Which one is better, Nettop or Medial Player and why?

[coody]

I am not sure I should buy a Nettop or Media Player to watch movies online by Wi-fi. Can you explain which one is better and why? Thank you.

[edDV]

Media player which is optimized to the task in hardware (e.g. WDTV Live).

A Nettop is a weak PC (low performace CPU and low generic display chipset).

That means a media player is more optimal for playback to a TV.

to watch movies online by Wi-fi

I'm assuming this means you have an internet connection and a wireless router.

A media player will be limited to the supported online media servers some of which require a subscription.

A nettop will have access to a wider range of content, but will be a less efficient player.

[coody]

I head the nettop can save the movies in its hard drive but the media player can’t. The nettop can create better home theater than the media player. Is it true?

[redwudz]

I'm not clear on what you mean by 'Nettop'. Can you give an example? Some of the netbook micro PCs like the Asus Eee use the Atom CPU, and it's a bit underpowered for HD video, IE, MKV 1920 X 1080, but plays back SD Xvids OK. Mine has a 500GB HDD. I also have a WD Live and it has no problem with HD videos.

A PC has the advantage that it's more programmable and you can play about any format with the right player/codecs installed. A media player is limited by it's firmware and it's hardware chips. But they are getting better.

My WD has a USB interface that I can use a Wi-fi adapter on.

For Wi-fi, both are limited by your Wi-fi connection and transfer speed, either over your LAN or to the ISP. Again, usually sufficient for SD videos, but marginal for HD video, at best. For your LAN, using a 'N' type router and 'N' type adapter helps quite a bit. The laptop I am using at present has a 'N' adapter and it shows about 150Mb/s transfer.

My older laptop used a 'G' type and was limited to about 50Mb/s and wasn't fast enough for HD video. The 'N' adapter is, even with the highly compressed Blu-ray > MKV conversions I do at 1920 X 1080. They even play with VLC, which is not as well optimized for HD as MPC-HC. Both of them struggle with Wi-fi video from my ISP, but that because I have a fairly slow connection, about 1.5Mb/s down from my ISP.

[edDV]

I head the nettop can save the movies in its hard drive but the media player can’t.

True. A media player can play files from a hard drive, USB drive, wired Ethernet or WiFi connection but it can't record.

I'll assume you have another networked computer that can be used to download files or access live streams. That computer would usually be used to save files to a networked disk drive. The media player would access those files or access live streams directly from the internet.

The nettop can create better home theater than the media player. Is it true?

No because a typical netbook is marginal for video playback and is generally poor at high definition playback. You would need a more capable computer with an HD hardware decoding display card (e.g. NVidia "PrureVideo HD", or ATI "AVIVO HD"). Laptops with that capability are expensive.

"Home Theater" needs further definition. If you only want to play files or access internet services, a media player can do the job. If you need to access live broadcast video, save to disk, edit or encode files, then a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is needed. The most cost effective HTPC would be a desktop, not a laptop.

[coody]

[QUOTE=edDV;2046202"Home Theater" needs further definition. If you only want to play files or access internet services, a media player can do the job. If you need to access live broadcast video, save to disk, edit or encode files, then a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is needed. The most cost effective HTPC would be a desktop, not a laptop.[/QUOTE]

So there are HTPC, Nettop and Media player. By the way, is the HTPC same as the Nettop or different? Is the HTPC best for the home theater to save or watch the movies online by the Wi-fi?

[budwzr]

Take a look at the Seagate 1080p Theatre Plus, it does it all. HTPC is a PITA. Never heard of NetTop, do you mean NetFlix Roku player?

Seagate has NetFlix, Vimeo, Picasa, etc. All the bells a whistles. If you have a Seagate drive, it docks right in the case, if not use USB, plays from NAS too, file system or media server running on local PC's.

Sorry Mac, you're out of the game again.

I'm an old hat at this, haven't used a DVD since 1999. Take the advice of a seasoned old pro.

