Want to find best "plays everything" STB

[goobersnuftda 0]

I am upgrading pieces of AV equipment and my next purchase is a STB player. Eventually my skydiving gear will be upgraded but the whole family watches the big TV and uses the player. Much easier to upgrade “my stuff” if I have given them some candy and they have “their stuff” :)

What is the best current “plays everything” set top box out there now?

I am looking for:
-Blu-ray
-Divx
-Divx Plus HD (otherwise known as MKV)
-Region free (0-8) and Blu-ray regions A-B-C
-1080p full HD
-must have USB port (for memory stick/HD)
-HDMI obviously

The built in Wi-Fi is not a must but it would be nice to stream video from my computer directly to the player. The USB port means no more burning disks to watch when it can be on a memory stick but to simply stream directly to the STB would be kewl. LOVE watching MKV files of TV shows instead of the standard crap version that comes in over the line (no commercials either).

I’ve done a lot of internet searching but there are so many companies playing the game to market their wares that they intentionally leave things out, not mention other specs and you never really know what they do unless they specifically mention every last spec.

What would you recommend?

[PhreeZone 15]

Easiest answer is the best one also. Sony PS3. Fully media player, supports everything you listed, built in WiFi and everything else. Plus its ready for HDMI 1.4 for 3d ready too.

For the most part the majority of the items you are asking for are used around video piracy.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[theonlyski 3]

Quote

For the most part the majority of the items you are asking for are used around video piracy.

Yes but there are plenty of people that use a similar setup just to prevent having to switch dvds

I have a NAS that I managed to set up (little modifications required) to stream movies that I ripped a digital copy of (from my dvds) that will stream them to my xbox.

Its alot nicer to carry a small 2 drive NAS around than a huge ass book of DVDs

Come to think of it, my NAS will stream to an XBOX via the same mod I did to it.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[dragon2 0]

I've got:

Blu-ray 5.1 home cinema set
AC Ryan PLAYON HD media player/streamer (with an old 500 gb harddrive in it, for the occasional file that won't stream without hickups)
3x NAS
wired 1000 mbit network

All set

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Icon134 0]

I've got a home theater pc running windows 7, with a bluray drive running power dvd, it has a 1 TB drive for storage, and will play just about anything I throw at it...

I can watch netflix, hulu, dvd/bluray, etc from across the room with a remote using windows media center.

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[Arvoitus 1]

I've got LG 7000 series LCD which is Full HD 1080p. It has HDMI (obviously), USB through which it supports any mass media with FAT32/NTFS drives, plays MKV/AVI/MPG/MP4 files in DivX, XVID, H.264/AVC (audio in MP3/AAC/dolby dig./LPCM) format + it supports subtitle files( smi/srt/sub ). I've also got a PS3 connected to it for blu-rays.

Nice combo and since the TV supports most media formats directly its quick and easy to watch stuff since I don't have to start a separate media player.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[goobersnuftda 0]

Quote

For the most part the majority of the items you are asking for are used around video piracy.

Um yes and that is kinda the point for my needs. Lets say you want a supped up King Air with monster engines completely stripped inside for maximum lift capacity. It may have been designed to smuggle drugs but as a skydiver, you would buy it for a jump ship.

The same analogy goes for my media player. I want Divx, Divx Plus, MKV, Region free, BluRay etc but oh my God, I freaking hate the mandatory controls they have in the movies. I have tons of Bob the Builder, Disney, Mighty Machines DVD's all over the place and I abhor trying to put in a move and FORCED to watch the 15 second FBI warning followed by the 10 minutes in movie trailers for the other crap to buy. No menu bypass, no top menu options allowed, locked out. As a computer geek, off to the ripper you go then.

Even though you own the all the original kids DVD’s, they rip down to a small 600 meg AVI with no other crap other than the video the kids actually want to watch. Put 8 of them on a disk and away you go. When we go to the parents cabin or go camping in the travel trailer, a simple CD carry case with DVD-R’s and a slim DVD Divx player and I can keep all the screaming monsters entertained for days :)

Anyways ….. I think I have settled on one of these

LG BD570 $175
LG BD590 (same as above but with a 250 GB hard drive for storage) $280

Both of these models have built in Wi-Fi so I can stream in 801.11b/g/n directly from the computer. They play all the formats but they do have regions (North America). There are bypasses and that will come in time because these same players are for either side of the pond, same hardware, different programming. The hard drive model is awesome because all you would have to do is grab the player and it can go to the travel trailer or the cabin already pre loaded with all the movies/TV shows. 500 movies or TV shows is a lot to watch.

