Best media player for me

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FKM

50 posts

Geek

#127163 1-Aug-2013 11:53

I am looking for a media player, here are the things I would like on it

Wifi to stream media files on network drive
Ability to read as many file format as it exist (rmvb,mkv...etc)
1080p supported

In contrast, things like youtube are good to have but not essential for me.

Which media player should I get? I am considering the phillips HD media player 5000. Another alternative will be netgear neotv 350. Any other I should be considering? Anyone own those media player?

Thanks.

Gilco2

1556 posts

Uber Geek

#869864 1-Aug-2013 12:14

I have the Playon HD 3d but youtube doesnt work on it and at this stage Playon dont intend to update it. I also bought a Western Digital TV Live. It is excellent and does all you want. Also has Android App and unofficial Windows Phone 8 App which also works very well.

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

hangon

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

#869869 1-Aug-2013 12:21

wd tv hd live should be one of the better choices for you, noel leeming has it for $149 now

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=966788

mclean

581 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#869870 1-Aug-2013 12:23

The WD TV HD Live is a mature product and seems to be bomb-proof. The YouTube app is a bit slow and clunky, but OK if you use subscriptions, and once its streaming it's great.

FKM

50 posts

Geek

#870030 1-Aug-2013 15:05

I don't think WD HD live support rmvb. Have they changed it? As I say that is very important to me.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2698/~/list-of-compatible-media-file-types-for-all-wd-tv-and-wd-elements-play-products

farcus

1554 posts

Uber Geek

#870093 1-Aug-2013 15:57

I had a Buffalo Linktheater which was great - but not wireless. I replaced it with a Netgear NTV-300sl which I used for a few days then unplugged and put m buffalo unit back in. The Netgear was just too inconsistent. UI slow, Slow to load HD files.

Now I am using a Raspberry Pi with Raspbmc. It's fantastic. No problems streaming 1080 HD content over wireless and plays every file type I have thrown at it.
Initially xbmc on Raspberry Pi was clunky but with all the work they have done on it over the past few months it races along now.

SumnerBoy

2074 posts

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#870098 1-Aug-2013 16:04

Now I am using a Raspberry Pi with Raspbmc. It's fantastic. No problems streaming 1080 HD content over wireless and plays every file type I have thrown at it.
Initially xbmc on Raspberry Pi was clunky but with all the work they have done on it over the past few months it races along now.

+1

If you take the time to setup Raspbmc properly (i.e. on a fast USB3 stick with NFS mounts etc) the whole experience is fantastic.

I am running it on two Pis for both my TVs and it is a delight. Even the wife loves it, it is that slick.

wasabi2k

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#870103 1-Aug-2013 16:14

I was going to say WDTVLive, what the hell is an rmvb? RealMedia? Really?

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farcus

1554 posts

Uber Geek

#870115 1-Aug-2013 16:30

wasabi2k: I was going to say WDTVLive, what the hell is an rmvb? RealMedia? Really?

yeah, I think making real media support a condition is really going to limit your choice and rule out most decent media players.
RMVB is a really horrendous codec - your best choice would be to use something like avidemux and re-encode them to something better.

Raspbmc doesn't support rmvb but I think you can get it working using plexmedia server on your PC and stream it to raspbmc. Plex will transcode the rmvb file on the fly.

kiwirock

685 posts

Ultimate Geek

#870121 1-Aug-2013 16:37

hangon: wd tv hd live should be one of the better choices for you, noel leeming has it for $149 now

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=966788

I've been looking at those too. But I'm not sure if they work with subtitles already built in to the likes of .mpg files? I'm in the market for some of these too this past fortnight.

DamageInc

549 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#870134 1-Aug-2013 16:45

I recently bought the Philips HMP5000 and touch wood plays everything i have thrown at it. Looking at the link below it supports rmvb. The YouTube plays fine over wireless as does the attached HDD wired or wireless.
Currently very happy with it.

http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/cpindex.pl?ctn=HMP5000/12&dct=QAC&faqview=1&refdisplay=D77_FILE_SUPPORT_TABLE_4&refnr=0085360&scy=GB&slg=ENG

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Shindig

1587 posts

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#870137 1-Aug-2013 16:49

The WDTV Live hub is a super bit of kit.
It has played everything I have thrown at it and is still supported by WD. Firmware updates released every now and then.

I recommend one for sure!
There is a 2TB version now... get that one :-)

The little things make the biggest difference.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#870325 1-Aug-2013 21:12

+1 for the Lives, I love both of mine.

There is a WD unit that supports rmvb if you can still find it (I think it was the WD mini). But it's a much older model and, from memory, other than rmvb support it is markedly inferior to the WD Live.

The WD Live is a great unit. The real video codec is obsolete and is a real clunker by modern standards. I wasn't aware material was still coming out in that format? If all you have is a back-catalog of material I would recommend getting video converter software, there are many free packages around, and batch converting them to another format.

Otherwise, insisting on something that will play this format will rule out pretty much any media player on the market.

MurrayM

2456 posts

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#872188 5-Aug-2013 17:22

farcus: Now I am using a Raspberry Pi with Raspbmc. It's fantastic. No problems streaming 1080 HD content over wireless and plays every file type I have thrown at it.
Initially xbmc on Raspberry Pi was clunky but with all the work they have done on it over the past few months it races along now.

+1

I love my little $50 Raspberry Pi! I'm using Raspbmc at the moment but I might experiment with OpenElec. The advantage with the Raspberry Pi is it's really easy to try different software on it and they bring out updates all the time to fix any problems, add new features, etc. So far it's played every file I've thrown at it.

DamageInc

549 posts

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#883796 24-Aug-2013 10:48

Had the Philips HMP5000 for a few weeks now, primo plays everything i throw at it.

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psk20

155 posts

Master Geek

#883800 24-Aug-2013 11:08

Any thoughts on the merits of skipping the WD live and putting that money towards one of the newer Intel atom hardware transcoding capable NAS drives? Obviously there's a price difference (I'm guessing the Synology 214+ will cost upwards of $700 when released) but it isn't just useful for playing media and would make it pretty seamless to play any media on any device, thanks to its transcoding capacities, right?

I've been eyeing NASes up anyway, though.