Adivce on purchasing a stand alone media player online

[Cornholio77]

Hello people. If i have the wrong forum, sorry and please move to appropriate area. My father is a bored retired old guy so he has a lot of time to watch movies lol. Now myself, I have tons of blu ray movies, dvd movies etc i have amassed over the years. Now over the last year though i have backed up a ton of my movies to external hard drives to play either on my ps3 or xbox. For my father though i find it impractical to tell him to buy an xbox or ps3 so i can share these movies with him. So i have told him i will look into getting him a media player. He isn't too stingy and told me to look for something in the $50 to $100 range.

So does anyone have some advice on a decent player?? ** NOTE ** I have ripped and converted my movies into many different formats depending on what sound, video quality i wanted. So i am looking for something that will play pretty well any format of audio and video but mainly as long as it will play a lot of avi movies. I also am hoping not to find a crappy one that will have skipping/sync issues. I had bought him one from walmart 2 weeks ago and returned it fast since the avi movies i put on a usb stick for him were skipping a lot and the sound was off (cheap crap from wal mart... lol)

Also ** NOTE** If the players you post are from outside canada for purchase, i am hoping for a site etc that has some sort of free or cheap shipping to Canada !! Thanks

So any advice and links to some specific decent quality players i can buy online (ebay, newegg, wherever you can find them or simply the names of good players) i would appreciate !!

[jagabo]

Since you have backups you could just loan him your DVDs.

The WDTV Live plays almost everything. Divx, Xvid, MPEG1, MPEG2, h.264, mp2, mp3, AC3, DTS in AVI, MOV, MP4, MKV. It does have a little trouble with some MP4 files.

[hech54]

hoping not to find a crappy one that will have skipping/sync issues.

99% of "sync issues" are self inflicted....meaning the encoder used was garbage or the (DVD - Blu Ray) decryption was done incorrectly.

[yoda313]

Here's another vote for wdtv - I have the first gen model and it works just fine.

You can buy used if you want.

Also if you don't need internet connectivity you can probably get the early wdtv models even cheaper since people will be trying to unload those after getting the newer LIVE models that do have internet capabilities.

[budwzr]

Take a look at the Seagate Theatre Plus. I can't remember why I didn't consider the WDTV, I think it's because it has no component out, and I use an automatic component switcher box. The WDTV should be fine for you though.

I would be concerned that the files don't play well too.

[jagabo]

The WDTV Live has composite, s-video, component, and HDMI out. I've seen refurbs at buy.com for ~US$50.

[budwzr]

The WDTV Live has composite, s-video, component, and HDMI out. I've seen refurbs at buy.com for ~US$50.

Ah-ha! I looked at the wrong model.

Isn't that component connection coming from an audio-type mini-jack? The Seagate has full RCA connections, so you can use a standard component cable.

I don't know, that mini-plug connection just seems too fragile, and subject to a bad connection. It's as if they HAD to supply component due to customer demand, but the case wasn't big enough, so they shoe-horned it in.

To me, mini-plugs are for audio, not video.

[Cornholio77]

99% of "sync issues" are self inflicted....meaning the encoder used was garbage or the (DVD - Blu Ray) decryption was done incorrectly.

I can agree and disagree on this point. See, i had 5 ripped movies that my father was interested in that played absolutely perfect on my xbox via external hard drive, streaming or usb. My dad does not have a dvd player so i figured, why not just get him a media player instead of a dvd player so i can still keep all my dvd's in perfect condition. My dad is a bit of a drinker and i do not trust him him for a second to be popping my precious dvd's in and out of a dvd player hahaha. I hope you get my point lol. So back to my story.

I went to walmart and bought a $60 media player (damn i wish i could remember the name. I will find it) I popped 4 or 5 of my movies onto a usb stick and took them to his player. Every movie i brought over either had audio sync issues BAD, or the video would pop and skip for seconds at a time. In this instance i am very certain it was the media player since these rips and conversions all worked great for me. And thanks for the advice so far guys. I will start looking online at the end of the week for my old man

[Smells_Like_Feet]

I can recommend the Brite-view Cinema Tube BV-5005. Read about it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Brite-View-BV-5005HD-CinemaTube-Multimedia-Downloader/dp/B002CNO...6358481&sr=8-3

One of the features that I like most about this player is that it will playback DVD folders or ISO complete with menu navigation. I also think that it can play back the main feature within a Blu Ray folder, but my network can't sustain the required transfer speed so I have not tested this functionality. It also looks like this player may have been replaced with a newer version.

It was rather tricky getting the player to "talk" with my Windows 7 machine, but after a little googling, it has been up and running with no problems. Check out the other Brite View models that may be available.

- Smells_Like_Feet

[Cornholio77]

Thanks feet !! I am looking into all the players you guys have suggested. Any additional advice or names of players you guys have had success with, feel free to post !!

[jagabo]

Isn't that component connection coming from an audio-type mini-jack?

Yes, it comes with a short pigtail cable to convert to standard female RCA connectors.

[jagabo]

I went to walmart and bought a $60 media player (damn i wish i could remember the name. I will find it) I popped 4 or 5 of my movies onto a usb stick and took them to his player. Every movie i brought over either had audio sync issues BAD, or the video would pop and skip for seconds at a time.

Did your USB stick have enough bandwidth for the videos you were playing?

[Cornholio77]

hmm i never thought of that. But i used that same USB stick on my xbox 360 for movies and never once had a proble,. I wonder if i would have tried my 1tb hard drive on the media player, if it would have made a difference?

Is there a way to test a certain stick? I am tempted to go back, buy the cheap wal mart media player again and test 5 or 6 of my different usb thumbsticks on it and then test my hard drive (its a very expensive one)

I am thinking i may see some different results from each of them?

[lingyi]

Recommend not bothering with Walmart and get the WDTV Live Plus from Amazon. It's going for between $80 - $90 right now.

I got one last year and never looked back. Any problems that might pop up are quickly solved by firmware updates, either from WD or third party, making it one of the most stable media players out there.

I agree with Jagabo about the flashdrive. Flashdrive speeds vary greatly, with cheaper = slower.

[The Mariner]

The WDTV is a great unit but it does have issues with .avi files written using QPel &/or GMC optione enabled. Transcode those files into a .mkv with h.264 & you are away.

[jagabo]

hmm i never thought of that. But i used that same USB stick on my xbox 360 for movies and never once had a proble,. I wonder if i would have tried my 1tb hard drive on the media player, if it would have made a difference?

If it worked ok on the xbox 360 (with the same or similar files) that thumb drive was probably sufficient. You could run a drive benchmark to verify the read speed is significantly above the bitrate of the videos you plan to play.

I haven't seen any problems with the WDTV Live and Divx/Xvid QPel. It can play Divx's 1 warp point GMC but does NOT play Xvid's 3 warp point GMC.

[Cornholio77]

This look like the right one? Its got a nice slashed price on it too, 90 bucks !!!!!!

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B003MVZ60I/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

[jagabo]

The WDTV Live Plus is the newer version. About the only addition over the WDTV Live is the ability to stream Netflix.