Media Player - DivX - Wireless - Hard Drive - Does such a thing exist?

NeilF · 22 Nov 2006 at 13:29

I have a nice cheap DVD player that allows you to play MP3, DivX, Xvid files etc.

So I can grab a load of files (eg; XVid), shove them on a DVDRW and then watch them on my TV.

It's great!

What would be nicer though is if the device had a hard drive and was wireless, so I could simply copy the files from my PC to the players hard drive, and then play them from there.

I can find media centers that are seemingly just HD enclosures, but none of them are wireless and also play DivX etc?

Does such a device exist? Ideally a DVD player with a HD that plays all media formats and can be liased with wirelessly?

Syph · 22 Nov 2006 at 13:40

That sounds like stepping into HTPC territory!

Such a device would be nice however, preferably with the ability to upscale too.

NeilF · 22 Nov 2006 at 13:58

Syph said:
That sounds like stepping into HTPC territory!

Such a device would be nice however, preferably with the ability to upscale too.

Well Kiss did the 1504/1508, but that seems to be gone now... Also the format compatability seemed to be lacking. ie: Probably didn't play DivX/XVid as well as my existing DVD player...

Basically I want my existing DVD player which seemingly plays anything I throw at it, with a harddrive on it that I can dump to via wireless...

http://www.lordpercy.com/kiss_dp-1504.htm

Alternatively even something like my existing DVD Player with just a USB2 port so I could plug in a USB memory stick with media on it! Again I've seen DVD players with USB ports, but so far they ONLY show pictures from the memory stick, and not videos

Syph · 22 Nov 2006 at 16:45

I like my dedicated devices (ie: I'd rather use a DVD player, rather than a PC/console to play DVDs off) but what you're talking about really would be better suited to a well constructed HTPC. You're quite a demanding fella!

HEADRAT · 22 Nov 2006 at 17:34

Mediabox

http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/products/media_players/hd_mediabox.htm

Snazio

http://www.snazio.com/

HEADRAT

chaparral · 22 Nov 2006 at 17:47

Don't know if you be interested in something like this Buffalo LinkTheater High-Definition Wireless Media Player...

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=96

But it has no harddrive built in...

Syph · 22 Nov 2006 at 19:31

chaparral said:
Don't know if you be interested in something like this Buffalo LinkTheater High-Definition Wireless Media Player...

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=96

But it has no harddrive built in...

That actually looks pretty good. Found it for £200 straight away, so it's not dirt cheap but looks like a decent solution.

NeilF · 22 Nov 2006 at 21:24

Syph said:
I like my dedicated devices (ie: I'd rather use a DVD player, rather than a PC/console to play DVDs off) but what you're talking about really would be better suited to a well constructed HTPC. You're quite a demanding fella!

Not at all... Any one of the current DVD/HD players out there that play DivX and Xvid etc, with a wireless connection would work fine...

That Kiss 1504 seemed to almost be there, but the compatibility seemed a bit lacking.

MAREKB · 23 Nov 2006 at 13:47

Xbox with XBMC. Cheap and cheerful.

NeilF · 23 Nov 2006 at 14:16

MAREKB said:
Xbox with XBMC. Cheap and cheerful.

Can that record TV to a harddrive? Can you use a remote control? Can it automatically change sky channels etc when recording? Is it generally easy to use?

There are undoubtable DVD/Hard Drive recorders out there with the functionality I'm after (basically it's just my existing Philips DVR630 with hard drive recording), I'm just hoping an owner of such a unit is able to reply to this thread

If needs be - cheap and cheerful - I'll just buy a £100 hard drive recorder from Asda, and stick with my existing DVD Player. I'm after a nice civilised solution though for about £200-£250

Crispy · 23 Nov 2006 at 14:26

NeilFawcett said:
What would be nicer though is if the device had a hard drive and was wireless, so I could simply copy the files from my PC to the players hard drive, and then play them from there.

NeilFawcett said:
Can that record TV to a harddrive? Can you use a remote control? Can it automatically change sky channels etc when recording? Is it generally easy to use?

There are undoubtable DVD/Hard Drive recorders out there with the functionality I'm after (basically it's just my existing Philips DVR630 with hard drive recording), I'm just hoping an owner of such a unit is able to reply to this thread

If needs be - cheap and cheerful - I'll just buy a £100 hard drive recorder from Asda, and stick with my existing DVD Player. I'm after a nice civilised solution though for about £200-£250

Do you need the ability to play DivX files etc wirelessly from your PC or to record from TV / Control your sky / cable / whatever box? Two different things.

