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Blu-ray player that will play films from memory stick


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Old 07-11-2014, 18:55
Billy_Casper
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Up until my PS3 died, I used to use it's USB slot to watch movies that I had stored on a memory stick. It was pretty reliable in terms of the formats it would read, and only occasionally would I have to convert.

I am now looking for a blu-ray player that will offer the same function and was wondering if anyone could recommend any budget models that will give me this.

And when I say budget, I mean budget. I can't afford more than £50, but even less would be great.

I have no problems buying used / reconditioned. just so long as it will play movies from a memory stick - this is my primary concern.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 07-11-2014, 19:02
dmp
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The one I use is a Panasonic twin tuner recorder, works very well, have a look at this page
http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer...y-and-dvd.html
Dave
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Old 07-11-2014, 19:22
grahamlthompson
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Would be a lot cheaper to simply use a media player.

eg

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/Memory-Car...eid=65bfe4671b
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Old 07-11-2014, 19:59
Billy_Casper
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Thanks you, dmp. Couldn't find any prices on that link, but I'm guessing they're £50 + ??

And Graham, this is very exciting! I nearly asked in my OP if there were any alternatives for watching films from a memory stick, but decided against it.

As I say my primary concern isn't watching blu-rays (I have only two in my collection anyway) so this media player could be a God-send. Than you very much.
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Old 07-11-2014, 20:05
chrisjr
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Thanks you, dmp. Couldn't find any prices on that link, but I'm guessing they're £50 + ??
Actually the cheapest Panasonic Blu-Ray from Richersounds is a whole 5p under 50 quid

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...1/pana-dmpbd81

And it does USB playback.

And Graham, this is very exciting! I nearly asked in my OP if there were any alternatives for watching films from a memory stick, but decided against it.

As I say my primary concern isn't watching blu-rays (I have only two in my collection anyway) so this media player could be a God-send. Than you very much.
But if you are not that interested in playing disks then a media player device is probably a better solution.
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Old 07-11-2014, 20:29
grahamlthompson
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Thanks you, dmp. Couldn't find any prices on that link, but I'm guessing they're £50 + ??

And Graham, this is very exciting! I nearly asked in my OP if there were any alternatives for watching films from a memory stick, but decided against it.

As I say my primary concern isn't watching blu-rays (I have only two in my collection anyway) so this media player could be a God-send. Than you very much.
Not sure why - it's £19.99 (delivered). I don't have this media player but I have very similar (now discontinued) earlier model.
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Old 07-11-2014, 20:40
Deacon1972
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Not sure why - it's £19.99 (delivered). I don't have this media player but I have very similar (now discontinued) earlier model.
They were referring to dmp's link.

I have this media player, adds 5.1 over previous model(s) - only criticism is the remote, its operation is very hit and miss.
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Old 07-11-2014, 21:00
grahamlthompson
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They were referring to dmp's link.

I have this media player, adds 5.1 over previous model(s) - only criticism is the remote, its operation is very hit and miss.
That is pretty similar to the model I have. The remote only works properly over a short range. I use it basically as a portable media player (very handy in hotel rooms etc). A IR repeater would possibly help in a fixed installation. I have a LG 3D Blu-ray player that would do what the OP want's but it's way out of budget. The remote is also similar, it makes the player appear very slow. The android app on my smart phone transforms the response.

If the OP intends to play full quality Blu-ray 1080p files, he will need a large USB stick formatted ntfs. A proper portable usb hard disk will be a much better option. A typical 1080p24 movie in full quality is going to be around 24GB.
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Old 07-11-2014, 22:19
fmradiotuner1
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I bought this one the other day seems OKish

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1147144.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:12488203010|tsid:59158|cid:200217410|lid:94808301050|nw:g|crid:46919613050|rnd:11465547976587483123|dvc:c|adp:1o2|bku:1


Maybe should have got a wifi one though with more smart stuff.
Not sure why link wont go but its a Samsung BD-F5100 £50 at Argos.
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Old 07-11-2014, 23:18
Billy_Casper
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Thanks for all the replies, people.

If I may, I'd like to continue with a few more questions - which in turn should address some of the points posted by others.

