[omishra]

Originally Posted by harry10

Anyone knows where to buy xtreamer and wd tv live in NCR.
also the price for them.
Thanks.

For xtreamer I made online purchase by doing a neft to account (given by i'ts CC) and then dropped email referring transaction details and address. I got delivered on 4th day From Delhi to Pune. Price is same what they mention on website.

[Xinger]

The networked media player/streamer is a fairly new class of product which will probably die out even before it goes mainstream, since the latest display devices (TV's and monitors) have already begun to incorporate many of their features - like network connectivity, ability to play a multitude of video and audio formats from USB-connected storage media, inbuilt hard disks, etc. - and in any case these things are mostly used to play ill-gotten (read 'shared') files from the Dark Side of the Net.

Well, they are going to be around for a few years yet, and since many of us Bharatiya Early Technology Adopters (or BETAs ) have bought one already, let's see the pros and cons of each of the products available and hopefully guide some people who want to take the plunge.

So please click on the brand you have in the poll above (I've only counted the ones I know are easily available in India and come with a local bill and warranty, the rest are all in others) and the reasons for making your choice. Also please mention whether you are satisfied/unsatisfied with your player.

I myself have a Iomega Screenplay Director HD Media Player and my reasons for going for it were:

1. Inbuilt 1 TB Hard Disk, so it makes for a less cluttered living room shelf (for WDTV you have to buy an external Hard disk separately)
2. Service Center in Bombay (to get service for Xtreamer or Playon HD, on the other hand, you have to ship them to Delhi/Bangalore at your own cost!)
3. Price - Rs. 9950 with 3-year warranty. The competition - which for me consisted of Xtreamer/Playon/WDTV - was working out to nearly twice as much as this when you calculated the cost of player+cost of separate HDD.

So far I am satisfied with it, it has worked out to be a very good performer for the price, and does everything it claims on the box.

P.S. For those who don't know what the hell I'm going on about, read this: "What is a Media Player"

[nishantgandhi]

Dear all,

I currently have an LG LCD and a Western Digital HD Media Player (Gen 1). Currently the sound output is from the TV speakers, which is crappy to say the least!

I need to buy *decent* 5.1 home theater speakers but nothing high end.

I saw these on Ebay -> eBay India: Philips DSP2500 5.1 HomeTheatre System 2500W+DVP3326USB (item 130428820264 end time 15-Sep-2010 08:00:00 IST). Are these any good?

But I'm clueless how to connect these to my TV/Media player. The outputs available on the media player are TOSlink and HDMI. Are these available on the Philips set as well?

Also, please suggest a good 5.1 speakers within 10k budget.

[kalpeshc]

Check if the HT has an optical IN. Unless you have a optical IN (TOSlink) you'd not be able to get the sound output. If the HT has a coax in then you'd need a converter which converts TOSLink to coax. This is available on ebay US.

Ideally instead of investing in a HT, people recommend investing in a basic receiver.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by kalpeshc

Check if the HT has an optical IN. Unless you have a optical IN (TOSlink) you'd not be able to get the sound output. If the HT has a coax in then you'd need a converter which converts TOSLink to coax. This is available on ebay US.

Ideally instead of investing in a HT, people recommend investing in a basic receiver.

As of now, I neither have a receiver nor speakers. Hence you can suggest both.

[kalpeshc]

I am not knowledgeable enough to suggest any actually! But if my budget was 25K and I am not someone with a very discerning ear, I'd happily go for an Onkyo 3300. This appears to be future proof with good performance for movies.

[vineetmanghani]

Ordered the Amkette flash TV from ebay.in yesterday. 2300 bucks with free shipping. Expecting delivery in a week or so. Will post a review once I run it through its paces.

Till now was using the laptop connected to the LCD to watch HD content. Just ordered this for the sake of convenience (remote control mainly).

Cheers,
Vineet

[vineetmanghani]

Ordered the Amkette flash TV from ebay.in yesterday. 2300 bucks with free shipping. Expecting delivery in a week or so. Will post a review once I run it through its paces.

