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  1. Member
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    Hi guys,
    I just bought a big flat screen tv and I'm looking for a Blueray player. I download a lot of torrents, so I would need some player that can play MKV, AVI, DIVX XVID, that supports a wide range of codecs and has a USB slot, so that I don't have to burn dvd s all the time. (beside that MKV's usually don't fit on dvds)
    ...or...is it better to buy a cheap, small screen laptop for $200 with HDMI output instead and operate it with a wireless mouse and keyboard?
    Thanks in advance to all those who want to advice and help
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  2. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    A cheap laptop/htpc with HD playback support is the best solution as you can play everything without reconversion.
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  3. Member [_chef_]'s Avatar
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    Originally Posted by szabo_77 View Post
    Hi guys,
    I just bought a big flat screen tv and I'm looking for a Blueray player. I download a lot of torrents, .....

    JFTB, it's called "Blu-Ray".
    *** Now that you have read me, do some other things. ***
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  4. Member
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    Best bet seems to be what I use, even if it's discontinued: LG BD390.

    The BD590 replaces it, I think, and has internal HDD.

    I use my LG as a network player, which is great because you don't need to worry on copying to a disc or USB stick. In any case, you can use any size mkv files on the LG, unlike the Oppo and others, that allow only up to 4Gb size.
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  5. Banned
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    I'm not sold on using TVs and BluRay/DVD players as "play everything" devices because what happens is you find out that these devices are much pickier about what they will play than dedicated media players (like the Western Digital and others) are. A dedicated media player would be cheaper than the laptop and take up much less space and very likely play everything you have anyway. However, do note that some media players don't support high def audio codecs, so if you download a lot of stuff that uses something like Dolby Lossless, you may have issues unless your receiver can handle it via a bitstream connection from the player.
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    When I bought the LG, my idea was to get a WDTV Live soon after. At that time (2009) the Live had just been released and was hard to find.

    So kept following the forums on the WDTV and see how things were working out. At the same time using the LG for mkv playing.

    As it turned out the LG works great through network or disc or usb playing, with very few glitches.

    I haven't yet found a reason to switch to a dedicated media center, WDTV or any.

    What codec is that: Dolby Lossless? What film or media comes with it?
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    I just checked the LG BD590, but it's around $240. I don't really need the hard drive that this player has, just the capabilities to play 10GB MKV files from an external drive.
    Does anyone know which model can play big MKV's but it's cheaper?
    thank you.
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    I think the LG BD530 can & it's much cheaper...usually around $100.
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  9. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by carlmart
    What codec is that: Dolby Lossless? What film or media comes with it?
    I think jman98 might be referring to dolby true hd. That is the common form on bluray. though dts-ma hd audio might be a little more common nowadays.

    Dolby plus is 640kpbs. I'm not sure what true hd bitrate maxes out at. I could look that up and post it.

    edit - looks like I was wrong about dolby plus - dolby digital maxes out at 640kpbs:

    Audio codecs Dolby Digital up to 5.1 channels (Max 640kbps)
    Dolby Digital Plus up to 7.1 channels (Max 4.736Mbps)
    Dolby Lossless up to 9 channels (Max 18.64Mbps)
    DTS up to 5.1 channels (Max 1.524Mbps)
    DTS HD up to 9 channels (Max 24.5Mbps)
    Linear PCM up to 9 channels (Max 27.648Mbps)

    Thats from the "what is bluray" link on the left of the page up at the top of the screen.

    Edit 2 - I was wrong there actually is a DOLBY LOSSLESS. Though I had not heard about it until now.

    edit 3 - done a little searching on dolby lossless and haven't found anything firm yet. Dolbys website have some lossless thing for dvd audio. How can this be lossless if pcm is a higher bitrate - 27.648 vs 18.64 for dolby lossless? If its 'truely' lossless shouldn't it be exactly like uncompressed pcm? Otherwise isn't it still lossy?

