Dedicated Media Player Devices

[dj-tinklez]

With these players becoming ever so popular, I thought it warranted it's own thread.

Some popular ones currently out in the market.
POPCORN HOUR C-200 AND A-200 (http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=catalog) | Syabas
WD TV LIVE HD MEDIA PLAYER (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=735) | Western Digital
DIGITAL ENTERTAINER LIVE (http://www.netgear.com.au/au/Product/Entertainment/Digital-Media-Receiv/EVA2000) | Netgear
FREEAGENT THEATER+ HD MEDIA PLAYER (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/home_entertainment/freeagent_theater_plus/) | Seagate
LACINEMA CLASSIC HD (http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?pid=11389) | LaCie
APPLE TV (http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/apple_tv?mco=MTAyNTQzMjU) | Apple (w/ BOXEE (http://www.boxee.tv/) or XBMC (http://xbmc.org/download/))

I had a Popcorn Hour A-100 for over a year before giving it to my ever nagging folks, so I'm currently using my APPLE MAC MINI (http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?mco=MTAyNTQzNTk) (w/ PLEX (http://www.plexapp.com/)) in my room and the PLAYSTATION 3 (http://au.playstation.com/ps3/) in the lounge, but I would still rather like a stand alone player to play my media files and considered the WD TV Live HD until this CES that just past, 2 new players were demoed that's really caught my eye which looks to do everything I want a media player to do. Both are due in Q2 this year for under US$200.

First is the POPBOX (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/syabas-popbox-hands-on/) by Syabas.

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_box.jpg
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_remote.jpghttp://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_004-videos_movies.jpg

ENGADGET HANDS ON (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/syabas-popbox-hands-on/) | GIZMODO HANDS ON (http://gizmodo.com/5439293/syabas-popbox-get-ready-for-the-new-media-streamer-champ)


And the second, and perhaps the one that's got me most excited, despite the perplexing form factor (though it's growing on me), is the BOXEE BOX (http://www.boxee.tv/box) by D-Link. That remote is just sex!

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/ybshy4/boxee-box-front.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/ybshy4/boxee-box-remote.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/ybshy4/boxee-screenshot.png

BOXEE WEBSITE (http://www.boxee.tv/box) | C-NET HANDS ON (http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10429585-269.html) | ENGADGET HANDS ON (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/hands-on-with-the-boxee-box/)

Have I overlooked any? Anyone else have or considering getting one?

[Lazlow]

I've got a WDTV. Didn't really require the features available with the WDTV Live.

My only beef is that it doesn't use the directory structure on the actual hard disk, it scans the drive for media files on initial startup (which can take some time if its say a 500GB drive), then it lumps the media under Moves, Music, Photos.

Great for those who want to jump straight to their files, not so great if there's porn on the drive... it has thumbnail views you see >_>

[adam_91vn]

I've got a WDTV. Didn't really require the features available with the WDTV Live.

My only beef is that it doesn't use the directory structure on the actual hard disk, it scans the drive for media files on initial startup (which can take some time if its say a 500GB drive), then it lumps the media under Moves, Music, Photos.

Great for those who want to jump straight to their files, not so great if there's porn on the drive... it has thumbnail views you see >_>

Yeah I have a WDTV as well suits my needs fine. You can turn the thumbnails off and it should not take that long to scan after the first time. My dad, father-in-law and brother-in-law have since picked one up and we just shift bluray rips around.

[dj-tinklez]

Great for those who want to jump straight to their files, not so great if there's porn on the drive... it has thumbnail views you see >_>

Lol, reminds me of something that happened to a friend of mine. He and his girlfriend bought the WD Mini and when they went to watch a movie, all his porn files appeared. Bitch later deleted all of them.

[Vicious]

Could be worse, I knew someone online that put porn files on their H320 MP3 player. He had it on random, and eventually he heard this really wonderful piano concerto. Finally he looked at the screen to see what it was . . . porn had been playing for three minutes . . . he was on a bus. Everyone looked at him practically, all very disturbed.

[Italian Stallion]

I've been looking into getting one of these for the lounge room. I've got all our movies on the PC, so it'd be convenient. I myself have a 360 and use Media Center (with some addons), and find it great. The only issue is that it's lacking full MKV support. I was interested in getting the Linksys DMA2200 because it has built in wireless, and runs off Media Center.. but I'm finding more and more that I prefer to use MKV than AVI, which is sort of making me steer away from any Media Center based products.

