Divx On The Hd Tv

[nikster]

Hi All,

I want to get a media box to play my DivX files on the TV. I am currently using a DVD player with a USB port but it kinda sucks - still better than DVDs but the DVD player was certainly not made to load digital media from a USB device. It stutters and hangs when there are too many scene changes, e.g. it can't handle a high bit rate. Its not the stick, I tested that on the computer and it's easily able to sustain over 12MB/s. And its on-screen display inexplicably cuts off titles at 8 characters _and_ plays them out of order.

So I'd want to get a hard disk plus decoder that does this well. Not a computer, I have enough of those already - I want a dedicated box that does only this one thing and does it well. Preferably with HDMI output. Preferably one that can be powered over USB for easy loading. Or just a decent media box with a USB port, then I could connect any HD or the USB stick.

Does anybody here have such a box? Any recommendations?

I don't want a media center - it needs to be a small appliance which turns on / off instantly, which doesn't use much power, and which certainly doesn't have any fans in it.

Thanks for any tips!

[LivinLOS]

If you dont want to go with Ms's media center extenders (and they have limitations but they also have the best interface IMO) then..

http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/

My buddy swears by the above.. Networked media players.. DivX.. H264 in high bitrate 1080p.. FLAC.. etc etc etc..

[quiksilva]

I stream Divx movies to my xbox 360 (which also acts as a M$ media extender) using windows media player 11. Tversity is also a good piece of software that does the job admirably (and for free)

To get the best experience you'll need a PC with a decent CPU and at least an NIVIDIA 8 series graphics card.

Far more versatile than a specialist box IMHO.

Edited May 6, 2008 by quiksilva

[Tywais]

http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/

My buddy swears by the above.. Networked media players.. DivX.. H264 in high bitrate 1080p.. FLAC.. etc etc etc..

I have one and quite happy with it. Small box, put a hard drive of your size choice in it, transfer all your movies/mp3/photos to it and you're ready. The remote control works very well also. Replaced a dedicated PC with this and it is very quiet.

[nikster]

http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/

My buddy swears by the above.. Networked media players.. DivX.. H264 in high bitrate 1080p.. FLAC.. etc etc etc..

I have one and quite happy with it. Small box, put a hard drive of your size choice in it, transfer all your movies/mp3/photos to it and you're ready. The remote control works very well also. Replaced a dedicated PC with this and it is very quiet.

Thx, these look perfect. How much are the basic models in Thailand?

[Palace]

i have the Playtime HV0102 (see this link)

i got it from Panthip at about THB3.5k then mated it with a 500GB Samsung 3.5" HDD.

it plays most video formats (DivX, mp4, wmv etc), even plays DVD image files (ISO format), most audio formats (mp3, wma, aac3 etc), and picture files (jpeg).

it has 3 video outputs (component, composite and S-video), and 3 audio outputs (analog coaxial, digital optical, and analog RCA).

they have a similar model with Networking capabilities also.

they also have another model with HDMI output, but it's way too pricey for me.

you can also find in panthip or fortune mall some "generic" media players for THB2.5k or less.

Edited May 7, 2008 by Palace

[Smithson]

I bought a 'generic' box more than a year ago. It was 3K, without the hard drive. It has a fan, remote and plays most files, but it has trouble with some and hangs sometimes. I also have the DivX DVD player, it's reliable, but doesn't have the USB port.

It's been great in a lot of ways, but has it's limitations and is a bit 'tinny'.

IMO the best bet is a computer hooked to the TV. If you can get 2nd one that's great, but even a new one could probably be done for under 10K, because you don't need the monitor and other hardware normally necessary.

The biggest problem with the boxes is they're not future proof and you don't know if they'll support all the codecs for AVI files. It's a real pain when you download something but can't watch it.

[LivinLOS]

Thats why the tvix box is so liked.. Not only is it playing everything hes thrown at it, they even came out with a super rapid firmware update for some rarely used hidef codec..

Plays h264 in 1080p with multi channel audio.. All the high end stuff..

[Tywais]

Thats why the tvix box is so liked.. Not only is it playing everything hes thrown at it, they even came out with a super rapid firmware update for some rarely used hidef codec..

Plays h264 in 1080p with multi channel audio.. All the high end stuff..

As LivinLOS says, it can be upgraded through firmware so future proofing is effectively there. I've played 720 and DVDs in ISO format and haven't had a movie not play on it yet. I use the DVI direct to my Plasma and works great. The device comes with software that will scan the files on the tvix box and verify if it is supported and can convert if not.

For me the size, convenience and quiet operation made it well worth the purchase. I bought it to get rid of the dedicated computer I was using which occupied a large chunk of floor space next to the Plasma TV. And to add IR remote to the PC plus media center software would cost a fair amount .

