media players

[ram1009]

Since the title of this forum is "third party products" I'll risk talking about my bad experience with media players. One of the regulars here convinced me to try one. I picked one from Western Digital. Apparently it was a bad choice as I'm about to RMA my second one in a about 2 weeks including travel time. Anybody had any better luck? How about you, Gregiboy?

[Guest]

Thread moved to General Chat.

[signals]

Ask Maineman what he got. He has been very pleased with it, no problems. Not sure if it has all features you are looking for or not.

[GregiBoy]

As I have said before on this forums, I regard the WD RANGE of players as GDMFPOS's.

I have been in development/testing/support and retailing of players for the last 8 years so I think I have a little experience in the subject and will make the following comments based on that:-

All players from major manufacturers seem to be poorly supported and maintained with upgrades. bug fixes, etc.

I find that the best players seem to be manufactured in S-E Asia.

My current choices on the market here are RealTek 1073 chipset machines such as the Measy E9HD (measy.com.cn) and the Kaiboer h1073+ & M1073+ www.kaiboerhd.com) but my good friend on this forum, Maineman, reports good results with the Argosy range in the US.

[GregiBoy]

Major second point....

Organise your library structure....

[ram1009]

As I have said before on this forums, I regard the WD RANGE of players as GDMFPOS's.

I have been in development/testing/support and retailing of players for the last 8 years so I think I have a little experience in the subject and will make the following comments based on that:-

All players from major manufacturers seem to be poorly supported and maintained with upgrades. bug fixes, etc.

I find that the best players seem to be manufactured in S-E Asia.

My current choices on the market here are RealTek 1073 chipset machines such as the Measy E9HD (measy.com.cn) and the Kaiboer h1073+ & M1073+ www.kaiboerhd.com) but my good friend on this forum, Maineman, reports good results with the Argosy range in the US.

Thanks for the resume however I already value your opinion enough to come looking for you. A search for EH9D produced no hits. The other site appears to have no outlets in the US. The Argosy got mostly good reviews on Newegg. Right now I have an RMA in progress on a WD unit. If the replacement isn't good I will buy an Argosy. I will review my library structure. I wouldn't want you to strain your voice.

[GregiBoy]

I was really trying to illustrate the fact that if you do not organise your library from the start, it then becomes an overwhelming task later on.

Ask my good friend Maineman. I castigated him ages ago and he still hasn't done it and taken the easy route because it all became "TOO HARD" !!!

On the player front, what you really need to do is list out your requirements in priority order and then see if the device meets those requirements. For example:-

1. Plays hidef MKV's correctly at 1080p.
2. Plays DTS sound track thru optical
3. Plays DD5.1 sound track thru optical
4. Can easily swap between soundtracks
5. Obeys chapter marks in MKV's
6. Is networkable
7. Acts as a NAS on my network
...
40. Displays Album Art
....
75. Displays Synopsis
.....
100. Can make coffee and buttered toast each morning at a set time.

Some of the requirements of some users can be totally unrealistic like 100...

[ram1009]

I was really trying to illustrate the fact that if you do not organise your library from the start, it then becomes an overwhelming task later on.

Ask my good friend Maineman. I castigated him ages ago and he still hasn't done it and taken the easy route because it all became "TOO HARD" !!!

On the player front, what you really need to do is list out your requirements in priority order and then see if the device meets those requirements. For example:-

1. Plays hidef MKV's correctly at 1080p.
2. Plays DTS sound track thru optical
3. Plays DD5.1 sound track thru optical
4. Can easily swap between soundtracks
5. Obeys chapter marks in MKV's
6. Is networkable
7. Acts as a NAS on my network
...
40. Displays Album Art
....
75. Displays Synopsis
.....
100. Can make coffee and buttered toast each morning at a set time.

Some of the requirements of some users can be totally unrealistic like 100...

You left out an occasional BJ.

FWIW, the WD player has an impressive list of (supposed) accomplishments. It just doesnt do them. I'm not that hard to please. I just want to get what they say I'm paying for.

[maineman]

Ask my good friend Maineman. I castigated him ages ago and he still hasn't done it and taken the easy route because it all became "TOO HARD" !!!

