Best media box around 100-150?

[zfields]

So the old WD live TV we have been dealing with the last couple years is just getting to be a piece of crap. Movies stutter and freeze, no support for netflix, always dropping connection. We need new ones damnit, sick of having to come all the way to the computer to watch my por....er....movies?

Any recommendations?

Must be wireless N
HDMI 720, 1080 preferred
Netflix capable
support ISO, MKV, along with all the other common formats.


We have been looking at the Asus O Play live, but reviews seem to suck pretty bad on it.

[Peter.Steele]

Well ... it's a little more than what you were thinking ... but a PS3 will do what you want, and very well. It supports Netflix, and you can stream video to it from Windows Media Player. I think XBOX 360 can do most of the same, but it's a little cheaper.


If you're looking for something independent of a computer, you can check out the MVix Ultio Pro 880HD. Comes without a hard drive, but has a bay for a SATA drive. (I put a 1TB in mine.) It's a pain in the *** to set up, and the wireless N dongle is sold separately, but the picture quality is fantastic, and you can use it as a NAS too. It doesn't support Netflix, though.

[zfields]

Yea not looking to spend that much, since we need 2 of them. When did PS3 add ISO support? It needs to be independent of WMP, since the harddrives are hooked up directly to the router.

[Peter.Steele]

Yea not looking to spend that much, since we need 2 of them. When did PS3 add ISO support? It needs to be independent of WMP, since the harddrives are hooked up directly to the router.

The ISO support would be through WMP or whatever media server you were using, so that wouldn't work for you.

[zfields]

The ISO support would be through WMP or whatever media server you were using, so that wouldn't work for you.

Ah figures. That was a major selling point of the WD Live. If it wasnt for the crappy wireless streaming, I wouldnt even consider replacing it. Huge format support, and lots of custom cooked software for it. I can deal without netflix, but the girlfriend can't.

[Peter.Steele]

What about a cheap home theater PC? Pick up a used Core 2 system for cheap, get a low-end AMD 5xxx series card with HDMI out?

[zfields]

Again, would need two of them. Along with power usage brings up the cost hugely. The Asus O play has all the options, but has bad reviews.

[jonzer77]

What about a newer WD Live? You can get a couple refurbs for cheap and they seem to have no problem with whatever a throw at them.

[zfields]

What about a newer WD Live? You can get a couple refurbs for cheap and they seem to have no problem with whatever a throw at them.

If they fixed the BS issue with streaming even low def via wireless, I'd look at them. Honestly I haven't even looked at them due to past issues.

[jonzer77]

OIC. I haven't tried using it wirelessly and I would be pissed myself if it couldn't even stream low res videos.

[zfields]

Ended up with the new WD box. Works really good so far with netflix and reading network shares. Havent found a format it doesnt like yet, including ISO.

[wilit]

I've been thinking of picking up a Boxee. They recently stopped their support for Linux/Windows/Mac software distributions to concentrate on their dedicated box, but you can still get support on the various forums if you wanted to build your own system.

Personally, I'm just going to buy the D-Link Boxee.

[gorn5150]

I have an old WD live that has always worked fine. I recently pickup up the newest version of the WD live HD for my retreat. The new one is significantly better than the old one. I am going to replace the old one with another new WD.

[sfwdiy]

A current model AppleTV is actually a great little device if you're willing to jailbreak it and install XBMC. It'll play just about anything.

It does cost more, but I've found a Mac Mini to be an excellent little HTPC. Install all the codecs you want, no issues with network shares, etc.

I find that streaming video over wifi sucks giant horse-balls under most circumstances though, regardless of device or configuration.

--B

[the_natterjack]

Well looks like I'm a bit late but try a reset of the older WD media player. Just use a toothpick or a nail and push a reset switch through a hole I think on the back of the box.

I've been using my WD player for years, plays everything, looks great, no issues.

Brian