[LivinLOS]

Do you have Thai pricing ??

[Tywais]

Do you have Thai pricing ??

I spent a lot of time trying to locate a place offering them in Thailand and ended up ordering from the US for about $224.00 (<8000 Baht). Of course a few days later I did find a site but the model they had was around 14,000 Baht but of course don't know where that site is now. The representative site in Thailand is http://www.mrzstandard.com/electric_locator.asp?regionID=2 and apparently have a shop in Paragon.

[bkk_mike]

You can always get an Xbox360 or a PS3, and use those as media extenders. - although if the files are large, you shouldn't rely on the wifi connections to the file server, you may need to actually run an ethernet cable.

Things you may need.

Windows Home Server, or TVersity (if you need to stream the media rather than the PS3/Xbox playing it directly)

[LivinLOS]

I use 360 nodes.. and love the MCE interface for everything.. One remote for TV, DVD, Music, all my album art, etc etc looks dam_n cool and looks the same on each location.

But.. Its a closed microsoft system.. The lack of h264 hidef stuff is annoying.. The lack of ripped DVD's support (VIDEO_TS), the lack of ability to play a disk in the server.. Just silly little MS type niggles, that could be so much better.

[nikster]

Hmm... I just thought ideally I would get an AppleTV box but without all the stupid limitations. Turns out it can be done ... http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/10/how-to-...-your-apple-tv/

There's nice software to transfer files to the AppleTV too...

AppleTV is $229, has a beautiful user interface, and there will always be codecs as it's just OS X running on there. It has HDMI. I am looking into this some more... will report back when/if it works.

What's the advantage over a more expensive, very large, and very loud cheapo PC with extra remote, you ask? That. And it's pretty, too

Update: A friend just told me another option - leave the AppleTV un-hacked, and use http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/ to convert the DivX files to formats AppleTV can understand. This is getting more and more interesting.

Edited May 8, 2008 by nikster

[LivinLOS]

Conversion is a pain in the ass.. Try re-encoding 1080p Hidef with multichannel audio.. sync issues, also quality issues..

Just looked at the links.. Beware anything that claims "Fit up to 18 hours of video on one DVD. Play it in any standalone DVD player."

Also the apple stuff.. Look far more closed system that the 360.. At least with 360 I can just run trasncode 360 on the PC in the network and it streams any format to the box.. transcoding live hidef tho.. thats grunt work.

You say any codecs will be available.. Does it support h264 natively ?? Thats the only thing 360 really fails at big time (that and gapless MP3 playback). Plus the 360 running MCE looks FAR nicer than either of those UI's.. The eye candy is addictive.

[nikster]

Conversion is a pain in the ass.. Try re-encoding 1080p Hidef with multichannel audio.. sync issues, also quality issues..

Just looked at the links.. Beware anything that claims "Fit up to 18 hours of video on one DVD. Play it in any standalone DVD player."

Also the apple stuff.. Look far more closed system that the 360.. At least with 360 I can just run trasncode 360 on the PC in the network and it streams any format to the box.. transcoding live hidef tho.. thats grunt work.

You say any codecs will be available.. Does it support h264 natively ?? Thats the only thing 360 really fails at big time (that and gapless MP3 playback). Plus the 360 running MCE looks FAR nicer than either of those UI's.. The eye candy is addictive.

@Conversion - depends. Until I am actually able to download full length 1080p movies I won't worry. These must be huge right? In any case, I agree that conversion is always a pain, so I am more inclined to just do the hacking.

Hmmm.... I just see that AppleTV seems to support only 720p, and not 1080p Bummer. Only drawback I see so far.

@360 - but the 360 also needs to be hacked to support playing all files right? And it's a lot more expensive... Not looking for a game console at this time either

AppleTV supports H264 native.

The way I understood the hack is that it simply installs a few more codecs onto the AppleTV. That's it.

@GUI: If there's one thing you can trust Apple to do it's creating a beautiful and functional user interface. For me that's a large part of the reason to get AppleTV vs. some other box. FrontRow is very pretty... my DVD player is a perfect example how crappy even a large corporation like Pioneer can make such an interface:

- Displays all file names truncated to 8 characters so you have no clue what is what

- Displays files in random order so you can't even take a guess

- Will play all files, one after the other, but it's less than useful because of the random order thing....

- No FFWD / FBWD - looks like it's doing 2x but in reality it depends on the bit rate

[LivinLOS]

Conversion is a pain in the ass.. Try re-encoding 1080p Hidef with multichannel audio.. sync issues, also quality issues..

Just looked at the links.. Beware anything that claims "Fit up to 18 hours of video on one DVD. Play it in any standalone DVD player."

