Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - a HTPC replacement??
- Thread starter HiFiVision
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Hi Buddy this product is not new and has been in market for quite some time now. I myself was thinking of buying this product but the router service is not that great. It is very convenient to have such a router as far as its torrent capabilities are concerned but again you are also buying a wireless router for its wireless capabilities in terms of no connection drops, good range etc and this is where this router lacks.Hence I changed my mind and went for a Dlink wireless router.
My views are based on the online reviews as posted in hundreds of review sites out there.
moserw
New Member
Vinayji,
Seems ridiculously expensive. Also storage is less. These days PCs have 2TB HDDs. A laptop or a PC would be cheaper and also more flexible than a router to d/l torrents.
Seems ridiculously expensive. Also storage is less. These days PCs have 2TB HDDs. A laptop or a PC would be cheaper and also more flexible than a router to d/l torrents.
Thank you very much for the writing.
I thought that the product was new.
I am from several years having a router of links, I was consider this router if it has the capabilities of torrent for downloading the hd movies.
I was advised that I will have to remove my links router and put this new router, which was fine with me, but I thank you very much about telling me that as a router it has its problems, of which I will check from sources, in such a case there is no way I will put this router, because during the day time my lap top's are on wifi.
Vinay.
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Moserw, thanks for the writing.
I was told that after discounts it will be around 12,000/- or maybe less.
I have a simple point of view that through this router, if I do not have to keep the lap top on for 24 hours towards down loading movies via torrent then it is STRONGLY worth it and moreover lap top or a PC is such a huge thing, while this router size will be a peanut, it will be much classy. But it seems that the wifi part has some service issues.
Indeed the storage is less, it will not take even one hd movie 720p, so it can be used for some basic downloads.
It seems we can connect the external hard disk of higher capacities, then there will be no problem for down loading the hd movies of 720p, each being around 500/600gb.
Please guide me.
Thank you.
Vinay.
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Et Tu Vinay? Then fall Venkat.
Vinay, I never thought you of all people will start using downloaded movies. Sigh !!
Cheers
Venkat, please tell me the meaning of "Et Tu", Then fall".
I have seen and told that legal hd 720p, copies and related downloaded one's, the pq and sq is much better compared to the original dvd's which we get from planet m and cross word, therefore please guide me what is wrong with downloading, is the pq and sq bad, etc?
Thank you.
Vinay.
unleash_me
Well-Known Member
Shakesphere!
Well, Vinay the original phrase is from William Shakespeare's play - 'Julius Ceaser'. In this play when all the Senate members plot against Julius Ceaser, they stab him one by one to show their individual commitment to the plot. This was done on 15 March 44BC. This day is also called The Ides of March.
The last to stab Ceaser is Marcus Junius Brutus who was considered to be a very close to Ceaser as well as a close friend. When Ceaser sees Brutus stabbing him, he is shattered and said in Latin, 'Et Tu Brute? The translation means one of 'And You, Brutus?', 'You Too, Brutus', or 'Even you, Brutus?'. The phrase 'Et tu, Brute' is an standard English phrase to represent the ultimate in betrayal.
Well I have seen a number of downloads including .MKV. None of them, in my opinion, come anywhere near a original DVD. In a way I am lucky as I have a supplier who gives me DVDs copied from Blu-Ray discs. The picture and sound of these discs are simply exceptional. As I mentioned in another thread, I don't understand how an additional compressions can improve the sound and picture of a DVD.
Cheers
The last to stab Ceaser is Marcus Junius Brutus who was considered to be a very close to Ceaser as well as a close friend. When Ceaser sees Brutus stabbing him, he is shattered and said in Latin, 'Et Tu Brute? The translation means one of 'And You, Brutus?', 'You Too, Brutus', or 'Even you, Brutus?'. The phrase 'Et tu, Brute' is an standard English phrase to represent the ultimate in betrayal.
Well I have seen a number of downloads including .MKV. None of them, in my opinion, come anywhere near a original DVD. In a way I am lucky as I have a supplier who gives me DVDs copied from Blu-Ray discs. The picture and sound of these discs are simply exceptional. As I mentioned in another thread, I don't understand how an additional compressions can improve the sound and picture of a DVD.
