Recommend me a media player
hardware
Brisbane, Queensland
10353 posts
Hi folks,
Looking for a new media player for my TV. I don't want a HTPC as I don't want the expense to build or the power consumption.
Requirements:
Small
Remote Control
Wifi
Inbuilt HDD capability
HDMI out
Reads MKVs etc
Low power
About $100 sans HDD
So my instant reaction was to get a WD live, but it seems like out of the two options, one doesn't have built in hdd capabilities and the other doesn't have Wifi, and the people who do try and add a wifi adapter have issues due to its extremely picky set of compatible adapters.
Is there a product that suits my needs? Or am I going to have to compromise?
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thermite
Brisbane, Queensland
10256 posts
Is the wifi just to manage the content on the drive, or do you plan to stream videos from another machine to it?
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Raven
Melbourne, Victoria
7388 posts
That's a big wishlist for $100.
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TiT
Brisbane, Queensland
5120 posts
tspec
Melbourne, Victoria
3639 posts
Only thing I can think of that would come close to your listed requirements would be the AC Ryan Essential Player, doesn't have wifi built in but there is an AC Ryan Wifi dongle. So you've be looking at $120 without the drive. I did have one of the older AC Ryan players, it wasn't bad, it could play most things I threw at it but I ended up selling it because I'm picky and wanted to be able to easily pull down meta data, it was possible on the AC Ryan I had but the method of doing it was shit. last edited by tspec at 16:08:26 20/Sep/12 |
orbitor
Brisbane, Queensland
8901 posts
get the WDTV Live with wifi and pop a usb hard drive on it.
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Eorl
Brisbane, Queensland
7533 posts
Just go to JB or Dick Smith and get the $119 WDTV which has wireless. Just bought one today.
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mission
Brisbane, Queensland
8618 posts
Yeah WD TV Live for the win.
Office works has/had the wireless version for $88.
I now have two of them (bedroom and lounge) and both are networked wirelessly to the XP desktop - works like a champ.
They have two USB ports so if you cbf with the network thing, hard drives and memory sticks work fine.
Edit: just looked on OW website and they are now listed for $119...
last edited by mission at 16:26:50 20/Sep/12
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andrewus
Brisbane, Queensland
2818 posts
there is a good thread atm about apple tvs hahaha
although seriously, i use them and they rock
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hardware
Brisbane, Queensland
10354 posts
no i don't suspect i'll be streaming, i've only got a wifi-g router anyway atm.
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Spook
Brisbane, Queensland
34328 posts
purchase samsung led television with smart
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Opec
Brisbane, Queensland
7659 posts
Yeah WD TV Live for the win.
Office works has/had the wireless version for $88.
I now have two of them (bedroom and lounge) and both are networked wirelessly to the XP desktop - works like a champ.
They have two USB ports so if you cbf with the network thing, hard drives and memory sticks work fine.
Edit: just looked on OW website and they are now listed for $119...last edited by mission at 16:26:50 20/Sep/12 +Eleventy billion.
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thermite
Brisbane, Queensland
10257 posts
Surely the WDTV with a wifi adapter that is known to work would be the go. Yeah it sucks you need a dongle and there isn't a model with inbuilt wifi... wtf!
I am currently stuck on wifi but my next setup will be ethernet for sure.
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Opec
Brisbane, Queensland
7660 posts
Some Fat Bastard
Brisbane, Queensland
1206 posts
I bought the WDTV Live after Spook and others commented in the last thread and I couldn't be happier.
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3403 posts
just looked on OW website and they are now listed for $119...
bugger! meant to buy it after last thread but forgot. now do i wait and see if they come back on special and save the $30?
from all reports I'd say this is definately your answer hardware
wait, you said no i don't suspect i'll be streaming, i've only got a wifi-g router anyway atm.
but you spec'd wifi on the OP, so why you worried about wifi? I'm confused.
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Eorl
Brisbane, Queensland
7534 posts
Now after testing a 1080p file on the WDTV Live, I can not recommend it enough. I can actually pause and rewind/fast forward instead of waiting on the PlayStation 3 to catch up, meaning I can actually enjoy my time spent in front of the TV.
+gajillion to WDTV Live.
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no you hang up
Brisbane, Queensland
2266 posts
purchase samsung led television with smart +1 Thats what i did. Got allshare on my galaxy 2 as well. Control shows via mobile on t.v,p.c, phone or all three at once.
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hardware
Brisbane, Queensland
10355 posts
Ok, wd live it is. Will buy and report back. Thanks for your help gents, this is what makes QGL awesome!
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Spook
Brisbane, Queensland
34330 posts
1 Thats what i did. Got allshare on my galaxy 2 as well. Control shows via mobile on t.v,p.c, phone or all three at once.
yer that shit is wicked.
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mission
Brisbane, Queensland
8619 posts
Call me crazy, but why would you need to control your TV with your phone, doesn’t it have a remote?
The WD TVLive can also be operated via your phone but I can’t see any logical reason to do this when the remote works perfectly fine :/
I must be missing something?
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3406 posts
Call me crazy, but why would you need to control your TV with your phone, doesn’t it have a remote? The WD TVLive can also be operated via your phone but I can’t see any logical reason to do this when the remote works perfectly fine :/ I must be missing something?
wtf....you're crazy man!! Don't you realise how cool it is to use your phone for everything. I'm micro-waving popcorn with mine right now.
get with the times mission, remotes, phhh might as well be using Windows 95
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hardware
Brisbane, Queensland
10357 posts
Okay, WDTV Live bought and setup.
