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  1. Member
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    I'm looking for a Blu Ray player to play 3D movies off my USB hard drive.

    Here's my dilemma, I've just ordered 3D LG LW6500 series TV. This TV has a USB port, so I wanted to connect my USB HD directly to TV to watch 3D .mkv files (with DTS audio). After doing some researching, it turns out that LG TVs don't support DTS audio.

    I need to get a blu ray player anyway, I just want to make sure it supports playback of mkv\dts files through USB. I'd also like to use the blu ray to play media files from my DLNA server.

    I don't want to spend more then $200 on the player. Please advise!

    Thank you!
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  2. Blu-ray players are very picky about what files they will play. Don't count on any of them playing all your MKV (or other) files. Get a decicated media player. They have much better support for containers, codecs, codec settings, resolutions, networking, disk partitions, and file systems.

    http://www.iboum.com/net-media-players.php
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Blu-ray players are very picky about what files they will play. Don't count on any of them playing all your MKV (or other) files. Get a decicated media player. They have much better support for containers, codecs, codec settings, resolutions, networking, disk partitions, and file systems.

    http://www.iboum.com/net-media-players.php
    Thanks, but I don't think the media player will solve my issue - ability to play .dts audio on my LG TV, unless the media player can somehow convert dts to mp3 or other compatible audio formats on the fly, can it?

    As a matter of fact, I already use my PC as a media server and it still wouldn't let me stream dts audio - LG just doesn't support it.
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  4. Your PC and some media players can convert and downmix DTS to stereo PCM on the fly. Ac3filter and MPCHC can do that. Or you can use eac3to to convert the DTS to AC3 then mux the AC3 with the video from your original MKV.
    Last edited by jagabo; 15th Feb 2012 at 13:09.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Your PC and some media players can convert and downmix DTS to stereo PCM on the fly. Ac3filter and MPCHC can do that. Or you can use eac3to to convert the DTS to AC3 then mux the AC3 with the video from your original MKV.
    Thanks again, jagabo. I've actually learnt something. So can you recommend a good dedicated media player with USB ports and on the fly dts audio conversion that would work on my LG?

    the only obvious downside of a media player - it can't play 3d blu ray discs.
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    Originally Posted by Freaz View Post

    the only obvious downside of a media player - it can't play 3d blu ray discs.
    It won't be able to play 3D MKV files either as far as I know, but I have no way to test this hypothesis. And you actually don't know that your TV will play 3D MKV files correctly either, even if you converted the audio to something it could handle.

    TVs are truly terrible for playback devices. The limitations, as you have discovered, are quite severe. There may be some BluRay 3D players that will play 3D MKV files but you'll have to check to see which ones can. There are internet forums dedicated to 3D MKV files, maybe someone there knows. We have people here who may know, but none of them have posted to this thread.
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  7. Yes, you get a Blu-ray player to play Blu-ray discs, and a media player to play media files.

    I have an LG BD670 Blu-ray player that can play MKV files (though with many limitations). I don't have any MKV files with DTS audio. If you upload a short sample I'll test it and see what happens. I'll also try it on my WDTV Live.
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Yes, you get a Blu-ray player to play Blu-ray discs, and a media player to play media files.

    I have an LG BD670 Blu-ray player that can play MKV files (though with many limitations). I don't have any MKV files with DTS audio. If you upload a short sample I'll test it and see what happens. I'll also try it on my WDTV Live.
    I don't have any samples ready, but i'll see if I can get one... I'm thinking about trying out Sony BDP-S580, it supports ntfs hdd and, supposedly, plays most mkv files, including the ones with dts audio.
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  9. For what it's worth, I found an MKV sample with DTS audio (5.1). The BD670 played it (over the network) and there was sound on the TV. The player is connected to the TV (Samsung LNT4665) with an HDMI cable. My WDTV Live played it properly too, connected (HDMI) to a small Vizio HDTV in the bedroom.
    Last edited by jagabo; 15th Feb 2012 at 19:14.
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  10. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    the bd670 here plays 3d (side-by-side) 1920x1080 mkv with dts over the network from a nas to our samsung 3d plasma just fine. the audio here is handled by a yamaha a/v 7.1 receiver not the tv though.
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  11. I got an LG 65LW6500 (65") last week. Haven't been able to test it much as yet, or even calibrate it, since I'm in the midst of remodeling a room for it as a dedicated theater.

