Media players and compatibility

[Munkey]

I really haven't studied media players much since the day's of the original Popcorn Hour and even then I didn't think much of them. I've been running a stable HTPC for around three years and it's never crashed or let me down.

But times are changing and media players are getting better and a lot more advanced.

So I'm in the market for a media player that can

Have a very friendly GUI
Have plenty of support
Support srt and idx subtitle files
Play 1080p files over a wired network
Have 5.1 pre outs
Play BBC iplayer on the fly
Play BR ISO's
Play Flac's
Be available without hard drive
Work with a universal remote

I found this excellent resource over at digitalera.co.uk

Here's a features table from their site,

Time for some more reading.

 

[daveleebond]

Seems to be missing the sumvision cyclone range

 

[Purity]

The table is slightly mis-leading aswell. The WDTV does not support downmixing for WMA Pro audio (for Bluray WMV's), only passthrough

 

[Munkey]

Thanks Purity, I'll edit the table accordingly.

I guess the supplier would only list the products that they sell so if there are any others that need to be added please let me know.

:Cheers:

 

[jaffa]

Thanks Purity, I'll edit the table accordingly.

I guess the supplier would only list the products that they sell so if there are any others that need to be added please let me know.

:Cheers:

Thats the problem Munkey, take for instance the Xtreamer, if you seen their advert you would buy it cos it does everything and has all the bells and whistles, but it real life...it doesn't, don't get me wrong, Xtreamer is a really good media player and improving all the time but their advert is misleading, it doesn't have a movie jukebox and has some issues with what is posted above.

What I am trying to say (badly) is that the manufacturers over hype their products.

I am a big Xtreamer fan but it has issues aswell.

 

[daveleebond]

saw this one in your table and it looks the dogs!

seems to have what you asked for, lots of RCA's on the back.

base model is £300 or you can ge tone with a blu ray player for nearly £400, bargain!!!!

looking at he specs, it really does seem like the daddy!!

 

[zad]

If you really want a media player you need to get a PCH a200 or c200 the NMT's are in my opinion better than the cheaper media players nicer gui's and woman friendly

 

[jaffa]

If you really want a media player you need to get a PCH a200 or c200 the NMT's are in my opinion better than the cheaper media players nicer gui's and woman friendly

That is something with isn't really considered when choosing...big mistake by those that don't consider it. My better half uses the Xtreamer far more often than I do, it has to be woman friendly aswell or you can take it off they list...as far as I am concerned.

 

[Munkey]

Here's a translated review for the Mede8ter.

So many to choose from, I'm all confused.com :frown:

Gents if you have any issues with the features listed in the above table, please let me know the specifics, I'll do my best to edit the table to include any important facts.

Damn that Dune looks the nuts Dave, I'll read up on it now, based on connectivity it's definitely a front runner.

 

[Munkey]

I had a real late one last night watching the olympics and reading up on off the shelf media players.

Anyway I found out that the list above is pretty much useless as those claims are made by the manufacturers whilst the reality of what the shiny boxes can do is very different altogether. After much reading at AVforums, AVS and specialist forums I have come to the conclusion that I am going to hold out until my HT is complete before I look again to see what major bugs have been ironed out by FW updates.

Right now the Dune Base 3 is a firm favorite but it has a few niggly problems which must be ironed out before I commit.

In the back of my mind I can't help but think that I'd be better off going down the HTPC route like last time out, at least I would have 100% functionality with no compromises, and to think that things haven't really moved on in the last 3 odd years. I thought that the introduction of budget media players would have changed this but sadly I do not think that that is the case.

edit - just re-read jaffa's post and he is spot on.

 

[hawkish]

Munkey if you want an unbiased opinion and up to date feature lists of these things head over to MPCclub.com/forum