Which Media Player to buy - Any experiences out there?

BenRielly · 20-06-2011, 13:25

So, the next tech type toy that I want to get is a Media Player to plug into the TV. This will avoid the tedious plugging in of the laptop when I want to watch downloaded content.

I have found one that sounds like it does almost everything that I want and wondered if anybody out there had any experience of these things or even opinions abou them. The one that I'm eyeing up is - WDTV Live Hub Media Center with 1TB Hard Drive - and the only thing that it doesn't do that I would like is to stream the likes of BBC iPlayer and 4OD.

Any suggestions/opinions ideas would be welcome.

Thank you.

c4rv · 20-06-2011, 13:58

You could get a media centre PC like the Revo and install XBMC. Will do just about anything you can think off and more.

BenRielly · 20-06-2011, 14:20

How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works?

See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs.

What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player?

St@mmie · 22-06-2011, 19:07

it depends what you're after from your media player, I haven't tried a Western Digital one so can't comment on it but they are meant to be pretty good.
If you just want something cheap and chearful that plays everything you can throw at it but doesn't do digital surround sound then I can recommend a Sumvision Micro HD2 (available from £23 and tiny), I use one in the bedroom and apart from not having the greatest remote is a very good little bit of kit.
If you want something with catchup tv I can also recommend a Sony SMP N100 (available from £90) it has a very good version of iplayer on it and also Sky News, Sony Entertainment tv and Eurosport plus several other minor web tv channels but no 4OD or ITVplayer.
The only major drawback with the Sony is it wont stream mkv files across a network without a pc transcoding them despite the fact that it plays them fine from a hard drive.
If you want a media player that also has 4OD and ITVplayer as well the only one I know of is a ps3, an expensive option but imho apart from having to remux mkv files the ps3 is an excellent media player only beaten by a powerful pc running xbmc.

JamesParkin · 22-06-2011, 23:47

Apple tv, all you need to do then is have iTunes running on your laptop, and your apple tv can stream the content to your tv.

The interface is beautiful

It costs 100 quids

I love mine

rottweiler · 24-06-2011, 00:30

Can you play files from an external drive on apple tv ?

c4rv · 24-06-2011, 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenRielly

How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works?

See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs.

What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player?

PC like revo is approximately the size of a A5 piece of paper They are small and don't have internal optical drive. and supports full 1080p playback of just about any file format you can think off plus of course access to all the online content.

Upside they can do everything a PC can (like plugging in USB drives, memory cards, phones, cameras, camcorders, web browsing, etc, downside is they require the same maintenance as PC do. They are incredibly flexible and have an amazing playback app in XBMC but not as plug and play as a WD live. If you don't want the hassle and flexibility then get the WD live.

Apple TV is OK but I believe the £100 model is limited to 720p playback, however there is a version of XBMC for it as well.

JamesParkin · 25-06-2011, 01:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by rottweiler

Can you play files from an external drive on apple tv ?

If the external drive is attached to something running an iTunes front end, absolutely

pavier · 25-06-2011, 15:26

Last year I chose the Asus O!Play over the WDTV Live because at the time the Asus could do three things the WDTV Live couldn't.

1. Support normal dvd menus. I've transferred hundreds of my own dvd recordings to a hard drive and the Asus can bring up the usual dvd title menus as if it was a dvd player.
2. Play flash (.flv files), e.g. straight Youtube and other flash player downloads without any conversion or special download software, just drag the file out of the temp internet folder to an external drive and play it.
3. Play Real Media files.

There are so many media players with different specs which keep changing with each firmware update. Can anyone confirm if the WDTV Live can now do the three above points?

platelet · 26-06-2011, 13:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenRielly

How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works?

See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs.

What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player?

I have an Asus EB1501B which does have a DVD built in.

It's supplied with wireless keyboard and mouse which are perfectly adequate, but as I use it in the bedroom use one of these instead http://www.reghardware.com/2010/05/1..._air_keyboard/

It's designed so that you can mount it on the back of the TV (using the VESA mountings) and hidden behind a relatively small TV (twenty something inches)

You do need to boot windows, but depending on your geek level I'm sure you could make it dual boot to some nice quick loading linux flavour, or stick an SSD in to speed up the windows load

http://www.asus.com/Eee/EeeBox_PC/Ee...specifications

Cost is about £330

Fullflush78 · 26-06-2011, 13:34

I have xbmc running on a laptop which streams from an external HD. I have the app for it on my iphone and ipad which effectively acts as a remote control. Its absolutely flawless for me.

