A Device to play movies on TV

Banjo Sandwich

Banjo Sandwich

Banjo Sandwich

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Hi all,

unsure if this is correct page, etc...

I am looking for some hardware that could be connected to a laptop to transfer movie files then act as a multimedia player outputting to my tv.

I know i connect my laptop via it's HDMI slot but i am looking for something more permanent.

things i would like it to have:-

- It's own hard drive so i could connect my laptop to it and transfer movie files to it or a device that accepts a hard drive
- Remote control to control the playback. i.e. stop, play, etc...
- 1080p / blu ray playback capability

Perhaps a small portable media centre PC is what i am after?

please help and all advice welcomed

cheers

Luke
 
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Movies are stored on various hard drives, etc but what i would like to do is import all my physical dvd movies and the downloaded movies on to one device and use it idependently. Unsure if there is a copyright issue for importing dvds to a hard drive though?

Apple TV 2 appears to be a streaming device correct, my internet at home is not reliable or the fastest at peak times i get less than 1mb/s :( I was more looking for a device that can be stand alone and have streaming capibilities?

Does apple TV act as an access/interface tool, i.e. all files stored on a central location then it streams them via your home network to the tv?

I feel a HTPC would be the best option, but if there was a small portable device similar to apple tv?

Surprised there isn't something on the market similar to a DVD player that can store your movies and have an GUI to select which movie you want to watch :)
 
thanks guys but all these things are central around to streaming and accessing files from a central location (laptop).

I am more looking for a device with a large hard-drive that has media playback functionality, with HD/Blu Ray supported and a remote control.

The WD elements Play model looks tempting but a USB 2.0 file transfer system worries me... could be days transfering movie collection!

Does the PS3 support transfering DVD's to its hard drive?
 
what about this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=1844&subcat=
Click to expand...

Interesting as i really like ASUS but this would mean i would have to buy a good external hard drive with a good transfer rate?

Would the usb connection cable effect the picture quality?

Reading customer reviews and they say they installed a hard-drive does this mean the device can be opened then you install a hard drive you want?
 
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what about an Acer Revo Net top ? I have one which I use as a media centre computer. super small, you can even mount it onto the back of your tv, they come in various specs and they're very eco 29watts

Mines on all the time doing downloads and watching films and tv show, iplayer etc.
Click to expand...

Like this idea as well but how would i control the playback features, can this be done via a remote control?
 
RichMawdsley said:
I'm looking into getting the new Apple Tv when its out next week...

And with a jailbreak that would be able to do everything you want to do with the exception of storing the media.

But easy option would be just to then get a NAS drive (or just a caddy and put your HDD's in) and point the XBMC on the ATV to it.

Job done and you've then got what's probably the best htpc there is for £100 mark.
Click to expand...

Slightly confused with the NAS drive thing...

NAS drive>>>> ATV (via ethernet?)>>>> TV?

£??? >>>>>>> £??? >>>>>>>>>>>> ?

Does ATV offer internet playback options?
 
You either get a media player than wont play discs themselves:

WDTV Live Streaming + USB hard drive or a WDTV Live Hub that comes with a built in 1Tb HD. Plays every format ever made either from a locally attached hard drive, over a gigbit LAN connection or a wireless connection. Plus it has internet streaming with iPlayer, Netflix etc if you ever need it. It has a remote control (you can even use your iPhone as the remote if you want) and a great interface with content scraping to get movie info for all your files.

It won't play actual discs, not sure if you meant you wanted it to play 1080p discs or rips (it will play 1080p rips no problems). These options would be about £130 inc a 1Tb drive.

Or

2) If you want it to play discs as well then look at something like a Sony BDP series bluray player which will accept an external drive to play files. £100+

Or

3) Buy a small PC. As much as you want. £200+ i guess starting with a small prebuilt Atom type system.

4) Comedy Apple TV option if for some bizarre reason all your media is in DRM apple format and thats the only file format you'll ever want to play unless you fancy hacking it when you could have bought a WDTV in the 1st place..
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So in your opinion the WDTV Live Hub would be my best option, for £130.00 i could get everything i want plus the capability to connect to the internet and stream iplayer etc...

Does the WDTV Live Hub have 3.0usb for hi-speed trasnfers to the in-built hard-drive?
 
themul said:
HI,

I use the latest WD live TV box and it works great, plays all my movies, music and pictures as well as having BBC iplayer and a few other nice features.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-004-WD

The cost is £85 and has built in wireless N but it does also work with older routers as well.
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Does this one have the inbuilt hard-drive though?

Does it have 3.0 usb for file transfer to device?

Can you transfer files via LAN connection?
 
Designer habitat nano 3.0. Its a tiny box about the size of a credit card, connects by HDMI, plays nearly every format. It reads usb stcks and usb connected hard drives, has no internal storage of its own. Remote control is crappy build quality but when the whole thing can be had for £25 or less thats not a major complaint.

I've been using one for a month or so, and for the size and price I'm very impressed with it.

EDIT: It looks like a cheaper version of that WDTV actually, much less features though, it pretty much just plays media.
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So i could perhaps get a usb 3.0 external HDD that means i can transfer files fast then use the nano 3.0 to watch them?

What is the GUI like on the Nano 3.0?
 
Silly question...

But lets say i persue this cheaper Nano 3.0 or equivalent option...

Can i obtain an external HDD with usb 3.0 capabilities then utilise the fast transfers for trasnfering from laptop to HDD. Then connect the HDD to the nano 3.0 and not lose any video quality?
 
I currently connect an iPad to my TV and have Plex Media Server set up on my PUBLIC . But you could connect any Android device such as a cheap tablet like the Advent Vega. Then you would have a media centre and a tablet.
Click to expand...

Eh?!?

confused.com...

does this mean the plex media server is the storage device then all your are using is the ipad as the controller?

I am more looking for the storage device to be local to the TV and then have internet streaming as a side posibility :)
 
frank_grimes said:
Tiny PC!

http://www.raspberrypi.org/
Click to expand...

Can you give a more detail discription as to what this is and how it can be implemented to help me?

So effectively this is a tiny computer that can handle processing a storage device and playing files from it?

Thus can the Raspberrypi say have VLC media player installed on it then connected to an external HDD play HD quality movies?

What sound does it support?
 
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