HD Media Player vs HDMI DVD Player

[tellranga]

Friends,
First, thanks to all members who helped me to freeze the following models for HDMI HT as Onkyo 6200 & Full HD LCD as LG LH35FR .
Finally now searching for a USB player to play my movies & music.
Q1) Unable to decide whether the player should be HDMI DVD Player (Philips 3388) or HD Media player (WDTV/XMP/Popcorn/Asus).
Unfortunately awareness to HD media player is very less to me as I have seen it only once. After reading copule of threads, found out the following,

Features that we can do with DVD Player but not with HD Media Player ,

• we cant play a dvd disk in HD Media Player (this is acceptable for me as my movies are in 1TB external Hard Disk)

Q2) Apart from this are there anything else that I can do with DVD Player and not with HD Media Player ?
I think, comparing these two may not be right as the purpose of these two may be totally different. But still, I need to know this for me to conclude whether to buy both of them or either of them.

Features that we can do with HD Media Player but not with DVD Player ,

• USB port of HDMI DVD Player or Full HD LCD is not capable of decoding High Definition audio & video to HT & LCD. Whereas HD Media Player can do wonders.

Q3) Is it true that HD Media Player can partially be a substitute to BlueRay Player ? (I also understant that BlueRay Player is superior, thats why I said partial substitute )

Q4) Since I will play all downloaded torrent movies through USB port, instead of purchasing HDMI USB DVDP for 5K, is it a right choice to go only for for HD Media Player for less than 10K?

Any suggestions to my 4 questions will be much appreciated.

 

[tellranga]

Just now went through this link,
http://www.hifivision.com/dvd-playe.../3508-hd-media-player-v-s-dvd-player-usb.html

Wanted to know whether HD Media Player like WDTV / XMP has how much built in memory. Think we can use it as an external Hard Disk as well with Power.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

Yes if you buy a good HD media player Like Xtreamer then it could substitute your need for a blu ray player as when you download a blu ray rip of 25Gb+ with HD Audio then this media player could pass through HD audio in bitstream for the appropriate AVR to decode. Also this way you can save yourself from spending a lot of money on the media.
The other advantage of a Media player over a DVD player is that media player could play any file format or any size file whereas the DVD player would have limited format capability and also the size limitation of less than 4 Gb since most Dvd players do not support NTFS partition of the external HDD.

 

[madbullram]

Ranga direct answer: HD Media Player.

Why:
1. It can play all DVD ripped movies from your 1 TB hard disk (so u r DVDs are safe)
2. Apart from that, you can play any HD Blu Ray movies in .mkv. mp4 etc so you will be using your Full HD LCD to max

3. Play any music format from mp3 to FLAC

4. Can be upgraded to new codecds

For you I would suggest Xtreamer if you want to use wireless features etc else WD TV for sheer VFM.

Read the threads of WD TV and Xtreamer you will understand all.

Also, read my thread on WD TV vs Oppo vs Philips DVDp, WD chipset blows most of the DVDps upscaling feature, only Oppo can beat it (but Oppo is 24k)

Since u already have a 1TB hard disk Media Player the best!

Since u r in chennai you can also drop home if you wanna see WD TV in action

 

[argho]

Ranga direct answer: HD Media Player.

Why:
1. It can play all DVD ripped movies from your 1 TB hard disk (so u r DVDs are safe)
2. Apart from that, you can play any HD Blu Ray movies in .mkv. mp4 etc so you will be using your Full HD LCD to max

3. Play any music format from mp3 to FLAC

4. Can be upgraded to new codecds

For you I would suggest Xtreamer if you want to use wireless features etc else WD TV for sheer VFM.

Read the threads of WD TV and Xtreamer you will understand all.

Also, read my thread on WD TV vs Oppo vs Philips DVDp, WD chipset blows most of the DVDps upscaling feature, only Oppo can beat it (but Oppo is 24k)

Since u already have a 1TB hard disk Media Player the best!

Since u r in chennai you can also drop home if you wanna see WD TV in action

MBR,

I have a WD HD TV, but am struggling to rip my copy protected DVDs.
Mostly I sue MakeMKV, which works just fine, unless it encuonters strong copy protection.

Have tried DVDFab6 with mixed results.

Am simply unable to rip some DVDs - eg. Dark Night.

Do you have any fool proof way of countering the protection ?


Thanks.......Argho

 

[tellranga]

Ranga direct answer: HD Media Player.
..
Read the threads of WD TV and Xtreamer you will understand all.
..
Since u r in chennai you can also drop home if you wanna see WD TV in action

Thanks Mad,
Stuck with astonishment, seeing the way you extend yourself to help others .
Once I have gone through the threads which you have started on WD TV vs Oppo vs Philips DVDp, will send you a private message and then pop in at your convenient time.

Thanks once again,
Ranga.

 

[Shuvc]

Media Player.

All you'll need to do is spend a bit of effort in ripping any DVD's you may buy to your HDD. It'll also end up being a backup of your DVD.

I had the same choice to make for my bedroom setup. Chose the WD TV. With all my cd's ripped in a HDD. And am slowly ripping my DVD's on it too. Once you have the content in the HDD the convenience of having the option of browsing through all your content with a remote is wonderful. Just sit back and choose whatever you want to watch/listen.

 

[spirovious]

MBR,

Have tried DVDFab6 with mixed results.
Am simply unable to rip some DVDs - eg. Dark Night.