Also the apple stuff.. Look far more closed system that the 360.. At least with 360 I can just run trasncode 360 on the PC in the network and it streams any format to the box.. transcoding live hidef tho.. thats grunt work.

You say any codecs will be available.. Does it support h264 natively ?? Thats the only thing 360 really fails at big time (that and gapless MP3 playback). Plus the 360 running MCE looks FAR nicer than either of those UI's.. The eye candy is addictive.

@Conversion - depends. Until I am actually able to download full length 1080p movies I won't worry. These must be huge right? In any case, I agree that conversion is always a pain, so I am more inclined to just do the hacking.

Hmmm.... I just see that AppleTV seems to support only 720p, and not 1080p Bummer. Only drawback I see so far.

I DL 1080p BluRay rips in H264.. +- 10 GB

@360 - but the 360 also needs to be hacked to support playing all files right? And it's a lot more expensive... Not looking for a game console at this time either

xbox360 can be 9k baht.. You can get these boxes cheaper than 9k baht in Thailand ??

And 360 plays MPEG2 DivX XVid WMV etc... Just MPEG4 and H264 where its a bit iffy, doesnt play the multi channel well on these.

AppleTV supports H264 native.

Really ??? I thought it only handled the low bitrate stuff not the MP@HL hidef stuff..

@GUI: If there's one thing you can trust Apple to do it's creating a beautiful and functional user interface. For me that's a large part of the reason to get AppleTV vs. some other box.

Have you played with a well set up MCE interface ?? Looks like it pees from a great height over the fairly plain static looking menu system pictured for the apple box.. I would have to look at an apple TV box but dont they have nice interface features like cover flow on the Apple TV ?? (not pictured in the link)..

[LivinLOS]

OK just looking online.. It doesnt support H264 fully..

[lor]

I have used many media centres but surprisingly the best I have found for playing DIVX is the new DIVX connected set top units that have started to appear. D-Link make one. However you can download the same software to your computer from the DIVX website. It comes in two parts. First is the server side, where you specify the directories to be shared. Then you have the Media Centre PC client itself.

When I first installed it I expected it to be a bit like the Xbox360 or Media Portal but it was much better and easier to use. I run it on the PC and have the output on my large LCD TV. I picked up a Microsoft Remote and USB Infra Red receiver for it at a computer fair in England for 10 pound. The remote and the DIVX PC client work together perfectly. But for the poster the D-Link DIVX connected settop box may be what he needs.

Chris

[nikster]

OK just looking online.. It doesnt support H264 fully..

What do you mean by that? The spec sheet says H264. So I kinda thought that's that. Or do you mean no 1080p support? Is there anything else I need to know about H264?

I would be surprised if it's not supported fully because H264 is the format of choice for QuickTime so I'd kinda think they would support it "fully".

thanks..

[LivinLOS]

From what I saw it only supported h264 in low def and low bitrate..

h264 MP@HL tends to need a lot of power (core duo type processing in a PC system) or expensive silicon.. I dont have an appleTV but the specs were listing max bitrates max resolution (pretty low also)..

I will say I looked at some videos of the interface and it was much better in moving images than it looked in the stills, but its still much plainer IMO than the MCE interface. Also apple being apple, customization seems to be nil.. I know MS isnt exactly a paragon of standards but communities like the green button have lots you can tweak and modify.

[grtaylor]

i have the Playtime HV0102 (see this link)

i got it from Panthip at about THB3.5k then mated it with a 500GB Samsung 3.5" HDD.

it plays most video formats (DivX, mp4, wmv etc), even plays DVD image files (ISO format), most audio formats (mp3, wma, aac3 etc), and picture files (jpeg).

it has 3 video outputs (component, composite and S-video), and 3 audio outputs (analog coaxial, digital optical, and analog RCA).

they have a similar model with Networking capabilities also.

they also have another model with HDMI output, but it's way too pricey for me.

you can also find in panthip or fortune mall some "generic" media players for THB2.5k or less.

Just bought the Play Time HV0103 at Fortune Town this afternoon, with a 500Gb hard disk. Its similar to the one you mention but in addition has DVI output, a USB port and a LAN port. Price 4,500 plus hard disk 3,190. Seems to play just about every format available now, and there are firmware updates.

Haven't really had chance to play with it yet, but I'll report back when I have!

G

Edited May 11, 2008 by grtaylor

[nikster]

Here's what you need to make the Apple TV into a "play anything" box, and also add some web capabilities to it:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/23/atv-fla...-your-apple-tv/

It's a USB stick that provides plug and play hacks for AppleTV.

