Hi there,
I know media players are dime a dozen, but I need your help to direct me to the best option for my requirements. From what I have read in my research, I have yet to find the best solution for me.

I’d like to have one media player that can play movies, play music (good shuffle play option), show pictures (slideshow while music is playing is a bonus). File format support should include at a minimum: music (mp3, wma), pictures (jpg, bmp), movies (most of the common formats). The GUI should be good. A nice to have is to be connected to the internet to get recorded
tv/movies.

It must play to the home theater TV, which has a network connection to the home network so I could connect to a HTPC server and/or a NAS. I would prefer not to have an HTPC and cannot have an HTPC near the home theater and must run the content through the home theater receiver. I can have a smaller device, ex Popcorn Hour near the HT, although I could put an HTPC in another room connected to the network. A nice to have is the ability to play all content to other TVs in the house. I have satellite for content and don't need ability to record live TV or play recorded satellite to other TVs in the house, although it's a bonus if it does.

From what I read about Popcorn Hour, it”s great for movies but it does not do music or pictures very well. I haven't found lots about SageTV HD200, and there's not lots on their webpage. I was looking forward to the Netgear Digital Entertainer Elite but am very disappointed with what I have read in the reviews - could be bugs because it's just released.
Budget = under $1000 for now but can expand later.

Thanks,
Marty

Marty,

I would recommend Xbox Media Center (XBMC). The GUI is the best that I've seen and very simple to set up and use. The software is available to run on a variety of machines (original Xbox, computer in many OS environments, and AppleTV). I have it running mostly on converted Xboxes and 1 AppleTV. They all run flawlessly. At this moment, I don't have too much of a need to stream HD stuff. I only have 1 TV in the house that I would truly benefit from having HD capabilities...and for that, I own a BD/HD-DVD player. In any case, take a look at what is available in regards to XBMC.

John

The xbox setup seems like a hassle, dont you have to load that disk onto the machine before you can do anything with it in a media player mode?

if you want something simple, easy to use, and don't care too much about picture quality (HD quality), I would recommend AppleTV. Its awesome for pictures, music, tv shows and movies.. but it is limited to 720p

The GUI is amazing, and everything can be organized via your mac and itunes. I never had any crashes, or bugs.. it is truly an awesome player. I just wish they would update it already..

I have both appletv, and wdtv.. wdtv for those high quality movies, and appletv for everything else.

Tivo for TV of course

Mo

The xbox setup seems like a hassle, dont you have to load that disk onto the machine before you can do anything with it in a media player mode?

nope.....

on a PC the setup is super easy. On an xbox you have to hack it which can be a pain at first but once your done with that its super easy. Often times you can find some helpful soul (like me) who lives nearby and will help you out. xbox-scene and craigslist are good resources for stuff like that. Once you have done it I can mod and configure XBMC in less than 15 minutes total.

on a mac mini or HTPC like I said, its just install the SW and run. could not be much simpler. The ATV hack is far easier than the Xbox hack.

basically format a USB stick with a tool you download. plug it into the ATV. boot once. remove the usb stick and your done....

Sean

My nephew has an xbox that is just collecting dust, so if we could get some use of it doing somthing with movies or somthing that would be kinda cool to get some use of it again.

The thing is most of my family is not very technical, using the WDtv most can handle but i would have to first get it setup and put all the movies on it then they can figure out how to hook it up and navigate it.

It would be the same with the xbox, im pretty good with soldering and ive done several playstation mods back in the day.

I should read more into this, would be cool if i could share my 1TB wd HD that has my movies on it for my wdtv and they could lug it over to their house and use the xbox as their media player. Not having to buy another media player they would probobly like that.

Thanks all for the advice. I don't have a Mac, although I do have an iTunes library. Does AppleTV support many movie formats?