The only thing missing in life now is an inline HDMI volume limiter. I used to use one with the RCA connections and that was awesome. Watching a movie late at night then the action scene comes on with guns a blazing and car chases and if I’m not quick enough to the volume control, the house rattles and everyone is awake. The old RCA in line volume limiter sets the max volume and it never got louder than that setting. HDMI has control key issues that interrupting that code causes it to have a fit :)

[PhreeZone 15]

Like I was saying you may want to look at getting a used PS3 off Craigslist, I see them going for ~200 anymore and its got everything on the list plus a ton more features. The only issue is that its got limited IR support for remotes but they make a BlueTooth to IR adapter that takes care of that issue. Hard drive size internal is not needed since everything will be able to be played off cheaper external hard drives.

Not to mention its got the ability to be updated and have apps installed to do things like photo albums, streaming music and internet browsing.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[DSE 3]

Quote

Quote

For the most part the majority of the items you are asking for are used around video piracy.

Um yes and that is kinda the point for my needs. Lets say you want a supped up King Air with monster engines completely stripped inside for maximum lift capacity. It may have been designed to smuggle drugs but as a skydiver, you would buy it for a jump ship.

The same analogy goes for my media player. I want Divx, Divx Plus, MKV, Region free, BluRay etc but oh my God, )

No...You'd be buying that aircraft to still smuggle drugs.
If you're good with theft...cool. Just call it what it is.
I use a PS3.
Been considering using Windows, but havent had the motivation to finish what I'd need to make it all synced up.

[Arvoitus 1]

What do you need an IR remote with PS3 for? I've got a standard Sony BT remote with my PS3 and I would never even dream of changing it for a crappy IR remote. I hate having to point the damn remote towards the device when with BT it makes no difference where or what the thing points to.

Your rights end where my feelings begin.

[dragon2 0]

Probably if your one of those people with a lot of remotes, you want to get a all-in-one (logitech harmony type) remote, which are IR.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[antonija 0]

Actually the best one would be some sort of HTPC, but unless you're of a geekish persuasion you will not want to set one up. Then again you can pay others to do that for you and it will play anything and everything you throw at it.

On second spot I'd put one of the network media players/tanks either with included BR player or a separate BR unit. These things (players and tanks) are usually foolproof for setup and use, support loads of containers, codecs and have plenty of additional features, but not all of them (PC is still a PC and you can do to it whatever you like).

Now if you want to go the console way then PS3 is probably the best choice right now. It will not play/support as many things as HTPC or network media player (especially since sony removed the option of running linux on it without a hack), but you can play games on it...

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne

[goobersnuftda 0]

I have found the perfect STB for what I was looking for and after using it for a number of weeks, man it is awesome.

LG590

THE GOOD - plays basically everything you can throw at it. Blu Ray, DVD, CD, DivX, DivX-HD, AVI's MKV's (HD computer format) and a ton more. Has a USB port for memory sticks or external Hard drives.

THE AWESOME - Has built in 250 GIG hard drive. I can now take this little box to the lake, cabin, camping... anywhere and with 250 Gig of preloaded material (especially for the kids programs), I'm ready to go. Oh, it is also Wi-Fi ready. Do the install stuff and you can stream any video from your home network through this player. Internet services available through it are Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Roxio CinemaNow, Pandora, Picasa and AccuWeather

THE BAD- Player is locked as they usually are to the North American setting for playing disks. If you buy a European DVD while on vacation, it will not play in the player .... yet. They alwasys hack them given time. Same player is sold in Europe as here so there is just a secret code usually to unlock them. That is just for disks though, if you have a AVI, MKV or whatever, no issues at all with that.

Found a good deal at $175 for it. There is a lot of techno-crap out there just for the sake of buying electronic "stuff" but this is something that makes life a bit easier.

[Zlew 0]

you may have just cost me 200 bucks.

[antonija 0]

1st of all I'm happy you like what you bought.

Most things you mention as being super awesome are really more like average... things that most players have. You can definitely buy a player with bigger HDD, one that supports more media formats, one that can access even more internet services, one that can act as digital video recorder, one that can run a collection of servers/services for you to access over net while not at home, ...

But in the end the only important thing is knowing what you want and buying the right tool for it. It looks like you got it spot on (except for that region shit publishers shove down our throats and divide world in imaginary "regions").

If anyone is looking for (kind of) comprehensive collections of info on current media players (with some articles explaining important things to look for) click here.

I understand the need for conformity. Without a concise set of rules to follow we would probably all have to resort to common sense. -David Thorne