The hardest thing of the setup was taking the remote batteries out of their plastic.
My initial dismissal of the WDTV Live was that $119 is a bit on the expensive side for just a wifi adapter, a remote and a bunch of hdmi/usb etc ports.
But now i see it's more than that. The software is so often the thing that makes or breaks a product, and the seamless, smooth and capable OS of the WDTV Live is what justifies its price.
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Some Fat Bastard
Brisbane, Queensland
1208 posts
^ those were my exact sentiments.
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Opec
Brisbane, Queensland
7661 posts
Okay, WDTV Live bought and setup.
The hardest thing of the setup was taking the remote batteries out of their plastic.
My initial dismissal of the WDTV Live was that $119 is a bit on the expensive side for just a wifi adapter, a remote and a bunch of hdmi/usb etc ports.
But now i see it's more than that. The software is so often the thing that makes or breaks a product, and the seamless, smooth and capable OS of the WDTV Live is what justifies its price. WD really should pay Ausgamers the loyalty the way this is going :) Well done everybody!
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3408 posts
damn...even more pissed now that I missed the $88 deal....*sigh
oh well $119 here i come
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Spook
Brisbane, Queensland
34335 posts
Call me crazy, but why would you need to control your TV with your phone, doesn’t it have a remote?
yes, this additional convenience really is crazy.
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Eorl
Brisbane, Queensland
7538 posts
damn...even more pissed now that I missed the $88 deal....*sigh
oh well $119 here i come It is worth it crazy, really should have gotten this instead of the PS3 at the start of the year, though I guess with the few games I have bought it has been somewhat worthwhile. Okay, WDTV Live bought and setup.
The hardest thing of the setup was taking the remote batteries out of their plastic.
My initial dismissal of the WDTV Live was that $119 is a bit on the expensive side for just a wifi adapter, a remote and a bunch of hdmi/usb etc ports.
But now i see it's more than that. The software is so often the thing that makes or breaks a product, and the seamless, smooth and capable OS of the WDTV Live is what justifies its price. Even better is the custom firmware, really shows its potential. Also being able to play stuff even while my computer is turned off is nice.
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skythra
Brisbane, Queensland
6111 posts
Inbuilt HDD capability Except for this i'd suggest http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/agora-smart-tv-hdmi-dongle/ which works well on like many TVs i suppose i could say, you'd just need some NAS and use the play store to access the files. Was watching 720p stuff just fine on one the other night. But These things are hit and miss; my LG TV doesn't work, but it works on my friends TV and my Parents TV and my brothers TV and those are the 3 LG's i have nearby :P. It's something to do with overscan and my TV not picking up the hdmi signal i suppose. :( Annoyingly, if i plug it into another tv turn it on, leave it powered (it's power source is USB so normally i get power from the USB port on the TV's but instead i plugged it into a laptop while moving it between the working TV and mine) then mine can pick it up. Stupid thing. I guess i'm saying go for the WDTV then :P
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3437 posts
Yeah me! I finally remembered when at officeworks and got one!
Set up was seamless, still playing but a couple of questions.
Why is the temp showing in fahrenheit and how do I change this?
I've connected to my media collection which is really just a Proliant with 5xHDD and I have moies/tv on one but it took a few clicks to get there through folders. Can I make it go straight to M Drive to make it easier?
Great product btw
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Eorl
Brisbane, Queensland
7589 posts
I just use Serviio as a media player for my desktop, an extra step but I can setup direct folder access. I haven't yet fiddled with custom firmware or even tried the sharing folder access.
For custom firmware, what are the best ones out there?
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mission
Brisbane, Queensland
8630 posts
Why is the temp showing in fahrenheit and how do I change this?
I've connected to my media collection which is really just a Proliant with 5xHDD and I have moies/tv on one but it took a few clicks to get there through folders. Can I make it go straight to M Drive to make it easier?
You change the temeperature setting in the Weather 'service'. (off memory here) - go to services, all, weather (whatever it's called) then set the city and in options change to celcius. Yeah pretty vague instructions, but it is pretty straight forward. :)
Not sure what you set-up really means.... I just have the internal harddrive shared on my xp desktop, so it sees that as the base, then navigate into folders through there.
ie:
D:
then has the folders:
TV
Movies
Photos
In Progress
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3439 posts
Thanks on the weather. That will be easy to work through
Mines on wifi on our bedroom TV connected to the network. So I have my Proliant shared and set up using win7 as "media-PC"
Then I have the 5 x HDD with different allocations for movies/tv, pictures, video, etc, Movies/tv is M drive
So to connect with WD I have set up "media-PC" as my source, that bit is fine, but then I have to navigate a bit through to M. Just trying to shortcut it, mainly for my wife's convenience.
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mission
Brisbane, Queensland
8631 posts
Ok ok, not sure on that.
I use Network Share and that looks at a secondary harddisk in the XP desktop – I’ve never used the Media Share option.
BTW what's she doing out of the kitchen?
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crazymorton
Brisbane, Queensland
3440 posts
BTW what's she doing out of the kitchen?
The chain is long enough to allow for services required in the bedroom.
Looking like it defaults back so I don't have to navigate each time.
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