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tdgeek

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#58955 23-Mar-2010 23:34
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Small madia player, plays all manner of video formats, music, photos, good menu, HDMI, 2 x USB to play of any USB device, eg pendrive, external HDD. And now wireless.

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davidcole
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  #310521 24-Mar-2010 08:15
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Probably not mentioned much, as they just tend to work, and also once you've got one there's not much you can do with them apart form play files off the disk.

The WDTV Live IMO are better as they are open to network streaming and/or internet streaming.  But also you'll find a bunch of people more interested in the eGreat or Popcorn hour machines as the firmware for those is actively developed...the WD TV not so much.  As in the Popcorn hour products run applications (torrenting, usenet, youtube, gmail checker, imdb search etc). the WD TV doesn't seem to .

But the advantage of the WDTV is you can get it here in a retail store, which means you can play with it generally before purchase.  Not an option with the Popcorn products.




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System
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  #310532 24-Mar-2010 08:34
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WDTV is great, so is alot of the other media box products out there, there are tons of different options and as davidcole brought up generally alot of people use this forum for problems so a product that works well will be less likely to appear however the WDTV is becoming more popular as it has more retail presence, there is still alot of different products similar and shouldn't be the only one you should look at.

I have a Popcorn Hour which is a similar thing and the reason why i chose it is because it is pretty much a open-source platform and has alot more features than the WDTV




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old3eyes
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  #310534 24-Mar-2010 08:37
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I have a PCH A100 but when it dies it will be replaced with the WDTV most likely.  The new C200 PCH is way too expensive by the time it arrives down here..




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Old3eyes




davidcole
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  #310549 24-Mar-2010 08:47
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Off topic....
What about the A200?  Has the same chipset as the C200 but cheaper and doesn't take the bluray drive.

The advantage of the 200 series is they can decode the audio from our Freeview|HD - and Syabas - the makers have expressed interest in getting it to work with GBPVR in the same way that the A100-A110 series does.




Previously known as psycik

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  #310553 24-Mar-2010 08:55
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Yeah i saw the A200 and it looks great, it is the newer version of the A100 where the C200 is a completely different model




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davidcole
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  #310558 24-Mar-2010 08:59
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It's more a cut down version of the C200 in the same form factor as the A100.  That is it looks like a A100 (ish) but acts like a C200.




Previously known as psycik

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mattk
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  #310586 24-Mar-2010 09:41
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WDTV Live is AWESOME. Definately recommended, playtech has them for ~$250, the EGreat is ~$200 and has a few more features but the WDTV Live has HD menus and has a much nicer interface whereas the Egreat is kinda low res and clunky (when i was looking into them anyway!).

Definately worth forking out the extra $50 for the Live and getting network.

I've replace my Mediacenter with the Live because it was so damn cheap and I was sick of having to listen to fans. If you're planning on watching 1080p stuff don't count on the wireless - it won't hack it, you'll need a wired network for that or use a USB drive.

 
 
 

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tdgeek

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  #310593 24-Mar-2010 09:48
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It is mattk. I play downloaded HD content and its just like watching HD on Mysky, perfect. I have aTivo in bedroom, but the hassle, slowness of transferring avi to Tivo is just not worth it, so I may get a WDTV live for that, and keep my living WDTV( HD but not live) in living room. So much for so little cost.

I wont bother streamimg video just tfr. The copy and delete is a much needed option too.

System
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  #310606 24-Mar-2010 10:04
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The only downside i have come across with the WDTV is the media types supported arn't as large as some of the other similar products, although this won't cause problems for most people as all the common types are supported, those that use a wide variety of media types may come across problems with a WDTV box




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davidcole
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  #310607 24-Mar-2010 10:06
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Ahh see I have the popcorn in the bedroom hooked to the pvr in the lounge.  They both use the same interface, and the popcorn can control the tuners (ie start tuner please mr server and I'll pick up the video file).

No tivo or mysky required here, and all content is available in lounge, bedroom, or anywhere else I plonk me self down with laptop.  Technically 3 people (or more) could be watching 3 different things, and there are enought tuners they could actually have a tuner each if wanted. </EndofMyPVRisbiggerthanyours> :P

This is the main advantage of a network connected device.  Storage can be centralised.




Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
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mattk
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  #310612 24-Mar-2010 10:14
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This is the main advantage of a network connected device.  Storage can be centralised.


Bingo =)

2x TV's 2xPC's and a laptop have instant access to all. Centralised storage FTW.

allstarnz
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  #310613 24-Mar-2010 10:14
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does it play x264 videos?

mattk
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  #310614 24-Mar-2010 10:16
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allstarnz: does it play x264 videos?

mattk
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  #310615 24-Mar-2010 10:16
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allstarnz: does it play x264 videos?


Probably a shorter list of what doesn't play H.264 now days, The WDTV and Egreat definately do. I'm an MKV snob ever since I bought a 1080p TV.

tdgeek

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  #310619 24-Mar-2010 10:27
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Yes WDTV plays H.264, I am also a mkv snob with 2 great full HD TV's

Yes centralised storage is great admittedly, but I have one WD external drive connected to WDTV and one connected to PC, they use the same power supply so easly to pop content on it, and for casual use I pop in a 16Gb pendrive when needed.

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