    But maybe this will help:

    1) AFAIK, DTS is a problem for pass-through (audio out) via toslink optical cable to receiver. In that case the audio will be downconverted to PCM stereo, whereas AC3 5.1 will be passed through intact. Licensing issue I guess. On the dedicated thread about the 65LW6500 at the AVS forum (over 1,500 posts!), some have claimed to have enabled DTS pass-through via the service menu. I dunno.

    But otherwise, I suspect DTS will play fine.

    2) The TV will happily play files larger than 4 GB from an NTFS formatted thumb drive. It can play h.264 ts captures (from HD-PVR) and uncropped h.264 mkvs I made myself from BDs. So I can't speak for any odd files one might download, but there you are.

    I received an external hard drive enclosure yesterday from Newegg for a spare hard drive I have. But I haven't tested it with the TV yet. Maybe this evening.

    The in-built media player on the TV is quite good actually, I'm surprised. It respects chapter marks in mkvs, and one can use the "Magic Wand" remote with it. It even generates thumbnails for chapters. Or just click the remote to activate the cursor and click anywhere on the timeline that appears.

    ----------------

    I'll post again once I have collected the dust from the room and have put on a coat of paint. Then I can take the cover off the TV and play with it some more.

    [EDIT] I got an LG BD670 standalone player as well for 3D Blu-Rays. It works fine, although I've only played the Space Station 3D Blu-Ray on it so far. It was only ~ $125 bucks at Amazon.

    Oh yeah, I've also captured some T/B (top/bottom) 3D videos from Comcast's On Demand free HD movies. The raw transport streams play fine directly from NTFS formatted USB thumb drive on the TV, just hit the 3D button and select T/B 3D type.

    BTW, the 2D->3D conversion is rather good, giving a bit of depth, so long as you don't crank it up too far. Anything over 10 (out of 0->20) tires my eyes too much. YMMV.
    Last edited by fritzi93; 16th Feb 2012 at 04:58.
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  12. Member
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    Great feedback, thank you all! So I'm now trying to decide between Sony BDP-S580 and LG BD670, turns out both of these are the most popular players on google shopping. All of you guys prefer lg bd670 though, curious - what was your reasoning when you bought it?
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  13. I'm boycotting Sony, the evil root kit installing, hacker suing, DRM obsessed, corporation. They are usually the last to add consumer friendly options like MP3 and MKV playback in an effort to protect their media subsidiaries.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hotz
    Last edited by jagabo; 16th Feb 2012 at 11:28.
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  14. Don't forget Cinavia, that's Sony's baby as well.
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  15. Okay, the TV definitely recognizes an NTFS formatted hard drive and will play h.264 (AVC) videos in TS or MKV container, but not in M2TS. Chapters are usable in MKVs, although only up to ten chapters will appear in the chapter popup and thumbnails. Nevertheless, one can navigate all chapters with the left/right arrows.

    Audio output options in the BD670 include PCM stereo, PCM multi-channel, Primary Passthrough, and DTS Re-encode. The TV plays all audio inputs. So you're worried about DTS for nothing. *Unless* you need to feed the audio to your receiver from the audio out of the TV. My receiver can do Dolby 5.1, but doesn't have HDMI inputs, so I can't do passthrough directly from the standalone, I gotta use the TV's optical audio out. No problem, I always re-encode DTS to DD (AC3) anyway.

    Nice TV, I don't regret buying it.

    Good luck.
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    Thanks
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  17. I've got a BluRay player at my house that plays damn near everything under the sun! It plays iTunes .m4v's (just gotta change the extension to .mp4) and to my shock .Mkv's loaded with DTS-Master Audio or TrueHD tracks as the sole track (most likely playing the lossy core but still impressive). If anyone is still interested Ill look up the model number...its from samsung and was dirt cheap on sale!
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  18. nateo200

    What's the model number?

    Is there a good comparison site for Bluray player features? For example, I know that Samsung players would play MKV over LAN, but not from USB, and won't play even DivX from DVD, only DVD Video and Bluray. I'm looking for a BD & DVD Region Free network BD player (ideally with analog 7.1 out and Cinavia free) that can play any supported in Spec file types not only from network, but also from USB NTSC drive, and from DVD-ROM & BD-ROM. Any suggestions?
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  19. I just tested my LG BD670 standalone with some 1920x1080 T/B 3D MKVs (via USB). It says resolution not supported. I'd have to make a SBS 3D MKV to test that, but aedipuss has confirmed those will play. That's odd.

    Anyway, your TV will play them alright from external hard drive.
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