Looking for Blu-Ray/DVD standalone player with these features...

[tonyaldr]

Does anyone know of a standalone unit that will play ISO Image files stored on a network as well as offer a fastplay option (1.5x speed with audio)? I've been using my PC for this function but my DVD player went and if I could replace both roles with a single unit that would be great! Thx in advance!

[usually_quiet]

Does anyone know of a standalone unit that will play ISO Image files stored on a network as well as offer a fastplay option (1.5x speed with audio)? I've been using my PC for this function but my DVD player went and if I could replace both roles with a single unit that would be great! Thx in advance!

I don't think that any current standalone Blu-Ray players would have a media player capable of playing an ISO image. The licensing authorities would take a very dim view of such a feature.

[Seeker47]

My Oppo model 95 Blu-Ray (from several years back, with a certain firmware level that I think was later withdrawn) can play many ISO files, but I have avoided networking it out of some concern over the possibility of unwanted fw updates. And if you could still find one of these on eBay, as I did, it would probably be one of the most expensive BR players you could ever buy. Though it's not an optical disc unit, your best option to meet these particulars is apt to be a WD Live TV media player, playing ISOs off of an attached portable HDD such as a WD Passport. The WDL boxes excel at most-file-formats-played-back. It does do networking and streaming, although they dropped support for Netflix (if that matters to you) after the Gen. 2 model, which could still be bought on Amazon the last time I checked. I think the other WD Live models -- and probably some of their competitors like Roku -- may also be capable of supporting a DLNA client, which could give you access to files on your own network. (However, I have no personal experience with that.) The standalone media player should get you away from those licensing issues. But you'd have to make your own ISOs or download them from somewhere. I'm partial to the Gen-2 WD Live, and play ISOs from it regularly.

[tonyaldr]

Thx. Do the WD units offer fastplay? It's a feature that's hard to search for when researching this things. Maybe I need to just add a blu-ray drive to a computer and make my own device?

[usually_quiet]

Thx. Maybe I need to just add a blu-ray drive to a computer and make my own device?

I do use my PC to play Blu-Ray discs.

You need to understand that recent versions of most software Blu-Ray players (Cyberlink Power DVD Ultra, Arcsoft Total Media Theatre, Corel WinDVD Pro) don't support playing ISOs either. They have most of the the same licensing requirements as hardware players. Some unlicensed players like DVDFab Media Player will play ISOs, but none work as well as licensed players. Since they are unlicensed, Blu-Ray menu navigation and some other things are reversed engineered, and they are still figuring out the fine points. DVD ISO playback with unlicensed software works well if they support it.

[Edit]It is likely possible to mount DVD and Blu-Ray ISOs on a virtual drive and play them with a licensed player, if they don't contain Cinavia, but I haven't tried it. I'm content to watch original Blu-Ray discs.

[tonyaldr]

Thx. I use VLC myself and have a huge number of ISO images. I guess I'll start working in setting up a Windows machine. Thx everyone! Any tips on creating a good startup interface are welcome!

[Seeker47]

Thx. Do the WD units offer fastplay? It's a feature that's hard to search for when researching this things. Maybe I need to just add a blu-ray drive to a computer and make my own device?

Is that the same thing as FFwd ? You can go Fwd. or Rev. in basic speed increments, when playing material from an attached portable HDD on the WD boxes. Sometimes there can be playback issues in attempting this with particular video files, depending on the codec they were made with, or if there is some defect like an indexing problem. But if the material is in DVD format, or an ISO from same, I can't recall encountering this. I've transferred quite a few discs to the HDD for playback that way, as an even-more-portable convenience. Can't recall FFwd. or Rew. issues with the vast majority of MKV files, either. (Higher-than-DVD-resolution material turns up in that format.)

Add a BR drive to a computer, and you're basically talking about an HTPC. The Shuttle XPC line has often been used for that, but a couple years ago they began adding even smaller SFF (Small Form Factor) models to their lineup, as have some competitors. Instead of the "double shoebox" configuration, some of these are closer to a hardcover book in size. I've been a Shuttle fan for years, and making a dedicated HTPC out of one has sort of been on my To Do List . . . but laziness wins out, seeing as the WD Live boxes already do most of what I would use an HTPC for. An attached 2 Tb. -- or even 1 Tb. -- Passport can hold a huge array of movies etc. So, I don't really need to serve it up throughout the house via NAS. This duo is compact, and can easily be taken from room to room, or to someone else's house.