I have about 250 movie and 50 tv series stored externally and im adding more all the time. I guess it wont fit for everyone but people seem quite impressed when they see it!

simmy · 26-06-2011, 18:37

I have a WDtv live player connected to my my Tv via hdmi - it has two USB slots which I have connected 2 x 2TB external hard drives to, one solely for movies the other for TV programmes & music, busy transferring stuff to it at the moment, pretty pleased with it & it's cinavia free too!

BenRielly · 27-06-2011, 09:18

Oh My!

See here I was hoping that there was going to be a nice simple answer but there's an awful lot more out there that I realised. I guess it's my own fault for just looking at Amazon for inspiration.

Thank you all for the suggestions and help. I can see that there's a lot more research needed before I decide.

The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option.

Which might mean that I'm going to sacrifice some functionality. Unless anybody knows of a simple and versatile tool?

Thanks again all.

platelet · 28-06-2011, 23:49

XMBC or Windows Media Centre will work with a windows remote

My Asus was supplied with one. You can just add the respective media player software to the startup folder and she need never touch the keyboard

c4rv · 29-06-2011, 09:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by platelet

XMBC or Windows Media Centre will work with a windows remote

My Asus was supplied with one. You can just add the respective media player software to the startup folder and she need never touch the keyboard

XMBC can also be controlled via apps on iphone/ipad and android devices.

c4rv · 29-06-2011, 10:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenRielly

The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option.

I know what you mean about the other half needing to keep it as simple as possible.

In which case I would go with the WDLive. No messing about, no maintenance, plug in and go.

Gormond · 29-06-2011, 13:06

PS3 works a treat for me, plays back SD and HD content over a NAS or from a local copy (internal HDD or USB). Also has iPlayer, 4OD, Lovefilm and Freeview+ with adapter.

Not to mention it also plays games as well as DVD and Blu-Ray movie.

This is all accessible via the PS3 remote control so no need to use the games controller.

The only issue may be cost, they come in at up to £200 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ZYEC1G/

angeleyes90 · 02-07-2011, 20:20

hey someone told me to post what i need help with on here so can someone help me please thank you

I have a HD tv and i want to use it has a computer i just want to know how to hook a pc tower to it also the sound from tower to TV i know that the TV takes S video and VGA

Thanks

JamesParkin · 02-07-2011, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenRielly

Oh My!

See here I was hoping that there was going to be a nice simple answer but there's an awful lot more out there that I realised. I guess it's my own fault for just looking at Amazon for inspiration.

Thank you all for the suggestions and help. I can see that there's a lot more research needed before I decide.

The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option.

Which might mean that I'm going to sacrifice some functionality. Unless anybody knows of a simple and versatile tool?

Thanks again all.

That is exactly what apple tv is. The menu interface is ridiculously simple.

I have attached a link to a video, all I have done is pressed the on button, and chosen to look at my machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTp9F...e_gdata_player

You can also if you like stream stuff direct from the apple video store.

BenRielly · 11-07-2011, 15:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesParkin

That is exactly what apple tv is. The menu interface is ridiculously simple.

I have attached a link to a video, all I have done is pressed the on button, and chosen to look at my machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTp9F...e_gdata_player

You can also if you like stream stuff direct from the apple video store.

Thank you for this. However, am I correct in thinking that the Apple TV box doesn't have a HDD built in? I just don't like the idea of having to have the PC on to stream movies onto my TV. I'd much rather have it all there ready to watch and, if necessary, move to another TV without worry.