Au contraire my friend.
Ultimately, I did take your advice...always have btw...
Not exactly a "sagacious" attempt at organization, but it works.

It's kinda like doing what the wife says....
sooner or later we know we're gonna have to do it...but....

[ram1009]

I noticed some of these devices have integral HDDs. Does that mean that you can rip from any network computer directly to that HDD, and better yet, are you then able to play back from the devive to any network computer? Newwgg only charges $38 more for an Argosy with a 1 TB HDD. Not bad.

[maineman]

I haven't ripped via my network, but I don't see any reason you can't, provided you are hard-wired (not wireless) and the hdd is properly mapped.

How are you planning to connect the device for playback to network pcs?...again, not wireless I hope.

I'm still in the "moving to my retirement home stage" and not established in the new house.
Right now I'm ripping from my main pc and have multiple hdds in ext enclosures ---> usb ---> Argosy MP.
I've got about 6 x 1 TB, but I'm moving into 2 TB.
Currently have 2 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB for $79.99 each, delivered courtesy of newegg.
Very solid hdds
They should be on sale again soon.

My next move is a JBOD box for my soon-to-be-purchased big screen HDTV.
My plan is to do most of my viewing in my new man cave...

[ram1009]

I haven't ripped via my network, but I don't see any reason you can't, provided you are hard-wired (not wireless) and the hdd is properly mapped.

How are you planning to connect the device for playback to network pcs?...again, not wireless I hope.

I'm still in the "moving to my retirement home stage" and not established in the new house.
Right now I'm ripping from my main pc and have multiple hdds in ext enclosures ---> usb ---> Argosy MP.
I've got about 6 x 1 TB, but I'm moving into 2 TB.
Currently have 2 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB for $79.99 each, delivered courtesy of newegg.
Very solid hdds
They should be on sale again soon.

My next move is a JBOD box for my soon-to-be-purchased big screen HDTV.
My plan is to do most of my viewing in my new man cave...

Actually, I'm considering running some cat 5 to where my media player currently resides however it's on wireless right now. Why do you think it needs to be hard wired to be ripped to? If you can see the player's HDD on your network PCs you should be able to rip to it with or without wires. I would think you can also play from it to any network PC. Can you see your Argosy's HDD from your network PCs?

[AGJ]

streaming video files wirelessly creates playback problems and as well transfer problems always best to use wired connection for best performance

[maineman]

streaming video files wirelessly creates playback problems and as well transfer problems always best to use wired connection for best performance

Couldn't agree more with my good friend AGJ.
It's not simply a matter of "seeing" the hdd.

As I said, we're in the process of selling our home in Maine (fingers crossed).
My wife is setting our home up in SC, I just helped my son move down to NC to pursue his career in anesthesia and my daughter will attending med school.

Needless to say, my "network" needs are at a minimum.
Translation, right now my Argosy is playing only to my HDTV and this won't be changing until I'm down south.
Sorry, I can't be more help on the set up.

By trying wireless, I guess you won't lose anything but time, well maybe you'll gain some gray hair...

However, I can't emphasize enough, do yourself a huge favor and run the cat 5e.
It'll be well worth the effort.

[ram1009]

Couldn't agree more with my good friend AGJ.
It's not simply a matter of "seeing" the hdd.

As I said, we're in the process of selling our home in Maine (fingers crossed).
My wife is setting our home up in SC, I just helped my son move down to NC to pursue his career in anesthesia and my daughter will attending med school.

Needless to say, my "network" needs are at a minimum.
Translation, right now my Argosy is playing only to my HDTV and this won't be changing until I'm down south.
Sorry, I can't be more help on the set up.

By trying wireless, I guess you won't lose anything but time, well maybe you'll gain some gray hair...

However, I can't emphasize enough, do yourself a huge favor and run the cat 5e.
It'll be well worth the effort.

Actually, my WD player performed perfectly when I first hooked it up wirelessly, even playing uncompressed Avatar over HDMI. It's only recently it has begun choppy playback even with a temporary piece of cat 5 running through the house. The reason I was considering running the cat 5 to the player's location was to get better coverage for my wireless. If I do that, of course I will hook up the player to the wireless router with cat 5. Same with my Roku player. No sense wasting a wired port. Good luck with the house sale.