Media Player or Blu Ray or PS3???

[foxifoxie]

Hi,
I'm currently burning my DVD collection to mp4 files with full title info including subtitles etc. I want to store these movie files on a series of large external hard drives (around 5 tb in all) and play them to my panasonic lcd tv linked by hdmi and also through a projector also via hdmi. I originally thought PS3 as it seemed to be the popular choice and it can be accessed via my wireless network but drives need to be FAT32 and therefor restricted to 4gb files (my files will be up to 8gb.
Then I heard that LG Blu Ray players are ok with NTFS but then I also saw on a forum about a Seagate media player??
It's conceivable that although I aim to convert all my dvds to hard drive I might want to play the odd dvd occasionally too.
I will have over 1000 movies eventually and will need to be able to search titles etc (is that asking too much) so should I opt for several smaller drives of 1 tb or all on one or two drives
Any views on what the best solution might be or even where best to post this thread?

[Ai Haibara]

I'd say you should probably go for the media player (you might want to look at the Western Digital WDTV models, too), unless you're absolutely sure the Blu-Ray player you're considering will play your MP4s, much less play them from an external drive/over the network. Standalone DVD/Blu-Ray players are quite a bit more strict on what they will play, as opposed to a media player or HTPC.

[foxifoxie]

Fair point. I read that the LG Bluray players would read NTFS, any idea if this is so? Sorry to sound green but what is HTPC?
Also, am I just ignoring the obvious, what would be the downside of continuing to use a netbook or laptop with an HDMI connection (my Samsung NC10 doesn't) and just play my films from that? My HTC desire HD has a decent little app called Gmote that lets me control my netbook remotely.

[fritzi93]

HTPC= Home Theater PC. (or Theatre, if you prefer).
The option if you want to be able to play anything and everything regardless.

From the glossary:

Home Theater Personal Computer, a computer designed to be used as a media center for digital home entertainment such as Movies, Music, Television, Games. http://www.htpcnews.com/

[EDIT] And welcome to the forum. Good luck.

[dragonkeeper]

Hi,
I will have over 1000 movies eventually and will need to be able to search titles etc (is that asking too much) so should I opt for several smaller drives of 1 tb or all on one or two drives

I was going to say go with a media player, but i don't think they give you the ability to search titles at least not in a very effective manner. A HTPC may be better suited for your needs, the basic hardware components for a HTPC can be had for a few hundred the + side being that file size, video formats, audio formats are no longer an issue. YOu can also search by title, producer, director, actor or genera or a combination of the filters.
I loved my first HTPC so much that i now have one connected to every TV in my home with a central file server serving up 8 TB of movies, tv shows, music, music video and documentaries.

[smitbret]

Do you only have one playback location?

[oldfart13]

If you want to check media players, go here:

www.iboum.com

Lots of new players out as well. Many that use 3rd party software to improve their capabilities:

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/aios-hd-media-player-owners-n-deals-thread-100-includin...apter-1087164/

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/best-media-player-under-100-a-963463/

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/appletv-patriot-boxoffice-wd-tv-live-best-1087627/

also on AVSFORUMS

Lots of opinions but it depends on what you want to do exactly. I have 2 WDTV Live boxes (a standard one [now discontinued] and a Live +) and I find them to be great. Compact and does what I want. Plays all media I use, support for flash drives and hard drives, streaming video, etc. so, I don't need a HTPC. Your needs may be different from mine though...

[foxifoxie]

I will have two playback locations, tv and projector. Both are hardwired HDMI. I'm collecting the top 1000 films http://www.theyshootpictures.com/ but don't watch tv. (We had a flood from a burst pipe last December and moved into a rental place with no digital ariel just as the analogue was turned off in March, made me realise how much I hate the banality of x factor and reality tv).
I'm busy burning my movies to hard drive to save storing dvds.
I want to be able to search my films by genre/director etc, preferably linked to the excel spreadsheet of the top 1000 list.
I also want a dvd drive to be able to play the odd film that I haven't burned or dvds of tv series if the mood takes me but as I say, primarily to play my movies either through a projector or tv.
Probably a different thread but I favour purchasing a projector rather than HD TV but as TVs become better and better is that still the consensus?
Thanks so far guys!