[tonyaldr]

Not really the same as fast forward as that is usually silent or gibberish audio and at a faster speed then one can follow events in the storyline. I first found fastplay in Panasonic DVD-RAM players which offered 1.3x speed with audio. I then saw it on some regular DVD players but it never seemed to be noted in the features list! VLC player allows you to play at a faster speed so you can follow what is going on and decipher the audio. Helps you watch more in less time!

One of these days I'll start on my PC with that configuration. Thx.

[jealousy91]

deleted

[Jay4]

Do any Blu-Ray players have the ability to play .avi(xvid)/mkv/mp4 files from a network drive? I don't need full .iso support, just a good file navigator and the ability to play these files would bbe great. Any recommendations?

[Seeker47]

Do any Blu-Ray players have the ability to play .avi(xvid)/mkv/mp4 files from a network drive? I don't need full .iso support, just a good file navigator and the ability to play these files would bbe great. Any recommendations?

I've never tried to do this, for various reasons. A number of BR players have built-in Wi-Fi, although this was primarily to support built-in streaming gateway apps, such as for Netflix, YT, etc. I never even enabled the Wi-Fi on my Oppo BR player, because it has a unique firmware that includes some features which were later discontinued. (Including the ability to play ISO files.) I did not want to risk an unwanted firmware update -- such as regularly occurred with my Samsung BR player -- from slipping through and wiping that out. Not having BR networking struck me as a reasonable price to pay for this. I already had all the networking I needed from my (Gen. 2) WD Live streaming player box. Many BR players offer some of the playback functionality you seek, via attached USB -- either thumb drive or portable HDD. Even more of that functionality is offered by the WD Live. I don't know if the latter might also support one of the server apps like Plex or Servio, which could be another route to the same via-network functionality. If not, perhaps one of their more contemporary competitors like Roku may.

[usually_quiet]

Many Blu-ray players also include some level of DLNA compatibility. The LG Blu-ray player I bought for my parents a little over 3 years ago claims to play some types of media files (including those that you want to play) stored on a DLNA server in the same network. The manual states the Blu-Ray player works for playing files stored on a Windows or OS X computer as long as a bundled Nero software utility is installed on the computer. In theory it could work with a DLNA enabled NAS or a hard attached to a DLNA enabled router, but I have never tried DLNA with my parent's Blu-Ray player.

[theewizard]

my new LG BD player (2 weeks old) is not networked to any anything
the specs say full DNLA and list a number of file types and codec support, including mp4 mkv AVCH h264 etc..
but i do not have a NAS to connect it too

[Jay4]

Thank you for the responses. I'll definitely look in to the LG BD player and any other suggestions anyone might have.

I have 3 WD players of various generations, and a large collection of the files I mentioned above that I use to play recorded TV, movies, home movies, etc... throughout the house. I have wanted a Blu-Ray player for a while for "event" movie watching. My WD devices are unfortunately buggy. I am fine with them, but my wife and kids are always annoyed at their instability (ironically, except for my non-networked 1st generation WD player, that is 100% reliable). So I was hoping to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so to speak.

[Jay4]

As an added "bonus question" - anyone know of a Blu-Ray player capable of showing the FoxSoccer2Go app? It is different than the Fox Sports App and much less common.

[Seeker47]

Thank you for the responses. I'll definitely look in to the LG BD player and any other suggestions anyone might have.

I have 3 WD players of various generations, and a large collection of the files I mentioned above that I use to play recorded TV, movies, home movies, etc... throughout the house. I have wanted a Blu-Ray player for a while for "event" movie watching. My WD devices are unfortunately buggy. I am fine with them, but my wife and kids are always annoyed at their instability (ironically, except for my non-networked 1st generation WD player, that is 100% reliable). So I was hoping to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so to speak.

More often than not, the "buggy" issues with the WD players was due to some bad or not-very-well-troubleshot firmware releases. I had to roll back the firmware on my two Gen. 2 WD boxes. Doing that gave up on a few later features like MiraCast (back-added to the Gen. 2), but stability improved dramatically, so it was a good tradeoff. The thread on the advisability of doing this was either here or on AVSforum. If you are interested, I will try to provide a link.

I routinely play DVDs as files from portable storage attached to the WD box. With the Extras, and everything. It is often more convenient. There may be some way to play BR files that way also -- I'm not sure. I know that I play stuff that is considerably higher-than-DVD resolution this way.

