Multimedia Player - Have You Got One - Getting One ?

[ThaiLife]

I normally burn my downloaded movies to DVD's or put them on a thumb drive , the DVD option is time consuming and the USB option does not all way's give good results , I thought I would ask you guy's if you have a Multimedia Player or thinking of getting one , to let us have your personal thoughts comments or advice . It seems this type of Gadget is gaining in popularity and more seem to be coming on to the market. I know there's been a few post all ready about this and ive posted One but I thought if we could put them all in One place to get a better idea just whats available and what you think. The only Multimedia Player ive seen so far at my local IT mall was a Western Digital unit, but the sales Guy did not know much about it , and I forgot to get the model number.

Thanks

TL

[d0ndela]

Western Digital only have two models. One with HD and one without. The downside for both those models is that they only support USB and not LAN.

I myself don't have one, but I am getting one as soon as I get some dineros to spend. I'm pretty sure I will go for the new A.C.Ryan Playon!HD box. It costs about 1000 baht more than the WD HD TV, but it comes with LAN support, internal SATA HDD slot and can act as a NAS server e.g. download torrents. I already have a Buffalo Quad Station NAS, but I just like the A.C.Ryan model better than the WD one so far.

Then there are the egreat and other more "unknown" brands, I don't think I will go for one of those as I have other A.C.Ryan products and are very pleased with those so far.

[Spoonman]

I use windows media player on my Xbox, stream movies/tv shows/music over the wifi from my PC.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Spoonman

[ThaiLife]

Thanks Guy's , A.C Ryan is not a brand Ive heard of before, are they available in Thailand ?

TL

[thaimite]

I normally burn my downloaded movies to DVD's or put them on a thumb drive , the DVD option is time consuming and the USB option does not all way's give good results , I thought I would ask you guy's if you have a Multimedia Player or thinking of getting one , to let us have your personal thoughts comments or advice . It seems this type of Gadget is gaining in popularity and more seem to be coming on to the market. I know there's been a few post all ready about this and ive posted One but I thought if we could put them all in One place to get a better idea just whats available and what you think. The only Multimedia Player ive seen so far at my local IT mall was a Western Digital unit, but the sales Guy did not know much about it , and I forgot to get the model number.

Thanks

TL

I use a Popcorn Hour A100 and a TVIX5100, both of which can stream content from my home NAS server (Buffalo Terrastation) Both units are a few years old now, and both have their advantages. and disadvantages.

The purpose of this post is not to recomend either unit (if I was buying now I would not buy either model), but to give you some guidance of what to look for and what the end result can give you if you want to spend the time.

For the TVIX I like the "Out-of the box" GUI and its support for idx-sub subtitles on the Thai DVD's I rip. However it is not very customisable and does not support Thai SRT or SSA format subtitles from Thai subtitlkes.com.

To display my movies on this unit I use this program This scans the drive for movies and automatically gets all the details and provides a nice GUI.

The Popcorn hour A100 which is one of their older models is very customisable for the Skins and I use the My Lil Jukebox program for skinning which gives me the ability to search for movies by name, genre or age as well as full movie information. However unlike the other jukebox it replies on me entering the movie details in to a 3rd party database and is a lot more work, but a much better end result. However The Popcoorn Hour A100 does support the SRT and SSA format that is provided by thaisubtitles.com but does not support the idx-srt format format most DVD ripping software (For there Thai language) outputs all this is promised in a future upgrade.

Before you buy anything I would suggest a read of this forum. The new Popcorn Hour C200 has a lot of good features, but also has a lot of bad press for the bugs in the first models just coming off the production line.

Another good site for information is http://www.avsforum.com/

Hope this all helps.