[dragonkeeper]

I want to be able to search my films by genre/director etc, preferably linked to the excel spreadsheet of the top 1000 list.
I also want a dvd drive to be able to play the odd film that I haven't burned or dvds of tv series if the mood takes me but as I say, primarily to play my movies either through a projector or tv.
Probably a different thread but I favour purchasing a projector rather than HD TV but as TVs become better and better is that still the consensus?
Thanks so far guys!

Sounds more and more like what you need is a media PC. A good front end will allow you to search by any method imaginable e and will even mark movies as watched if you so desire.

I would go with the projector over a TV, that is if you want to go with a very large screen. Epson has an excellent line of mid-price projectors that have a very good picture right out the box, a little calibration brings the picture quality up to that of so some of the best TVs imho. I purchased the Epson 8350 for $1200 and ordered material to build my own acoustically transparent screen, total cost of screen was less than $500. So for around $1700 i was able to achieve 12 foot 1080P picture, I would be hard pressed to get half that size TV for the same price.

I just looked at the link for the top 1000, that's a pretty piss poor list, as much as I like Jerry Lewis there has to be several thousand movies more deserving than the Nutty Professor.

[jagabo]

Boxee Box, or HTPC with Boxee.

[oldfart13]

Probably more like this:

http://www.measy.com.cn/product/showproduct36_en.htm

A friend of mine has an earlier model which also allows him to save metadata files (the WDTV Live cannot do this) in such a way as it will display the movie title, stars, rating, etc. as well as take info down from several sources including one-sheets, box art, written material, etc. Can't remember the program he uses as it was of little use to me. I'll have to ask him next time I see him...

[foxifoxie]

Ha, yes there are some odd films on the list but it is a combined list of all the lists that those compiling it could find then weighted accordingly. It does make you look at films in a different way and also in their original context. Can't say I disagree with the Nutty Professor though!
Looks like I'd better do some research on an HTPC.

[smitbret]

I will have two playback locations, tv and projector. Both are hardwired HDMI. I'm collecting the top 1000 films http://www.theyshootpictures.com/ but don't watch tv. (We had a flood from a burst pipe last December and moved into a rental place with no digital ariel just as the analogue was turned off in March, made me realise how much I hate the banality of x factor and reality tv).
I'm busy burning my movies to hard drive to save storing dvds.
I want to be able to search my films by genre/director etc, preferably linked to the excel spreadsheet of the top 1000 list.
I also want a dvd drive to be able to play the odd film that I haven't burned or dvds of tv series if the mood takes me but as I say, primarily to play my movies either through a projector or tv.
Probably a different thread but I favour purchasing a projector rather than HD TV but as TVs become better and better is that still the consensus?
Thanks so far guys!

You should probably go with a good DLNA setup. Mezzmo comes to mind.

[foxifoxie]

You know, I thought I'd got it sorted...
2 x 3TB hard drives with usb 3.0 into a pc running XBMC. Really impressed with XBMC software, it scraped all the movie information off the web for my library of movies really quickly.
Only problem is that XBMC doesn't support external subtitles saved to my mp4 files. That is I can't select from the list of subtitles that I have saved when burning my mp4 file.
It will play subtitles embedded in to the mp4 but I don't want that as i don't always want subtitles.
Checked the forum and looks like it just doesn't support it and no plans to do so. I've downloaded some subtitles from the web and I can select those but what a faf.
Does anyone know of a media centre software that will do the scraping and give me a user friendly front end and also let me select the audio and video tracks (including subtitles) saved?
Perhaps I should stick to playing my films through my netbook via VLC which handles everything without a blip...

