Blu-ray player Or MKV media player, please suggest!

[Xnici]

I have used my DVD/Divx ultra player to watch my 480P video files for years. I enjoyed to convert my video files to Divx then played them in my DVD/Divx player. One of important reason to convert video files to Divx is that Divx support soft subtitle. And there are some good software offer the function to custom the subtitle, like change to some fancy fonts, color and add some other text display features.

now, it's about time to upgrade my video system to HD level. But I hesitate to choose a Blu-ray system or Media player like WDTV. I want to keep my ability to custom the subtitle for videos, and it seems like a Blu-ray with Divx ultra support is a good choice. But since the HD video file's size are much large than before, and a Blu-ray player without supporting NTFS, is not a good option anymore.

I know MKV support soft subtitle as well, but I am not sure if MKV media player can does good job as the Divx ultra player. The reason I have this concern is that tools I found so far to add/attach subtitle to MKV doesn't support custom the subtitle, unlike what the Divx software offers. And I played a MKV file in my friend's MKV media player, it used the machine's default font to display the subtitle, which cannot compare to those I custom. And I am not sure even I add modified sub file, can the MKV player display these features I add in the subtitle, like what the Divx ultra does?

I will keep do my research, but in the mean time, I would like hear some advise and suggestion from you guys, should I go for a Blu-ray player or MKV media player. All I want to have is HD video with my custom subtitles.

Thanks.

[ddawson24]

I just got the Asus O!Play and like it far more than my WDTV. It plays Blur-ay iso's well and the DVD iso support is far better as it gives full menu control. I would recommend getting something like that over a typical Blu-ray player if you already have a drive on your computer. That way you can just back up your disc to a hard drive and watch it over a network or through a portable hard drive, which from the sounds of it is what you want to do anyway. I don't know much about the subtitle support though. I never use them. I know the option is there on my Blu-ray's and DVD's. I can switch between them. I'm not sure about the "soft" support though.

[deadmeow]

My Asus O Play plays external sub files just fine, .srt, and .sub for sure, and subs inside mkv files. HD video I have watched has been flawless, in mp4/mkv/ts files.

I was in a similar mode to you a few months ago. I had been using a philips dvd player to watch divx/xvid movies on the tv set. Now I have the Asus O Play with a 1 TB external drive next to it, and it basically takes the place of my old DVD player.

The menu support of DVD ISO's was a very pleasant surprise for me.

[cal_tony]

I also think you would be better off with a media player. They play most everything well . Unlike the writers above, I do not have a Asus but I do have a WD and Seagate Fat+ players.
For further info on players I would suggest you go to this site for listings http://www.iboum.com/artkill/chipsets.php

Also, you might want to go to the forums for specific brands you might be interested in. Both Seagate and WD have them and others might as well.

Even though they seem to have the lead in sales, I wouldn't find it hard to believe that just about anything is better than the WD. I assume it's more a function of the chipset used rather than any specific brand. Since the Asus uses the same chip as the Fat+, I assume they're similar in function and I do like my Fat+. Also, from whats described above, they do seem to have the same features.

Tony