Best currently available media player.

tRoN

tRoN

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Hi guys.
I need another media player. I have the mede8er in my bedroom.
I need one for my Tv room.
Which is the current best media player that will support 3D?
I was put off mede8er when they stopped supporting the 500x
 
Roku is the kingpin. Not sure about 3D though as I never watch 3D (I have an LG Cinema Now 3D).

WDTV is next in line.
 
Mike Smit said:
Roku is the kingpin. Not sure about 3D though as I never watch 3D (I have an LG Cinema Now 3D).

WDTV is next in line.
Click to expand...

Will roku stream directly off my synology NAS? I have all my personal media on the NAS in various formats like mkv, avi etc.
My priority is personal media streaming over Internet services like Netflix though I want to explore those options.
 
tRoN said:
Hi guys.
I need another media player. I have the mede8er in my bedroom.
I need one for my Tv room.
Which is the current best media player that will support 3D?
I was put off mede8er when they stopped supporting the 500x
Click to expand...

One day I will have my first media player. :o
 
My personal favourite is a Pioneer bdp-140 with a custom firmware. 3D Iso with menus off 4TB hard drives.
 
Roku was always intended to stream over the internet and streaming from a NAS can sometimes give compatibility issues. 3D support is also non-existent on the Roku from my experience but I have no idea about the Roku 3, a quick search has told me that it still doesn't have it but I may be wrong.

I have found my good old trusty Xtreamer, which was my first media player, to still be my most loved one. I bought it a long time ago and much has changed in the media player landscape but they still keep releasing firmware updates even though my model is ancient which has given support for almost everything except 3D. Internet streaming could be better but luckily it's not a priority for me.

Roku's devices offer good value with great usability and I cannot say a bad word against them. That said, their mass market appeal may not be for everyone. Take a look at Xtreamer as they have a variety of products depending on your needs rather than the one size fits all approach of many other brands. I personally like their Ultra2 but it is overkill for the average user and can only really be justified in a hope that future technologies can be incorporated in firmware revisions.
 
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The Mede8er 1000X3D and the Mede8er 600X3D are considered to be amongst the best 3D players, if not the best, currently available. You could also consider the latest Popcorn Hour A-400 which is using the latest 3D processor from Sigma Designs but there still appear to be serious firmware issues. Although the 3D Mede8ers are using the same Realtek hardware that many of the cheaper brands do, they are apparently the only manufacturer that is using the latest Realtek SDK. The Realtek RTD1186 currently has the most extensive format support. I would also take a look at the Celeron 847 version of the Intel Next Unit of Computing which sells for around $165 on Amazon. Take a look at some of the online reviews for more information.
 
Yotch said:
The Mede8er 1000X3D and the Mede8er 600X3D are considered to be amongst the best 3D players, if not the best, currently available. You could also consider the latest Popcorn Hour A-400 which is using the latest 3D processor from Sigma Designs but there still appear to be serious firmware issues. Although the 3D Mede8ers are using the same Realtek hardware that many of the cheaper brands do, they are apparently the only manufacturer that is using the latest Realtek SDK. The Realtek RTD1186 currently has the most extensive format support. I would also take a look at the Celeron 847 version of the Intel Next Unit of Computing which sells for around $165 on Amazon. Take a look at some of the online reviews for more information.
Click to expand...

How do these handle Internet streaming like Netflix etc. Although this is a secondary requirement, is there any capability.
It seems like you need 2 separate devices to handle personal and Internet streaming as there is no single device that has this combined feature.
 
tRoN said:
How do these handle Internet streaming like Netflix etc. Although this is a secondary requirement, is there any capability.
It seems like you need 2 separate devices to handle personal and Internet streaming as there is no single device that has this combined feature.
Click to expand...

If you're willing to build a bit ( and ask advice around here, I'm more than willing to help you out ), you can get a Microserver, add a GPU, and then build XBMC/Plex to playback. XBMC streams locally just fine, and should do 3D as well. Web streaming works, though I've not tested it myself.
 
bullzeye.za said:
If you're willing to build a bit ( and ask advice around here, I'm more than willing to help you out ), you can get a Microserver, add a GPU, and then build XBMC/Plex to playback. XBMC streams locally just fine, and should do 3D as well. Web streaming works, though I've not tested it myself.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice but I prefer an out of box solution at the moment. No time in my hectic schedule.
 
I may be mistaken but I think that Netflix curently uses Silverlight for streaming so none of the Realtek based players will currently support this format. Apparently they are changing over to html5 though which the Realtek players should support provided that the current Internet browser is capable enough. The WD might support Netflix but does not support most 3D formats. Currently most streaming web sites are still using flash which the Realtek processors are unable to decode although these should be migrated over to html5 at some point. I think that you are going to run into problems with streaming Netflix/Hulu etc. on most media players, even the android based ones like the Pivos XIOS or the G-Box Midnight which do support XBMC. An HTPC is probably the safest and most versatile option at the moment but will take time and effort to configure. Esquire has recently been offering some good discounts on the Mede8er 1000X3D.
 
I thought that support for Netflix and Hulu would be through a dedicated app on the media player rather than on the native web browser?
 
tRoN said:
I thought that support for Netflix and Hulu would be through a dedicated app on the media player rather than on the native web browser?
Click to expand...

Dedicated app on the Roku from what I understand.
 
Mike Smit said:
Roku is the kingpin. Not sure about 3D though as I never watch 3D (I have an LG Cinema Now 3D).

WDTV is next in line.
Click to expand...
I just tested a 3D movie playing from my server through Roku 3 and 3D worked perfectly. Just out of curiosity, why would you think Roku would not support 3D? Do you not just change the settings on your TV to 3D? My 3D rips are SBS and to watch in 3D, I just select 3D on my TV, and select SBS (there are 8 other options for 3D, but I use SBS). Or am I missing something else here?
 
weelzSA said:
I just tested a 3D movie playing from my server through Roku 3 and 3D worked perfectly. Just out of curiosity, why would you think Roku would not support 3D? Do you not just change the settings on your TV to 3D? My 3D rips are SBS and to watch in 3D, I just select 3D on my TV, and select SBS (there are 8 other options for 3D, but I use SBS). Or am I missing something else here?
Click to expand...

Serious? I thought you'd need some special piece of hardware for 3d movies? Thats great news!
What format must the 3d movie be in? Heard the file support is very limited for streaming? Have you had many problems?
 
goofball said:
Serious? I thought you'd need some special piece of hardware for 3d movies? Thats great news!
What format must the 3d movie be in? Heard the file support is very limited for streaming? Have you had many problems?
Click to expand...

Most of my 3D rips are in MKV or MP4. The only "special" hardware you will need is a 3D TV and obviously a media player / streamer that won't lag with big files. I use to have my HP Micro Server connected directly to my TV via HDMI running Plex and never had a sing issue playing back 50gig blu ray / 3D rips. Now the HP server is only used as a server running Plex server and stream everything the HP server through the Roku and the Roku Plex app and havent had a single problem thus far with both playback and support of codecs ect.
 
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