Media Player

[4wd4fun]

Hi,
looking at getting A 3.5 HDD Media player with either a built in hard drive or external hard drive and would appreciate any feed back.
Have looked at Western Digital and seperate 1TB hard drive and a friend of my Wife said to look on E bay and you can pick them up.
After looking I am now more confused.:confused:
What I wont it for is to place all current/Future DVDs and Movies that we watch and pictures on to view on the TV and put DVDs away to get ride of clutter and our DVD just died so thought this would be better option.
Any help or thoughts or views would be apreciated.
Thanks Allan. :D

[bruiser69]

Hi 4WD4fun,
First off do you have a full HD TV? If so you should only consider media player that supports (1920x1080) full HD.
The under $200 WD media unit does support full HD & coupled with an external 1TB USB drive should do everything you require. It even has a remote control.There is no wireless or ethenet support so you would have to take ext drive to PC & download movies & stills.
If you want to stream the files from your computer you would hve to look at one of the more expensive media players that incorporate wireless N (no slower) & ethernet. These media centres have their own inbuilt HDD as well as DVD Blueray reader & DVD drive. Some now come Blueray burner as an option, so you can make your own Blueray DVDs. Do a google search on Media Centres or try EvilBay.
Cheers..Bruiser

[Basil135]

I am in the process of replacing my MediaGate player that died recently.

I had the MG350, which wasn't the greatest of units, but did the job.

I am now looking at the MG800, which has all of the goodies - wireless LAN, Ethernet, USB & a built in HDD.

We considered the HP unit, but this is more of an interface, and the though of having to connect the external drive every time put me off.

The other option was to build a media centre PC, complete with HDTV tuner etc, but this is going to be fairly cost prohibitive.

We will probably go for the new MediaGate, and buy a new (non LG) dvd recorder. All up, it will work out roughly the same as building a media centre PC, but I like the idea of having seperate components for when something goes wrong.

[bruiser69]

I am in the process of replacing my MediaGate player that died recently.

I had the MG350, which wasn't the greatest of units, but did the job.

I am now looking at the MG800, which has all of the goodies - wireless LAN, Ethernet, USB & a built in HDD.

We considered the HP unit, but this is more of an interface, and the though of having to connect the external drive every time put me off.

The other option was to build a media centre PC, complete with HDTV tuner etc, but this is going to be fairly cost prohibitive.

We will probably go for the new MediaGate, and buy a new (non LG) dvd recorder. All up, it will work out roughly the same as building a media centre PC, but I like the idea of having seperate components for when something goes wrong.

Hi Basil,

Did your MG350 have an internal HDD? If you search Whirlpool Broadband News (http://www.whirlpool.net.au)
You will see many posts re Mediagate. Apparently power supply is not up to the task of supplying an internal drive. Possibly replacing power supply will fix.
Is MG800 is Aust yet?
Cheers..Bruiser

[Basil135]

Yep, tried a different power supply with the hard-drive removed. Still no luck.

The unit originally came with a 500gb drive, and I swapped it out for a smaller one (around 150gb IIRC). This made the unit run better, but not overly brilliant.

The MG800 has been released in Aust, but now I am starting to read a few things about them too. (Much like asking what tyres are the best:eek:)

I wouldnt think that it would be so hard to get what I want at a decent price.

If I can get the MG800 at a reasonable price, with a decent warranty, then I would still give it serious consideration.

[bruiser69]

Hi Basil,

I've just pickup an Altronics flyer when I was at Prime Electronics (they are resellers) & Altronics have a Media player for $269.
Full HD with support for all common video & still formats. USB2, Ethernet and Wireless LAN. Unit has provision for internal SATA HDD or will finction with external HDD.
Might be worth a look.

Cheers..Bruiser

[Basil135]

Hi Basil,

I've just pickup an Altronics flyer when I was at Prime Electronics (they are resellers) & Altronics have a Media player for $269.
Full HD with support for all common video & still formats. USB2, Ethernet and Wireless LAN. Unit has provision for internal SATA HDD or will finction with external HDD.
Might be worth a look.

Cheers..Bruiser

Thanks for that. Just had a look.

For the price, it seems to do everything that I want it too, and at about half the cost of what I was looking at paying for the MG800.

This should be an easy sell to SWMBO (Minister of Domestic Services, Household Financial Director, Goddess of the Night) :D