[ThaiLife]

I normally burn my downloaded movies to DVD's or put them on a thumb drive , the DVD option is time consuming and the USB option does not all way's give good results , I thought I would ask you guy's if you have a Multimedia Player or thinking of getting one , to let us have your personal thoughts comments or advice . It seems this type of Gadget is gaining in popularity and more seem to be coming on to the market. I know there's been a few post all ready about this and ive posted One but I thought if we could put them all in One place to get a better idea just whats available and what you think. The only Multimedia Player ive seen so far at my local IT mall was a Western Digital unit, but the sales Guy did not know much about it , and I forgot to get the model number.

Thanks

TL

I use a Popcorn Hour A100 and a TVIX5100, both of which can stream content from my home NAS server (Buffalo Terrastation) Both units are a few years old now, and both have their advantages. and disadvantages.

The purpose of this post is not to recomend either unit (if I was buying now I would not buy either model), but to give you some guidance of what to look for and what the end result can give you if you want to spend the time.

For the TVIX I like the "Out-of the box" GUI and its support for idx-sub subtitles on the Thai DVD's I rip. However it is not very customisable and does not support Thai SRT or SSA format subtitles from Thai subtitlkes.com.

To display my movies on this unit I use this program This scans the drive for movies and automatically gets all the details and provides a nice GUI.

The Popcorn hour A100 which is one of their older models is very customisable for the Skins and I use the My Lil Jukebox program for skinning which gives me the ability to search for movies by name, genre or age as well as full movie information. However unlike the other jukebox it replies on me entering the movie details in to a 3rd party database and is a lot more work, but a much better end result. However The Popcoorn Hour A100 does support the SRT and SSA format that is provided by thaisubtitles.com but does not support the idx-srt format format most DVD ripping software (For there Thai language) outputs all this is promised in a future upgrade.

Before you buy anything I would suggest a read of this forum. The new Popcorn Hour C200 has a lot of good features, but also has a lot of bad press for the bugs in the first models just coming off the production line.

Another good site for information is http://www.avsforum.com/

Hope this all helps.

Thanks for the great info, just One question

(if I was buying now I would not buy either model)

What would you buy now .?

TL

[thaimite]

Thanks for the great info, just One question

(if I was buying now I would not buy either model)

What would you buy now .?

TL

I am not sure what I would buy. Probally the new Popcorn Hour C200. Although it has faults they do provide BIOS updates every 6 months and my unit works well. The new TViX 600/700 series (same electronics different case style) looks good too.

I as I do like the Popcorn unit but I would need to do more research.apart from the points listed above if you want to stream Blue ray or oher high definition (I do not) then you should be looking at a Gigabit network link and totally forget about WiFi.

My first unit was an MViX imported from the US 4 years ago, and I was very happy with it until I discovered what it could not do compared to others. However their new model looks impressive

Most units are built on a Sigma chipset and have very similar features and weaknesses as you will find out from this site

http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15201

If you are thinking of more than one unit then the networking people Netgear do a model with a "Follow Me" feature which loets you start watching a movie in one room and then move to another room where the movie wil continue from where you left off.

Lots of reviews for the lates models here

http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/links/reviews...ix-m-6600n-151/

If you want to PM me for more info feel free to do so.

As I have said beofre with jukebox skins etc they can be a great device and easy for the family to use and watch movies.

NOTE None of the I believe the new TVix is the only unit that will let you put Thai fonts on the GUI, whcih I would like as my failies music shows up as unreadable garbage.

Edited October 23, 2009 by thaimite

[Nordlys]

You can also buy LaCie LaCinema Rugged in Thailand for 14,000 baht (price seems to have increased from 11,000+ recently).

Comes with USB + HDMI port and even analogue audio output as well as a remote control.

http://www.maxwellthailand.com/detail_product.php?pid=56

But it doesn't support full-HD and one that does hasn't arrived to Thai market yet.

I'm about to get LaCinema Rugged HD in Japan next month.

