Hi - today I've a Panasonic TV + PS3 which I use to play Blu-Ray discs as well as avi, mkv, mp4 files etc from the harddrive or a USB stick.

I want to use something instead of the the PS3 for media playback - it's getting noticeably noisier and whilst I'll replace it with a newer games machine at some point, I'm interested in understanding what other directly connected (via HDMI) alternatives there might be ideally something SSD based or whisper quiet.

Thanks for any pointers.

Hi There,

Can I just ask how you managed to get the ps3 to play mkv files from a harddrive or USB? I always thought it wouldn't do this?

as for your main question about alternatives, would you be looking for a separate blu ray play, and media player or would you prefer an all in one solution? I ask because you could go for something like this in the link below and rip your blu rays on to an external harddrive connected to it.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...8409651&sr=1-4

mixed reviews and I don't have one so can't recommend but might get you going!

You can use mkv2vob to change a mkv file to a format the PS3 will recognize. It's not the same as full conversion which (depending on the file size) could take many hours, it just rewrites the file headers and takes only seconds to change. Then you end up with a .mpg file that's the same size and the PS3 will play natively.

I can't natively, not without doing some sort of conversion or, more typically I end up watching those on a laptop

Thanks for the pointer to the WD box - it's kind of the thing I was looking for - I'm surprised that there aren't more other alternatives though.

Are you looking at playing back blu-ray media or just media files ?

If you are after a media player only then there are plenty of choices like WD Live of which some versions also have a hard drive.

If you need Blu-ray playback capability then there are several blu-ray players that can also stream network or USB files. Maybe something like this Samsung player, http://www.samsung.com/us/video/blu-...E5700/ZA-specs

http://www.ebuyer.com/363882-full-hd...-player-pdm08h

Thanks for the info.

That looks like what I'm searching for. Solid state, multi format playback. Do you have any experience of it?

Mate

I have one of these in the bedroom plays everything!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclone-Micr...9389460&sr=8-3

Cheers

dave

One day you'll give it an MKV which it won't play. From experience I can almost guarantee it. It won't be the player's fault though. You'll just have to change the headers. Aside from a few films which I had to learn to use mkvmerge for, these Xenta HD players are fantastic. Remote controls are awful though. But once you get the file playing, just sit back and enjoy.