Tech (AV related) help/thoughts/advice/opinion required
Ok, so my DVD/VCR combo has crapped out (yes I know, VCR? well it was a good idea at the time and I actually chose to go away from the PVR/HDrecorders… bad decision (all because I have original VHS of Starwars and Indiana Jones, and I refuse to update when the updates arent the originals))
ANYWAY, I’m in the market for something NEW! MAYBE a Media center
Background. I dont have a LAN/Ethernet/wireless TV, but is a VERY big Plazma – so I’m not in the market for a new TV.
We do A LOT of watching TV which has been downloaded in various formats (presently we stream/convert everything from the PC and play it through ur Ipad/Iphone(this is NOT through Itunes) via AIRVIDEO SERVER : This system is great except for the facts that I need my PC on to make anything work, and need to have my Ipad/Iphone plugged into the TV.)
I need whatever the solution is to do the following:
connect to the PC (doesnt matter how) to play media (doesn’t matter what format) or some other type of device
Record from the TV direct?
Plays DVDs? (or am i confusing a DVD player and a Media Player?)
user friendly…
I’d also like to, in the very near future purchase NHL GameCenter and the NBA leaguePass (and I’d love to be able to put this through the TV rather then the PC!)
options people?
Im REALLY out of touch with the whole AV market as I’ve been watching everything on the PC since 2000 and whatever!
Comments
HTPC
I could only really recommend, from my point of view, a PS3.. Because that’s all ive got really.. But same situation.. You will need your PC on to do some stuff; transcode or stream, as the PS3 just wont play everything.
Go HTPC.. A lot more screwing around setting up, but once it is, you should never be looking back.
What other options are there? Things like a Boxee box? NO DVD/Blu Ray Player for starters..
Don’t be a trendy surf and cut yourself off from the older media.. You could even rig a VCR upto a HTCP!!
It is your only good option. Just make sure you get a 3D Blu Ray player for it. Yes you won’t actually use it that much, but what’s the point in not being current?
Always be prepared!
HTPC see me
well shad there a few 0pti0ns and lets just say I’ve tried them all, n0thing beats y0ur 0wn Media PC running y0ur flav0ur 0f 0perating system and media s0ftware…..
n0 1 ch0ice ($89.00) – WDTV w0uld be hands d0wn the best thing
WDTV is a great b0x, easy t0 use, never crashes and d0es all 0f the ab0ve U have asked but NO TV and U will need t0 rip y0ur DVD’s t0 a shared direct0ry/usb drive….
n0 2 ch0ice ($129.95) – DXtreme DX-380 V2 PVR & HD Multimedia Player
n0w I have 0ne 0f these with0ut the turner and it’s zippy and plays everythink U th0w at it including Blueray and zip files
still n0 DVD/Blue Ray player in here but it d0es nearly everythink U asked f0r shad
n0 3 ch0ice ($799.00)- r0ll ya 0wn, well nearly, U can buy the bel0w fully assembled
ODE AMD Home Media Center System
and finally I w0uld rec0mmend reading reviews and seeing vide0 0n the best wind0ws s0ftware ever created
Media Portal
n0mad
d0 it Shad d0 it 0hh and ya need a pr0ject0r aswell…
yeah at the moment
I’m looking like getting some kinda DVD/HDD recorder (for the DVD’s/Recording from the TV
and then either WDTV or Apple TV dealie… <- its that part im stuck on!
Short of making a mini PC in a box for the TV, which I’m not really keen on, i dont think there is an all in 1 solution!
Does anyone have WDTV or Apple TV?
WDTV..
I think my Dad’s got one of those.. I don’t know the specifics, but they reckon its really good..
A new smart TV with a 3D Blu Ray HDD recorder would be a pretty good setup too.. Problem with the new TVs, is most of them only have the one tuner, which is to make us buy the $500 bloody recorders.. But it would be a pretty nimble setup..
Ive just got a Samsung Smart TV with a HDD hooked upto it for timeshifting and recording… Almost useless with the one tuner in the TV though… Mostly only good for time shifting.. But the smart TV allows me to do just about everything the PS3 could, minus playing Blu Rays/3D Blu Ray. I don’t need to take my PS3 downstairs anymore for just about everything, although I need the PS3 Media Server ( or something like it) with my PC running at the same time for streaming to the TV…. Also, the Smart TV is quiet lacking with some of the inputs for specific apps, and a wireless keyboard + mouse makes all the difference using the web browser, which is again, lacking in many features…
Still does just about everything I need.. PMS will transcode most stuff on the fly, but not everything…
HTPC HTPC HTPC…
WDTV
Is decent if you have a library of crap in most formats (I use it for divx, xvid, and up to 1080p mkvs). I have the wdtv live smp, which is just a little box that you either attach external hard drives to via usb2, or can stream over the network from a NAS or a share on your pc. It has 100mb ethernet (although claims gigabit..) and wifi as your way to get stuff onto the hard drives to play.
It’s not the fastest thing in the world (mostly caused by the fact i’ve got 7TB worth of usb2 media attached to it), it’s definitely not the best UI in the world, but it gets the job done mostly and is cheap. I paid about $190, but you can get it for less than $100 these days, and just add your own hard drives for media.
I considered other options like my own little htpc running xbmc or there’s another one based on xbmc that I know n0mad likes – those are the fastest / best UI’s for media viewing. But the cost just seems to be a lot more. And to be able to do the NBA stuff, you’d need to go for one with a fast enough CPU – as well as most likely dual boot and play NBA in a browser in Windows.
I haven’t seen anything yet that really does NBA (and remember when you’re talking NBA – you’re talking INTERNATIONAL League Pass which is different to the US NBA. Apple TV says it can play NBA, but it only does US NBA).
So yeah, so far I haven’t seen a single box that seemlessly does everything you want… and I figured if it doesn’t exist, why pay $500+ for a media player if it won’t do everything I want… wdtv, nice and cheap, does the job mostly.
With the new season of NBA coming up, I am back into researching mode to see what the best way of watching stuff is. Remember though, you can watch NBA on your ipad without issue. I’ve read mixed reviews on whether you can stream that to your TV in Australia with an Apple TV. Definitely can with US.
Oh and wdtv does have a baseball app… but never tried it.
/ramble complete.
Wow
I can watch the nba on my iPad?
How? Tells me moar!
Does anyone still burn DVD/blu ray?
So I’m looking at a DVD/blu ray player. And at the moment I can get a DVD/Blu ray player with all the specs or a DvD/Blu Ray recorder with the same specs!
The difference is 1 can only play, one can play and record to discs! (prove difference is $200 odd bucks)
I’ve never actually burnt or recorded anything from tv or anything to disc… (only every through the PC)
Thoughts?
With 500gig internal storage and it linked to my pc via network, and external hdd… Is it worth the extra 200? I’m thinking no…
But I value th teams thoughts!
Record
I don’t really record anything anymore. I just download it if I miss it on TV.
Haven’t burned anything to a DVD for a few years… never burned anything to a blu ray.
Re – a device to stream nba, and other stuff… I had a possible idea if you couldn’t get NBA to work on your Ipad streamed to tv… The google tv set top box is now available on its own. That gives you access to the android market place which includes NBA, as well as a flash enabled browser. Am considering that for myself – gotta read some reviews tho.
+1 on the WD HDTV Live – I’ve
+1 on the WD HDTV Live – I’ve had one for years and it’s awesome.
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