Hey guys, I just sold my WDTV and am now looking for another media player. The three candidates I have listed above are the:

Asus O!Play ($100 was selling for $89 earlier)
CinemaTube ($110)
Patriot Box Office ($129.99 - $30MIR)

The Patriot Box Office offers a $30 mail in rebate and a free wifi-G dongle which seems like a decent deal but I wonder when they will start shipping. I heard this is an aluminum enclosure with 2.5" HDD slot which seems nice but has a fan inside it =( . Anyone knows when this will ship out?

I was initially attracted to the CinemaTube because it has the ability to play YouTube videos but then the Patriot Box Office came out and has me interested.

And the Asus O!Play which seems like a good candidate for a good price.

Also very important to me is DTS Downmix. I'm not too sure if the Patriot Box Office can do this. Can someone please confirm this for me?

WD TV Live....

Also very important to me is DTS Downmix. I'm not too sure if the Patriot Box Office can do this. Can someone please confirm this for me?

Well, if youtube is a must, then WD Live could indeed be a good choice. What else do you consider as requierement? Like for example:

- the Asus plays dvd iso-s with menus while WD Live doesn't (could be a must for seemless branching or concert DVD's).
- Asus has autochange-to-24p feature, meaning that you set your TV to 1080P/60Hz, and the device will change between 60Hz and 24Hz according to the source (tv shows vs bluray/mkv).
- WD has youtube support.
- WD supports HD audio tracks (TruheHD, DTS-MA), Asus doesn't.
- etc.

i just ordered one through amazon too. between oplay and tube i think the patriot is a better deal. But yeah read some where it does do downmixes.

some geek posted an unpack video on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGytUXZK0Zs

Well, if youtube is a must, then WD Live could indeed be a good choice. What else do you consider as requierement? Like for example:

- the Asus plays dvd iso-s with menus while WD Live doesn't (could be a must for seemless branching or concert DVD's).
- Asus has autochange-to-24p feature, meaning that you set your TV to 1080P/60Hz, and the device will change between 60Hz and 24Hz according to the source (tv shows vs bluray/mkv).
- WD has youtube support.
- WD supports HD audio tracks (TruheHD, DTS-MA), Asus doesn't.
- etc.

WD supports HD audio tracks (TruheHD, DTS-MA), Asus doesn't.
- etc.

i dont think so! Do you have any proof?

While YouTube isn't a must, I was under the assumption that the CinemaTube and Patriot Box Office both supported it and the WDTV Live did not unless there was a computer running a program to stream it.

i just ordered one through amazon too. between oplay and tube i think the patriot is a better deal. But yeah read some where it does do downmixes.

some geek posted an unpack video on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGytUXZK0Zs

well lets see who gets it before amazon. amazon still did not get WD LIVE and have increased price too!:confused:

While YouTube isn't a must, I was under the assumption that the CinemaTube and Patriot Box Office both supported it and the WDTV Live did not unless there was a computer running a program to stream it.

I saw that the latest Asus firmware adds uPnP support. Does this mean that it will work with PlayOn? If so you could watch videos from Youtube, Netflix, and lots of other sources.

While YouTube isn't a must, I was under the assumption that the CinemaTube and Patriot Box Office both supported it and the WDTV Live did not unless there was a computer running a program to stream it.

Youtube is built right into the WD Live out of the box and it works great! No pc needed to stream it.

Youtube is built right into the WD Live out of the box and it works great! No pc needed to stream it.

Does the WD Live box support wireless? Otherwise you have to run a 30ft cat5 cable through the hallways to the TV room. Not cool. And if my PC was close to my WD Live box (and thus, the TV) I'd just play it off the PC>TV in the first place!

I have a WD HDTV box (no network support), and it plays almost everything, but I *HATE* the interface/menus and controller (I love my old PS3 interface). Instead of using left arrow to go back you have to use some stupid dedicated 'back' button, and you cant RW/FF with left/right arrows, you have to use the RW/FF buttons.. dumb dumb dumb. But anyway.. with YouTube support built in I MIGHT spend the cash to upgrade from my WD HDTV, *if* the WD Live box has wireless support.

Hi, I just wanted to point out that powerline adapters work great, so there is no need to run new wiring or to use wireless.

Asus O!Play ($100 was selling for $89 earlier)
CinemaTube ($110)
Patriot Box Office ($129.99 - $30MIR)



Both the Asus and the Patriot Box Office are good. The Patriot has a fan so you should check out the current noise situation.

The Asus O!Play Air adds wireless N (2.4GHz) for a bit more. Otherwise you have to use USB wireless solutions which are less than optimal.

The Mvix Ultio Pro is interesting. The Ultio has just had upgraded firmware to include You Tube and such if that is your bag ( without a computer). It's worth looking into.

You didn't mention the WDTV Live. It's a very good player.

philip

Hi, I just wanted to point out that powerline adapters work great, so there is no need to run new wiring or to use wireless.

Can you plug one of the adapters into an ethernet switch and the other into an ethernet switch? That would be like running a cable between both switches ( which I do now). If you do then are you getting speeds similar to a 100 mbs connection? So would you get say 50mbs reliably? I know they say 200mbs but they also say 300mbs for wireless N and that must be for devices two inches apart...:)

philip

Can you plug one of the adapters into an ethernet switch and the other into an ethernet switch? That would be like running a cable between both switches ( which I do now). If you do then are you getting speeds similar to a 100 mbs connection? So would you get say 50mbs reliably? I know they say 200mbs but they also say 300mbs for wireless N and that must be for devices two inches apart...:)

philip

That's what sorta I do. I have the adapter master connected to the broadband router then the slave is connected to a 4 port switch upstairs.

It works for the most part but speeds are not quite good enough to drive higher bitrate videos even at 720p, and even without the switch. It really depends on your electrical wiring. I live in a 100 yr old house.

- Asus has autochange-to-24p feature, meaning that you set your TV to 1080P/60Hz, and the device will change between 60Hz and 24Hz according to the source (tv shows vs bluray/mkv).


except Asus only has 24Hz, while (correct me if i'm wrong) the WDTV supports 24Hz and 23.976Hz.

the last one is critical for smooth playback of 23.976fps videos.

in my opinion this is unfixable in the current realtek chips. if it was fixable realtek would have done it by now (sdk3 is upon us and it's still fubar).

except Asus only has 24Hz, while (correct me if i'm wrong) the WDTV supports 24Hz and 23.976Hz.

the last one is critical for smooth playback of 23.976fps videos.

in my opinion this is unfixable in the current realtek chips. if it was fixable realtek would have done it by now (sdk3 is upon us and it's still fubar).

I have both, it makes no difference.
There are BR, HD DVD and SD DVD rips on my Oplay and all play properly. The TV (LG 55LH90 24p capable) reports 1080/24p from BR or HD DVD whether played from the Asus or the Panasonic BD65 or Toshiba D2.
The TV reports 1080/30p for SD DVD and 1080/60p for broadcast programs.

The Asus is set to 24p but switches as required for SD DVD and a few broadcast rips like CSI NY without user intervention.
The PQ is impeccable.

The LG uses frame duplication or frame interpolation depending on the True Motion setting. Your results are most assuredly dependent on the TV capability and not on the Asus.