portable media center in addition to set-top player?

[celchlepp]

Hey all,

I am very interested in a unit like the 3500 Tvisto-SATA to set next to our tv and play movies. we only have an old (coax only in the back) tv with rabbit ears that we're content with and couldn't care less about any HDTV stuff in the slightest.

my dilemma though is whether to also have a DVD/Divx set-top player to play all the stuff we already have on CD's and DVD's in addition to having this thing. what is the point, if any, of having both? I am a many years-long computer tech by trade, so I am very integrated into the hard drive world and media of all sorts. we DO currently have just a DVD player above the tv, which means I'd just have to put all the Divx stuff on this unit. but why bother?

please help me out with deciding on getting one of these kinds of players or not.

Thanks for any input! I love learning, so anything is educational here.
Chuck

[KBeee]

If you only have an RF input to your old TV, how are you planning to connect the 3500? This unit seems to have only composite, component, scart, S Video and VGA outputs.
Also the Tvisto 3500 doesn't seem to have a network connection, and the chipset in this unit is unable to handle newer mpeg4 material such as MKV/264/AVC etc. If you think you'll need to watch MKV's in the future without converting to Xvid/DivX on your computer first, then go for a newer model such as the Popcorn Hour.
I guess the reason for keeping a DVD player is to play back commercial DVD's without having to rip them to your computer first, then transfer them from your computer to the Tvisto 3500 via USB before watching.

[yoda313]

If you only have an RF input to your old TV, how are you planning to connect the 3500? This unit seems to have only composite, component, scart, S Video and VGA outputs.

They make adapters for svideo/rca to rf conversions, pretty inexpensively too. Also you can always use a vcr to do the hook up.

If you have an xbox 360 you can hook it up to a windows media center pc (actually you can stream pics and vids off the pc without media center you just lose the slick interface and use file directories instead of on screen menus).