[Jay4]

Seeker I would appreciate that link if you are able to provide it. Thank you.

[Beck38]

Playing iso images has been a dead issue really since the dawn of the bluray era, for obvious (to most everyone) reasons. But playing standard bdmv structure containing m2ts, that's ok.

But playing what, exactly? Most of the first generations of streaming player that included at least the option of an optical drive (popcorn hour/syabas, dune, etc) have eliminated that in their recent models (although some can be externally added) and the only 'consumer' machines out there doing both local network sreaming and optical disc (w/ full scale mkv capability) are the oppo machines, at $500 and up.

Lots of basic sony, lg, samsung 'off the shelf' players that advertise mkv capability fall short in one area or another, like an inability to do chapters, pgs subtitles, non-mkv containers like m2ts, ts, or others, the bits and pieces of bluray structures that the small linux/java boxes like pch/dune (or oppo) can easily do.

So if you want a bix that can do pretty much everything (except sometimes the to me reduculous iso images which died a long time ago), look at the off-brand solutions (cheap) or oppo.

[Seeker47]

Seeker I would appreciate that link if you are able to provide it. Thank you.

O.K. This is the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networking-media-servers-content-streaming/1364999-of...l#post38411113

about 200 pages worth, with plenty of useful material, but for the subject immediately at hand you can start here.

I did the simple via-a-thumbdrive f/w backlevel. (The older f/w is so-named as to pass for an "update." Something has to be temporarily enabled in the menus, in order to allow this.)

This link might also prove useful:

http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=5860

and for the more adventurous, there is this:

http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/Main_Page

but I haven't had sufficient reason or curiosity to investigate it . . . .

[Seeker47]

Playing iso images has been a dead issue really since the dawn of the bluray era, for obvious (to most everyone) reasons. But playing standard bdmv structure containing m2ts, that's ok.

I still run across a certain number of ISOs of DVDs (-5 or -9). So, nobody bothers doing anything in the nature of an ISO of a BD ? Haven't noticed any, and I suppose I would, if they were out there. I do see some jumbo .MKV files though, from time to time -- with I think ~ 12 - 18 Gb. being about the max, size so far. Don't really know how large they can go. A pain to d/l though, even in many pieces ! Perhaps that is what is making the issue moot ?

[theewizard]

i bought the LG BPM55

these are specs

MPEG2 Yes
MPEG4 AVC (H.264) Yes
SMPTE VC1 (VC-9) Yes
MKV Yes
AVC Rec Yes
AVCHD Yes
M4V Yes
WMV Yes
3GP Yes
MPEG-1 Yes
MP4 Yes
MOV Yes
FLV Yes
TS Yes
DAT Yes
VOB Yes
AUDIO FORMAT LPCM Yes
Dolby Digital Yes
Dolby Digital Plus Yes
Dolby True HD Yes
DTS Yes
DTS 2.0 + Digital Out Yes
DTS-HD Master Audio Yes
MPEG 1/2 L2 Yes
MP3 Yes
AAC Yes
WMA Yes
FLAC Yes

FLAC Yes
CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi® Yes
HDMI® Out Yes
Ethernet Yes
USB Yes
Coaxial Yes

i have not tested all of this, and cannot comment on reliability

[lingyi]

Playing iso images has been a dead issue really since the dawn of the bluray era, for obvious (to most everyone) reasons. But playing standard bdmv structure containing m2ts, that's ok.

I still run across a certain number of ISOs of DVDs (-5 or -9). So, nobody bothers doing anything in the nature of an ISO of a BD ? Haven't noticed any, and I suppose I would, if they were out there. I do see some jumbo .MKV files though, from time to time -- with I think ~ 12 - 18 Gb. being about the max, size so far. Don't really know how large they can go. A pain to d/l though, even in many pieces ! Perhaps that is what is making the issue moot ?

As discussed in this thread and numerous others, it's extremely difficult to find a device (especially a new device in 2016) that will play a BD .iso directly.

I always RIP and convert my BDs to MKV and have movie only .mkvs as large as ~45GB (43,7362,901 KB). The additional pressed disc space devoted to the menu.

Personally, I'd rather see the additional ~2GB used for the movie rather than the menu (allowing slightly less compression).

[Beck38]

That's a pretty small %, though. I've always wondered why, with 50GB of space, how many bluray movies are just over 25 or 30GB, with minimal extras of maybe 3-4GB. But there it is.

