Cheap Reliable Media Player

[Razor]

I would like to buy a small media player to replace my laptop for holidays. I have been looking at the:

- wdtv live
- sumvision cyclone 3
- android google tv sticks
- raspberry pi.


I really only want it for breaks away where I will play a few tv shows or movies whilst connected upto a hotel tv so I don't want to spend allot on this as I have no need for it at home.

The wdtv live seems to be the best for media playback but it also costs double the price of the other solutions. I do quite like the look of the android sticks mainly because I fancy having a play around with one and I can install apps to it.

I don't mind tinkering around with hardware but as I plan to use this on my holidays I just want a player which is stable and just works with no issues. So can anyone give any feedback on any of the above players or add any players to the above list. I would prefer to keep the spend to under £50.

Oh and I plan to pair the media player upto an external hdd with mkv 720p/1080p files.

 

[Tboggie]

WDTV is probably your best choice and you should be able to pick one up for less than £50 in the classifieds section.

 

[Razor]

Thanks for the reply tboogie. The wdtv does seem the best out of the bunch but I really don't want to pay the £80 asking price for what will only be used on holidays and I don't fancy buying second hand. Would any of the other solutions work well? Have I overlooked any other media players?

 

[next010]

Least amount of issues is going to be WDTV Live.

Android/R-Pi XBMC is still beta software and those Cyclone micro devices use an ancient Boxchip F10 chipset.

Seagates old GoFlexTV Realtek player can be gotten for £46 on Amazon UK, it's a Realtek 1073 based device, not a great player but might do the job, be sure to grab latest firmware for it too.

Another option is the Asus OPlay Mini for £57 that uses the more recent Realtek 1055 chipset, might be the best option.

 

[kokolino23]

I would choose WDTV. Did you consider popcorn at all ?
I've got a A110 and I'm very please with it. This takes an internal HDD (2.5") as well so might be handy.

 

[Razor]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Least amount of issues is going to be WDTV Live.

Android/R-Pi XBMC is still beta software and those Cyclone micro devices use an ancient Boxchip F10 chipset.

Seagates old GoFlexTV Realtek player can be gotten for £46 on Amazon UK, it's a Realtek 1073 based device, not a great player but might do the job, be sure to grab latest firmware for it too.

Another option is the Asus OPlay Mini for £57 that uses the more recent Realtek 1055 chipset, might be the best option.

So those little android sticks are still rough around the edges. Thats a shame as I liked the look of the them. I actually wasnt planning on putting xbmc on the stick as it is more than I need. I was thinking of going with a standard media player that can play mkvs, I have an iphone and an ipad and I use CineX and AVplayerHD for my mkvs. I was basically planning on using one of those apps. I have used xbmc on my htpc and they are very good but they can throw a wobbly now and again. I would of also thought it would push the little stick to the limits, I know it loads up a raspberry pi to near its max cpu load.

I will check out the goflex and Asus players. I saw the goflex but didnt really look into it much as it seemed a bit older than the rest of the players I was looking at.

So in your opinion you would strike the cyclone off the list?

I would choose WDTV. Did you consider popcorn at all ?
I've got a A110 and I'm very please with it. This takes an internal HDD (2.5") as well so might be handy.

I did briefly look at the popcorn as a friend of mine has one but the cheapest I could find one was over £100 so I stopped looking.



It does keep on coming back to the WDTV Live. Its a shame there are no deals around at the moment. The price was about £65 when I started looking and it has now gone upto £80.

 

[goujam]

I have wdtv and pi and I'm going to change the wdtv for a second pi. Once setup its so much slicker than the wdtv. Cover art is quicker and better and xbmc looks better. The only thing the wdtv does over the pi is true hd audio but that's not a problem for me

 

[Razor]

I have wdtv and pi and I'm going to change the wdtv for a second pi. Once setup its so much slicker than the wdtv. Cover art is quicker and better and xbmc looks better. The only thing the wdtv does over the pi is true hd audio but that's not a problem for me

Is the pi 100% stable? Also do you use a remote with the pi? I really dont want to have to take a keyboard away with me otherwise I might as well just take my laptop.

 

[goujam]

Is the pi 100% stable? Also do you use a remote with the pi? I really dont want to have to take a keyboard away with me otherwise I might as well just take my laptop.

Yeah they have released stable versions. It's recommended to run off a USB stick so you can overclock with out sd card corruption. I have my pi clocked to 1ghz CPU and 450mhz core and its been stable for months now.

I use the yatse remote app on my phone and tablet as the remote but my brother uses his TVs cec control and uses the tv remote. You can plug a ir receiver in too if you want to use another remote.

Your best using a wired connection for network. It is also better to be plugged into a device that can decode dts and ac3 to help the CPU out but if you haven't a modest overclock will allow dts decode on the pi its really come on in the last few months.

 

[Razor]

Thanks for the info. I really only want to use this for my holidays so I wouldn't be connecting upto a network and sound will be via the hotel hdtv. My friend has a pi and uses the iphone for his remote but he says it needs a wfi network for it to work which I wont have access to. A standard small ir remote or a bluetooth adapter and an iphone app which can access the pi via bluetooth would be ideal for my needs.

 

[goujam]

Thanks for the info. I really only want to use this for my holidays so I wouldn't be connecting upto a network and sound will be via the hotel hdtv. My friend has a pi and uses the iphone for his remote but he says it needs a wfi network for it to work which I wont have access to. A standard small ir remote or a bluetooth adapter and an iphone app which can access the pi via bluetooth would be ideal for my needs.

I know they have the ps3 remote working through bluetooth I'm not sure about using it with iPhone to bluetooth. Or you can use the cheap eBay USB or remotes.

As I said it takes a little bit of time to set up but once going it works well. But some people just want plug and play which is where the wdtv comes in. For what you want you wouldn't need the latest wdtv you could use the v2 one which go cheaper second hand.

Although personally I'd go with the pi. Just another note if you buy the pi don't forget to buy the codecs that enable vc1 and mpeg2 it only £3 to £4 but you can then play most files available.

 

[Razor]

Thinking about it I have a few spare or recievers and remotes from the htpc's I have in my home, I could always use one of these.

It looks like the wdtv would be my best bet for my travel needs as it seems to work with no real issues. I think if I was looking for a permanent home solution and I wasn't going down the htpc route the raspberry pi would be the route I take mainly due to the flexibility of the platform. It's a shame the android tv stick aren't upto the job in hand yet as I quite like the idea of them.

Thanks for all the sound advice goujam on the pi, it has been invaluable.

Btw have you tried plex on your pi? According to my friend he prefers it over xbmc.

 

[goujam]

Thinking about it I have a few spare or recievers and remotes from the htpc's I have in my home, I could always use one of these.

It looks like the wdtv would be my best bet for my travel needs as it seems to work with no real issues. I think if I was looking for a permanent home solution and I wasn't going down the htpc route the raspberry pi would be the route I take mainly due to the flexibility of the platform. It's a shame the android tv stick aren't upto the job in hand yet as I quite like the idea of them.

Thanks for all the sound advice goujam on the pi, it has been invaluable.

Btw have you tried plex on your pi? According to my friend he prefers it over xbmc.

I haven't yet but I may soon as I can run plex on my readynas as a server and the pi as the client