Am I being just too picky here?

niall campbell · 11-07-2011, 20:01

no need for a PC to switch on

what you need is a NAS hard drive with an ethernet connection like this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...409991&sr=1-13

this will connect to your router via ethernet cable and then is wireless / wired and always on. Any wireless device in your network can stream to and from it

you simply need a games console Xbox 360 / PS 3 or a TV or a blu ray player to operate it

my solar powered DAB Roberts radio can connect to my hard drive via my old iphone 3 G and a 3. mm jack . I can stream 1700 albulms to my bath !

try media connect for your iphone guys , its free !!

grahamlthompson · 11-07-2011, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by niall campbell

my solar powered DAB Roberts radio can connect to my hard drive via my old iphone 3 G and a 3. mm jack . I can stream 1700 albulms to my bath !

try media connect for your iphone guys , its free !!

Does that include " I'm forever blowing bubbles " or " Handels Water Music "

niall campbell · 11-07-2011, 20:12

like it !

the media connect is quite good for an app

only play Dire Straits as stuck in the 80's ......................... so thats 1699 albulms I dont liste to

webbie · 11-07-2011, 22:08

You only got 1 Dire Straits album?

JamesParkin · 11-07-2011, 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenRielly

Thank you for this. However, am I correct in thinking that the Apple TV box doesn't have a HDD built in? I just don't like the idea of having to have the PC on to stream movies onto my TV. I'd much rather have it all there ready to watch and, if necessary, move to another TV without worry.

Am I being just too picky here?

There are some hard drives with a built in iTunes server. The iomega drive is about £120 for a 2tb.

It also allows you to rent movies direct from apple and stream to the device from them, no need for physical storage for that one.

20-06-2011, 13:25	#1
BenRielly Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 171	Which Media Player to buy - Any experiences out there? So, the next tech type toy that I want to get is a Media Player to plug into the TV. This will avoid the tedious plugging in of the laptop when I want to watch downloaded content. I have found one that sounds like it does almost everything that I want and wondered if anybody out there had any experience of these things or even opinions abou them. The one that I'm eyeing up is - WDTV Live Hub Media Center with 1TB Hard Drive - and the only thing that it doesn't do that I would like is to stream the likes of BBC iPlayer and 4OD. Any suggestions/opinions ideas would be welcome. Thank you.

20-06-2011, 13:58	#2
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	You could get a media centre PC like the Revo and install XBMC. Will do just about anything you can think off and more.

20-06-2011, 14:20	#3
BenRielly Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 171	How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works? See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs. What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player?

22-06-2011, 19:07	#4
St@mmie Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 655	it depends what you're after from your media player, I haven't tried a Western Digital one so can't comment on it but they are meant to be pretty good. If you just want something cheap and chearful that plays everything you can throw at it but doesn't do digital surround sound then I can recommend a Sumvision Micro HD2 (available from £23 and tiny), I use one in the bedroom and apart from not having the greatest remote is a very good little bit of kit. If you want something with catchup tv I can also recommend a Sony SMP N100 (available from £90) it has a very good version of iplayer on it and also Sky News, Sony Entertainment tv and Eurosport plus several other minor web tv channels but no 4OD or ITVplayer. The only major drawback with the Sony is it wont stream mkv files across a network without a pc transcoding them despite the fact that it plays them fine from a hard drive. If you want a media player that also has 4OD and ITVplayer as well the only one I know of is a ps3, an expensive option but imho apart from having to remux mkv files the ps3 is an excellent media player only beaten by a powerful pc running xbmc.

22-06-2011, 23:47	#5
JamesParkin Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Londinium Posts: 1,850	Apple tv, all you need to do then is have iTunes running on your laptop, and your apple tv can stream the content to your tv. The interface is beautiful It costs 100 quids I love mine

24-06-2011, 00:30	#6
rottweiler Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: England Posts: 2,523	Can you play files from an external drive on apple tv ?

24-06-2011, 01:45	#7
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Quote: Originally Posted by BenRielly How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works? See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs. What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player? PC like revo is approximately the size of a A5 piece of paper They are small and don't have internal optical drive. and supports full 1080p playback of just about any file format you can think off plus of course access to all the online content. Upside they can do everything a PC can (like plugging in USB drives, memory cards, phones, cameras, camcorders, web browsing, etc, downside is they require the same maintenance as PC do. They are incredibly flexible and have an amazing playback app in XBMC but not as plug and play as a WD live. If you don't want the hassle and flexibility then get the WD live. Apple TV is OK but I believe the £100 model is limited to 720p playback, however there is a version of XBMC for it as well.