Costs $60 which seems like a good deal to me if it saves me hours and hours hacking. This puts the price of a hacked AppleTV pretty much at $300. It comes with a hard drive but it's still a bit steep.

I have also confirmed with a friend that you can then manage the content on the AppleTV from iTunes, so you can choose what's sent to the AppleTV. ITs then cached on the AppleTV's (small-ish) HD. The idea of live streaming data to the TV is not appealing to me at all - too gimmicky. First, something might go wrong if the bit rate is high, second you need 802.11n wifi to make it work, third I don't want to have my computer on in order to watch a movie, fourth even if it's on i would likely rather have it do something else. Maybe it would make sense with a desktop that's always on, but not with a laptop that, at any time, can be folded up and put in a backpack ("honey, i am going to the cafe. you'll have to watch that later").

Thx for the update on the Play Time - does it do H.264?

I still have not made an investment, in part because Apple TV seems to be ridiculously overpriced in Thailand. I found one for over $400, whereas it's $230 in the U.S....

[kdf]

i have the Playtime HV0102 (see this link)

i got it from Panthip at about THB3.5k then mated it with a 500GB Samsung 3.5" HDD.

it plays most video formats (DivX, mp4, wmv etc), even plays DVD image files (ISO format), most audio formats (mp3, wma, aac3 etc), and picture files (jpeg).

it has 3 video outputs (component, composite and S-video), and 3 audio outputs (analog coaxial, digital optical, and analog RCA).

they have a similar model with Networking capabilities also.

they also have another model with HDMI output, but it's way too pricey for me.

you can also find in panthip or fortune mall some "generic" media players for THB2.5k or less.

Palace,

sounds interesting, but I do not hav a pantip in Pattaya that I know of. HDMI out is my preference and if/when blue ray is around I will need a transfer method for that. What copression software do folks use and how does it compare to full dvd resolution?

thanks

kdf

[kdf]

Thanks for all the responses. Unfortunately my knowledge base is insufficient in this area to understand all the suggestions. My goal is to put as full resolution dvd's as possible on a hard drive for viewing over hdmi on my 46 1080p lcd.

Future proofing for blue ray hd films would be nice, but I understand it may not yet be feasible.

thanks for any and all suggestions.

kdf

[Palace]

KDF, try TukCom in south pattaya. i think one of the stores there has it.

you can save an image of a DVD as and ISO file. the software in that gadget can read it and will show it in the original resolution of the DVD.

if you want HDMI, get the premium model. it's gonna cost you more though.

[Tywais]

you can save an image of a DVD as and ISO file.

That's what I do with my DVDs also. Create an ISO of the DVD and copy it to my media jukebox. Everything is then exactly the same as the original. Of course, there is no compression involved and the ISO file will be as big as the DVD (very slightly bigger due to header information overhead). If space is a concern, then probably DiVX compression or H.264. H.264 compression

[Prasert]

Been looking for something like this. Simple box, connect a TV to it, plug a network cable into it and play divx (and other) content from a network share. None of the boxes commercially available support playing content from the network.

I'm probably gonna build one myself. Mini size mainboard, linux version on a CF card with Freevo.

[Tywais]

None of the boxes commercially available support playing content from the network.

The TviX box I have does support playing from a network share. Actually several brands/models can unless you mean the low cost ones found in Thailand. Can even get a WIFI option to do it wirelessly to a shared computer.

[nikster]

The high end ones boxes and the AppleTV support streaming over WiFi.

Co-incidentally I just checked out a few boxes on a trip to Singapore, all Korean made models. The "mobile" version was downright cheap at BHT 5000, but no HDMI out and no H264 and only 1080i. The high end had WiFi and network streaming and HDMI for BHT 12,500. It also supported 1080p. However, no H264. The lady explained that the current chipset used in these didn't do H264 but the next one would. This seems a bit of a problem with all these devices - there is no upgrade path. They have special hardware decoder chips which means they're fast and cheap - but forget about software upgrades.

Exception AppleTV, though that may have the problem that the processor is simply not fast enough to do 1080p.

My cunning plan of course was to get an AppleTV in Singapore, close to the U.S. street price of $225. I have already obtained the patch stick so hacking it would be a piece of cake, just put the patch stick software on a cheapo USB stick. The problem: Stores don't have the AppleTV and in the online-store it's over USD 400! Pretty much the same price as in Thailand.

That makes me think $225 is a kind of subsidized price that Apple hopes to recoup via market share or iTunes movie sales, and in markets that don't have iTunes, AppleTV is expensive. Either way I wasn't prepared to overpay like this so I still have nothing.

The Korean models were OK - user interface all right, performance good too. But... the big model seemed too expensive and physically large, the small one too limited... and none of them seemed to be designed like a living room appliance. In other words - too ugly