Tablets as media player - any experience?

[kissenchand]

I am curious about the capabilities of tabs as a media player. Has anyone of the valued forum members experimented on this aspect? What about HDMI performance, picture quality and bit-streaming of audio by the good tabs?

Eagerly waiting for comments and requesting the members having required gear to investigate the matter.

 

[haisaikat]

My Veedee E10 tab has a HDMI out but its a mini HDMI, bur I do not have this cable. Why would you use it as a media player? how will you remote control it?

 

[kissenchand]

I'm thinking about buying a good tab. If it can be used as an able media player, my need for that will be satisfied also (with some limitations). Actually, I have two HT set ups and need a media player to be used as source for the older one.

 

[ranjeetrain]

I have used Samsung Galaxy Note as a media player. Primarily to show off

Okay, let me say it again in a better way. To test the capability of phone and verify manufacturer's claim. I have to say I wasn't disappointed. The picture quality wasn't something you'd expect from a INR 20k DVD player or BDP. But the prospect that you can play something from a device that fits into your pocket was (WAS) promising. However, I got bored quickly. The MHL cable that is needed to connect a Note to a TV needs a power source, and that's too tying. Essentially that takes away some of the portability off it.

I have tried a couple of low end tablets and portable media players. Audio over analogue wasn't acceptable to me. Audio over HDMI was so so, video over HDMI was acceptable.

If you have a TV up to 32 inch with a resolution 1366x768 or higher, you can use a tablet as a media player over HDMI. Don't expect to be dazzled but it will get the work done on video front.

On audio front, it entirely depends on how good a sound you are used to.

 

[tigerwag]

i have got blackberry playbook 64GB version,
it has got mini hdmi out....i watch lot of movies frm my tab on my tv via hdmi cable, fantastic experience.....
good thing is my tab supports almost all formats, all resolutions without a hitch,
one more thing, it supports true multitasking means i can brouse internet on tab and watch movie on tv via tab at the same time....:yahoo:hyeah:

 

[ranjeetrain]

I agree. Saying tablet is just too open. There are tablets for INR 2000 and there are tablets for INR 40000. The performance difference is as huge as is the price. So, it really depends. High-end tablets do do a decent job considering that they are not specialized for home theater application.

 

[kush]

I have an Asus Transformer 101, and it has an HDMI out (micro or mini, I dont remember). I got an adapter for HDMI, and it did a pretty decent job. The video was nice, but did not get 5.1 audio, as I could only hear the front, left and right speakers, no rear sound. This could be a problem with my tab or adapter..

Overall it does a decent job....

 

[Record Player]

I use the Apple TV3 and my iPad2. It does wonders....

 

[gsurya]

Of all the tablets, I found Kindle HD is the best for media consumption as it has built in Dolby HD speakers too. Great to play online videos with fastest LTE/WiFi connectivity of all tablets too.

 

[sound and music]

I type this message while listening to music on my Ainol ELF II tablet - connecting to Dell monitor via mini HDMI and musical fidelity amp via analog. The sound quality of my tablet is good but it all depends on DAC chip used in tablets. Yes, multi-tasking is a plus feature as I often respond to emails while listening to music.

On my tablet, audio files (flac, high resolution) play flawlessly. It also plays normal video files without lagging. For playing high quality and large size video files, you may need a dedicated media player with a chip like 1185/6.

 

[rsd0459]

I had a similar query....

was under the impression that when you connect up the Tab thru the HDMi port to the TV the Tab screen itself gets bypassed.

1. If the output of a "decent" tab say the google/samsung/black berry is fed to a portable DAC and then streamed through a AVR to a TV... would it work?

2. and the DAC's which are used for running headphones why cant the same output be given to a line in on a AVR? will it not have enough power to run the AVR?

Any enlightenment would be welcome

 

[theironhorse]

I had a similar query....

was under the impression that when you connect up the Tab thru the HDMi port to the TV the Tab screen itself gets bypassed.

1. If the output of a "decent" tab say the google/samsung/black berry is fed to a portable DAC and then streamed through a AVR to a TV... would it work?

2. and the DAC's which are used for running headphones why cant the same output be given to a line in on a AVR? will it not have enough power to run the AVR?

Any enlightenment would be welcome

first of all el-cheapo tabs wouldn't concentrate on audio quality and they will be so so at the brink of just playing HD files.

above that as mentioned the DAC should be of good quality to enjoy the benefit of the mobile device. if running android we can also root it. and load custom kernel to get better audio but when the hardware is the limitation its a no go.

second i do not see how the audio can be routed through DAC as it wont have optical out. so the only option is HDMI out which can work with AVR/amp accepting HDMI input.

again to play the video over full HD and routing the sound through avr and enjoy the benefit any in the VFM range wont do justice. i'd say stick to the usage of using them for surfing else for that money get a laptop and then you have loads of options. though bulky but does makes sense in this particular scenario.