I was reading the 1-star reviews (far outweighed by the positive reviews) for the Sumvision Media Player on amazon and quite a few were mentioning the shoddy remote. Just how bad is it, and is the unit operational without it?

Also, since my PS3 died, I've been going through the rigmarole of hooking my PC up to my TV with an RGB cable (effectively turning my TV into a PC monitor). I then play the movies through VCL video player. If the film I'm watching is a DVD rip or even a blu ray rip, the quality is more than good enough (often above dvd quality). The typical size of these files is 800mg - some way smaller than the 24GB previously mentioned.

So, my question is this: Will this media player give me the same quality I'm getting when I hook my TV up to my PC and play the films through VCL?

And finally, back to those reviews. A few of the negative ones mentioned vision-to-sound syncing issues and also some juddering.

As I say, the positive views far outweigh the negative, but I tend to take more note of the negative with this kind of thing.
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Old 07-11-2014, 23:50
crofter
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Thanks for all the replies, people.

If I may, I'd like to continue with a few more questions - which in turn should address some of the points posted by others.

I was reading the 1-star reviews (far outweighed by the positive reviews) for the Sumvision Media Player on amazon and quite a few were mentioning the shoddy remote. Just how bad is it, and is the unit operational without it?

Also, since my PS3 died, I've been going through the rigmarole of hooking my PC up to my TV with an RGB cable (effectively turning my TV into a PC monitor). I then play the movies through VCL video player. If the film I'm watching is a DVD rip or even a blu ray rip, the quality is more than good enough (often above dvd quality). The typical size of these files is 800mg - some way smaller than the 24GB previously mentioned.

So, my question is this: Will this media player give me the same quality I'm getting when I hook my TV up to my PC and play the films through VCL?

And finally, back to those reviews. A few of the negative ones mentioned vision-to-sound syncing issues and also some juddering.

As I say, the positive views far outweigh the negative, but I tend to take more note of the negative with this kind of thing.
Personally I would go for the WDTV Live for 50 quid:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Western-Di...item2343c68a87

picture quality on that is excellent and you can't get better for 50 quid - the only negative is that the remote is a bit basic. If you want to go down the blu-ray route then the latest Samsung budget player has a very nice remote and let's you access all the online content you should need:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-BD-H...dp/B00IZAF1T2/

It probably won't have the same support for every major codec though and certainly can't compete with the WDTV Live if you are throwing lot's of different files at it you may hit a few bum notes.
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Old 07-11-2014, 23:54
meltcity
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A few of the negative ones mentioned vision-to-sound syncing issues and also some juddering.
You will get juddering from any 24p source unless the player outputs 24p.

Almost every Blu-Ray player will output 24p from Blu-Ray discs, but if you play a 24p file from an external USB device (flash drive, hard disk etc) you will get judder. The same is true when using smart TVs' built-in media players - or so I have found.

I recommend the WDTV Live Streaming Media Player. It's just within your budget, and while it has one or two bugs, I think you will find it more reliable in the long run than the much cheaper players out there. It also outputs 24p automatically, and is therefore judder-free.
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Old 08-11-2014, 01:26
Billy_Casper
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Thanks again.

Unfortunately, while I'm not a total technophobe, I'm not computer savvy enough to know what 24p means.

As I say, dvd and blu-ray rips play beautifully on my tv when I hook it up to my PC and play the movies using VCL. There's also no juddering. Is this because I'm playing it through a dedicated movie player?

I could just do with someone explaining in layman's terms, if I would get the same kind of quality when playing the same films through a memory stick plugged into a media player.
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Old 08-11-2014, 09:51
grahamlthompson
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Thanks again.

Unfortunately, while I'm not a total technophobe, I'm not computer savvy enough to know what 24p means.

As I say, dvd and blu-ray rips play beautifully on my tv when I hook it up to my PC and play the movies using VCL. There's also no juddering. Is this because I'm playing it through a dedicated movie player?

I could just do with someone explaining in layman's terms, if I would get the same kind of quality when playing the same films through a memory stick plugged into a media player.

No problems with 24P with my media player (XENTA Mini 1080p) playing back from a number of usb hard drives or a 64GB USB 3.0 memory
stick.

