(Don't know what section to go) - Life after DVP5992, what is next choice?

[mike69]

I've had the Philips DVP 5992 for over a year now. Great investment, and even better with the hacks on the menu's so that I can get a full 32 string length title on the menu.

However, what bothers me is that this player is still limited and cannot handle anything of great video quality of today

- new divx versions 7 and up
- hd (1080 res and up)
- blu ray
- mkv

and others

I have a ton of IMAX movies that it cannot play and I'm forced to stay in the boundaries of getting lower 720p movies instead of the new 1080p/i ones.

Additionally, this dvd player , even though I hooked it to a 1gb fat32 formateed external, cannot handle a lot of directory trees of folders and files, otherwise, they don't show up on the screen to play the files on the TV.


I was looking around and saw an external player that was out before this that I didn't know about or see a thread here that apparently is better than the 5992 and yet it was older, and well, it's like 40 dollars more than what i bought, but can handle HD and has 2 uSBS.

I can't confirm how great or what limitations it has in comparison to the DVP 5992 though.

Does anyone own or have tried this?

Western Digital HD Media player

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993217&type=product&id=1218008588808

Additionally, what have peopel been using that's been affordable (I bought the dvp 5992 for $40 bucks back when it was hot at Cotsco), to play the latest and greatest videos off of their PC or external unit? that can handle playback of high resolutions like 1080 , not just output up to 1080 but the whole 9 yards, particularly with these mkv files that I keep seeing are containers that squeeze vefry high quality movies and videos into small compacts, but I am only able to play them through my computer with windows media classic and cannot play them through a standalone dvd player like the DVP 5992


If something like this has been posted in full, please let me know, otherwise, let me know where it can be moved to to have a lot of discussion for opinions on this. thx

[cal_tony]

I just bought the WD last week and after reading most of the massive thread on this device ( yes, there is a massive thread on this site re: the WD) I still wasn't sure what it would do. The device came with some sample HD quality video. And it played the video very well.

I was under the impression it would play DVDs from the hard disk. It does not. It plays them as individual vobs. I remember posts saying that the device will play ISOs. It doesn't. The remote is about the size of a cell phone and doesn't offer many functions. It will FF and REV, display previous file and next file and thats about it. It will play NTFS disks and it will seek out multiple partitions. So far it has played all the files I've given it without a problem.

My overall impression is that if the PS3 did all the things it could do with a firmware upgrade, there would be no need for the WD device. But that's not going to happen, so right now the WD player will play those HD files that others don't.

I bought the WD because I was ready to get a BluRay drive and I didn't want to have to rely on my PS3 as the player for the files I generated.

Tony

[jman98]

I have a ton of IMAX movies that it cannot play and I'm forced to stay in the boundaries of getting lower 720p movies instead of the new 1080p/i ones.

I find this quote to be quite puzzling as this DVD player shouldn't be able to play 720p movies. Are you sure about that?

Anyway, the Western Digital thread is here
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic358929.html

And cal_tony's post puzzles me as I think I was able to play a DVD ISO off a USB flash drive on it. It's been months since I tested it, but I'm pretty sure it did it. I don't normally deal with ISOs, hence why I only think I did that once. I agree that the remote is not very functional. Note that the player does NOT support HD audio options like Dolby Lossless and DTS-HD. Most MKV files work fine but some may have unusual encoding options that the player won't support. I've never had this problem, but a few have.

[cal_tony]

Jman98 said he thought he was able to play and ISO file of the device. In my reading of the WD thread, I remember others saying the same thing but so far I've tried a few ISOs from a hard disk and the player indicates that it is not a supported file. The PDF manual does not indicate that it would play ISO's. So, I don't know??

If it did play ISOs, how would it play them? As vobs or as a movie.

Tony

[jagabo]

From what I've read the WDTV will play ISO files but it will only play the main movie. So it will only play one episode of a TV series DVD for example.

Regarding other players there is the Popcorn Hour and some Blu-ray players will play some "other" files. People who own the Oppo players seem to like them.

[mike69]

The Popcorn Hour? That's the name of a dvd player? I will look into that.

Yeah, I see a lot of people commented on the WD. That's good to know that it can handle a lot of different files. Did someone hack it to customize the firmware to improve upon it? I will look into that video help thread that you gave me Jman98.

So it has yet to run into any resolution or codec issues with any HD files? I won't bother with Blu Ray for a while since that's not a need, but someone here said that it doesn't support that?

I was hesitant on getting the WD because it's been out for a couple of years now right? I saw that single thread and figured, by now, there should be some 'newer' model or version of that out or something better.

So for now, in terms of affordability and getting multiple files to play and listed in a clean and clear directory (not like some dvd players cutting the string of the title short ), is the WD the best bet?

Does that thing ever go on a good sale? Best Buy has it for $100, just trying to see the prices it used to be, or if there's a black friday discount on those things.

or is there a newer philips that's out that's better, improved res that's been hacked to give more

or any other model?

I'm just looking for a list of options to look into. Any more opinions would be great.


Thanks

[jagabo]

The Popcorn Hour? That's the name of a dvd player? I will look into that.

http://www.popcornhour.com/ People that have them seem to like them.

Yeah, I see a lot of people commented on the WD. That's good to know that it can handle a lot of different files. Did someone hack it to customize the firmware to improve upon it?

Yes, the software (Linux based) has gone open source so there are several mods. Including support for USB wireless networking dongles.

So it has yet to run into any resolution or codec issues with any HD files?

It doesn't support some h.264 settings, like 16 reference frames (Blu-ray doesn't either). Blu-ray has to be decrypted and ripped before it will play the files.

I was hesitant on getting the WD because it's been out for a couple of years now right? I saw that single thread and figured, by now, there should be some 'newer' model or version of that out or something better.

In fact, they showed a new version recently at a trade show. No word on when it will be out. It did include networking as a new feature. If they were showing it a month ago, my guess is it will be available by the christmas shopping season.

So for now, in terms of affordability and getting multiple files to play and listed in a clean and clear directory (not like some dvd players cutting the string of the title short ), is the WD the best bet?

I believe so. The Popcorn Hour is similar, maybe a little better, but costs more.

Does that thing ever go on a good sale? Best Buy has it for $100, just trying to see the prices it used to be, or if there's a black friday discount on those things.

I haven't seen a price below US$99.

or is there a newer philips that's out that's better, improved res that's been hacked to give more

I'm not aware of any.

[dLee]

My WDTV with the latest firmware plays many ISO's but not all.

All of my ISO's will create playable DVD's when burned with ImgBurn.

In an attempt to backup all the films in this year's festival, I ripped them to HDD using various methods - many play, but some don't.

When I have time, I'll go back and study which ones work and what method was used to back them up. Likewise for the ones that don't play.

I have noticed that when playing a full backup ISO (menus, extras), the WDTV takes a while to find the main movie before playing. Most play through to the end, but some hang - my guess is when switching from the first VOB of the main movie to the next one.

The obvious workaround is to rip as MPG or VOB or create Movie Only ISO's.