Thanks.......Argho

I used DVDfab5 to rip & it did.

@tellranga- Mediaplayer can support DVDrom(?Blurayrom)via USB with 3rd party firmwares.Popcornhrs newer model is such all in one player,but little cosatly.C-200 (like HTPC)
Welcome To Popcorn Hour

 

[madbullram]

Thanks Mad,
Stuck with astonishment, seeing the way you extend yourself to help others .
Once I have gone through the threads which you have started on WD TV vs Oppo vs Philips DVDp, will send you a private message and then pop in at your convenient time.

Thanks once again,
Ranga.

Spi hasd already answered, I have been using DVDShrink without any problem. Please try that its a freeware.

 

[madbullram]

Thanks Mad,
Stuck with astonishment, seeing the way you extend yourself to help others .
Once I have gone through the threads which you have started on WD TV vs Oppo vs Philips DVDp, will send you a private message and then pop in at your convenient time.

Thanks once again,
Ranga.

When I started the journey, I came across lot of good souls who where patient with me and gave me demo at their place which helped me decide. I am just passing the favor i received

 

[aayushmathur]

Hi Ranga,

I have both an HDMI DVD player (Philips 3388) as well as the WD TV. From my lay person's view /experience, the WD TV is far superior in performance to the DVDP for both picture and sound. My usage for both is almost entirely for movies, so my opinions are consequently restriected on that front.

I bought the DVD player for the simple convenience of not going through the time consuming process of ripping DVDs and then encoding them into a .mkv or other formats. I love watching the old movies and among them, only few I love enough to view again and again and hence keep them on my harddisk. For the others, just inserting a DVD into the player and sitting back is too much of a convenience to resist, rather than going through the process of ripping them and then transferring them to the hard disk(since I am going to watch the film only once). Most of these movies do not have very advanced video or audio for the source to make a whole lot of difference. Hence, the DVDP is adequate for performance while offering convenience.

Thanks

PS- Having personally experienced Ram and his family's wonderful hospitality, coupled with his immense knowledge and willingness to help...I would suggest you take up his offer . Of course, you are welcome to visit my place too.

 

[hemantwaghe]

When I started the journey, I came across lot of good souls who where patient with me and gave me demo at their place which helped me decide. I am just passing the favor i received

Like that! Nice ! Hope everyone is so helpful like thou!

 

[argho]

I used DVDfab5 to rip & it did.

Spirovious,
Is it able to handle the encryption in new DVDs ?

Some examples of DVDs I am unable to rip :
- Dark Knight
- Pulp Fiction
- Alvin and the Chipmunks

The DVDFab is unable to break the encryption.

Any suggestions ?

 

[Sumain]

Hi,

I think that the WD TV digital media player is a wonderful little device. And since you already have a lot of movies on your external HDD, simply connect the HDD to the WD TV and watch!

I have downloaded (with torrent) some HD movies too, with DTS encoded sound, which look and sound absolutely terrific. The sound output of the WDTV is connected to my AVR through an optical cable, and video is going to the TV through HDMI (via the AVR).

I do have a DVD player also (an older one, but it has progressive scan).

There is a Blu Ray player in my future too, but I am waiting for prices to drop below 12K.

However, currently I am enjoying the full benefits of HD with the WDTV. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Cheers

 

[spirovious]

Spirovious,
Is it able to handle the encryption in new DVDs ?
The DVDFab is unable to break the encryption.
Any suggestions ?

Yes I can say with Dark night as I did with DVDfab5,It is doing well with all new DVDs too.Some times due to scratches on DVDs may task impossible.
Cleanig DVDs may help.

 

[tellranga]

Hi Ranga,

I have both an HDMI DVD player (Philips 3388) as well as the WD TV.
..

PS- Having personally experienced Ram and his family's wonderful hospitality, coupled with his immense knowledge and willingness to help...I would suggest you take up his offer . Of course, you are welcome to visit my place too.

Thanks Aayush,
I am honoured. Will ping you soon as well.

 

[ranpras]

WD is crap . Any day prefer a better Media player .

For a couple of thousands, we have better players in the market . Xstreama and play on are available in the market for decent prices

Lets look @ Media players done by NON HDD OEMS . They are more focused and want to sell Media players and not HDD .

Today WDTV , Seagate are comming out with Media players .

Lets look @ companies who are dedicated for only Media players . We get faster firmware upgrades , better quality .

Focus is the need of the hour ..

 

[ranpras]

The other option is HTPC .

For the same we have lot of calibration issues . We need to be experts to do the calibration . More over the Multimedia cards are expensive

For the same price we get a decent Media player which can play all formats and no scratch headache .

Blue ray is still a media and one scratch and we know the rest of the story !!!!!!

 

[dolfin]

Spirovious,
Is it able to handle the encryption in new DVDs ?

Some examples of DVDs I am unable to rip :
- Dark Knight
- Pulp Fiction
- Alvin and the Chipmunks

The DVDFab is unable to break the encryption.

Any suggestions ?

Try using it along with AnyDVD.

This program can crack most Macrovision encryption. Few years back I used to import DVDs from US. This program not only eliminated region code protection but also played RCE locked disks (like those of Superbit collections).

 

[sanjub22]

Has anybody used TVix mediaplayer ?? Just have seen one add in What Hifi Oct issue. Basically I am looking for a WD TV or Xtreamer + Live TV recorder. I was suggested in another thread to look for either Normus or TVix. So just asking if anybody has already experienced it.

Thanks