[edDV]

So there are HTPC, Nettop and Media player. By the way, is the HTPC same as the Nettop or different? Is the HTPC best for the home theater to save or watch the movies online by the Wi-fi?

OK, I'm still trying to understand what you are asking.

What exactly do you mean by "Nettop" ?

Wikipedia says
"A nettop is a very small form factor, inexpensive, low-wattage desktop computer designed for basic tasks such as surfing the Internet, accessing web-based applications, document processing, and audio/video playback."

An HTPC is a PC rigged to be a PVR (personal video recorder) from a tuner and a video player to a TV or computer monitor. An HTPC would need to access a tuner and have a video capable display card.

What are you going to watch your video on? A TV?

A media player is a hardware box that can stream from the internet or play files from a hard drive to a TV.

[redwudz]

A HTPC is just a desktop computer that may be optimized for video playback. It often includes a TV tuner and may have a remote to operate it much as a set top player. Often it's in a desktop case that resembles a audio amp or component.

Nowadays, a lot of Micro-ATX cards can handle HD video with just their on-board video card. They also usually have surround sound output with coax or optical audio out to your surround sound amp. That's one choice for building a HTPC. Throw in a Hauppauge video tuner card or similar and you have a complete HTPC. The advantage is programmability, as it's a PC and you can use several different OS's and different players. Linux is a good free alternative for a OS for a HTPC. Ubuntu is one popular OS for this.

Still not sure what a 'Nettop' is. Maybe a PC with a mini ITX MB? I have a mini IT PC that I've used for a HTPC, but it's way underpowered and not very configurable for add on cards. It won't play HD video. Some of the newer mini ITX motherboards have better capabilities. Their main advantage is small size and low power draw. They usually have the CPU attached. I built a small HTPC a while back with a Micro ATX MB and it vastly outperforms my mini ITX and plays HD with no problems with it's on-board video. And it's not that much bigger. Thread here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/320109-HTPC-from-used-parts?

The thread for my mini ITX project is here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/288078-Mini-ITX-HTPC-project? Other's here have also built them.

[SingSing]

I am not sure I should buy a Nettop or Media Player to watch movies online by Wi-fi. Can you explain which one is better and why? Thank you.

None of the above.

Video on Wi-fi are mostly you-tube, netflix and Hulu, so get a blu-Ray player with wi-fi and a wireless keyboard, and you are good to go.

[coody]

How about Acer R3610 HTPC all-in-one?

[olyteddy]

How about Acer R3610 HTPC all-in-one?

I'm using one and have a couple of comments. First, the built in WiFi sucks. I hard wired mine. It does handle high def, although all of my stuff is SD. Vimeo streams in 1080p just fine, NetFlix at 720p doesn't. I tried the included WMC 7 on it but chose instead to use MPC HC 64 bit for most playback. WMC was too slow and 'bulky'. I'm used to web based stuff anyway. Google Chrome is the browser I use and haven't had issue with it. MSE2 is the security program and I use Ant Movie Catalog to keep track of my media. WinAmp for music playback rounds out the most used media programs in this box, although we do play a lot of SCRABBLE on it. I don't know of any media player that has SCRABBLE so I guess that's a plus. The included wireless keyboard and mouse are adequate for me...

PS: The Revo 3610 uses the first generation ION chipset and from my readings is better than the 2nd gen IONs.

PPS: The term NetTop is generally used to describe a PC with about the power of a NetBook, only without the screen.

[edDV]

How about Acer R3610 HTPC all-in-one?

How about you explain what you are trying to do.

Is the display a TV? An HDTV?

What "online" content do you want to stream and/or record?

[garryward]

Hi I have a Sumvision MKV player and a Acer Revo r3610. The Sumvision does a good job But Acer wins hands down. I use Media browser plug-in for MCE and MPC-HC as the player. The Plug-in in downloads all of the media info for TV programs and your Films and makes navigating the media a lot better and it keeps a track of what you have watched.