25-06-2011, 01:11	#8
JamesParkin Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Londinium Posts: 1,850	Quote: Originally Posted by rottweiler Can you play files from an external drive on apple tv ? If the external drive is attached to something running an iTunes front end, absolutely

25-06-2011, 15:26	#9
pavier Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 691	Last year I chose the Asus O!Play over the WDTV Live because at the time the Asus could do three things the WDTV Live couldn't. 1. Support normal dvd menus. I've transferred hundreds of my own dvd recordings to a hard drive and the Asus can bring up the usual dvd title menus as if it was a dvd player. 2. Play flash (.flv files), e.g. straight Youtube and other flash player downloads without any conversion or special download software, just drag the file out of the temp internet folder to an external drive and play it. 3. Play Real Media files. There are so many media players with different specs which keep changing with each firmware update. Can anyone confirm if the WDTV Live can now do the three above points?

26-06-2011, 13:15	#10
platelet Forum Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: GL51 0EX Posts: 14,097	Quote: Originally Posted by BenRielly How big are Media Centre PCs and do you need the mouse/keyboard arrangment to run them? Also, would you need to boot Windows before it works? See, I rather liked the 'plug and play' idea of the media player. My TV in the bedroom allows me to plug in my USB HDD (or even pen drive) and play whatever media files are on it. I was hoping for something similar on a larger scale for downstairs. What's the cost of the Media Centre PC vs. the Media Player? I have an Asus EB1501B which does have a DVD built in. It's supplied with wireless keyboard and mouse which are perfectly adequate, but as I use it in the bedroom use one of these instead http://www.reghardware.com/2010/05/1..._air_keyboard/ It's designed so that you can mount it on the back of the TV (using the VESA mountings) and hidden behind a relatively small TV (twenty something inches) You do need to boot windows, but depending on your geek level I'm sure you could make it dual boot to some nice quick loading linux flavour, or stick an SSD in to speed up the windows load http://www.asus.com/Eee/EeeBox_PC/Ee...specifications Cost is about £330

26-06-2011, 13:34	#11
Fullflush78 Inactive Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 191	I have xbmc running on a laptop which streams from an external HD. I have the app for it on my iphone and ipad which effectively acts as a remote control. Its absolutely flawless for me. I have about 250 movie and 50 tv series stored externally and im adding more all the time. I guess it wont fit for everyone but people seem quite impressed when they see it!

26-06-2011, 18:37	#12
simmy Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Wales Posts: 614	I have a WDtv live player connected to my my Tv via hdmi - it has two USB slots which I have connected 2 x 2TB external hard drives to, one solely for movies the other for TV programmes & music, busy transferring stuff to it at the moment, pretty pleased with it & it's cinavia free too!

27-06-2011, 09:18	#13
BenRielly Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 171	Oh My! See here I was hoping that there was going to be a nice simple answer but there's an awful lot more out there that I realised. I guess it's my own fault for just looking at Amazon for inspiration. Thank you all for the suggestions and help. I can see that there's a lot more research needed before I decide. The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option. Which might mean that I'm going to sacrifice some functionality. Unless anybody knows of a simple and versatile tool? Thanks again all.

28-06-2011, 23:49	#14
platelet Forum Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: GL51 0EX Posts: 14,097	XMBC or Windows Media Centre will work with a windows remote My Asus was supplied with one. You can just add the respective media player software to the startup folder and she need never touch the keyboard

29-06-2011, 09:59	#15
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Quote: Originally Posted by platelet XMBC or Windows Media Centre will work with a windows remote My Asus was supplied with one. You can just add the respective media player software to the startup folder and she need never touch the keyboard XMBC can also be controlled via apps on iphone/ipad and android devices.

29-06-2011, 10:01	#16
c4rv Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Essex Posts: 16,218	Quote: Originally Posted by BenRielly The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option. I know what you mean about the other half needing to keep it as simple as possible. In which case I would go with the WDLive. No messing about, no maintenance, plug in and go.

