Media Centres

[robdutchmonkey]

1. I used to ask the same question. I streamed everything thru my ps3. I thought it was perfect. Then I bought a Mede8er for my Mother in law. Plugged it into my tv to set it up and see how it worked. That was about a year ago. Its still there. I use it every night. Its just simpler and it just works. No remuxing mkv's or avi files. No PMS just dropping off the network halfway thru a movie.

2. So that you can access the media on it from the bedroom silly. (Duh! )

1) I guess if you have limited media or just externals it makes sense, otherwise with large amounts PS3 media server owns Never had a network issue before or any issues with MKV's let alone avi's unless I run it wirelessly.

2) Wireless FTW having said that I do keep a Toshiba 500gb media player with my fav shows for the bedroom because I barely ever watch there. Beats carrying the PS around :/

Only gripe I have with the PS3 is the lack of some codec support, but nothing's perfect. Still don't understand why you'd need a media player to act as a server when externals do the same job besides the fat32 format issues and lack of MKV direct support without streaming through software to make it play

 

[Nanfeishen]

WD TV HD Media Player
HDMI output 2 usb input

I picked one up at computer mania for R1299, works like a charm

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=734

 

[bin3]

WD TV HD Media Player
HDMI output 2 usb input

I picked one up at computer mania for R1299, works like a charm

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=734

Bought one for both my brother and my dad: brilliant little portable player, but in my opinion, not in the same class as the Mede8er / Popcorn / Radeon / PS3.

Mostly due to only being able to do USB - no network abilities.

 

[Degaron]

I must say the TOSHIBA E.STORE TV is quite Good, it comes with a standard 1TB hard drive, retails for R1579 good value especially for something that includes the drive.

 

[mk1]

Xtreamer is also worth a mention...

http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=911

 

[Veyron786]

Bought one for both my brother and my dad: brilliant little portable player, but in my opinion, not in the same class as the Mede8er / Popcorn / Radeon / PS3.

Mostly due to only being able to do USB - no network abilities.

The WDTV Live version has full network support, works like a dream...

Oh and the Iphone remote app means you have can full functionallity even without the remote. LOL

 

[Mars]

Xtreamer is also worth a mention...

http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=911

Yes, but no.

The people who make xtreamer also made the Mvix. When they launched the xtreamer they left the Mvix owners dead in the water with no support or any of the promised features or firmware upgrades promised.
I would be very wary of a company that had such dodgy business practices regardless of the product.

 

[Gnome]

Has the problem with MKV files been sorted on these stand-alone player?

By problem I mean that some of the MKVs have some kind of compression enabled and you need to remux for it to work on for example the WDTV. Not sure if it affects the Mede8er?

Also to the Mede8er owners, is the fan required? I hate fans, I won't buy a media player that requires a fan.

 

[MJ INC]

Has the problem with MKV files been sorted on these stand-alone player?

By problem I mean that some of the MKVs have some kind of compression enabled and you need to remux for it to work on for example the WDTV. Not sure if it affects the Mede8er?

Also to the Mede8er owners, is the fan required? I hate fans, I won't buy a media player that requires a fan.

The mede8tor has a built in fan that you can barely hear and it also seems to play every MKV I've ever thrown at it.

 

[Gnome]

The mede8tor has a built in fan that you can barely hear

I don't want to barely not hear it. I don't want fans. Other media players come out without fans, I'd rather get one of them then.

it also seems to play every MKV I've ever thrown at it.

No offense but that isn't really conformation. The bug occurs when using MKVToolnix you enable compression (and it seems the newly released 1080p MKV files usually have this enabled as well as some 720p files).

So far it seems to me that all RealTek devices are affected (I'm not 100% sure tho). Both Mede8er and A.C. Ryan HD! use the same RealTek chip (Realtek RTD1073DD). A.C. Ryan is definitely affected by this problem, on the forum they say they are awaiting a fix from RealTek which leads me to believe the Mede8er will be affected also.

I also know with 100% certainty that the WDTV is also affected (uses the Sigma Designs SMP8635c chip).

At this point in time the Realtek RTD1073DD based players are said to be superior to the Sigma Designs SMP8635c based players in terms of speed.

 

[masticore]

Mede8er definitely gets my vote. I have/had quite a few media players (mvix, mede8er, playon, wd tv) and without a doubt the best I've had is the mede8er. It simply works and works simply.

Yes, but no.

The people who make xtreamer also made the Mvix. When they launched the xtreamer they left the Mvix owners dead in the water with no support or any of the promised features or firmware upgrades promised.
I would be very wary of a company that had such dodgy business practices regardless of the product.

Ja, I'm one of those MVix owners who were left out in the cold. I won't consider xtreamer.

Bought one for both my brother and my dad: brilliant little portable player, but in my opinion, not in the same class as the Mede8er / Popcorn / Radeon / PS3.

Mostly due to only being able to do USB - no network abilities.

You mean playon ? Radeon is a ATI (AMD) desktop graphics chip name.
I have a playon and it's almost identical to the mede8er. The interface is (cosmetically) different, but the functionality is similar. The internals are the same (the remotes are identical and work on both devices). Playon is cheaper than mede8er. Mede8er is a more established (i.e. older) product, and both are well supported.

On the topic of losing remotes, you can always get a universal remote...