I've heard of XTreamer & eGreat media players too, which are meant to be quite good. The latter, especially, is meant to be very similar to the Popcorn Hour, I believe.

Is there anything that has wireless n, performs well & plays MKV?

[naclj]

I think i need to look into these things more.

I have a decently kick ass media center set up for myself and use my 360 as an extender sometimes but my inlaws keep bugging me to watch my movies and tv shows at their place.
they are extremely technophobic and i don't know what the simplest box is that wont get me being continually called for "tech support" but is still flexible enough that it can play anything (mostly anything)

[dj-tinklez]

Is there anything that has wireless n, performs well & plays MKV?

I think the best bet right now is the Popcorn Hour which'll play anything you can throw at it, but for wireless you'll need to purchase a seperate USB DONGLE OR WIFI CARD (http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=buynow&type=accessories). There's probably a device from another company that does this out of the box. Or you can go the Apple TV route with Boxee. I've actually got similar requirements as you, but I'm waiting for the Popbox or Boxee Box because I want a nice interface that can pull movie/TV information over the net.

I have a decently kick ass media center set up for myself and use my 360 as an extender sometimes but my inlaws keep bugging me to watch my movies and tv shows at their place.
they are extremely technophobic and i don't know what the simplest box is that wont get me being continually called for "tech support" but is still flexible enough that it can play anything (mostly anything)

WD TV MINI (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=681) is pretty good cheap option (about $120 at JB). Friend (who is a bit of a technophobe himself) has one, and likes it despite displaying all his porn first time he booted it up in front of the missus. No HD inputs though, but your folks, like my friend, probably wouldn't care. "HDMI? Is that the red/white/yellow plugs?"


Found a pretty good HD media player round-up article. GIZMODO (http://gizmodo.com/5397986/hd-media-player-battlemodo-apple-tv-killers)

[buckstwits]

The boxee software has a lot of features that are useless outside of USA. So if you went the apple tv route you'd be better off using xbmc (which boxee is based on) instead.

[adam_91vn]

I think the best bet right now is the Popcorn Hour which'll play anything you can throw at it, but for wireless you'll need to purchase a seperate USB DONGLE OR WIFI CARD (http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=buynow&type=accessories). There's probably a device from another company that does this out of the box. Or you can go the Apple TV route with Boxee. I've actually got similar requirements as you, but I'm waiting for the Popbox or Boxee Box because I want a nice interface that can pull movie/TV information over the net.



WD TV MINI (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=681) is pretty good cheap option (about $120 at JB). Friend (who is a bit of a technophobe himself) has one, and likes it despite displaying all his porn first time he booted it up in front of the missus. No HD inputs though, but your folks, like my friend, probably wouldn't care. "HDMI? Is that the red/white/yellow plugs?"


Found a pretty good HD media player round-up article. GIZMODO (http://gizmodo.com/5397986/hd-media-player-battlemodo-apple-tv-killers)

The WDLIVE will play anything and is wireless.


Also you would be silly to get the mini which is gimped, better off paying $30 more and getting the WDTV

[Lazlow]

Mini supports less codecs

[dj-tinklez]

The WDLIVE will play anything and is wireless.

You sure the WD TV live is wireless? Reading the specs it says:

"The Ethernet port connects this player to your home network through a wired connection or via popular, supported WiFi adapters (sold separately)."

The boxee software has a lot of features that are useless outside of USA. So if you went the apple tv route you'd be better off using xbmc (which boxee is based on) instead.

Yeah, this is true.

I've been using the Boxee Beta on my Mac for the last couple of weeks. It's nice, but they really need fix movie/TV scraping because a few of my videos have wrong information. Plex let's me rectify this manually. Hopefully they fix this once the Boxee Box rolls out.

[/backslash]

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2010/01/500x_box.jpg
I find the Boxee annoying to look at in terms of its design, looks like its melting. Would prefer a normal looking box shape

I've thought about getting media player devices especially since my old router used to be unable to play large files (200mb+) streamed to my PS3 without stuttering. But now I've got a new router, the 7800N it should be a lot better but I've yet to try it

Great for those who want to jump straight to their files, not so great if there's porn on the drive... it has thumbnail views you see >_>
Hah, that would be bad. Even worse if the porn had a title that was strikingly similar to the movie you + your gf's family were going to watch & you didn't notice

[adam_91vn]

You sure the WD TV live is wireless? Reading the specs it says:

"The Ethernet port connects this player to your home network through a wired connection or via popular, supported WiFi adapters (sold separately)."



Yeah sorry that is what I meant.