Anyone got a network media player?

[WTFH]

I'm looking to get something to hook up to the TV & hifi to play music, videos and photos through.
I know you can get wired or wireless ones that connect to all the computers in your house. I also know there are ones with built in hard drives.
Has anyone bought one recently (or been looking into it) and could give me some pointers?

[David P]

I needed a 2nd Hard Drive for backups anyway so decided I'd spend a bit more & get a Media Drive Dabs Ireland - LaCie 1TB LaCinema Classic HD HDMI (301864EK)

It's hooked up to my HD TV via HDMI & also to my network so I can access all my music, vids & photos. I've also got it connected to my Surround Sound System via optical cable. It's played everything I've thrown at it so far & it's easy to use with a nice user interface

[WTFH]

Thanks!
Originally I had been looking at a Logitech Squeezebox Duet, then a Netgear EVO9000 (or some such series of letters/numbers) but that was a year ago.

[kurzon]

Are you getting true 1080p24 HD stored into the box somehow and piped back out at that definition then, No.10?

[GTV Gav]

Originally Posted by David P

I needed a 2nd Hard Drive for backups anyway so decided I'd spend a bit more & get a Media Drive Dabs Ireland - LaCie 1TB LaCinema Classic HD HDMI (301864EK)

It's hooked up to my HD TV via HDMI & also to my network so I can access all my music, vids & photos. I've also got it connected to my Surround Sound System via optical cable. It's played everything I've thrown at it so far & it's easy to use with a nice user interface

Is that wired or wireless Dave?

I have the older version of this that is wired or you can plug in a USB hard disc/flash drive. But you can get a little USB key type thing for the newer one in the link that makes it wireless.

[David P]

Originally Posted by WTFH

Thanks!
Originally I had been looking at a Logitech Squeezebox Duet, then a Netgear EVO9000 (or some such series of letters/numbers) but that was a year ago.

Hadn't really considered getting one at all & originally bought a 2nd LaCie 1TB Harddisk, then saw how cheap they had got & managed to sell it on ( unused) & got the Media Drive. I didn't do much looking around at anything else & a quick look on AV Forums convinced me to go for it, can't remember seeing any negative comments

PS Do a search on Youtube if you want to see what the user interface is like, there are a few vid reviews of it.

Originally Posted by kurzon

Are you getting true 1080p24 HD stored into the box somehow and piped back out at that definition then, No.10?

Yes, files are output in 1080p & with DTS/Dolby Digital through the Sound System

Not sure about 24p though

Originally Posted by GTV Gav

Is that wired or wireless Dave?

I have the older version of this that is wired or you can plug in a USB hard disc/flash drive. But you can get a little USB key type thing for the newer one in the link that makes it wireless.

Wired, yet another cable was wedged into the ducting, that's definitely the last cable that will fit into it

[kurzon]

Cheers, No.10.

Another question- how do you get the Hi-Def stuff onto the remote drive from, I'm guess your Sky setup but more interesting for me- your Blu-rays? The files must be huge?

Originally Posted by kurzon

Cheers, No.10.

Another question- how do you get the Hi-Def stuff onto the remote drive from, I'm guess your Sky setup but more interesting for me- your Blu-rays? The files must be huge?

I'd guess they come from the internet.

A 720p 45 minute tv show uses 1GB ish, for reference.

[David P]

Don't guess



Digital copies

yeah, cos its worth waiting a week for a blu-ray disc to encode to mkv file... actually playing them in a blu-ray player would be silly...

Out of interest, I havent come across many 1080p 'backup copies' of things on the w... erm... on my pc. Our tv is only 720p at the mo but we're getting a new one at easter so I'll be looking for 1080p thing to play on it. Whats a good source?

[David P]

As I said I really bought it as a backup drive, just testing to see it's capabilities for HD & DTS/DD.



Google

[WTFH]

Update... found out last night that due to staying in hotels a few times, I can get about £150 in Currys/PCWorld vouchers, or possibly the same for John Lewis.
Unfortunately they don't do LaCie.
So... Logitech, Netgear, Qnap or Sling.

[David P]

Nice bonus

I believe the Western Digital TV Live Hub is more or less the same as the LaCie LACinema Classic HD
player if that's of any interest AVForums.com or there is the option of the WD TV Live but that isn't an all in one system as it has no inbuilt storage.


Also AVForums have a section for Network Media Players which may be of interest http://www.avforums.com/forums/strea...media-players/