Need a device with optical drive that plays all kinds of media files on TV.

[digicube]

Does a commercial player that can read DVD-R/BD-R and play all kinds of media files on a TV exists? Like MKV with subtitle files, srt, ass. With analog video connections and HDMI.

[lingyi]

You may be able to use a Raspberry Pi with Kodi and an external optical drive. More expensive, but guaranteed to work would be a NUC, a cheap laptop or a cheap PC. Analog out is the issue with anything available today. No new devices support analog natively. You'd have to use an HDMI or VGA to analog converter, losing quality.

[Tom Saurus]

I bought one of these a few years back and I am pleased with it; it would be useful for the analog output part. However it doesn't play .h265 files and I have not found it much use in respecting chapters and subtitles.

https://www.amazon.ca/AGPtek-Full-HD-Digital-Player-Drives/dp/B00TOAAHG4/ref=asc_df_B0...05751471&psc=1

There are Blu Ray Players that can play various media files.

You have some great advice already from lingyi. I hope you find a device that does everything you want at an affordable price.

[usually_quiet]

The rather expensive unlicensed hardware Blu-ray player/media file player combos from Dune and similar companies seem to have disappeared from the market. All your remaining options are explained in the earlier replies in this thread, although they don't natively provide analog outputs suitable for use with consumer electronics.

If you need HEVC support, some UHD Blu-ray players play media files, including mkv (with limitations on encoding parameters) and a limited selection of subtitle formats. Example from LG UBK90 manual attached below.

[Attachment 54026 - Click to enlarge]

[digicube]

Thanks. Looks like my best option is SBC (single board computer) + external optical drive + HDMI to analog converter. Hope it costs around $100.

[orsetto]

Older BluRay players are often the best bet if you absolutely must have standard analog output along with HDMI. Compared to the various "media players" and HDMI>analog converters I've tried, you're much less likely to encounter dealbreakers like incorrect video IRE levels, muddy analog video and audio glitches. The drawback is BR players with analog jacks are all old now and were not built to last, so finding one in good shape can be difficult. Also, if you want the latest BluRay compatibility, UHD, 265/HVEC: forget it, they can't do any of that.

OTOH, output via HDMI is great and the analog output conversion is extremely clean vs what you'd get from a typical "media player" or add-on HDMI>analog converter. I've been happy with a circa-2012 LG BP320 for several years now: other than a couple stray oddball files, its been very compatible with most AVI, MP4, MKV, MPG played via USB memory stick or data disc. It usually senses and displays the correct code sets for any exotic embedded subtitles, and will reliably pick up separate SRT files in the usual way (stored in same folder and uses same title as the related video file). Occasionally I need to run an SRT thru a subtitle cleaning app before the LG will recognize it: no big deal, I've just made it a habit to do this with every new SRT. The only thing I really dislike is the inability to search an MKV at very high speed, or reverse search an MKV at all (AVI, MP4 and MPG will do this but MKV seems limited to medium-speed fwd search only).

[rip-it6817]

I have a sony player with USB input that plays all those formats