value for money home media player

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aaronr76

68 posts

Master Geek

#85928 28-Jun-2011 10:59

hi guys I'm pretty new to the world of home theater so, as you can see in the title I'm looking for a good media player that i can hook up to my TV, nothing to flash but nothing that's gonna die on me in the first year,iv looked at some of the ones on trade em the seller seem to talk up Chinese electronics on there. but from past experience and a few other peoples past experience i now that most of them are junk, so if you guys could tell me a few names that would be great.

Dunnersfella

3867 posts

Uber Geek

#486779 28-Jun-2011 11:04

Apple TV 2...

trig42

5033 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#486780 28-Jun-2011 11:10

ATV2 (Jailbroken) with XBMC looks pretty good - check out Google for that.

I have a WDTV Live, and it is great for movies, will do YouTube but not TVNZ on demand or anything like that. It will play off a USB HDD or the network. I have had it nearly 2 years and it hasn't missed a beat. Plays just about everything i have thrown at it (won't do one of the audio formats, maybe HE-AAC?)

aaronr76

68 posts

Master Geek

#486787 28-Jun-2011 11:20

thaks for the fast responce, im not to worried if it cant connect to the internet, i realy just want somthg that will play media off my HDD.

cheers

Dunnersfella

3867 posts

Uber Geek

#486803 28-Jun-2011 11:41

Is your HDD plugged into your router, or would you like to plug the HDD directly into the media player? Because, if it's the latter, then the ATV2 won't work.

aaronr76

68 posts

Master Geek

#486821 28-Jun-2011 12:15

i want to plug it in directly, router cant handle HDD

dolsen

1276 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#486826 28-Jun-2011 12:18

I use a Apacer AL460 Full HD Media Player. I use it to play files off my htpc. It's played everything I've asked it to (including ts files from the htpc with HE-AAC sound). There's a couple of usb ports in the front you can attach usb and I assume portable hard disks to, but, I've only used the network connection to play files.

There's a higher version that also decodes dts sound, this one only supports doby digital (and a lot of other ones). I brought mine for ~$80 I think.

B1GGLZ

1960 posts

Uber Geek

#487088 28-Jun-2011 19:48

I got an A C RYAN PlayonHD2 for my birthday and promptly added a 1tb internal HDD.
It's fantastic and I can thoroughly recommend. Probably a lot more expensive than the cheap junk on Trademe but then if you want quality it costs a lot more and has better support and guarantees.
Seems to play any file type you throw at it including ripped DVD's.

aaronr76

68 posts

Master Geek

#487112 28-Jun-2011 20:26

cheers,
they both sound verry tempting not sure of one yet il tell you what i end up buying in a few days.

Kopkiwi

2417 posts

Uber Geek

#487275 29-Jun-2011 09:42

WDTV Live HUB

aaronr76

68 posts

Master Geek

#487403 29-Jun-2011 13:31

ended up makeing a on the spot dision at cash converters got a Kworld M200 Media Player seems good
has played every thing iv put on it so far. was only $70 bucks but does 1080p, network/wifi capible *2 usb slots hdmi and compite out sd slot flash enabled the os looksgreat and no lagg with big files =) im one happy camper, again thanks much for your input youve all been great help.

Curly

84 posts

Master Geek

#487411 29-Jun-2011 13:56

Hi, where can we Buy WDTV Live HUB and cost's ?

How does it all work on a network ?

ilovemusic

1315 posts

Uber Geek

#487436 29-Jun-2011 14:48

http://dicksmith.co.nz/product/XM1270/wdtv-live-hub-1tb-media-drive

Hookup via LAN or wireless (you need to buy a wireless adaptor).

Some issues over longevity.

A friend went through two of them; first one kept losing it's internal HDD, second one's HDD stopped working after 4 weeks, third one has been fine.

He's extra pissed as he paid $399.99.

hahaha

JimmyH

2695 posts

Uber Geek

#487543 29-Jun-2011 20:08

The Hub is $20 cheaper at Noel Leemings, $349 (you could always ask DSE to price match?)

If the Hub is too costly, you can always go with a WD TV Live for $169. I have both - and I like them both. With the Live instead of the Hub you lose the internal 1TB drive, the remote is worse, and the interface is much, much uglier, but for most practical purposes it's essentially the same Kit otherwise.