[thaimite]

Things to look for in an NMT

As the above posts are rather long here are a few things to think about beofre buying. Of course more features = more cost

• Thai Font support (Subtitles and menus)
  
• Torrent download (Many units have a built in torrent downloader so you can download directly to the device without a PC
  
• Video format support (Most units are based on the Sigma chipset and thus have similar capabilities, but do not expect any unit to support all the formats you can play on your PC
  
• Audio formats (see above)
  
• Internet radio. Some let you stream podcasts and listen to Internet radio stations via Shoutcast
  
• Youtube and other Video streaming web site support (Check if your favourite video streaming site is supported
  
• Web TV. Some will tell you they support Web TV broadcasting, but check which sites
  
• Customisable skins and menus. Most newer ones have a HTML format front end so as you can add video and MP3 jukebox functionality (see earlier posts)
  
• Remote access (Can you log in to your device from work to mange torrents etc.
  
• Audio / Video output formats (HDMI, Digital audio etc)
  
• USB support for external HD and CD disk drives
  
• Some models off the ability to record regular TV stations
  
• Built in Web Browser
  
• Network support options (SAMBA NFS, NGigabot or 100Mb speeds)
  

Etc.

(Edits as I think of more things and correct spellink)

Edited October 23, 2009 by thaimite

[ThaiLife]

Thanks Guy's , and here's me thinking it must be a simple job to pick a make / model, great info just what I need

so please keep the advice / comments coming

TL

[damole]

I have a WDTV that I bought in Chiang Mai a few month ago for 4800Bt. It's not a bad machine with a basic interface and controls. I have a problem with lip sync on many file which play fine on my laptop although it seems very much down to how they were encoded. The interface is somewhat under featured which is not always a bad thing, better to get right what you've done than put out something with lots of bugs. No hard disk means no internal fan and therefore quiet. The new model WDTV Live has ethernet support but I don't think it's wireless. There are already custom firmwares that add new features which is something I always like to see. WD seem quite slow and putting out new firmware updates but they've had new models coming out so maybe they had switched resources whilst this was happening.

http://wdtvforum.com is a good source of info.

http://wdtv.uservoice.com is also interesting.

On balance I'm happy except for the lip sync problems and happy that it has a Thai warranty. Usually I just plug in a hard disk or flash drive and choose a file and press play so all the extra features would be a bonus rather than reasons not to buy again. Wireless streaming of HD video has it's own attendant problems so for the slight inconvenience of having to copy a file to a flash drive I don't think it's a big issue. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Duet for my music so it really is just a videoplayer for me. Still I'm looking at replacing it with a an Xtreamer if it doesn't get some of the features being requested in the website above pretty soon as I'd like to get rid of my dvd player and for that I need it to play dvds ripped to my hard disk with menu support which it doesn't have yet.

[basjke]

Western Digital only have two models. One with HD and one without. The downside for both those models is that they only support USB and not LAN.

I myself don't have one, but I am getting one as soon as I get some dineros to spend. I'm pretty sure I will go for the new A.C.Ryan Playon!HD box. It costs about 1000 baht more than the WD HD TV, but it comes with LAN support, internal SATA HDD slot and can act as a NAS server e.g. download torrents. I already have a Buffalo Quad Station NAS, but I just like the A.C.Ryan model better than the WD one so far.

Then there are the egreat and other more "unknown" brands, I don't think I will go for one of those as I have other A.C.Ryan products and are very pleased with those so far.

'

I saw that you posted in the other topic also that the ac ryan costs just under 6000 baht.Can you tell me how you come to that amount as I saw on the link that you posted that the cheapest model available online is 149 Euro,and to me that amounts to 7500 baht.This is even a promotion price and excluding shipping.So can you tell us where you buy it just under 6000 baht?

[d0ndela]

I saw that you posted in the other topic also that the ac ryan costs just under 6000 baht.Can you tell me how you come to that amount as I saw on the link that you posted that the cheapest model available online is 149 Euro,and to me that amounts to 7500 baht.This is even a promotion price and excluding shipping.So can you tell us where you buy it just under 6000 baht?

I didn't see the price in Euro, just found the box in two Thai shops at the same price (5490 baht) guess it's one of the few things that are cheaper out here than in Europe : invadeIT & digilife