If just to play files from your PC wirelessly on your PC, then an XBOX with XBMC will do the job, is cheap, and IMO is brilliant.

If your looking to record TV, then a TiVo (you can still get them from EBay) will do this (along with Sky plus, Topfield's and a hundred other PVR's) but with a TiVo you can add mod it to connect to TiVoweb and if you look around I think it is also possible to extract video from the TiVo to your PC.

NeilF · 23 Nov 2006 at 15:09

Crispy said:
Do you need the ability to play DivX files etc wirelessly from your PC or to record from TV / Control your sky / cable / whatever box? Two different things.

If just to play files from your PC wirelessly on your PC, then an XBOX with XBMC will do the job, is cheap, and IMO is brilliant.

If your looking to record TV, then a TiVo (you can still get them from EBay) will do this (along with Sky plus, Topfield's and a hundred other PVR's) but with a TiVo you can add mod it to connect to TiVoweb and if you look around I think it is also possible to extract video from the TiVo to your PC.

I wouldn't want to play DivX files wirelessly...

At the moment to watch DivX episodes/films I:-
1) Download them...
2) Burn them onto a DVDRW
3) Put them into my DVD Player (Philips DVR630) and watch them just like regular DVDs in effect. Works VERY nicely.

Now:-
1) I'd like to get a Hard Drive recorder, ideally with the same DVD playing functions as my DVR630 (ie: play DivX,XVid,etc), so I still have one device instead of two.
2) Given (1) I'd like to get media onto the player (instead of have to play from DVDRWs by):-
2a) Copying wirelessly to the devices hard drive.
2b) Just putting the DVDRW in, and copying them to the devices harddrive to watch from there (later).

Crispy · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:13

gotcha, in that case an Xbox with XBMC will do that (assuming you upgrade the HDD in the Xbox) but won't give you the PVR functionality that I think you also want.

moogie · 23 Nov 2006 at 17:22

i use the snazio 1350
cant record (use sky+) but will stream media files from pc both wifi or via cable
also has a usb port
simple to use
will also upscale dvd to hd

NeilF · 23 Nov 2006 at 20:12

bbspeed said:
i use the snazio 1350
cant record (use sky+) but will stream media files from pc both wifi or via cable
also has a usb port
simple to use
will also upscale dvd to hd

Can you copy media to the HD and play it from there?

The program changing of Sky is high up the list... But not mandatory...

EDIT: OH! From a look, it can't even record external media

ajm · 24 Nov 2006 at 09:08

Alternatively even something like my existing DVD Player with just a USB2 port so I could plug in a USB memory stick with media on it! Again I've seen DVD players with USB ports, but so far they ONLY show pictures from the memory stick, and not videos

There is a recorder out there that i have just purchased myself which will...

Play MP3, DivX, Xvid files etc
Has a usb port Ability to play or transfer video to hdd
Analougue and freeview tuners
Allows dvd to hdd and hdd to dvd copying

Only doesn't have wireless capability.

NeilF · 24 Nov 2006 at 09:53

ajm said:
There is a recorder out there that i have just purchased myself which will...

Play MP3, DivX, Xvid files etc
Has a usb port Ability to play or transfer video to hdd
Analougue and freeview tuners
Allows dvd to hdd and hdd to dvd copying

Only doesn't have wireless capability.

Sounds excellent... What is it?

Is it easy to use? Quiet?

IceAx · 24 Nov 2006 at 11:00

I use 3 xboxs do stream vids and music.

Best value for what i want. They are perfect for streaming
DivX / Xvid. They can also handle 99% of file formats too.

Only downside is no tuner / PVR functions

Andy

Gimpmaster3201 · 24 Nov 2006 at 11:47

-=BAF=-AXE said:
I use 3 xboxs do stream vids and music.

Best value for what i want. They are perfect for streaming
DivX / Xvid. They can also handle 99% of file formats too.

Only downside is no tuner / PVR functions

Andy

Same here. Very good value for money and file format/codec support is better than a lot of PC playback software i've used. As mentioned no tuner / PVR function is the only downside, although i don't require this so doesn't affect me much.

NeilF · 24 Nov 2006 at 12:30

ajm said:
There is a recorder out there that i have just purchased myself which will...

Play MP3, DivX, Xvid files etc
Has a usb port Ability to play or transfer video to hdd
Analougue and freeview tuners
Allows dvd to hdd and hdd to dvd copying

Only doesn't have wireless capability.

Put me out of misery mate

What is it? An LG one? Eltax? Argh! Tell me tell me