What media player will do what I want?

[BMXTRIX]

I've played with the HTPC thing and have found many issues with it, but if you have a laptop, then you should start there. No reason to shell out one cent today, but continue to do research on media players.

Obviously, the laptop screen can show you what you are getting and how it is working. The laptop seems to have both HDMI and VGA outputs... not sure if the TV supports VGA inputs, but likely not, and likely is limited to 1080i and MAYBE 720p on the component video inputs. But, you can get an external video card with component video connectivity for a laptop if that is the course you end up taking.

I want to like the HTPC, but I do not. Unfortunately, it's because there isn't one product which offers a nice GUI which truly integrates what I need it to integrate that I have found. XBMC looks good, but was cumbersome to setup and did not natively play back my Blu-ray ISOs, so it got scratched immediately. It may work better for you. Streaming support tends to be from various websites or other programs, which is usable, but not convenient. A keyboard and mouse is not a remote control, and adds to what may be an overwhelming pile of remotes. But, it may be okay for your situation.

I still like my Dune player, which is not the least expensive, but a Netgear and a Roku player may work fine for your setup.

I don't believe Roku has a component video output, which frankly would wipe it off my list as well as all of my connectivity is via component video until I can drop $3,000+ on a proper HDMI matrix switcher.

I like my Dune because it has component video connectivity along with digital audio connections, and Yadis thusfar has been a solid 10 foot interface. I have not used the Netgear or many other products to compare and contrast them (I would like to), but my AppleTV was lousy.

The Netgear box seems to be a decent solution since it has native component video connectivity and plays most formats...
NTV550

The headache is, that I haven't really found a media player which also is solid as a media streamer, and while I would go with a Roku player, I can't do it because it lacks component video connectivity.

Instead, I ended up getting a Panasonic Blu-ray player to handle my streaming and I use my Dune for my media player.

So far, so good, but I recommend that you DO start with your laptop and not spend a dime. Do some homework and research while you are using your 'free' solution for the moment.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Cutting the cord is 100% legitimate reason to invest time and money into htpc. No disagreement from me on this one - my boggle with it:
I don't seek to replace the cable, but to compliment with my media collection - which consists of many formats: flac, mkv,divx/xvid, dvd and bd isos

I want one device with one interface and remote control to play them all including original menu support, subtitles and best possible picture and sound ...

I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with such software which could do these tasks, except hardware clients (Dune hd, netgear neotv 550, boxee box and pch C200 & C300)

 

[Lordhumungus]

bottom line is this:
YES, I agree HTPC is much more flexible tool than standalone client, BUT
this road is full with compromises, hacks and a lot of spending for extras

It's just too much pain in the rear even for a techie to make it work just right, forget about average Joe

I want to come home and relax after work (doing IT all day long) and not to "work" again just to play a movie or tv show

The irony here is that the HTPC usually ends up being less frustrating because you never end up with a format that can't be played. IF there are issues, 9/10 you can find a solution to it or in some cases, create your own solution. With a media player, you have to wait for them to update the firmware for the problem to be fixed, assuming that it ever gets fixed before they release a new model for the next cycle year. Want new features added to your media player? Too bad, you'll be lucky to have all originally advertised features working correctly before they stop supporting it.

Also a big pitfall of media players for me is that none of them correctly support the Blu-ray ISO menus because they don't support Java correctly.

As for the power, the 100 watts is assuming a PC many, many times more powerful than the dinky little ARM powered chips in many of the streamers. In this case I was referring to my i5 quad core running under full load converting blu-ray rips. Total cost here? About $0.30 (yes that's cents) a month assuming full load 24 hours a day. Not very prohibitive if you ask me.

 

[jinjuku]

I just want to list what I CAN do with my HTPC:

1. MCE. Both audio and video
A>HD Playback with TMT
B> Music with native player
C> Netflix Plug-in for MCE
D> DVR
1> OTA
2> Cable encrypted QAM with appropriate tuner if desired

2. Outside of MCE:
A> MKV/Divx
1> VLC Player
2> DivX Player
Amazon Movies
Pandora
Hulu Plus

Now for the items that are not integrated in the MCE wrapper. Well that is not really MS's fault. I blame Pandora, Amazon, Hulu etc...

I'm surprised there isn't an updated VLC integration for MCE actaully.

My machine stays on and it stays stable.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Also a big pitfall of media players for me is that none of them correctly support the Blu-ray ISO menus because they don't support Java correctly.