[dragonkeeper]

Does anyone know of a media centre software that will do the scraping and give me a user friendly front end and also let me select the audio and video tracks (including subtitles) saved?

Try media portal, it's pretty impressive as well.I've been playing with it all weekend, you'll want to get the moving pictures, mp-TV Series plug ins and if you like anime the My Anime plug in ties in with Anidb. Also I'm able to Stream TV to other rooms of the house using tuners in my HTPC.The default skin is not bad but i recommend Amped or MPStreamed. There is even a plug-in that allows you to to use your Android device or iPone as a remote control for Media Portal.

All I need now are plug-ins for documentaries and one for music videos and i'm all set.

[jagabo]

Does anyone know of a media centre software that will do the scraping and give me a user friendly front end and also let me select the audio and video tracks (including subtitles) saved?

Boxee is based on XBMC but it can play external SRT files for MP4 videos.

[foxifoxie]

Good steer Dragon Keeper!
Media portal looks the bees knees and the moving picture plug in has given me the full details of all my movies with plot summaries, graphics, genres etc (I guess you knew it would).
It doesn't let me access the audio/video track info though so I can't get to my subtitles that are held within the file. As I mentioned earlier VLC allows me to select subtitles and it looks like there is a plug in somewhere to allow VLC to be used as an eternal player with media portal.
A couple of links I found came to nothing (one was an old format extension that wouldn't download and the link to another was broken).
I've put a thread on the forum asking for a VLC plug in that works but if you see one could you link me to it.
This set up is going to be just what I wanted....
cheers for now
Steve

[dragonkeeper]

Good steer Dragon Keeper!
Media portal looks the bees knees and the moving picture plug in has given me the full details of all my movies with plot summaries, graphics, genres etc (I guess you knew it would).
It doesn't let me access the audio/video track info though so I can't get to my subtitles that are held within the file. As I mentioned earlier VLC allows me to select subtitles and it looks like there is a plug in somewhere to allow VLC to be used as an eternal player with media portal.
A couple of links I found came to nothing (one was an old format extension that wouldn't download and the link to another was broken).
I've put a thread on the forum asking for a VLC plug in that works but if you see one could you link me to it.
This set up is going to be just what I wanted....
cheers for now
Steve

Try using the default player (WMP11), it does a good job provided the needed codecs are installed (ffdshow, AC3 filter seem to work will play around with Lav, MadVr once i get everything setup like i want and back up the settings and db files)

[foxifoxie]

I've tried playing one of the movies that I can select subtitles for in VLC and then selecting the various codecs but no luck so far. I need to be able to select the subtitle track in some way as in VLC.
In VLC I would select Video/subtitle track and then pick which ever subtitle. Can't see how I could select with mediaportal though.
The answer would be to reburn the dvds with the subtitle burned directly to the MP4 not as a fully selectable DVD menu type file but then I don't always want the subtitles.
My partner is Polish and doesn't always get some regional English or American accents (to be honest in some films neither do I) so its good to be able to select subtitles as and when.
Saying that I can also select subtitles in WMP so if that's the default player there could be a way to select them.
Let me know if you get there before me, ha!

[jagabo]

Again, Boxee can display SRT subtitles and you can select between multiple subtitle and audio tracks while playing a video. It also has all the metadata scraping features of XBMC.

[Phlexor]

In MediaPortal you can press A to cycle through the Audio Tracks and L to cycle through the Subtitle Tracks.

[foxifoxie]

Sounds promising, is A and L uppercase (CAP) letters and if so at what point should I type the letter in order to toggle through audio and subtitle tracks?
Steve

[Phlexor]

Lowercase I believe and you change them while the video is playing.

[dragonkeeper]

Sounds promising, is A and L uppercase (CAP) letters and if so at what point should I type the letter in order to toggle through audio and subtitle tracks?
Steve

No not upper case, press the letter a to cycle through the audio tracks, press the letter l to cycle through subtitles.

