Best media player in the market with flexible budget of 20k

[Eddierockks]

Hi everybody I want to buy the best media player available in the market with a budget of 20k. Have looked at oplay v pro vs wd live tv hub. Can't decide which one to go for. Being my first player, I don't know much about the must have features but the amount of money I'm investing, ill want it to be the best option in the market at the moment. Also they could be wirelessly connected to stream data from MBP, iPad or iPhone? Thanks in advance.

 

[Brajendu]

I have a WD Live old version and pretty satisfied with it. The new Live Hub would the best one I believe as they use the Sigma family if chips. Please get a technical inside from this excellent site: iboum.com : Future Entertainment Technology : WDTV Live for all the media player with their chip-set.

YOur budged is high so you can look for the Popcorn Hour media player but not sure if they are available in India. Dune will be at higher price (35k).

I think Xtreamer has got some high end player in their product line-up which can reach till 20k.

 

[prosenjit]

well just a suggestion...you can get a blu ray player with 20k...and as modern blu ray players do have almost all functions of a media player..it will be future safe in case anyday you plan for a rent or buy a bly ray disk....
idea completly mine....nno offence...

 

[musicbee]

well just a suggestion...you can get a blu ray player with 20k...and as modern blu ray players do have almost all functions of a media player..it will be future safe in case anyday you plan for a rent or buy a bly ray disk....
idea completly mine....nno offence...

+1 to this. Also, they upscale a lot better than media players so its useful when not viewing HD content.

Check for any Oppo players. The new ones are more expensive but used pieces for even older models will be an excellent deal if you land one.

Other options are -

1. PS3. I have one and its an excellent option too.
2. WDTV. I have this too and I use it the most apart from the Oppo.
3. HTPC. If you have an old PC then this route too can be considered. PQ will be excellent and better than most media players.

 

[Eddierockks]

I have a WD Live old version and pretty satisfied with it. The new Live Hub would the best one I believe as they use the Sigma family if chips. Please get a technical inside from this excellent site: iboum.com : Future Entertainment Technology : WDTV Live for all the media player with their chip-set.

YOur budged is high so you can look for the Popcorn Hour media player but not sure if they are available in India. Dune will be at higher price (35k).

I think Xtreamer has got some high end player in their product line-up which can reach till 20k.

@Brajendu I would like to buy a player for which service is company provided easily in Ludhiana (that's where I live). So I would not be able to consider Popcorn, Dune or Xtreamer for that matter. So I think I'll have to stick to Asus or WD only at the moment. Thanks anyways for your suggestion thou.

 

[Eddierockks]

+1 to this. Also, they upscale a lot better than media players so its useful when not viewing HD content.

Check for any Oppo players. The new ones are more expensive but used pieces for even older models will be an excellent deal if you land one.

Other options are -

1. PS3. I have one and its an excellent option too.
2. WDTV. I have this too and I use it the most apart from the Oppo.
3. HTPC. If you have an old PC then this route too can be considered. PQ will be excellent and better than most media players.

Ok, I have a Oppo BDP 93 which I bought from US last year. I had never heard about the brand before until I started visiting hifivision.com, read some reviews and recommendations here about the best BDP in the market and everybody recommended Oppo. Honestly, I just bought it but even today, all I do on it is just watch blurays & DVDs whenever I get time. I'm normally very occupied with work and travel so I don't get much time to play with my gadgets. Too bad, isn't it? Again, how can it act as a media player? Pardon my ignorance here please, much thanks.

My basic requirement is that the media player should be able (if possible) to stream content from my iMac, MBP, assembled PC, etc all wirelessly. This is because I keep downloading a lot of stuff on all of these devices but I'm very lazy as well when it comes to transferring the file/s into a pen drive or an hdd and then plugging it in the tv's USB port or ps3 for that matter. I do own a Apple TV as well but content here in india is very very limited. All I'm able to use it for is AirPlay mirroring whether its a video or photos etc. Rarely I use it for YouTube because the supplied remote is not much of a keyboard. I hope everybody here including all seniors would help me out in figuring out this issue. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[musicbee]

Ok, I have a Oppo BDP 93 which I bought from US last year. I had never heard about the brand before until I started visiting hifivision.com, read some reviews and recommendations here about the best BDP in the market and everybody recommended Oppo. Honestly, I just bought it but even today, all I do on it is just watch blurays & DVDs whenever I get time. I'm normally very occupied with work and travel so I don't get much time to play with my gadgets. Too bad, isn't it? Again, how can it act as a media player? Pardon my ignorance here please, much thanks.