This is outdated incorrect. even my $100 netgear perfectly supported BD live menus

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I just want to list what I CAN do with my HTPC:
A>HD Playback with TMT

This is a news to me - i didn't know TMT integrated with WMC... does it support iso images or only optical disks (within MCE shell?) even if you [strike]hack it [/strike] modify it to auto mount with some virtual disk daemon

 

[jinjuku]

This is a news to me - i didn't know TMT integrated with WMC... does it support iso images or only optical disks (within MCE shell?) even if you [strike]hack it [/strike] modify it to auto mount with some virtual disk daemon

My Movies initiates the play back and MCE starts/stops TMT.

If you are using ISO's vs folder structure, I have one key piece of advice: STOP DOING THAT.

There is NO reason to rip to ISO on a an HTPC using the My Movies front end. Zero.

People love whacking themselves in the thumb with a hammer. You don't need CIFS, you don't need .ISO.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

My Movies initiates the play back and MCE starts/stops TMT.

If you are using ISO's vs folder structure, I have one key piece of advice: STOP DOING THAT.

There is NO reason to rip to ISO on a an HTPC using the My Movies front end. Zero.

People love whacking themselves in the thumb with a hammer. You don't need CIFS, you don't need .ISO.

ok, let me rephrase the question: does mce/mymovies/tmt combo supports bd rips as flat files/folders or physical media only

quetion 2: Why I don't need cifs?

 

[Lordhumungus]

Jin,

There is at least one reason to keep the .ISO instead of ripping the folder structure and that is PowerDVD already lost it's ability to play folder structure (from what I hear, due to movie studio pressure) and if the same thing were to happen to TMT, you may be up a creek so to speak. Regardless you can still get the process to automate with PowerDVD.

Since it's sort of related, I was wondering if you have ever used BDRebuilder to remove unwanted language tracks without breaking the menu. I'm going to give a try when I have some "time off" coming up.

 

[jinjuku]

ok, let me rephrase the question: does mce/mymovies/tmt combo supports bd rips as flat files/folders or physical media only

quetion 2: Why I don't need cifs?

Supports BOTH. The EASIEST is folders. You have not quantified WHY ISO is so important.

Neither why or what CIFS does for the average Joe that just wants to setup a file share in home and pull content from it. NTFS is fine.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Supports BOTH. The EASIEST is folders. You have not quantified WHY ISO is so important.

I wasn't trying to defend an opinion, just asking a question since I'm curious. No need to get defensive or shouting (caps)
I consider extracting ISOs to folder structure an easy change which I could consider if I need to.

Neither why or what CIFS does for the average Joe that just wants to setup a file share in home and pull content from it. NTFS is fine.

Why do I get the feeling Jin - that you are confusing things - windows file share is CIFS - which is file transfer protocol, like NFS, but for windows machine.
NTFS is file system - means local storage.

NFS is certainly not meant for the average Joe

 

[Grador]

There may be a little more setup required and a slightly higher learning curve, but in the end my HTPC is easier to use and far more versatile than any standalone box.

Currently XBMC is going through a public beta for a new version which does support bluray iso playback. A quick search has shown that it may have some issues with films that have extensive special features, I cannot attest to this as I rip blurays to only have the main movie file.

I completely agree with every comment above mine talking about a keyboard and mouse being an awful way to control a home theater setup, which is why XBMC supports the use of a windows media center remote. I even find that their UI is far easier to navigate with a remote than mouse.

HTPCs may be a little bit of a pain to set up how you want them, but I have never used a standalone box that I felt had a user interface that worked as well or looked as nice and I dare you to try and find a file that I cannot play.

 

[jinjuku]

I wasn't trying to defend an opinion, just asking a question since I'm curious. No need to get defensive or shouting (caps)
I consider extracting ISOs to folder structure an easy change which I could consider if I need to.



Why do I get the feeling Jin - that you are confusing things - windows file share is CIFS - which is file transfer protocol, like NFS, but for windows machine.
NTFS is file system - means local storage.

NFS is certainly not meant for the average Joe

I have always referred to it as SMB (Server Messaging Block). My CIFS shares don't have any issue out of sleep mode.

Have you tried something like:

Net Session Disconnect -1? I believe that is the time to kill the idling of network sessions. This would be done on the machine acting as a server.

Sorry, should use italics and not caps when wanting clarification.

 

[Lordhumungus]

I use one of these for all my control needs and I'm very happy with it. I also have an IR remote that allows for power control built into my case, but I rarely use it. There are also plenty of solutions out there that will allow you to control the PC with a smartphone (a lot of Biostar boards have this feature built-in).

For the record I stream blu-ray ISO from my WHS to my HTPC over the network and it works flawlessly.

I'm also glad to see that XBMC is possibly going to support full menu structured blu-ray ISOs, it'll be another nice alternative to using MyMovies.