Media Player

**enf** · 07-10-15, 03:49 PM

Anyone got a recommendation for a stand alone media player that plays all formats? I've been using the USB slot on blueray players, but I have to re encode vids sometimes, and its a nuisance.

**mandc** · 07-10-15, 05:17 PM

WDTV is one of the best for playing just about everything but I hate them intensely even though I use it to this day.

Their firmware updates are often dodgy, they completely forget about any support when a new model appears and the current model now has no netflix.

**ol' boy** · 07-10-15, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by mandc

WDTV is one of the best for playing just about everything

No its not!!!!
I would have said that 4 years ago, but its not even close now.
My WDTV is in the bin because of its inability to play half the things i throw at it nowdays.
And its inability to read WD portable hard drives. For crying out loud, they are both from the same company.

The M8 Android box plays the most formats out of all the Media Players i have, but its the least easy to use.

The answer is, there is NO best player.
But the one that plays the most, is an Android player that has been set up with the right programs on it.

**enf** · 08-10-15, 12:24 AM

I was thinking of just bailing to an old laptop and VLC....but a normal looking unit would be better.

**ol' boy** · 08-10-15, 06:47 AM

I agree, i believe the best unit would be a Windows NUC or a second hand MacMini with HDMI out.
Its a shame the world of Media Players, with hardware decoding chips seems to have gone backwards in the last 8 years.

**spook** · 08-10-15, 09:14 AM

Smplayer covers all formats that I've seen around and you can add extra formats you come across. It's open source, runs on win 8 and by far one of the best around. In my opinion, much better than every other one I've used and in linux, fits seamlessly with most editing software.

**Philquad** · 08-10-15, 01:58 PM

i have 2 astones, still going
but theyre dear to buy the models that take sata drives now

also got 2 of these lately,
amazing, they work fine, hdmi, usb hdd's

**Rick** · 08-10-15, 03:31 PM

I love my WD, plays formats MKV, MP4, XVID, AVI, WMV, and MOV video formats, I would have liked it to support FLV though

**enf** · 08-10-15, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by Philquad

i have 2 astones, still going
but theyre dear to buy the models that take sata drives now

also got 2 of these lately,
amazing, they work fine, hdmi, usb hdd's

Thanks Phil....just ordered one....for that price I had to.

**Seymour Butts** · 08-10-15, 08:17 PM

Up until last weekend I would have said Noontec
But one of mine failed - the other is still going strong and as player / recorder with Network capabilities they really are fantastic and hard to beat.

But what has really surprised me are the original Dlink Boxee's.
I've got three of these around the house an I admit I don't use them as recorders but as a player they fantastic.
It only took my 4 year old grandson 10 mins to figure out the menu system,
it plays everything I throw at it through the NAS with ease and must be the fastest search system known.
I like them.

If anyone has a Boxee for sale I'm in the market for one more

**Rick** · 08-10-15, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Seymour Butts

Up until last weekend I would have said Noontec
But one of mine failed

Funny you say that, I bought 1 from leading edge, first hour it failed and took it back, the replacement unit failed 2 days later, I gave up and took it back for a refund, then picked up the WD off gumtree for $40 with a 2TB HDD installed and its going strong hasnt skipped a beat

**ol' boy** · 08-10-15, 09:18 PM

There are quite a few WDTV units, which have slightly different chipsets in them.
The one i was referring to is a WDTV Live SMP unit

There is also WDTV Live Hub / WDTV Live / WDTV 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation.

**statesmanjeff** · 24-12-15, 10:47 AM

I love my WDTV but agree nowadays some formats wont play. For the last month I have been using a Raspberry Pi with Kodi.
It has played absolutely everything. Raspberry is not hard to setup, but once done NOTHING compares or comes close.
PI has come a long way since there introduction. If you want an awesome media player and a whole lot more seriously consider a PI.

**lsemmens** · 24-12-15, 12:44 PM

I just hve computers connected to my TVs they can play anything I throw at them.

**Skepticist** · 25-12-15, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by oceanboy

No its not!!!!
I would have said that 4 years ago, but its not even close now.
My WDTV is in the bin because of its inability to play half the things i throw at it nowdays.
And its inability to read WD portable hard drives. For crying out loud, they are both from the same company.

Had similar problems with the WDTV which only worked with certain portable HDDs. Worked out that the problem is the power supply in those boxes can barely supply enough power to run the drives and the solution was to make a simple USB power injector which relieved the demand on the WDTV box or use an external desktop USB HDD with its own separate power supply.

**RedXT** · 26-12-15, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Philquad

i have 2 astones, still going
but theyre dear to buy the models that take sata drives now

also got 2 of these lately,
amazing, they work fine, hdmi, usb hdd's

Can u delete files from within the device while connected to the tv or do u have to connect the hdd to a computer to do that

thanks thomo

**shred** · 26-12-15, 11:19 AM

I've used a WDTV Live Streaming for a few years - I found it really good, but as an earlier poster observed: once a new model comes out, Western Digital drop firmware updates for the old model like a hot potato. It wouldn't be a big problem, except that the ABC changed their iView protocol, so now iView is broken. The box also developed an annoying fault, where it had to be turned off and on again at the power point before it would start up (and being a cold boot, it then took aaaages to start).

I've put OSMC and Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 2 that I had lying around the place. Using OSMC it's very easy to get started. I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's really nice to be able to drop into a Bash shell and customise things properly, plus it can run my Cumulus MX weather station software.

**statesmanjeff** · 26-12-15, 01:30 PM

I agree, The PI with Kodi plays every single format i have thrown at it. Iview youtube plus heaps more work flawlesly. PI is basicly a PC the size of a packet of smokes with HDMI USB network support, external HDDS, etc,
I have tried so many media players lately and each have there goods and bads but still to date, PI has only goods.