    Or is this compared to flac vs mp3? Where as flac contains the uncompressed audio in a smaller form but its all still there? whereas mp3 is absolutely compressed and no original data is still present?
    Last edited by yoda313; 19th Apr 2011 at 09:09.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  10. I would look at the newer LG Blu-Ray players. All the players will play back:

    AVI
    MP4
    HD-MKV with DD and DTS
    DivX PLUS-HD with 5.1 AAC

    They can play then from a disc or even an NTFS hard drive.
    For the love of God, use hub/core labels on your Recordable Discs!
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    Hi folks,

    I just bought the LG BD630 Blu Ray player since the DivX website lists it as certified for DivX HD also.
    My problem is, it doesn't play my old regular divx files. The .mkv files seem fine, but why can't it play older versions of divx files?

    I used ffmpegX on my mac, so they are divx 4 files in an avi container. tried messing with extensions, but always get the "Video format not supported" error.

    So, 2 questions...

    1. Anybody know how i might convert older divx files to play ok?
    2. Anybody got a Blue Ray player that actually plays divx AND divX HD files without problems?

    Thanks
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  12. My LG plays everything I need but lately it will not play a bunch of movies, the movies work as I always try them on my desktop first. But hwen I click on the folder in the Blu ray menu it just skips to the next title, it will not play it. Any ideas on what this is? and any possible fixes? Thank you guys.
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    I bought a samsung bluray player, with built in wifi. It plays those formats.
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  14. Member
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    Originally Posted by lowellriggsiam View Post
    I bought a samsung bluray player, with built in wifi. It plays those formats.
    Can you tell us which model? And what types of files exactly is it playing properly?

    My LG BD630 is only a few days old, and already it has a temper! Out of nowhere it decided to NOT play the audio on an AVCHD disc that was playing fine only hours earlier. Then I noticed it wouldn't play audio on certain .mp4 files... but get this: If i load up a .wmv file and watch it for a moment, THEN go back to the .mp4 or avchd files they play fine. go figure. Will be returning this for sure, just not sure which one to try next.

    Anybody?
    Thanks
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    Samsung BD-C6500, it has the built in wifi, if expense is an issue you can get one that's "wifi ready" that just has an ethernet. I thought it would be fun to test features it boasted like internet aps and streaming. It found it plays many formats, but won't stream them all. http://www.samsung.com/us/video/blu-ray-dvd/BD-C6500/XAA
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  16. Originally Posted by Lord Stinkfoot View Post
    ... My LG BD630 is only a few days old, and already it has a temper! Out of nowhere it decided to NOT play the audio on an AVCHD disc that was playing fine only hours earlier ...
    Hi Lord Stinkfoot, am I glad you posted that "LG BD630" is not al that good ... I was actually considering getting one just so i could play MKV and every other file.

    G!
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  17. I got a Samsung C5500 a while back, thinking I'd get a cheap thing as my first BR player and upgrade to something better later. I've decided not to bother spending any more though, since it plays everything I throw at it and up-scales beautifully. Even old, old, old divx and xvid files are very enjoyable to watch on a 50" plasma. Streaming works flawlessly (cabled, no wireless) with all DLNA servers I've tried (all the Windows-based ones, I think) and all in all I can't recommend it enough.
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  18. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by torstenzzon View Post
    I'm considering to replace my old region 2 bluray player with a region free LG BD660. However, the seller (bluraymods) say that it is "2D/3D" ..that makes me confused. Why does they list it as "2D/3D"??
    It must be a "3d" bluray player than. Capable of playing 3d bluray discs.

    edit - you must have a 3dtv and a 1.4 hdmi cable to use the 3d function however.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  19. Member
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    Originally Posted by Agrippa View Post
    I got a Samsung C5500 a while back, thinking I'd get a cheap thing as my first BR player and upgrade to something better later. I've decided not to bother spending any more though, since it plays everything I throw at it and up-scales beautifully. Even old, old, old divx and xvid files are very enjoyable to watch on a 50" plasma. Streaming works flawlessly (cabled, no wireless) with all DLNA servers I've tried (all the Windows-based ones, I think) and all in all I can't recommend it enough.
    Looking to get a player for a friend as a birthday gift. Will the Sammy play off a NTFS external hard drive?
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  20. Member
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    The Samsung models only play off FAT32 drives.
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    For £100 I have bought a Sony s380 blu ray player from ARGOS.

