What's better than the WD HD media player

moon2 · 21-03-2010 8:25pm #1

I've been looking at getting a nice little DivX/H.264 media box to hook up to my TV. The WD TV HD Media Player looks perfect for what I want except it can only handles files which are smaller than 720x480 in NTSC or 720x576 in PAL. I'd much prefer a device which can handle at least 720p input (or 1080p) as I'd like this to last me a while and I don't want to have to convert files before playing.

Are there any better players out there in the same price range? If there's a device which takes an internal HD, that'd be even better, but the only ones with internal HDs that I've seen don't support H.264 which is a show stopper.

MediaTank · 22-03-2010 11:07am

www.popcornhour.com should fit the bill

moon2 · 22-03-2010 11:31am

The Popcorn Hour A200 is pretty much exactly what I'd be looking for but it is a little more than I was hoping to pay. I might scout around to see if I can get a good deal on one.

Thanks for the tip.

MediaTank · 22-03-2010 11:43am

The A110 is at a lower price point and will do what you want.

the_head · 22-03-2010 11:53am

If i was you i would get the xtreamer http://www.xtreamer.net/. It is alot cheaper than the popcorn hour and has the same file support.

Idleater · 22-03-2010 3:27pm

What about the next model up in the WDTV range?
The price of your original choice is €58 so there is not much at that price point for the specs you are looking for.

moon2 · 22-03-2010 4:56pm

nereid: The original choice was E98. If you can find it for E58, fair play and share the link

The xtreamer does seem to the best option at the ~E100 mark. It supports everything as the input and has the option for an internal HD. Unless there's a compelling reason not to buy it, I think I'm sold

EDIT: Is it possible to copy something from a USB stick to the internal HD with the xtreamer? The manual is a little fuzzy on the topic and the website doesn't really say one way or the other.

EDIT2: Ah, i just had to read the 'Internal File Manager' blurb

It does support it.

Idleater · 22-03-2010 5:21pm

moon2 wrote: »

nereid: The original choice was E98. If you can find it for E58, fair play and share the link

Whoops!! Don't know where I got that from.

anyway, what is wrong with the WD TV linked in the first post:

TV Output Resolution  	480p, 1080p, 720p, 1080i

or is this something to do with how it handles specific files that is not listed on the specs on Komplett?

moon2 · 22-03-2010 5:28pm

The problem is the source file resolution. The originally linked one only supports input files which are DVD res or less. i.e. you can never get true HD out of that device as your input cannot be HD resolution/quality. The xtreamer (and others) mostly centre around supporting H.264 high profile at level 4.1. That basically means they can play source files up to 1080p.

akadesign · 22-03-2010 5:36pm

What about the Boxee Box http://www.boxee.tv/box

I know the software is a little flakey right now but that should be fixed by the time its launched.

MediaTank · 22-03-2010 5:37pm

moon2 wrote: »

The problem is the source file resolution. The originally linked one only supports input files which are DVD res or less. i.e. you can never get true HD out of that device as your input cannot be HD resolution/quality. The xtreamer (and others) mostly centre around supporting H.264 high profile at level 4.1. That basically means they can play source files up to 1080p.

Don't think so. The original one supports 1080p too. The difference between the two models is that the WD Live has an network port and so can stream media from your network whereas the WD can only stream from it's external disk via USB.

moon2 · 22-03-2010 6:11pm

MediaTank wrote: »

Don't think so. The original one supports 1080p too.

Whoops, I just double checked the WD site for the definitive specs. Either i misread them the first time or whatever site I was looking at had misquoted the spec of the device.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=734

H.264 BP@L3 up to 720x480p30 or 720x576p25 resolution.
H.264 MP@L4.1 and HP@4.1 up to 1920x1080p24, 1920x1080i30, or 1280x720p60 resolution.

It does actually support full res input, good catch!

Idleater · 22-03-2010 8:41pm

moon2 wrote: »

Whoops, I just double checked the WD site for the definitive specs. Either i misread them the first time or whatever site I was looking at had misquoted the spec of the device.

It does actually support full res input, good catch!

I was wondering all right, because it seemed to tick all the boxes when I was looking at the specs before.

I'm more of an Audio man, so I apologise if my info wasn't exact. Very tempted by the WD Live for streaming my FLAC library, and I don't think there is much that beats it price wise. From an audiophile point of view I think there is better options out there.

What's better than the WD HD media player

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