Cheers
Sorry to keep bothering you like this sir. Did you try playing 1080p movies with fast scenes ? Also were you using a USB powered 8x slim dvd writer or those 16x-20x external powered ones ?
well said, the best way to watch dvds (as long as divx 7 doesnt become available) is to make blu-ray rips in dvd res. thats much better than even retail dvds. i know that for a fact.
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i think when you are referring "dvd's which we get from planet m and cross word," means indian DVDs like excel,sa re ga ma or sony....
I watched some movies on dvds from US and found pq was better.
So another debate - are us dvds are better?I mean I heard this many times indian DVD's are lousy ( ya these are the words) and nothing compared to US DVD's...Is it true?Or it is psycological?
Are these DVD's mastered with higher resolution?
One issue I know is that Indian DVD's ,even english movies generally do not have DTS encoding ... and most of new UD DVD's are..
Anyone watched same movie on Indian DVD and US DVD/ any significant picture difference?
No problem Illusion, but just don't sir me
I have not tried with 1080p with fast scenes. I only tried pearl harbour in 720p and it was playing OK. I know what you are talking about. Maybe next week I will get it back again from my friend and do some more testing. We were using EXT 5.5" Lacie 22x powered writer.
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This was a point raised last year by Vinay. I did some research and found some facts on the issue.
Companies such as WB, 20 Century Fox and others who own the rights to most American movies have taken great pains to master the movies for DVDs. They have teams of experts who look at each frame, clean the frame and create a master with the least amount of artefacts. Once such a master is created, it does not matter where the DVD is duplicated- the quality will be the same. I actually spoke to the VP at Eros/Eagle and he said he uses the same Sony duplicator that is used in the US, and uses the same masters as in the US. So whether you buy a Region 1 DVD or a DVD from Eros of the same English movie - the quality will be the same. I buy a number of DVDs from Eros that are titled as 'Blockbusters @ 99'. You cannot make out any difference between these and region 1 DVDs.
In terms of audio codecs, the option is not with the local distribution company. Whether to put a Dolby Digital or a DTS is decided at the mastering stage. It is possible that companies that send masters for India decide only to have Dolby Digital
Indian movies are a different matter. The titles are owned by producers and I think they do not take the effort needed for mastering from tapes/films to DVDs. Some old movies such as Naya Daur, Mugal-e-Azam have been mastered carefully, but most movies have just been copied. New movies are a different matter as the original itself is of good quality.
Some producers such as AVM and YRF has started taking the effort at remastering their old movies. So I am hoping we can look at more and more releases of old movies that have been mastered well.
Cheers
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You maybe referring to the 400-700MB .MKV movies. These are ordinary resolution movies with horizontal lines say from 352 to 720. I guess Vinay wants to download at least 720 to 1080p movies (4.37GB to 7.95GB average) which are compressed (only bit rates) from BD/ HDDVD rips. These have resolutions 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080, respectively. The vertical lines will of course vary as per the aspect ratio of the movies. The 720p/ 1080p also have AC3 and/or DTS soundtracks. So they sound great too. In fact, a well ripped 1080p MKV movie with h264/ avc1 codecs, can come as close as 90-95% clarity as in the original BD.
These MKVs are any day say 25-50% better that best of best DVDs you can get in the US market, as DVD can anyway support resolutions only up to 720x576. So what you get from your supplier is still SD and NOT HD, as he is converting BDs into DVDs.
I am not sure why you find downloading unsatisfactory? Illegally buying from your "supplier" has much more risks involved, as you can otherwise download anonymously. And if you want quality stuff, forget your local supplier...
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TThanks
But again I've some doubts and thoughts....
1) I know that it will indeed require more effort to "DOWNGRADE" a movie
but then I think they have third world downgraded stuff as the companies make special copies for india the copy is
1) Censored
2) Without DTS ( Generally )
3) Most of the time without extras
4) May times the special versions we see is unreleased in India
That is why I want to see A vs B comparison - that to in Video....