    It played mpeg2 and HD AVC coded mkv , mp4, and xvid as well as wmv. It plays them through memory stick and external usb hard disk.
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    Originally Posted by shaema View Post
    For £100 I have bought a Sony s380 blu ray player from ARGOS.

    It played mpeg2 and HD AVC coded mkv , mp4, and xvid as well as wmv. It plays them through memory stick and external usb hard disk.
    Currently the Samsung BD-C5500 with Lord of the Rings disc is $128CAD from FutureShop. That Sony listed above is $170 and plays: Xvid; WMV9; AVCHD; MPEG1; MPEG2; MPEG4. No MKV natively. Do you mean HD AVC = AVCHD? I think the poster wanted one that played MKV directly. I don't think the Sony will play that though. Also, does it play off an external HDD either NTFS or FAT32?
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    I think it plays mkv!! also ntfs!!

    look this!!

    CombatEngineer from United States reported May 27, 2010:
    Read features: Price: Time used: Rating:
    CDR
    CDRW? DVD-R
    DVD-RW?
    DVD-R DL? DVD+R?
    DVD+RW
    DVD+R DL? BD-R
    BD-RE?
    BD-R DL? MP3?
    WMA?
    CVD? $? 21 days 9 of 10
    Comments:
    Got it at Costco for $159. It was the BD-C5500C, the extra C means that it comes with an HDMI cable. It has an RJ45 in the back for internet connection. Had to buy a USB WIFI for it to be able to connect without cables(it has 2 USB ports). BestBuy had plenty of it for $80. Setup of the wifi was easy and found my network, then it acquired my Synology NAS(with 2Tb HD) and the video, music and photo directories were available on screen. Video shows as subdirectories, Music shows as directories, artists, year, etc. Photo I am still working on, not sure if it is a NAS issue or the player. It shows by directory, year, year/month, etc., but its not showing all my pictures. DVD and BD play are fine. BD load time is not very long(acceptable), at least not as long as I have read other BD players are. I have setup my daughters cartoons as XVID/DIVX files and subdirectories in the NAS/Video and she is able to access and watch them easily using the remote. Same with music and pictures. One of the buttons on the remote allows you to select the source of the media, the BD/DVD media/USB device/NAS name, and from there the media can be played. It also has internet apps, the ones I use are the weather(multiple cities worldwide) and google map. It also has Netflix(addicted to it now), Pandora, and ROVI:its basically a TV listing with a lot of detail for each channel/show(set it up by zipcode and local provider). There is also twitter, youtube, usatoday,picasa,blockbuster,vudu and couple of games.
    following is from the manual: all the formats can play up to 1920x1080
    Video
    *.avivid/mp4v3/H264(BP/MP/HP)- Audio:AC3/DTS/WMA/PCM
    *.mkv:vc-1ap(wmv1)/divx5.1-6.0/xvid/H264(BP/MP/HP)- Audio:MP3/AC3/DTS
    *.wmv:vc-1ap/vc-1sm- Audio:WMA
    *.mp4:mp4/h264(bp/mp/hp)- Audio:AAC
    *.mpg or *.mpeg:mpeg1/mpeg2/h264(bp/mp/hp)- Audio:mp1,2/ac3/dts
    Audio
    *.mp3:mp3
    *.wma:wma/compliant with wma ver10 bit rate between 5kbps to 384kbps

    Region code A1
    bd player buttons are touch sensitive, no moving parts.
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    fjmr, it only plays off a fat32 according to the manual. I admit I haven't used a USB drive on it. I have streamed a few things off my network drive and it is NTFS.
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    Lowell, and Agrippa...