DVD's will be either 25fps (PAL regions - 576i or 576p) or 29.97fps (NTSC regions - 480i or 480p), all recent UK TV's should work at these frame rates.

All the following kit will play back 1080p24 content flawlessy in addition to the Media Player.

Two Humax HDR FOX T2's, HDR-1000S, LG 3d Blu-ray player, Nexus 7 tablet and Samsung S4 smartphone.

Only the LG Blu-ray will pass through DTS Master HD audio to my AV amplifier. The other kit needs ac3 audio.

The issue is down to the TV if it doesn't support 1080p24 the media player has to convert to 1080i which introduces motion artefacts. Given a 1080p24 capability on the display, replay from a media player will be identical to the original as it's streaming the same digital data.
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Old 09-11-2014, 00:05
meltcity
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All the following kit will play back 1080p24 content flawlessy in addition to the Media Player.

Two Humax HDR FOX T2's, HDR-1000S, LG 3d Blu-ray player, Nexus 7 tablet and Samsung S4 smartphone.

Only the LG Blu-ray will pass through DTS Master HD audio to my AV amplifier. The other kit needs ac3 audio.

The issue is down to the TV if it doesn't support 1080p24 the media player has to convert to 1080i which introduces motion artefacts. Given a 1080p24 capability on the display, replay from a media player will be identical to the original as it's streaming the same digital data.
I have a Humax HDR Fox T2. Anything encoded at 1080p24 is output at 1080p50 so some judder is inevitable, which is one of the reasons why I don't use its media player.

The issue is not simply whether the TV is 1080p compatible but whether the software in the media player passes 24 fps to the TV. Most 'free' media players such as are found in Blu-ray players and smart TVs automatically upconvert to 60fps whether you want them to or not.
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Old 09-11-2014, 10:23
grahamlthompson
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I have a Humax HDR Fox T2. Anything encoded at 1080p24 is output at 1080p50 so some judder is inevitable, which is one of the reasons why I don't use its media player.

The issue is not simply whether the TV is 1080p compatible but whether the software in the media player passes 24 fps to the TV. Most 'free' media players such as are found in Blu-ray players and smart TVs automatically upconvert to 60fps whether you want them to or not.
My TV reports it is getting 1080p24. Playing back via AV Amp from USB3 HD.

https://www.adrive.com/public/Qz4Jcb/1080p24.jpg
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Old 09-11-2014, 14:57
Billy_Casper
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Update

In the end I opted for this blu ray player - http://www.tesco.com/direct/panasoni...skuId=409-9369

First thing I did was stick my dongle in, to see if it would play either of the two movies. It plays one (a genuine MP4) but not the other, which says it's an MP4 but when I ran it through mediainfo, turns out it's in Flash.

So, my blu ray won't play Flash. Is this standard behaviour for a blu ray player?
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Old 09-11-2014, 15:01
grahamlthompson
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Update

In the end I opted for this blu ray player - http://www.tesco.com/direct/panasoni...skuId=409-9369

First thing I did was stick my dongle in, to see if it would play either of the two movies. It plays one (a genuine MP4) but not the other, which says it's an MP4 but when I ran it through mediainfo, turns out it's in Flash.

So, my blu ray won't play Flash. Is this standard behaviour for a blu ray player?
There's very little that supports Adobe Flash other than PC browsers. You can't play flash video on most tablets and smart phones.

Try converting it

http://www.freemake.com/how_to/free_flv_converter
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Old 09-11-2014, 15:29
Billy_Casper
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There's very little that supports Adobe Flash other than PC browsers. You can't play flash video on most tablets and smart phones.

Try converting it

http://www.freemake.com/how_to/free_flv_converter
Thanks, Graham.

I've just finished converting it using Any Video Convertor and am about to check if it plays now. The conversion turned a 750mb file into a 2.7 GB
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Old 09-11-2014, 15:38
Billy_Casper
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Phew! The conversion worked.

Last question:

One of the movies on my dongle doesn't allow pause/FF/RW functions. I just presumed this was standard when viewing films from a memory stick, but I was delighted to discover the one I've just converted does support these functions.

Why would that be, please?
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