29-06-2011, 13:06	#17
Gormond Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 15,714	PS3 works a treat for me, plays back SD and HD content over a NAS or from a local copy (internal HDD or USB). Also has iPlayer, 4OD, Lovefilm and Freeview+ with adapter. Not to mention it also plays games as well as DVD and Blu-Ray movie. This is all accessible via the PS3 remote control so no need to use the games controller. The only issue may be cost, they come in at up to £200 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ZYEC1G/

02-07-2011, 20:20	#18
angeleyes90 Forum Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 41	hey someone told me to post what i need help with on here so can someone help me please thank you I have a HD tv and i want to use it has a computer i just want to know how to hook a pc tower to it also the sound from tower to TV i know that the TV takes S video and VGA Thanks

02-07-2011, 20:51	#19
JamesParkin Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Londinium Posts: 1,850	Quote: Originally Posted by BenRielly Oh My! See here I was hoping that there was going to be a nice simple answer but there's an awful lot more out there that I realised. I guess it's my own fault for just looking at Amazon for inspiration. Thank you all for the suggestions and help. I can see that there's a lot more research needed before I decide. The problem is that whilst I'm not too bad tech-wise Mrs Rielly has no interest in "messing around" with these things, so for her sake I think it would be easier to go down the push a button and it's on and then navigate a simple menu option. Which might mean that I'm going to sacrifice some functionality. Unless anybody knows of a simple and versatile tool? Thanks again all. That is exactly what apple tv is. The menu interface is ridiculously simple. I have attached a link to a video, all I have done is pressed the on button, and chosen to look at my machine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTp9F...e_gdata_player You can also if you like stream stuff direct from the apple video store.

11-07-2011, 15:57	#20
BenRielly Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 171	Quote: Originally Posted by JamesParkin That is exactly what apple tv is. The menu interface is ridiculously simple. I have attached a link to a video, all I have done is pressed the on button, and chosen to look at my machine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTp9F...e_gdata_player You can also if you like stream stuff direct from the apple video store. Thank you for this. However, am I correct in thinking that the Apple TV box doesn't have a HDD built in? I just don't like the idea of having to have the PC on to stream movies onto my TV. I'd much rather have it all there ready to watch and, if necessary, move to another TV without worry. Am I being just too picky here?

11-07-2011, 20:01	#21
niall campbell Forum Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Aberfeldy Posts: 7,035	no need for a PC to switch on what you need is a NAS hard drive with an ethernet connection like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...409991&sr=1-13 this will connect to your router via ethernet cable and then is wireless / wired and always on. Any wireless device in your network can stream to and from it you simply need a games console Xbox 360 / PS 3 or a TV or a blu ray player to operate it my solar powered DAB Roberts radio can connect to my hard drive via my old iphone 3 G and a 3. mm jack . I can stream 1700 albulms to my bath ! try media connect for your iphone guys , its free !!

DS Forums

Which Media Player to buy - Any experiences out there?

11-07-2011, 20:07	#22
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Quote: Originally Posted by niall campbell my solar powered DAB Roberts radio can connect to my hard drive via my old iphone 3 G and a 3. mm jack . I can stream 1700 albulms to my bath ! try media connect for your iphone guys , its free !! Does that include " I'm forever blowing bubbles " or " Handels Water Music "

11-07-2011, 20:12	#23
niall campbell Forum Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Aberfeldy Posts: 7,035	like it ! the media connect is quite good for an app only play Dire Straits as stuck in the 80's ......................... so thats 1699 albulms I dont liste to

11-07-2011, 22:08	#24
webbie Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: North Devon Posts: 1,568	You only got 1 Dire Straits album?

11-07-2011, 22:11	#25
JamesParkin Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Londinium Posts: 1,850	Quote: Originally Posted by BenRielly Thank you for this. However, am I correct in thinking that the Apple TV box doesn't have a HDD built in? I just don't like the idea of having to have the PC on to stream movies onto my TV. I'd much rather have it all there ready to watch and, if necessary, move to another TV without worry. Am I being just too picky here? There are some hard drives with a built in iTunes server. The iomega drive is about £120 for a 2tb. It also allows you to rent movies direct from apple and stream to the device from them, no need for physical storage for that one.