    Your Samsungs, do they both play .mkv files? (divx HD)
    And also, is there a coax audio out? Or is there just optical /L-R audio out?

    Newest problem for me is that the few Blue Rays i've found at Frys actually list the Divx +HD on the player, BUT they only have optical audio outputs! My Xbox uses my optical spot on my surround system, so i use the Coax audio for surround on the dvd player. It sucks that some newer players don't have coax audio output, why are they so damn cheap about not including a variety of audio outputs?
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  26. Member
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    Originally Posted by oldfart13 View Post
    Originally Posted by shaema View Post
    For £100 I have bought a Sony s380 blu ray player from ARGOS.

    It played mpeg2 and HD AVC coded mkv , mp4, and xvid as well as wmv. It plays them through memory stick and external usb hard disk.
    Currently the Samsung BD-C5500 with Lord of the Rings disc is $128CAD from FutureShop. That Sony listed above is $170 and plays: Xvid; WMV9; AVCHD; MPEG1; MPEG2; MPEG4. No MKV natively. Do you mean HD AVC = AVCHD? I think the poster wanted one that played MKV directly. I don't think the Sony will play that though. Also, does it play off an external HDD either NTFS or FAT32?
    Yes this sony s380 plays HD mkv files, but they have to be encoded using H264/AAC. It can not play mkv files encoded for e.g by flash video or VP6. And yes, it does play through usb stick and NTFS external disk.
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    Originally Posted by Lord Stinkfoot View Post
    Lowell, and Agrippa...

    Your Samsungs, do they both play .mkv files? (divx HD)
    And also, is there a coax audio out? Or is there just optical /L-R audio out?

    Newest problem for me is that the few Blue Rays i've found at Frys actually list the Divx +HD on the player, BUT they only have optical audio outputs! My Xbox uses my optical spot on my surround system, so i use the Coax audio for surround on the dvd player. It sucks that some newer players don't have coax audio output, why are they so damn cheap about not including a variety of audio outputs?
    Optical, HDMI, and RCA. It plays MKV off a flash drive, for instance but it would stream it when I tried. If you look at one of my postings above I linked to the one I bought my father. It has pictures of the rear ports.
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    Grrrrrr.... this is getting annoying.

    I bought a Samsung D5300, which seems identical to the 5500 but without wireless built in. it DOES play my old Divx 5 & 6 files, so i wouldn't need to re--burn those movies.... cool!

    BUT.... when i try to play my HD .mkv slideshow movie (1280x720) from the usb drive... it totally chokes! The video stutters, and the sound actually drops out! I then tried it with another test file, burned from Toast 9 Divx HD profile, same thing. This unit claims to play Divx HD, but i don't see how. Unbearable to watch!

    I know the file is good, because the LG BD630 DOES play the file flawlessly, without stuttering or dropping audio. What's the deal Samsung? I even tried different USB devices, and yes they are 2.0. I haven't tried burning it to disc, as i did intend to use usb playback for quick slidehows & movies & stuff... think i'll be taking this one back unfortunately, very bummed.
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  29. has anyone confirmed a blu ray player that will both play divx AND play then from "blu ray media" I have read that most players will play divx from a cd or dvd media but not an actualy "blu ray" media as in I burn a bunch of divx files to a BD-R
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  30. Member
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    Sorry, i don't burn to Blu-Ray discs, so no help here.
    But i did eventually choose the LG BD630 as it plays *some* .mkv files, and regular BR discs, as well as my divx avi files from a usb drive. Sometimes i need to use the "AVI Four CC CHanger" program to change the avi header to work though. Curious if you found an answer to your quest yet though.

    Cheers,
    Dan
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