Media Player that does not need wifi

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Hi all, it seems these days nearly all media players for playing AVI's etc on your tv are network media drives and that they have no actual internal storage. I remember a couple of years ago quite a few floating about for 500gig/1tb. Now all the media players I can see need a wifi connection and then you store the files on them wirelessly.

Any links to decent media players that are basically just an external hard drive that also plays files when connected to your tv? I am finding them surprisingly hard to come by (but would love to made look stupid and shown how easy they are to find!)

galvo_clare

niallo24 wrote: »

Hi all, it seems these days nearly all media players for playing AVI's etc on your tv are network media drives and that they have no actual internal storage. I remember a couple of years ago quite a few floating about for 500gig/1tb. Now all the media players I can see need a wifi connection and then you store the files on them wirelessly.

Any links to decent media players that are basically just an external hard drive that also plays files when connected to your tv? I am finding them surprisingly hard to come by (but would love to made look stupid and shown how easy they are to find!)

They're there alright. Ebay is your friend for a wide choice of simple media players. I have one in my car and it's fine. Just look carefully at the specs and you should be fine.
If you want a name brand, I've just bought a Western Digital TV Live. Tiny box that takes wired/wireless but also has 2 usb sockets to take an external drive. I've only had it a day but it seems a great bit of kit. Plays movies/music from DLNA server, network share or the USB and also has things like Netflix. Outputs are HDMI up to 1080p, composite video, analogue and digital audio.

richardw001

niallo24 wrote: »

Hi all, it seems these days nearly all media players for playing AVI's etc on your tv are network media drives and that they have no actual internal storage. I remember a couple of years ago quite a few floating about for 500gig/1tb. Now all the media players I can see need a wifi connection and then you store the files on them wirelessly.

Any links to decent media players that are basically just an external hard drive that also plays files when connected to your tv? I am finding them surprisingly hard to come by (but would love to made look stupid and shown how easy they are to find!)

Plenty out there if you want to go the route of media player with external hard drive -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=emprex+media+&x=0&y=0#/ref=sr_nr_p_76_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acyclone+media+player%2Cp_76%3A1-&keywords=cyclone+media+player&ie=UTF8&qid=1326800008


Or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=emprex++media+player&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aemprex++media+player&ajr=0

Or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=asus++media+player&x=0&y=0

If I were you I would buy lowest possible priced one (with no internal disk).
The cyclone ones are fine btw and also the Emprex ones).
And if you have a external disk - plug that in.
The prices of media players with internal disks have shot through the roof at the moment (same as with external disks).
Hopefully it will come down again - however any money spend on disks at the moment is a waste :-)

Incidently most of the wireless ones - have usb ports in the back as well to plug in hard drives.

pabloh999

Wdtv live is what you need.
Plug in your hard drive and it should play any video or audio file you have.
Plus it has optical out - for dts 5.1 sound

Teagwee

richardw001 wrote: »

Plenty out there if you want to go the route of media player with external hard drive -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=emprex+media+&x=0&y=0#/ref=sr_nr_p_76_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acyclone+media+player%2Cp_76%3A1-&keywords=cyclone+media+player&ie=UTF8&qid=1326800008


Or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=emprex++media+player&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aemprex++media+player&ajr=0

Or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=asus++media+player&x=0&y=0

If I were you I would buy lowest possible priced one (with no internal disk).
The cyclone ones are fine btw and also the Emprex ones).
And if you have a external disk - plug that in.
The prices of media players with internal disks have shot through the roof at the moment (same as with external disks).
Hopefully it will come down again - however any money spend on disks at the moment is a waste :-)

Incidently most of the wireless ones - have usb ports in the back as well to plug in hard drives.

I agree with this - using a cheap media player and adding your own memory is a great option. I have this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designer-Habitat-Nano-3-0-Flashdrives/dp/B005ERNITE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328384426&sr=8-1 and though it was cheap as chips, it does what I want and plays all the types of files I use. I've had it for 4 months now and no problems - if it does die, then I'm hardly out much.
I mostly use memory sticks with mine - you can still pick them up reasonably cheaply. I got a 16Gb one from Amazon for £10 last week.