In Search Of The Perfect Media Player

[krzywica]

MET Player requires Adobe Flash to work, It will not work on Dune or any other hardware other than software ones like boxee/xbmc which do support flash

The Dunes should support flash AFAIK. They are rocking the Sigma chipsets which Popcorn Hour use as well and when I had my C-200 it supported flash.

I'm happy I moved over to XBMC, even though I lost HD Audio and there are still a few really annoying bugs that I am trying to work around....I was in the same boat you are trying to find the perfect media player and have come to find there really isn't one.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

I'll still keep looking for the perfect hardware media player but in the mean time I can listen to my music the way it was meant to sound.

As far as hardware players go, anyone have any thoughts on something like the TASCAM SS-R05?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[jinjuku]

As far as hardware players go, anyone have any thoughts on something like the TASCAM SS-R05?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

It's a recorder... I don't think it fits the spirit of the original post.

I see no reason not to use a HTPC if you can swing the budget. My next build will be and AMD Brazos platform with a DC-DC ATX converter and looking to be the E-MU 1212M for DAC. All ran off a SLA battery so it's isolated from the electrical mains and zero fan noise.

 

[sholling]

As far as hardware players go, anyone have any thoughts on something like the TASCAM SS-R05?

I can't figure out what it does other than capture 16bit stereo output from something to flash memory. What are you trying to accomplish?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

It's a recorder... I don't think it fits the spirit of the original post.

Look again – it’s a player as well. It’ll play MP3s or WAVs from the flash drive.

I see no reason not to use a HTPC if you can swing the budget.

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t wrap my head around having to futz with a computer for my audio and video. I mean, I can drop a CD or DVD into my player and have the music or video up and running before the computer can boot up. Aside from the exceedingly minor benefit of freeing up a small amount of storage space for physical media, what am I missing?

I can't figure out what it does other than capture 16bit stereo output from something to flash memory. What are you trying to accomplish?

Well, I have a lot of MP3’s of oldies on my laptop from the ‘50s through the ‘90s that basically aren’t doing me any good, since I don’t typically listen to music when I’m at the computer. I could dump them all from my computer to a flash drive and play them on my main system from the TASCAM, which would be more convenient that having to mess with hooking up my laptop all the time. So basically I‘m looking at it as an overpriced MP3 player. Admittedly, it’s a bit low-tier compared to the other options floated on this thread...

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[sholling]

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t wrap my head around having to futz with a computer for my audio and video.

This is where the networked media players shine and if my WDTV Live ($90) were able to play 24bit flacs natively then I'd be perfectly happy with it. As it is it down samples 24bit to 16 bit. A tiny box with a tiny remote and quick start-up is much more simpler than a HTPC. It's almost as easy as channel surfing a TV.

So far only Oppo Blu-Ray players, HTPCs and a handful of receivers support 24bit flacs flacs which IMO really are the wave of the future.

I mean, I can drop a CD or DVD into my player and have the music or video up and running before the computer can boot up. Aside from the exceedingly minor benefit of freeing up a small amount of storage space for physical media, what am I missing?

The convenience of being able to call up any of my 1000+ CD collection from and external drive or server in seconds makes digging for a CD a thing of the past. My CDs now sit in a storeroom instead of cluttering up the house. For those with rug-rats it's also a simple way of kid proofing music and movies.

 

[jinjuku]

Look again – it’s a player as well. It’ll play MP3s or WAVs from the flash drive.

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t wrap my head around having to futz with a computer for my audio and video. I mean, I can drop a CD or DVD into my player and have the music or video up and running before the computer can boot up. Aside from the exceedingly minor benefit of freeing up a small amount of storage space for physical media, what am I missing?

I'll start off by saying different strokes for different folks. Now that it's out of the way:

I don't boot my computer, I simply wake it out of S3 sleep. Matter of 10 seconds. Next I have access to hundreds of CD's and Movies with Media Center Edition and My Movies. Play lists are nice, Internet Radio, TV Tuner with antenna, Netflix, Hulu Plus...

How about this: I am putting together a system for my 2.0. But it would be perfectly fine with HT since it will have an integrated Radeon 6XXX series (DTS-HD/PAP etc...). It will also have TOSLink.

I'll build it, tweak it out, ship it to you. Do a remote desktop session and walk you through it. If you don't like it ship it back. If you want it just pay for the parts cost. Labor is free

 

[BMXTRIX]

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t wrap my head around having to futz with a computer for my audio and video. I mean, I can drop a CD or DVD into my player and have the music or video up and running before the computer can boot up. Aside from the exceedingly minor benefit of freeing up a small amount of storage space for physical media, what am I missing?

That's the point of the network media player.

They become an appliance like your CD player, only they are typically far more versatile. They don't just play MP3s and WAVs, but some can handle lossless formats, like the Dune. You can put together playlists, and they get new features as they are released over time. Your entire collection becomes available from a single location and a graphic interface, which can be far more convenience than rifling through shelves of CDs. Moreso, now that many people are moving away from CDs.

For me, it is my entire DVD and Blu-ray collection which is available on my media server. Over 1,000 TV shows, over 500 movies. No damaged discs, no small hands putting fingerprints on everything. Plus, a nice organzed box to hold it all.

Kind of like the vinyl guys scoffing at CDs, there is certainly nothing wrong with CDs, but the media server is supposed to be the bridge between the A/V system and the PC.

 

[PENG]

I actually thought the OPPO sounds better playing my few HD FLAC than SACD and even my record player but I am disappointed when I found out it could not read files stored on my PCs. May be we should ask Oppo if they could make it happen while FW update. I think people are also writing to PS3 and beg them to add FLAC via future FW update. That would be great as my Slim works well with my PC network via its 1 GB Ethernet port.

Sorry if I had misled anyone. It was the network setting that caused the problem. The Oppo now can read HD flac files on my PC using the PS3 Media Server including the 192kHz/24bit ones. I am really impressed with PS Media Server, it allows me to play those files at full resolution.