Media Player/Streamer : Buying Decision 2012

C

cbrcoder

Disciple
Hi,

I did find some old discussions on the forum about this, but nothing that is recent. Hence I am starting a new thread... Admin if you feel it's repost - please feel free to merge it.

So I am looking a decent media player/streamer to go with my NAS (Synology DS212j). It must support full HD and must have built in Wifi as I don't have Ethernet cables concealed near my TV. I do have 300 Mbps Wireless, so speed should not be an issue in streaming full HD files ?

Question is which one, I would like support of common formats. Specially Matroska format. Also I need subtitle support.

Please suggest a good alternative... Budget 5-6k. I have shortlisted WD Streaming Media Player from US but it's going to be like $150 including shipping and duty. Thought I will love to have a cheaper option!
 
Sorry but I couldn't wait and I ordered WD TV Live Streaming Player from Amazon with Custom and Shipping it's $130 total which I thought is a good deal. ETA is 26th March (4 days from Shipping date, shipped via DHL). This model in India still sells for 9000/- (letsbuy) . I can't understand the logic of that
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You made a fine choice. I was planinng to buy the same from ebay - was once 5.5k, but now its ~ 6.5k. You could have tried that, after using coupons etc.

I've shelfed my plan.. cash crunch
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.. and am planning to use XMBC on my old unused desktop PC!
 
yeah.. the WD TV live is one of the best HD players available. It has got minimal startup time, and even full HD files play without tearing.. all the formats will work except .wma and .wmv.. both windows media formats are not supported. but you can always look for firmware updates on their site.. i updated my firmware and even the matroska files started playing better..
 
cbrcoder said:
@puneetritehere . I ordered new model. It specifically says it supports WMV. Here's the amazon link : http://www.amazon.co...s00_i00_details

For a second I got scared! But they explicitly say WMV works. More on this when I get my hands on it on Monday
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Click to expand...

oh.. then its fine.. then i guess even i will able to find a firmware upgrade for my player so that it supports more formats.. will check it when i get back from work..
 
Guys just updating the thread, I received it from Amazon in 4 days! This is just awesome piece of hardware. Plays everything I threw at it : WMV, RMVB, AVI(XVID), FLV, MP4, MOV, MKV etc. I was able to play everything of network share wirelessly.
 
cbrcoder said:
Guys just updating the thread, I received it from Amazon in 4 days! This is just awesome piece of hardware. Plays everything I threw at it : WMV, RMVB, AVI(XVID), FLV, MP4, MOV, MKV etc. I was able to play everything of network share wirelessly.
Click to expand...

How is the wireless HD performance?

Which version of wifi are you using?

Amazon shipped it to India?
 
@mjumrani

How is the wireless HD performance?

Ans - Awesome, able to stream 720p easy with ASUS N13U/B ->Shared network drive. Big MKV (4GB+) does have occasional stutter while it tries to buffer. I think that is because of ASUS Router's USB sharing speed. But If I stream from Windows Server Network Share, those big MKV plays just fine.

Which version of wifi are you using?

Ans - ASUS RTN13U/B . I guess it's 300MBPS wifi router.

Amazon shipped it to India?

Ans - Yep, and that too received in 4 days flat via DHL! In all it cost me $130 including shipping and Duty, that's still pretty low compared to Indian retailers like letsbuy.
 
cbrcoder said:
@mjumrani

How is the wireless HD performance?

Ans - Awesome, able to stream 720p easy with ASUS N13U/B ->Shared network drive. Big MKV (4GB+) does have occasional stutter while it tries to buffer. I think that is because of ASUS Router's USB sharing speed. But If I stream from Windows Server Network Share, those big MKV plays just fine.

Which version of wifi are you using?

Ans - ASUS RTN13U/B . I guess it's 300MBPS wifi router.

Amazon shipped it to India?

Ans - Yep, and that too received in 4 days flat via DHL! In all it cost me $130 including shipping and Duty, that's still pretty low compared to Indian retailers like letsbuy.
Click to expand...

What about warranty?

$130 comes out to be around 6500 going by current rate, add to that the inflated rate that Banks/Paypal use, it goes to 7000.

Ill see if I should get it but at that price there are other contenders,

Asus O!Play Air HDP-R3

Asus O!Play HD2 (Lacks Wifi but does have NAS abilities, not sure about P2P)

The same model that you ought costs 7799 on ebay which with a coupon should be 7.2K (I hope)

@all Which option do you think is best?
 
Did you looked at AC Ryan PlayON Series ? I have PlayOn Mini 2 and it plays every format except ogg and it plays all 1080p movies on Wifi without a single hiccup the only place where PlayOn suffers is ogg
 
@mjumrani I researched extensively and found WD TV Live to be the best. It completed all my requirements. For instance : Subtitle is a killer feature for me. WD TV Live does have manual adjustment to delay or speed up subtitles (pretty common errors in torrents). Lip Sync can correct Audio for the files if it's not synced correctly. Ability to play youtube is also a needed feature (Youtube charges few million to be able to be used on these devices, so do check for eg, I don't know if ASUS supports it).

Small things like these, I could confirm for WD TV, but there was no way to find if ASUS or any other device will fulfill my requirements. Regarding warranty, yes WD says "Out of Region" but then again, I don't want to pay extra 2500 bucks for contingency which doesn't arrive for 6 months on any of the devices I have bought so far.

@dinjo this plays all 1080p mkv just fine. Just not over USB share from ASUS because even if I copy files from USB share of ASUS, I get just 3 MB/sec. It plays MKV just fine over Windows 2008 share. This is primary reason why I am selling ASUS router and will be replacing it with Gigabit enabled Router + Synology DS212 NAS.
 
The Roku2 XS player seems to provide similar (and more) capabilities than the WD TV. But can anyone share info on whether USB playing and YouTube (not the US-specific channels) works in India without going through the pain of VPN?
 
ityogi said:
The Roku2 XS player seems to provide similar (and more) capabilities than the WD TV. But can anyone share info on whether USB playing and YouTube (not the US-specific channels) works in India without going through the pain of VPN?
Click to expand...

More capabilities is in terms of supporting apps for streaming websites, for local content WD is better.

Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk
 
antz123 said:
got my self also a WD TV Live

http://wdc.com/en/pr...cts.aspx?id=330

played 720p MKV with no issue, online radios, comedy channel, you tube, runs smooth.

for 7.3K i think its a good deal.

Have built in wifi but didnt get chance to try. My TV and modem near by so plugged in presently with a lan wire
Click to expand...

dantool said:
#[member='antz123'] me too got the same. total cost 4900 ( imported from US) . do you have pandora under your services?
Click to expand...
thats one amazing device.

Have you guys hacked it yet ? If not, head over to http://b-rad.cc/wdlxtv-live/ for custom firmwares and optware, it can do a lot more than just streaming
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I had my wdlive as my download rig.
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