[foxifoxie]

I can't seem to get it to work. I've tried playing it through normal mediaportal and through the moving pictures plug in. I can definitley select the subtitles through VLC on this movie.
I must be missing something, The movie is playing, i press "a" or "l" but nothing happens??
Steve

[dragonkeeper]

I can't seem to get it to work. I've tried playing it through normal mediaportal and through the moving pictures plug in. I can definitley select the subtitles through VLC on this movie.
I must be missing something, The movie is playing, i press "a" or "l" but nothing happens??
Steve

Are the subs embedded or external?
It can do embedded streams by default you'll need to install a splitter, haali works for me, and install FFdshow as well. I've tried it a bit ago with some of my blue ray rips, worked perfectly.

[foxifoxie]

The subtitles are embedded in an MP4 file.
I've downloaded and installed Haali Splitter and the video codecs are set to FFDshow but still no subtitles?
Any ideas where I might be going wrong?

[dragonkeeper]

The subtitles are embedded in an MP4 file.
I've downloaded and installed Haali Splitter and the video codecs are set to FFDshow but still no subtitles?
Any ideas where I might be going wrong?

Maybe your default shortcuts have been changed. Open the "MedaiPortal Configuration" manager Click "General to open up it's properties. Select "Keyboard Default Shortcuts", check to see which keys are listed for switching audio and subs.

[foxifoxie]

Hi Dragonkeeper,
I tried the keyboard shortcut thing and had to go to expert mode to see it and everything was fine. However, whilst in expert mode I clicked on "video" and then "video player" and was able to select an external player. I browsed to the VLC application and hey presto I have the full front end of MP with my favoured player for my files.
Top man, thanks for your guidance and help. I would have probably given up by now.
Can I be cheeky and ask another question (I've put in a separate thread but nobody has replied). When I play my files via pc (I've tried 2 laptops and both give same results) the image on the TV screen (panasonic viera HD) the image is shifted about 25mm to the right with empty space down the left hand side. This isn't underscaling but a shift which means I can't see the RH of my pc menus.
Any ideas??
Steve

[dragonkeeper]

Hi Dragonkeeper,
I tried the keyboard shortcut thing and had to go to expert mode to see it and everything was fine. However, whilst in expert mode I clicked on "video" and then "video player" and was able to select an external player. I browsed to the VLC application and hey presto I have the full front end of MP with my favoured player for my files.
Top man, thanks for your guidance and help. I would have probably given up by now.
Can I be cheeky and ask another question (I've put in a separate thread but nobody has replied). When I play my files via pc (I've tried 2 laptops and both give same results) the image on the TV screen (panasonic viera HD) the image is shifted about 25mm to the right with empty space down the left hand side. This isn't underscaling but a shift which means I can't see the RH of my pc menus.
Any ideas??
Steve

I tried the external video setting for a while, as I prefer MPC-HC myself, but noticed it seems that doing so gives up a bit of functionality. I like using the track/watch status (once the progress bar on a video (movie/music video, etc) in your collection reaches 95% it is marked as viewed) comes in handy for all the TV shows and movies I have on my hard drives. The is also the resume from last point in the video I like that feature as well. Losing both of these was enough for me to revert back to the internal player.

As far as your other problem:
Are you using the correct input on the TV? (Many TVs specify an input to used when attaching a computer)
Is the refresh rate on the laptops set to one the TV supports? (Try changing the refresh rate to see if it affects the picture)
Are both laptops the same model? (two seperate models having the same issue could possible rule out problem with laptop)
Are the laptops using the same video card chipset (Nvidia, ATI, etc)? (could indicate a compatibility issue)
Does the same thing occur on a different TV? (rule out TV compatibility)
Switch players, try MPC-HC. ( if you use the zip package you can test it with out having to install anything on your PC)
When in doubt try different cable (If seen cheap cables cause many peculiar issues).

These are some of the first things i would look try.