As far as 'published' specs, I'd hope that anyone buying a new set would run some tests as to, in particular, mkv usability. I recently was askedby a friend to spec out new blu players, and pulled various lg, sony, samsung, and a couple of off-brand (they were at walnart) and none (0) would do pgs subtitles, and only the sony would do chapters. So just saying you'll play mkv's is a bit shakey, at best. Btw, the set that performed the most was a sony 3d, now why the 3d version was 'better' at mkv than the 2d version is a question that I haven't gotten a straight answer out of sony on.

Of course, none of them ran anywhere near as well as my pch or oppo machines.

[Jay4]

So I just looked up the Oppo players you made reference to...wow.

But, more than a little pricey. Still, if they do what I am looking for - are able to basically meld a WD-like player and a Blu-Ray player together, it could be worth the money for the quality.

So something, just to pick an example, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/OPPO-BDP-103D-Universal-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B00GPFM106/ref=sr_1_2?...s=oppo+bdp-103

It has wi-fi, it plays .mkv, .avi amd .mp4 files...but can it draw those files from my wireless network?

[Seeker47]

So I just looked up the Oppo players you made reference to...wow.

But, more than a little pricey. Still, if they do what I am looking for - are able to basically meld a WD-like player and a Blu-Ray player together, it could be worth the money for the quality.

Mine cost considerably more than that -- even though lightly used rather than new -- but I preferred the 9_ series over the successor 10_ series. I don't regret the purchase at all, but do hope that nothing supplants standard BR any time soon, in the consumer market. (Not much interest in 3D capability, no plans for home 4K either . . . .)

[Beck38]

It has wi-fi, it plays .mkv, .avi amd .mp4 files...but can it draw those files from my wireless network?

Depends on what protocol you are running on that network. If you've avoided such problematic 'industry' pushed (to me) nonsense like dnla, and stuck with smb (server message block) and properly set up your network master browser, you're in business to run your collection of pc's, nas boxes, any and all boxes with network capability to locally stream, you name it.

And any box with a network spigot can be made wireless for <$30 these days, most don't have 802.11ac (newest spec) anyway.

If the oppo ($500) is too rich, take a look on ebay for a pch (popcorn hour) C-200 or 300, with a bluray drive, or add your own as they have 2 sata ports.

[Jay4]

Forgive me, you lost me there.

I have a pretty run-of-the-mill wireless router (made by Netgear, but I forget the model), and it has a USB 2.0 port. Using a 4 to 1 "splitter" (no doubt the wrong word for it), I have 3 hard drives connected to it. I read these, at the moment, using WDLive and any computer I want to (and my Android tablet using ES File Explorer) , throughout the house. Could the Oppo player reach that as well.

[Beck38]

You need to get more network/wireless literate.

You probably hooked things up and it worked out of the box; but you need to know, first, what's actually 'running' the network (who is the master browser) and for the wireless, what 'flavor' of 802.11 is that wireless router running? The older specs like ab or even n are bandwidth limited, especially for hd use, than the latest 'ac'. The latest boxes like roku4 have ac, a few others as well but it's only 2 yrs old so a bit limited in adoption, but a lot of the newer stuff like roku have gone to it.

Oppo is on 'n' so one may think about getting a plug-in replacement IF you upgrade that router, which you may need to do if you run multiple hd streams or notice lots of buffering going on.

Most my network is gigabit wired, but I do have somethings on ac wireless, as both my cable modem (comcast) and my personal router (asus) are both ac, and two of my roku4's are in odd places in the house and run wireless on 5.8ghz ('c'). But what works for me may or may not work for you, that's wireless.

[Jay4]

Forgive me, I didn't understand your phrasing. The router is an "n" router, and fine for my needs (I don't need to stream HD, most of what I am sending over my network are files encoded at 1-2mbps). At least, it is fine for my needs at the moment. I am also fine hooking up a HDD to the device via USB for the handful of movies I may wish to play at higher bitrates.

I didn't know what you meant by SMB protocol, but I have since looked it up. If I understand correctly, that is what I am using. I may not be understanding correctly. I double checked my router, and it is a Netgear N600 (this guy: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/netgear-n600-wireless-dual-band-router/prod6190039.ip). Given the setup I described above, is it possible for you to concur that I am operating under the SMB protocol?

[Jay4]

Also, I agree with your appraisal. Any suggestion of where to start if I want to become more network (and specifically wireless) literate?