WD TV Live or Himedia HD600C

[Prads D.]

Hello,

Firstly i am new to this forum so greetings to all.

I am looking to purchase a Media Player for the home and i an confused between Western Digital Tv Live (Without Hard Drive) and Himedia HD600C.

WD TV Live:
Pros:
Popular Brand
UI looks good
Plays a lot of formats
Officially Available

Cons:
Currently not available in the market as of now in Mumbai
Slightly expensive for what it offers


In the course of my research i discovered this wonderful forum and found that there is quite a high regard for Himedia.

Is Himedia HD600C better than WD TV Live and if yes how?

What about the Service and Support if things go wrong?

Please advice.

Thank You,

Prads D

 

[ajsethi]

I am not familiar with the Himedia device, but you should also look at the newly launched (in India) Apple TV. Depending on your existing setup (how many ios or nos-ios devices you already own), and also what you want to do (stream to a TV, AVR, Stereo Receiver/TV), you could decide between these three devices.

 

[Prads D.]

@ajsethi

Thanks for the suggestion! I have quite a few Apple devices but the major drawback for me in using an Apple Tv is lack of support for USB Drives and also a vast number of formats arent supported by it, as far as i am aware.

Cheers,

Prads

 

[ajsethi]

I agree, that is a critical point. Depending on your total ecosystem you can see if any other device can serve that purpose. For me the Marantz UD5005 has a usb port and it seems to play back most formats quite well. Once this is done, I can focus on the other advantages/disadvantages of the media players. I tried the WD Live for a day before selling it on ebay and picking up the Apple TV, and no regrets. The airplay and mirror functions are fantastic for ios users. Apple TV has only optical audio out, no analog audio out, so that is a point to be aware of too.

....happy streaming....

 

[Prads D.]

@ ajsethi

My family has a slightly lower tolerance to sound, so bearing that in mind here is my setup:

Sony EX300 TV and a Sony 5.1 HT with a USB port connected via HDMI (Both of them recognise very very few video formats)

Tata Sky+ HD to TV via HDMI

An IPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPhone and an Android phone in the family (Hoping to utilise DLNA with these)

The audio from the Tata Sky connected to HT via composite R+L cable as no Optical for sound on HT but rarely used to output TV sound as no practical surround.

Coming back to the initial question, I am hoping to use a media player connected via HDMI to the TV and via composite to HT when needed.

Himedia looks like a solid product but unfortunately no support in Munbai.

Any idea about the Boxee Box?? The remote with qwerty keypad looks awesome!

Cheers

 

[mrigesh]

Have a look at kaiboer players. Good quality & value for money. You can also get support in Mumbai. You can find it easily on ebay.

 

[Prads D.]

thanks @mrigesh will look up Kaiboer! cheers

 

[ajsethi]

Cinebels has recently launched/support for the Slingbox. This product has good reviews too and since it will now have local support, you could take a look at this as an option. Check Cinebels: Home Theatres, Speakers, Projectors, AV Receivers Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Hyderabad for contact details.

 

[yesh1th]

Thanks for the info AjSethi & Prads .. even I've been looking out for good streaming media player for a while .. I've finally given up streaming videos to my PS3 !! It become too much of a headache !!

ajsethi - any idea where we get either Kaiboer or Himedia players in Chennai ??

 

[ajsethi]

Unfortunately not. I can only help with a source for the ATV and the Slingbox.