it without a receiver) but not for DTS HD as that required a second license mandated by the first license.

The Play (and this is very clever of WD) got around this by electing to not support DTS at all, requiring no licenses and freeing them up to pass both through via bitstream. I would get one because of this, but I still have a bunch of VOB files on my media server.


If you don't have a receiver and DTS is the only track in your files, this is an inexpensive option (I have a Live Plus Refurb that I could not discern a difference from a new Live Plus):

WD TV Live - refurb for $59
http://compare.ebay.com/like/231015200256?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

 

[Durvelle27]

The Play will pass through both DTS and DTS HD if you have it hooked up to a receiver that can decode either, it just won't play DTS natively if you don't. The prior WD devices can pass through DTS but not DTS HD because they were licensed for DTS (since they can play it without a receiver) but not for DTS HD as that required a second license mandated by the first license.

The Play (and this is very clever of WD) got around this by electing to not support DTS at all, requiring no licenses and freeing them up to pass both through via bitstream. I intend to get one because of this.


If you don't have a receiver and DTS is the only track in your files, this is an inexpensive option (I have a Live Plus Refurb that I could not discern a difference from a new Live Plus):

WD TV Live - refurb for $59
http://www.rakuten.com/prod/factory...dia-player/249516028.html?listingId=285117578

Link doesn't work and yes I have a receiver that does Dolby & DTS

 

[rbk123]

Interesting. The Rakuten item disappeared. I changed the link to an eBay seller who's selling the refurbs at the same price.

Sounds like the Play will work for you then; since you have no VOB files, I'd get it over the Live because of the DTS pass through.

 

[Durvelle27]

Interesting. The Rakuten item disappeared. I changed the link to an eBay seller who's selling the refurbs at the same price.

Sounds like the Play will work for you then; since you have no VOB files, I'd get it over the Live because of the DTS pass through.

Ok thx

What also just rung in my head is a Blu-ray player also would be another option

 

[rbk123]

DLNA BR players could work, but it depends on what containers they support. They're usually vastly more limited - both in containers and audio output of those containers. It's why I went to an HTPC for my big HT, and for the smaller rooms use the WD devices.