Hello there,

I have been browsing the forum with interest and am currently on the market for a media player with a hard drive to attach to a TV. I would want it to have an ethernet connection (wired or wireless) and most importantly, be able to copy media from a networked computer onto the media player's hard drive itself without having to detact it each time from the TV and bring it over to a computer for copying. A decent remote control would be a bonus.

Can anyone recommend a device? I have seen some hard drive enclosures from Maplin but they have no ethernet, and the Freecom Media Player looks interesting, but with mixed reviews so still pondering over that.

Thank you.
Last edited by Fuzzy_Logic : 28-08-2008 at 10:05

There are generic systems based on A.L.Tech technology, some of which conform to your needs, with both 2.5 and 3.5 inch hard drives (or empty so you can put your own HD in).

Click Here!

Sweex and Freecom both have products based on this technology and freely available in the UK, and there are others too.

I use a Sweex MM130 [click] and it's a really useful piece of kit for the living room - it is actually an MG-35 and as such is not HiDef - but there are others.

MG-***'s have a wondeful on-line community, too, with individuals and groups developing useful little tools and custom graphics for them.

Many thanks for replying. I like the Sweex MM130 but have some questions:
[LIST][*]I read a review about it being difficult to use as an FTP server to copy stuff over the LAN - any thoughts. Can I simply use any FTP client?[*]Can I throw in a 1TB HDD IDE/SATA?[*]Does it support many codecs - I also read about users finding many films not working? (prehaps a firmware update could fix that)[*] I cannot find any online shop which stocks it - do you know of any or have URLs etc?[/LIST]
Thanks!

With specific regard to the MM130.

An FTP client isn't required. NDAS software on your PC maps it as a local hard drive over your LAN. If you have more than one PC only one can read/write - others can only read.

FTP is available from via the online community on Yahoo! Groups, but I cannot provide a link as it is age restricted.

Not sure about 1TB, mine supports up to 750GB IDE only. But the 130MM/MG35 is quite old now, and you might want to consider one of the newer models.

You might need something like Studio 12, or a free alternative, to convert formats, but this would be the same with almost any media center. It is important to note that not all ".AVI"'s are the same. AVI is simply a wrapping format that can go around many other formats. So far everything I've done works fine.

If you live in the South West; Trago Mills sell Sweex stuff in store. It may be that because the MM130 is so old they've moved on to the MG350 or better as a basis for new media centers.

Again, the Yahoo! group community may be better able to source.

If I was buying now, I'd go for this - the Freecom 450 [click]which supports SATA, WLAN and has HDMI connections for hi-def.

By chance just picked up Micro Mart and found this - the Mvix 780 [click].

There is also the Tvix6500. Same source. In fact they have quite a few media centers.

Also forgot to mention that these players can access any shared MM files on your computers - so no need for a local HDD, you can stream directly from PC in bedroom or elsewhere.

What are you connecting it to?

If it's going into an HD ready/Full HD panel, I'd be tempted to wait.

Most of the above will only play video to SD level. The Mvix looks like it can handle some HD DivX and WMV files but virtually no-one uses these.

I think some of the Tvix models handle x264/h264 HD files, but they're still a bit glitchy (last time I read up on them anyway).

I'd be tempted to wait a while and see if one appears with proper HD file handling so that you're future-proofing yourself as best you can.

Of course, if you don't care about HD stuff, then it doesn't matter but if you do, it may well prove a worthwhile wait ....

I contemplated on this one for some time. There are several options out there, and each has it's own limitations, but the one I settled for was the Apple TV. Yes it does have limitations on file types but for me it was acceptable because it did everything else I wanted and does it well. It works via ethernet or wireless by file transfer or streaming, has HDMI and it's own remote.

Having said that I am now considering adding/replacing it with a Mac Mini which could overcome the file type limitation and add browser capability to the set up too.