Hi all, I'm currently in the market (or perhaps later this summer) for a HDD based media player for my collection of movies.

The thing is, I'm getting quite tired of carrying all my dvds from home to school and so forth. My collection of dvds is around 300 or so, spanning from hollywood movies, foreign films to tv shows, anime, and such. I also have a few HDDs of tv shows as well and such.

I was hoping if anyone can recommend a good HDD based player for my DVDs and downloaded shows. The format I was planning on using for my DVDs is iso and the majority of files on my HDDs are avi (DivX/XVid) or something I can easily convert to avi (mkv, etc). A few of the avi files have srt or other subtitle files with them as well.

I was told by others to go for the XBMC, but that is way to bulky for my needs. I'm looking for something small and fairly compact. To make things simple, here's a list of things I'm looking for:


Small/Compact/Portable (Something I can throw in my backpack and take to a friend's place or something)
HD, preferably at least 1080i if not 1080p
Component and DVI/HDMI...optical audio out would be swell as well.
ISO/AVI (DivX/XVid)/IFO+Vob....I can't think of anything else at the moment
Decent GUI
Support for ISO over 4GB (Not in terms of NTFS HDD, but playback is pretty much flawless)
If possible, it can play files off of a connected USB HDD....in other words it can play host (I believe this is correct)


This media player I'm planning on using until the new group using the new Sigma chip comes out. Wouldn't hurt to have h264 playback and possibly blu-ray/hd support as well. Therefore I'm trying to find something decently priced around 200 to 300. Networking isn't needed for now, I'll look into it more in the next player though. I'm planning on throwing in a 750GB or if the 1TB come out this summer...then that.

So far I took a look at the MVix units (760HD and 5000U) and was somewhat pleased. I also took a gander at the TVix units (M4000 and M5000). I'm hoping that some others exist which people can recommend or suggest.

Any comments/recommendations/suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

wow...so nobody has any personal opinions or recommendations? :confused:

well... I only really know the product I own personally.. and that's the Mediagate 350HD

I am very happy with it, and very happy with the monthly firmware upgrades that have fixed bugs and added some cool functionalities.

However it's not perfect and still a little buggy. I don't know how it compares.. but I would like to know myself. I am considering selling off mine and buying something better.. but it would have to be much better.. and for the price of the MG350HD.. I doubt that even exists.

Hi all, I'm currently in the market (or perhaps later this summer) for a HDD based media player for my collection of movies.

The thing is, I'm getting quite tired of carrying all my dvds from home to school and so forth. My collection of dvds is around 300 or so, spanning from hollywood movies, foreign films to tv shows, anime, and such. I also have a few HDDs of tv shows as well and such.

I was hoping if anyone can recommend a good HDD based player for my DVDs and downloaded shows. The format I was planning on using for my DVDs is iso and the majority of files on my HDDs are avi (DivX/XVid) or something I can easily convert to avi (mkv, etc). A few of the avi files have srt or other subtitle files with them as well.

I was told by others to go for the XBMC, but that is way to bulky for my needs. I'm looking for something small and fairly compact. To make things simple, here's a list of things I'm looking for:


Small/Compact/Portable (Something I can throw in my backpack and take to a friend's place or something)
HD, preferably at least 1080i if not 1080p
Component and DVI/HDMI...optical audio out would be swell as well.
ISO/AVI (DivX/XVid)/IFO+Vob....I can't think of anything else at the moment
Decent GUI
Support for ISO over 4GB (Not in terms of NTFS HDD, but playback is pretty much flawless)
If possible, it can play files off of a connected USB HDD....in other words it can play host (I believe this is correct)


This media player I'm planning on using until the new group using the new Sigma chip comes out. Wouldn't hurt to have h264 playback and possibly blu-ray/hd support as well. Therefore I'm trying to find something decently priced around 200 to 300. Networking isn't needed for now, I'll look into it more in the next player though. I'm planning on throwing in a 750GB or if the 1TB come out this summer...then that.

So far I took a look at the MVix units (760HD and 5000U) and was somewhat pleased. I also took a gander at the TVix units (M4000 and M5000). I'm hoping that some others exist which people can recommend or suggest.

Any comments/recommendations/suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks! :D

You might consider the TVISTO multimedia HDD Enclosure from Galaxy. It supports up to a 500GB ATA hard drive. Your not going to get 300 movies on it, unless you do some really serious compression. It does support most file formats including ISO. That's why I bought one, ISO lets you play back the movie as if the DVD was in the drive. Everything works as a standard DVD would. It comes with SVideo and composite connections. I had to buy an extra cable to get Component video. Audio is one of two choices, analog stereo or digital 5.1 through a SPDIF coaxial cable.

Billl

You might consider the TVISTO multimedia HDD Enclosure from Galaxy. It supports up to a 500GB ATA hard drive. Your not going to get 300 movies on it, unless you do some really serious compression. It does support most file formats including ISO. That's why I bought one, ISO lets you play back the movie as if the DVD was in the drive. Everything works as a standard DVD would. It comes with SVideo and composite connections. I had to buy an extra cable to get Component video. Audio is one of two choices, analog stereo or digital 5.1 through a SPDIF coaxial cable.

Billl
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll have to take a look at this player. :)

A review of this unit elsewhere said it didn't play HD files, just upconverted SD to HD.

The GMG website has the following note:

"# Does not support High Definition content (DivX HD/WMV9"

I'm looking for a unit to play HD slide shows produced by a video editing program such as Pinnacle Studeo

Thanks

A review of this unit elsewhere said it didn't play HD files, just upconverted SD to HD.

The GMG website has the following note:

"# Does not support High Definition content (DivX HD/WMV9"

I'm looking for a unit to play HD slide shows produced by a video editing program such as Pinnacle Studeo

Thanks I suppose we'll have to wait until the next line of players using the new sigma chip for flawless HD and such....until then I might pick up a 760HD or M5000....but which one...

Anyone have any experience with both of the items? The MVix and the TVix 760HD and M-5000?

I'm a little confusion aobut why the Mediagate 350 is better then the Mediagate 35. I know it have wireless in I can an access piont the 35 and get alot better thoughput.

Does the WMV9 format really look alot better then Dvix?
I steam most of my movie not used the 360 and I not sure either one would be an improvement. I still want to get a HDD to take movies over other people home to watch them but I dont want to pay twice the price for the 350 if you get no really picture improvement over the 35 ( or for that fact the 25).

If any one has used any of the mediagate products or any other HDD media players let me know. I really wish a local store carried them so can see in person.