My basic requirement is that the media player should be able (if possible) to stream content from my iMac, MBP, assembled PC, etc all wirelessly. This is because I keep downloading a lot of stuff on all of these devices but I'm very lazy as well when it comes to transferring the file/s into a pen drive or an hdd and then plugging it in the tv's USB port or ps3 for that matter. I do own a Apple TV as well but content here in india is very very limited. All I'm able to use it for is AirPlay mirroring whether its a video or photos etc. Rarely I use it for YouTube because the supplied remote is not much of a keyboard. I hope everybody here including all seniors would help me out in figuring out this issue. Thanks in anticipation.

The Oppo has USB support so you can directly connect external HDDs and play content directly off them. That's the same as any media player and the Oppo will deliver much better quality. Also, the Oppo has inbuilt wireless that can play content from any home network.

Not exactly sure what else you are looking from a 20K media player? Nothing is going to offer more functionality than the Oppo that you already have.

Don't have Apple TV!

 

[Eddierockks]

Thanks a lot, also can you please guide me as well as to how can i make my Oppo stream movies wirelessly from my iMac or MBP? I do have a home network but what follows next?

 

[Brajendu]

The most common way is the DLNA Media server which acts as a hub for all streaming. This is very much available with many modern devices. I have attached an external Hard disk to my Netgear router which serves as a DLNA server. My TV and WD Live can receive streaming served by the router. This way any wireless capable player can play. I'm not sure if iMac supports DLNA.

 

[manniraj]

For that kind of a budget I suggest to go with the DIY HTPC if you are ok with the slight increase in the power consumption compared to the media player. In fact you add a blu-ray drive into the same if you want to watch blu-ray disks. This option will be all-in-one player which will replace your blu-ray, media players and also gives you better processing capabilities and future proof. Look at many of the threads like sam9's, baiju's with detailed guidelines on how to assemble a low cost, low power consumption htpc.

Edit: Just looked at your another post and you already have an old PC, why not convert this into htpc with may be a better graphics card. This will solve all your requirements with minimal cost.

Thanks

 

[Eddierockks]

Actually I've connected my pc to my 51" plasma. But this setup is in my bedroom and I hate the fan noise while watching movies.

Anyhow, just got the wdtv live hub yesterday. To my surprise, it can't detect my seagate portable 1tb, wd passport 250gb or worse, even my wd studio 2tb via USB. I'm yet to have a LAN cable directly from my router and therefore, I thought why not transfer some data via USB. Is this player faulty? Or am I doing something wrong. All I've done is connect to plasma via hdmi and turn the power on. Suggestions anyone?

 

[sam9s]

Live hub comes with a 1TB HDD doesnt it..????

 

[CAPT BAURY]

The best option is PS3; you can play games and watch 3d content as well.
Choice is yours.

 

[reignofchaos]

For those advocating bluray players as media players, please do be aware that any model released in 2012 will have the cinavia protection system which might cause your high definition rips downloaded from the internet to not play. All sony players (iincluding the PS3) are riddled with cinavia and the news is that the newer oppo 10x series players also are crippled with cinavia and quite a few new movies have this protection built in. For more info on why this is bad, please check the following:

AnandTech - Cinavia DRM: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Blu-rays Self-Destruction

 

[GeorgeO]

I've got a Popcorn Hour and a WD TV Live, the Popcorn is light years ahead of the WD-it also costs three times as much.

 

[sud98]

Thanks a lot, also can you please guide me as well as to how can i make my Oppo stream movies wirelessly from my iMac or MBP? I do have a home network but what follows next?

There are quite a few that work on your imac or MBP. Popular ones are Twonky and Mediatomb. Check out the avsforum link for upnp for any modification required, but you shouldnt need much. Its not much of a hassle and it will be hard for you to get a media player that upscales as good as the oppo.