Best HD Media player in the market?

[hearthrob]

Yoh, I'm looking to buy a media player that can play HD movies. Any advices which is the current best player in the market? Any website that does some sort of comparison? Thanks!

Found a few:
- WD TV Live: WD TV Overview (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30)
- Asus O!Play HDP-R1: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=sPkRGUeRrpiVYl5K&templete=2)

[classyboy]

There are no websites that I know of, that compare. I am aware of three players in the market:
1. WD HD media player. Please see:
http://www.sb-innovation.de/showthread.php?threadid=14709

2. Popcorn Hour HD media plaer. This is also excellent, though about 100$ costlier. The advantage is, it has 5.1 Digital sound output.

3. ASUS media player launched recently. ASUS is always associated with quality, so I guess this must be good, though I haven't seen the reviews yet. This one, like WD, has only 2 channel output.

I have a 32" LCD Sony Bravia, and BRRips look great, almost as good as BluRay, believe me. I usually download the 720p BRRips by Vision and other groups.

[hearthrob]

Thanks Classyboy for the info. I've decided to go with the Popcorn media player since it has the 5.1 digital sound output. :wink:

[mumbalaya]

hearthrob if you are interested I would suggest building a custom htpc instead of a hd media player because format support varies and while a version of popcorn hour can download torrents it does not hold a candle to an htpc which can download and sort stuff for you and you can use WMCE or boxee as a frontend and get youtube etc as well

[RUBBER]

i have WDTV 1 generation and belive me is great player it can read everything only have one issue don´t read DTS :rolleyes: but the new version can read DTS :biggrin:

for me the best is Popcorn Hour but is to much many



I have a 32" LCD Sony Bravia, and BRRips look great, almost as good as BluRay, believe me. I usually download the 720p BRRips by Vision and other groups.

Vision rips usualy are oversharpened :top: if you want good rips whit smaller size go to ITS or emule they have great encoders :klatsch_3:

[desodorante]

I own a WD TV (same as live -RJ45 jack, no DTS processing and slightly slower CPU) and I am very happy with it, it plays everything, without any skipping frames, perfectly reads most A/V codec combinations in almost any packer, and any kind of subs (like chinese).
Though I might say that I do not own a Full HD TV, nor have connected it to one, and I use the RCA jacks.
But I have seen videos, read comments and all indicates it works as a charm.
Plus there is a non-official, actively coded firmware that turns the box into almost a computer: B-RAD (http://b-rad.cc/)
I do not the other boxes but this one certainly does a very good job.
The only drawbacks I found are: the remote has no lights, and it does not properly eject some pendrives.

[tokiodrift1]

To answer the thread's question:
IMHO, the best HD media player is a selfbuild-htpc with the XBMC-Frontend.
You are able to personalize it in every way you want.
Skinning, Media-Playback, Extensions, there are no limitations.

[justfortheshu]

yep tokiodrift is right. i also got a htpc with mediaportal (my database looks sooooo sweeet) and im usin mp-hc (madvr,reclock,ffdshow). i also bought a wireless mini keyboard (mouseball integrated) and now i can handle everything from my bed haha :D

[kazuya]

Mede8er MedX500, Popcorn is only slightly better but the Price is double

But good PC with good old cables connected to Av receiver and Plasma is the best way to go...

[ciccio]

I've bought the best HDD media player ever mande! It's made in Italy, called "Medley 3".

It has all and the price is enough low too. In internet never found a HDD Media Player better than this. Bittorrent function, 1080p, registration........all.

[cueball2k2]

the popcorn hour a-200 is great but a bit pricey

[Happybudha]

I have a Asus O!Play and while it has been working pretty good from a hardware perspective, it's user interface leaves a lot to be desired. I have looked at other players and everything is missing something or another. I am now planning to get an Acer Revo with XBMC. It will play everything you throw at it, plus the software is generations ahead of anything a hardware only player can do.

[Vuze-Sbi]

Popcorn Hour HD media player. This is also excellent, though about 100$ costlier. The advantage is, it has 5.1 Digital sound output.


I recommend popcorn hour too.Picture and audio quality almost perfect, great sub options,audio connection options etc. it's really user friendly.

[Happybudha]

I thing else I would suggest before buying a media player if to visit the forums for that player either hosted by the manufacturer or something like avsforums. Here you will find the little details or fine print that is usually not show on the specs or reviews. This may also have details on your particular configuration or types of media files you prefer.

[warth]

i have a WDTV1 and it is amazing for it's price, the only problem for me is the missing of the dvd menu support.

[hontoCorti]

WDTV rocks:)
The new version can also stream over the network (although the old one can be modded to do so), but i use it with an usb stick connected on a Full HD Tv.
Works like a charm.

[Snitlev]

look on this site, he has a ranking "Which brand is the best HD Media Player in the market?"




Himedia 41 19.71%
AC Ryan (playonhd) 84 40.38%
Astone 31 14.90%
Astone 5 2.40%
Dlink 1 0.48%
AMOI 1 0.48%
Western Digital 28 13.46%
Others



http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2659336

I hope it's useful for your opinion ;-)

best regards

[Spixe]

If it's just DVDs and crap, then PowerDVD, somehow it claims to upgrade all media to HD, but who knows... but of course we are talking real HD, like BR, so in that case I'd probably go with TotalMedia Theater 3, so far I'm impressed though I've only used it for a couple months. Its seems simple, easy to use, and offers lots of features, like SPDIF playback, etc.