Spec Me a Media Player?

chris.tarry85

chris.tarry85

chris.tarry85

Associate
Joined
29 Sep 2005
Posts
353
Hi All,

Currently use an aging PS3 for media playback and streaming and am looking for something more modern to replace it with.

Requirements are (in usage order):
- Streaming from Buffalo NAS (Twonky DNLA Server)
- Iplayer, 4OD etc.
- Netflix

Budget up to around £50 ideally!

Thanks,
Chris
 
Roku 2 seems to cover all bases. All terrestrial on demand channels, Netflix, Amazon Prime, plus others. I use it with Plex for local media, but it is DLNA compatible as well, but have never used that aspect.

Currently £43 on the River.
 
The list of supported streaming file formats seems a little limited though?

Video - MKV (H.264), MP4 (H.264), MOV (H.264)

No WMV or AVI for example? And only the H.264 codec?

Chris
 
H.264 is the standard these days for encoding your own media. Obviously if you have existing stuff you won't want to transcode everything, but unless you have a specific need I wouldn't be creating anything new in WMV or AVI.

I have to say though, the PS3 is a really capable media receiver so unless you have problems with it then I wouldn't replace it.
 
Makhaira said:
H.264 is the standard these days for encoding your own media. Obviously if you have existing stuff you won't want to transcode everything, but unless you have a specific need I wouldn't be creating anything new in WMV or AVI.

I have to say though, the PS3 is a really capable media receiver so unless you have problems with it then I wouldn't replace it.
Click to expand...

Has that not been succeeded by hevc? So to future proof yourself for the short term look for something with hevc decoding.
 
I know it is over budget at £65 but the fire TV really is very good and that is for the new 4K version.

The older version must be available somewhere for £50

Assuming you are up for a short amount of work putting Kodi etc on it.

edit and as Hyperseven says the latest is Hevc and it is worth the extra £15 for hardware decoding.
 
Last edited:
Just installed the Media Player on the Roku and it has played a selection of MKVs as well as Avis and MP4s.

All played okay, but it didn't seem to want to do anything other than 2.0 PCM audio for any file. I was also unable to fast forward/rewind anything but the MP4s.

So I cannot recommend it. Now if you were using Plex then I would happily recommend it :)
 
pepp77 said:
Just installed the Media Player on the Roku and it has played a selection of MKVs as well as Avis and MP4s.

All played okay, but it didn't seem to want to do anything other than 2.0 PCM audio for any file. I was also unable to fast forward/rewind anything but the MP4s.

So I cannot recommend it. Now if you were using Plex then I would happily recommend it :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking :)
 
Domi said:
I know it is over budget at £65 but the fire TV really is very good and that is for the new 4K version.

The older version must be available somewhere for £50

Assuming you are up for a short amount of work putting Kodi etc on it.

edit and as Hyperseven says the latest is Hevc and it is worth the extra £15 for hardware decoding.
Click to expand...

Thanks, yes am happy to do this as long as it is reasonably simple, is there a guide somewhere??
 
On a fire TV Kodi has to be sideloaded but it really is fairly simple and you will find guides further down in this thread.

However most of your other stuff will just work including both amazon and Netflix streaming in 4k (assuming a compatible display with HDMI 2 and 2.2).

Catchup you get BBC, ITV , Dave (no 4OD or 5 yet).

It is not perfect, a decent PC is still the best option but costs much more and needs far more messing about with.
 
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