PC Peripherals Cheap download rig + HD media player

[spacenoxx]

At the outset let me say that, what I am suggesting is not exactly ground braking or anything as such.

I was in the same dilemma where I needed a download rig and also an HD media player that could play most media types including HD content (and may be even bitstream HD Audio). In fact the moment you consider HD Audio you are left with very few choices that don't cost a bomb.

Network Media Tank aka Popcorn Hour/ HDX1000

Based on Sigma SMP8635 chipset, these devices are capable of playing just about any Audio/Video format you can think of. Unlike the WD HD Media player (which is based on a similar but slightly inferior chipset), they are capable of LAN/WiFi which gives them capabilities to play Youtube, Internet Radio directly from Internet. Can play files from shared folders on your PC. Most importantly they have a built-in TORRENT client which can be used to do all you downloading. No need for yoru PC to be on 24/7 to do you downloading when something like an NMT can do all while consuming far less power. You would need a (sata/e-sata)HDD or a USB stick to do the downloading as they don't come with any storage devices.

There are quite a few based on this chipset. For more info, please visit:
Products - NMTWiki

I ordered a Kaiboer K100 via KMD and he quoted me a price of 12k shipped. approx. 4.5K more than the WD Media Player but you get so much more and saves so much in electricity bills.

Specs:

Specification :

Connectivity

* Bonjour
* UPnP SSDP
* UPnP AV
* Windows Media Connect
* Windows Media Player NSS
* SMB
* NFS
* HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal, Llink, GB-PVR
* BitTorrent P2P
* NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

* Video : YouTube, Veoh, Videocast, DLTV, Cranky Geeks, Bliptv, PodfinderUK, Vuze, Break Podcast, Revision 3, CNN The Larry King Podcast, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, The CNN Daily, CNN In Case You Missed It , NBC Meet The Press, NBC Today, CBS Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, Mevio
* Audio : Live365 Radio, iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, BBC Podcast, CNN News , Indiefeed, Jamendo
* Photo : Flickr, Picasaweb
* RSS feed : Bloglines, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo Traffic Alerts, Traffic Condition, Cinecast, Yahoo! News, MSNBC News
* Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV
* Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Media files supported

* Video containers:
o MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
o MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
o MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
o VOB
o AVI, ASF, WMV
o Matroska (MKV)
o MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
* Video codecs:
o XVID SD/HD
o MPEG-1
o MPEG-2
+ MP@HL
o MPEG-4.2
+ ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
o WMV9
+ MP@HL
o H.264
+ BP@L3
+ MP@L4.0
+ HP@L4.0
+ HP@L4.1
o VC-1
+ MP@HL
+ AP@L3
* Audio containers:
o AAC, M4A
o MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
o WAV
o WMA
o FLAC
o OGG
* Audio codecs:
o Dolby Digital
o DTS
o WMA, WMA Pro
o AAC
o MP1, MP2, MP3
o LPCM
o FLAC
o Vorbis
* Audio pass through : DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus
* Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
* Other formats: ISO, IFO
* Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA

DRM

* Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Chipset

* Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory

* 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video outputs

* HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p)
* Component Video (up to 1080p)
* S-Video
* Composite Video
* Stereo Analog Audio
* S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio

Interface

* 1x USB 2.0 slave
* 2x USB 2.0 host (placed at front and back panel each)
* SATA
* Hardware Reset Button

Network

* Ethernet 10/100

Power

* 12V DC, 3A

 

[m0h1t]

A friend just bought A-110, shipped directly from china for ~12.5k.
But I remember him complaining about DHL (I think) got some duty levied of about 2k on it.

I'm planning to buy the WD 500gb world edition soon.
Had I had 6k more i would have picked it up.

and dude by no means 10-12k is cheap :S

 

[spacenoxx]

A friend just bought A-110, shipped directly from china for ~12.5k.
But I remember him complaining about DHL (I think) got some duty levied of about 2k on it.

I'm planning to buy the WD 500gb world edition soon.
Had I had 6k more i would have picked it up.

and dude by no means 10-12k is cheap :S

Thats why KMD zindabad. No custom headaches. Even though it would end up being the same for an A-110 from KMD, its tension free. Also thats why I opted for the Kaiboer becuase it comes out to be cheaper by almost 2.5K for more or less the same thing.

For any HTPC capable of doing HD, I think it would cost that much easily or even more. Its like the same old PC vs Console kind of debate. If you have a limited budget that should do HD Video as well as Audio play then an NMT is hard to beat.

Consider this:

1. Any Mobo that also has an HDMI as well as SPDIF/Optical out would easily be 5K+ (lets not even consider HD Audio as at this point there arent many except for some Intel based that can bitstream DTS-MA)

2. Some CPU + 1G RAM = 3k+

3. Some PSU + Some Casing = 2.5K+

4. MCE Remote + IR Blaster = 1.5K+

At the end of all this you just might be close to what an NMT costs but it usually costs a lot more and may not look as elegant. So you usually end up spending a lot more cause when you go the HTPC route, there is just no end to it. And finally, you need to remember that it has to run 24/7 for your downloading. a PC would eventually cost a lot more when u calculate the power consumption.

 

[delhiboy1000]

I think the Nvidia ION is worth waiting!!