WD TV or Iomega ScreenPlay Media Player?

[blwetorch]

Hi guys,
I have recently purchased a 42" LG LCD TV- 42LH50. The effects are great. Now I am contemplating purchasing a HD Media player, which can play all my videos/ songs/ photos on the LCD screen.
In this site, I can see Western Digital ( WD) TV is quite popular, as it supports almost all the formats.
I have also seen on the Internet comparable products from Iomega, namely the Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player 1TB / 1000GB.......and Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Media Player 500GB. The first one again can play all formats and in addition provides media-storage worth 1 TB, expandable upto 2 TB. The comparable price with WD TV in ebay.com is slightly higher, although, it must be noted that the media storage is not there in case of WD TV.
The second item, that is, the Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Media Player 500GB, is reasonably priced at around Rs.5000/-, with 500 GB media storage. This one is a slightly watered down version of the Director.
I have checked up with the Iomega website, but couldn't ascertain the Tech Specs of the Plus model.
Does it support the .wmv and MKV files?
Can anyone answer this?
If yes, then it will be an effective substitute for the WD TV, as it will also come with the extra media storage( 500GB).

 

[spirovious]

WDtv is better than other.iomega had players with 720p only,check that.

 

[ranojoy]

In fact, the "Nationite HDVP-1 High Definition Set Top Video Player " being advertised on this forum for INR 3725/- also looks like a good deal on paper.

Nationite HDVP-1 High Definition Set Top Video Player [ Retail Pack + HDMI Cable ] ? Lynx - The Audio , Electronics & Computer Online Superstore In India

However, I can identify 2 problems with it :-
1. Lack of FLAC support
2. Lack of digital audio out (but this should not make a diff to owners of HDMI receivers).

The good thing is that all these players will push down each others prices !

 

[hemantwaghe]

2. Lack of digital audio out (but this should not make a diff to owners of HDMI receivers).

!

It has digital out - Coaxial ( Not optical)
Check specs here

Nationite HDVP-1 1080P High Definition Media Player w/ HDMI [HDVP-1] - $79.50 : MP4 Nation!, :: Low Priced MP4, MP3 Players and the latest scoop on the newest MP4 Player

 

[ab.kolan]

IOmega Screen Play does not suport h.264 which is a common file encoding for HD files. mkv is just a container.
I had a Screenplay HD 500Gig was very disappointed with it..

 

[KonfuSed]

IOmega Screen Play does not suport h.264 which is a common file encoding for HD files. mkv is just a container.
I had a Screenplay HD 500Gig was very disappointed with it..

Iomega ScreenPlay Director does support H.264, check it here -> https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomega_eu_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=22159

and here, https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/c....php?p_faqid=22152&p_sid=veHqTYRj&p_lva=22159

This is for Director, you probably can find similar list for the 500GB one too.

 

[blwetorch]

Thanks for the feedback. Iomega is supporting 1080p too.
Kindly check the list of supported formats for the Iomega ScreenPlay Plus( the lower version of Iomega) below:
Supported connections and file types ScreenPlay Plus HD Media Player

My gut feeling is, it is safe to bet on the WD TV at the moment. Ofcourse, you need to purchase the storage separately, that is about Rs. 5000/- per TB ( approx) at today's rate.

 

[srikarkav]

Hi torch,

I am not sure about the Iomega player. Its not getting decent reviews anywhere
on the net. Take a look at this....

Amazon.com: Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Multimedia Player 1 TB - 34499: Electronics

I have ordered for WD TV Live yesterday on amazon through Vpost. Couple of our members have ordered and got their items safely. I think it will work out to around 7+ K for me. The 1st version WD TV itself is costing more than that here.I think this is a better product than Iomega.So give it a thought.

cheers,
sri

 

[blwetorch]

Hi torch,

I am not sure about the Iomega player. Its not getting decent reviews anywhere
on the net. Take a look at this....

Amazon.com: Iomega ScreenPlay Plus HD Multimedia Player 1 TB - 34499: Electronics

I have ordered for WD TV Live yesterday on amazon through Vpost. Couple of our members have ordered and got their items safely. I think it will work out to around 7+ K for me. The 1st version WD TV itself is costing more than that here.I think this is a better product than Iomega.So give it a thought.

cheers,
sri

Hi sri!
Have you given the 20North site a consideration for purchasing this?
Buy WD TV at20North

or the Lynx India site?
Buy WD TV at Lynx India

 

[srikarkav]

Hi torch,

It works out cheaper than the sites you have mentioned. If you register with WD website you will get Indian warranty too. At least thats what the guys here on the forum say.

cheers,
sri

 

[The_Falcon]

Good News Guys !

iOmega player is now in India via Croma.

I saw two models of this player(not sure if it was plus/Director models) at Croma in Mulund(near Check Naka) yesterday.

The 1TB model was priced at 11,999/- INR and the 500GB model was at 5,999/- INR. There was not much info on the box but I did see it supports H.264 and MKV formats.

Here is a link to what I saw @ Croma:
Iomega ScreenPlay Director HD media player gets busy with CinemaNow -- Engadget

with the 1TB HDD it seems a bargain especially when you see that the Xtreamer is priced @ around 10K.

 

[blwetorch]

Thanks for the info Falcon!
Have you purchased this one?

 

[The_Falcon]

No I havent. I was actually hunting for a 1TB HDD and stumbled upon this one, as it was kept on the same shelf as the HDDs.

I have been planning for the Xtreamer but it kept getting delayed due to me being busy with some domestic stuff. But now looking at this, I think its a steal especially with the 1TB HDD bundled with it.

 

[bansal98]

Has anyone tried Seagate FreeAgent Theater Plus? I wonder if all these HD based players use the same Realtek chipset?

 

[The_Falcon]

I think that is quite a bulky option. I have seen its pics..I have a Seagate FreeAgent External HDD..and that itself is "Big" so the base to which it plugs in the media player version has to be huge if we go by the pics. But why would you want that when we have other compact Media players available in the market.

 

[bansal98]

I think that is quite a bulky option. I have seen its pics..I have a Seagate FreeAgent External HDD..and that itself is "Big" so the base to which it plugs in the media player version has to be huge if we go by the pics. But why would you want that when we have other compact Media players available in the market.

I think what you talking about are 3.5" HDDs which require a separate power supply and are quite huge. What FreeAgent Theater plus takes are USB-powered HDDs which are quite small.

 

[The_Falcon]

Oh sorry I didnt realised that cause the pic looks very similar to the 3.5" FreeAgent they sell. But even with the smaller HDD, the docking station makes it a wee bit inconvenient form factor.

What kind of use you think we can put to a removable HDD with a permanent dock ? I am a bit lost here...