media player review

[Philquad]

for those who dont know i thought i'd share my view on hard drive media players.
flavours are 2.5 orv 3.5 inch drives, sata and ide.

my 1st one was a vantec avox

around $100 and add your own 2.5inch hard drive
comes with heaps accessories,leads and a 12volt battery pack
the remote sucks
the av connection is dodgy
some files i found wouldnt play the audio.

now i have a noontec 3.5 inch unit.
$135 + hard drive
this works great with 160gb drive in it.
remotes good, zoom x 5. lots leads, good audio and video.
the mp36n has lan function with NDAS software.
this allows networking to the device without ip address.
beauty of it is you can download or rip directly to the device bypassing the computer. the only small bug i found was you must disconnect the lan cable or turn off the router for it to play.

umart have a good selection


Q

[crazy]

cheers Phil, looking at getting a media player soon.
Anyone else have any feedback on what units they have seen.
Seen a couple on ebay that have wireless connection, like that idea.

[mel421]

I have a mediagate MG-450HD and I put a 500 GB HDD in it. It is full HD, digital 5.1 surround sound and S/PDIF digital output. Supports HDMI.

It has a good range of connectors, can connect by wireless or ethernet, can stream from computers on the network, a USB stick, the HDD or by ftp over the internet. It can also connect to internet radio, though I havent tested that part as yet.

The only issue I have found so far is that some AVI files wont play. The manual states that Xivd with GMC applied arent supported.