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View Full Version : Media Player. Which one?



BigDave99
14-11-2006, 06:01 PM
Need some on advice on a decent media player please. Looked at the Archos 604 Wi Fi but the resolution is pretty poor. (480x272) Nice touchscreen though.There's a weird Rollei es1030G which will play just about everything and has a better resolution. Discounted the Creative Zen and of course the iPOD, anybody got any other suggestions. I want to spend around ?300 and play MPEG1,2,4 DivX and AVi.

Help please.

stualdo
16-11-2006, 01:16 AM
Why not have look at offer of the day

Offer of the Day - All the best discount deals from major UK retailers (http://www.offeroftheday.co.uk/index.asp)

BigDave99
16-11-2006, 03:07 PM
Thanks Stualdo, great site. I keep my eyes skinned.

wobbly
18-11-2006, 01:37 PM
Take a look at this device : Freecom (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. I have one with a 200gb drive.
It has USB/XP connectivity - so you can load up your mediafiles or use it as a std USB drive. It has a lan connection to hook it into your network or router - it can be used as a network storage device.
It also sits near your TV/Monitor and plugs into your music system and acts as a local media server - or it will suck in files across your network and play them locally. The user interface/menus are displayed on the telly and films are played on your telly/monitor/projector.
Downside is a crap/primitive GUI/interface and poor to zero playlist support when used in media player mode

Its a real shame that the other multimedia functions of the DreamBox machines are not exploted to make these devices fully functional home media centers/servers. A full functioned jukebox would be useful as well as wireless/lan operation with PDAs (remote control device) and PDA/Ipod broadcasts etc.

ssghatore
29-12-2006, 02:05 PM
you want msofts new Zune player.

It looks pretty awsome. To read up on it go here.
hxxp://www.zunescene.com/

ukstormer
24-01-2007, 11:30 AM
Do you want it portable or fixed in the house ???

soabwahott
10-02-2007, 03:18 AM
for an in home media player, not much beats an xbox with xbmc.

mac001
06-04-2007, 01:41 AM
It depends if you're looking for a mobile media player or a home player.

Portable player - I have the Archos 604 wifi you mentioned. I think the screen is fine, plays divx, mov files etc. Can browse the web and play files from a home wifi network. The web browser is very very slow but the Archos can view PDF (again very slow), photos etc.

Home media player - I have two xbox 1's with xbmc and they are great. Great quality output divx, iso, img files through the home network. Provided you have the right connectors is can also act as a upconverting DVD player to an HDTV

CaDaJa
18-04-2007, 09:12 AM
I've got the Freecom 35 - it's pretty good.

I use it as both a standalone player and to stream across the network direct from my PC. Works great in both environments. Freecom also give you NDAS software for it and provide the write code free of charge (many don't) which means you can access it is a network drive (if you want to use some of the storage for a network backup maybe) or simply update the files on it without having to connect via USB.

Downsides are:
1) Rubbish interface (missing some basic things for me like you cannot move or delete a file without having a PC connection (all the more reason for getting a networked player)
2) Really limited support for playlists
3) No random function for mp3 playback.

All in all it's prett good though.

yamaR1
22-04-2007, 12:58 AM
Freecom 35,, spot on.

arron26
17-04-2008, 09:04 PM
Yeah iv heard the freecom 35 is meant to be really good.

sifurlong
18-04-2008, 09:52 AM
Not to sure about Portbale media players, though have heard plenty of good things about Archos players.
However if you are after a home media center/player look no further than a popcorn hour network media tank. The box doesnt come with a hard drive built in but it does take standard PATA (IDE) hard drives.

Check here for more information (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. They can play back all kinds of files including .ts .vob .iso .mkv .avi (divx/xvid) and plenty more.
Also it has a built in torrent server, a built in media server that can be accessed by any media streamer and indeed by a PC over the Internet. It also a media portal for viewing youtube etc on your tv and has built in Samba server and FTP server.

I have just bought one of these and cant praise it highly enough.
The only downside is there is a bit of a wait for these (2 months) but believe me it is worth the wait.

k13
11-05-2008, 02:41 PM
i have Mvix MX-780HD. its a Wireless Hi-Definition Media Player w/HDMI.

MvixUSA : Revolutionizing Portable Entertainment : Mvix Wireless Hi-Definition Media Player w/HDMI MX-780HD (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. i bought one from ebay for about ?180 including delivery. there normally about ?250+. and its great. connect wirelessly to my pc and watch movies from it. plays every format there is. takes sata and ide hard drives. ive got 1TB sata hard drive in there and it works perfectly. plays movies, music, photos.

there is also something called mp5 hdd player on ebay. its just an external frame with video outputs which means you simply install 2.5" hard drive in there and you can watch movies or play music or view photos on to your tv.
the one i have can support sata and ide hard drives. ive bought one for me uncle for an external hard drive storage and with that extra feature of video output he can watch movies on his tv by just simply connecting power cable and the 3 yellow white n red cables to it. it also has usb port to it so you can connect another usb storage to it i.e, mp3 player or pc. and that cost me about ?50 from ebay you get remote control and the player itself including other wires but then the pricey bit was my 400gb sata hard drive which was about ?100.