Till now was using the laptop connected to the LCD to watch HD content. Just ordered this for the sake of convenience (remote control mainly).

Cheers,
Vineet

[vineetmanghani]

So I got the delivery of my Amkette Flash TV today. Spent some time playing with it, and watched a movie and some sitcom episodes.

First impression when I opened the box was "OMG they've sent me a card reader by mistake!". The darn thing is just so small, smaller than those card readers you get for 50 bucks. The nifty little remote for this thing is bigger than the unit itself!

Connecting it to my LCD was a breezy affair. The unit doesn't use the standard component cables to connect to the TV, rather on one end there's a male connector which resembles a 3.5 inch audio pin. So in case you lose/misplace the connecting wires, you'd be hard-pressed to find replacements.

The UI is pretty decent and vibrant, and easy to use for such a small device. The picture quality was pretty decent, it gives upto 720p output.

Was able to play most of the files I had on my WD passport 320 GB without any fuss. It did give an "unsupported format" error on a couple of files, but I'm willing to live with that. Oh yes, it got kind of hung in the picture mode, wherein it took a couple of minutes to start displaying the photographs in the HDD. The MP3 playback was pretty OK as well, but I don't think this is the device I'd be using to play my music. One feature I liked was that it'll play a slideshow of your photos, with a background song from your HDD.

It is a very basic playback device. Don't expect to be making playlists and all with this thing. It doesn't even remember the place where you left a video, and starts playing it from the beginning each time. But as the saying goes "Itne paise mein itnayeech milengaa"

All in all I'm pretty ok with the device and the VFM it offers.

If anyone wants to see some pictures, I can always click some and post here.

Cheers,
Vineet

[ghpk]

Yes vineet, please do post some pics,

Were you able to play MKV and WMV files too ?

I've heard WD player is little more advanced, but frankly speaking haven't tried these things in person yet.

[vineetmanghani]

Originally Posted by ghpk

Yes vineet, please do post some pics,

Were you able to play MKV and WMV files too ?

I've heard WD player is little more advanced, but frankly speaking haven't tried these things in person yet.

Here are some pics I clicked just now. Excuse my photography skills (or the lack of them!). But they give you a fair idea about the device.

I don't think it'll be able to play MKV files, but it depends on the encoder which was used to create that file. Same goes for AVI files also. MKV and AVI are basically containers which contain audio, video, subtitles and other stuff in one file. So it depends on how that video was created in the first place whether the device will be able to play it or not. But it plays most of the avi's without a hitch. WMV should not be a problem I think. It's listed as a supported format, but I haven't tried playing any wmv files on it yet.

Cheers,
Vineet

[ZeroThoughts]

Originally Posted by arjunrudra

After much reviews and readings I have decided to go for the Archos 5 android with 500 gb.
The thing is in india They charge 28k and in the US they charge just 21k.
So still thinking.

I am also interested in Archos 5 500 GB.
Did you get it? If yes, what has been your experience with it?
Who in India is selling it?

[Xinger]

I think the new WD TV Live Hub is difficult to beat. Plays all formats and has an inbuilt 1TB hard disk to boot - all in a price of Rs. 9000.

YouTube - Gadget Guru reviews WD TV Live Hub

[nishantgandhi]

I've been using a WD TV with my LG LCD since the last ~2 years.

I've noticed the sound output is quite pathetic.

I dont wish to invest in a high end amp+speaker / home theater combo at the moment. Is there a cheaper alternative (e.g. 5.1 speakers).

Can people suggest some thing that can be used with WDTV (i.e. either HDMI or TOSlink connectivity) and my LCD?

[arunh]

I got myself a boxee box last week. Costs $199, and the interface is pretty slick. You can install apps from the boxee app store, and play movies at 1080 through it. Still exploring, but enjoying it so far. (The full qwerty keypad on the backside of the remote is neat!)

www.boxee.tv/box