Just a thought - As US single DVD has extras and additional sound options -so 9 GB black is used and Indian DVDs are minted on 4.5 GB SL Disks....?
Cause last 6-7 years I am hearing about Indian DVDs VS US DVDS and want to have a conclusion. I met people who buy DVD's from Amazon or import through contacts ,and not because cheaper price but for better quality...
Again I've limited trust on company spokesman.....In fact it is widespread belief that companies dump their second quality in third world countries ..( anyway I do not subscribe this view) ,,,but working in electronics in hardware I saw ,to make a point how senior management makes tall or false claims to junior management or distributors ...now think what will be their communication to general people!
hyeah:hyeah:
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No problem Illusion, but just don't sir me
I have not tried with 1080p with fast scenes. I only tried pearl harbour in 720p and it was playing OK. I know what you are talking about. Maybe next week I will get it back again from my friend and do some more testing. We were using EXT 5.5" Lacie 22x powered writer.
Thanks reju Dude
!I remember reading somewhere that ide drives are not recognized by wd tv and needs sata drives as a pre-req. I have a spare IDE DVD ROM with me. If I use a casing to fix the same to my WD TV , will it work ?
Thanks reju Dude
I remember reading somewhere that ide drives are not recognized by wd tv and needs sata drives as a pre-req. I have a spare IDE DVD ROM with me. If I use a casing to fix the same to my WD TV , will it work ?
Most probably it will NOT work. MBR & myself have already experienced it with IDE HDD.
But if you spare casing on borrowable basis then maybe you can try for fun.
But anyway these casings are expensive to buy. They cost Rs. 700-1000. So it makes more sense to go for a new EXT DVD writer (20x or 22x) It seems they are recently introduced by Moserbaer for around Rs. 1.9K.
madbullram
Well-Known Member
Venkat thats a gross understatement.
I think you have seen very bad quality MKV files. I have the original Matrix DVD bought in the US and the .MKV Matrix 8GB DTS version downloaded for testing purpose (release was by SEPTIC). Trust me the the BD rip MKVs are miles ahead of the original DVD in sound, colour, and PQ.
To be sure, I played my DVD rip on WD TV and also did a H264 compression of the DVD and played it with WD TV, the difference between the DVD source and 1080p .mkv was huge!
Btw, the BD rips you buy are also similar to the downloaded files and in fact they would be of 10-15% inferior quality when compared to a 8 to 12 GB 1080p .mkv movies
To add more, yesterday I was watching a Kingdom's Charlie Wilson's War rip from BluRay by Kingdom which he claims was the best compression he has achieved. The file was 1.7 GB with DD. The PQ was amazing and my original DVD was nowhere near the PQ of the Kingdom release.
My take is, if you can find good quality legal 720p or 1080p then its anyday MUCH MUCH better than your DVDs. Please go ahead and get them. Also, my humble suggestion would be since, you are paying get 1080p movies as they will serve you long with HD TVs.
moserw
New Member
I too have all 3 Matrix movies on DVD and on Blu-Ray and then in MP4 format which are HD rips where each movie is around 1.5 GB i.e. all 3 MP4 HD rips will fit on one single DVD. The Blu-Rays are the best, but the MP4 HD rips at 1/3rd the size of a 4.37 GB DVD will beat the retail DVDs in every department be it PQ and even SQ being DTS over the silly Dolby Digital on the retail DVDs.
Now obviously the MP4 files don't play on my DVDP so I converted them to DVDs with Convert X To DVD just for testing purposes and they absolutely trash and junk the retail DVDs for PQ and that too on conversion to SD from HD (as that's what a DVD is and Convert X To DVD will do just that).
Any HD rip at even 1.5-2GB which is half the size of a SL DVD of 4.37GB will still look much better despite the fact that its compressed to half the DVDs size. Just don't have the time to get into codecs and MPEG4 vs. MPEG2 so I will leave it at that.
Anyway each to his own I suppose. I just wrote a long post on why a PC is a better option than a CDP, but how many are going to believe it? Ditto here I guess.
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