AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › What is the best player? Boxee Box, PCH A-300, Dune, WDTV2, AIOS, or NeoTV550?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

What is the best player? Boxee Box, PCH A-300, Dune, WDTV2, AIOS, or NeoTV550? - Page 3

post #61 of 126
5/27/12 at 10:37pm
I have a dune base 3.0 and a himedia 900b
I wish I had bought another dune instead of the himedia
The dune plays everything smoothly and the 900b doesnt
never had a lock up on dune like I get on the 900b
Plus plenty of jukebox to pick from for the dune
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #62 of 126
5/28/12 at 6:29am
Thread Starter 
Anyone here have the Dune HD TV 301a? Or 101? How are they?

That's what I'm considering as its cheap and I don't need to a hdd in the streamer.
Reply
Reply
post #63 of 126
5/28/12 at 6:36am
both dune tv 301, 101 and also popbox v8 are lowcost streamers with limitations on the soc, also take note that this 3 players only have 256MB memory
Reply
Reply
post #64 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cHarOn99 View Post

both dune tv 301, 101 and also popbox v8 are lowcost streamers with limitations on the soc, also take note that this 3 players only have 256MB memory

And they do not support ISO's.
Reply
Reply
post #65 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:41am
you mean the dunes don't support isos? i don't know, but the popbox v8 is supporting iso files.
Reply
Reply
post #66 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:41am
Thread Starter 
I don't have any isos. The other dunes seem too pricy.

Thank you guys. How about boxee? Is it slow and laggy? Atom isn't a bad processor, It has 1gb of ram!!!, Xbmc isn't bad, it has Hulu plus. Why do people hate it?

Boxee vs wdtv vs pch a-300
Reply
Reply
post #67 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:43am
as i said if you don't need HD audio, bd iso with menu support, then the boxee wouldn't be bad for you, on processing power it is the strongest.
Reply
Reply
post #68 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cHarOn99 View Post

you mean the dunes don't support isos? i don't know, but the popbox v8 is supporting iso files.

All Dune play ISO's with the exception of the HDTV series.
Reply
Reply
post #69 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikoogle View Post

I don't have any isos. The other dunes seem too pricy.

Thank you guys. How about boxee? Is it slow and laggy? How much ram? Atom isn't a bad processor, Xbmc isn't bad, it has Hulu plus. Why do people hate it?

Boxee vs wdtv vs pch a-300

Between the three of these, I would go with PCH-A300 combine it with YAMJ / Eversion jukebox and you'll be set.
Reply
Reply
post #70 of 126
5/28/12 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cHarOn99 View Post

as i said if you don't need HD audio, bd iso with menu support, then the boxee wouldn't be bad for you, on processing power it is the strongest.

Thank you. Between the CPU and the gig of ram, it seems to offer the most bang for the buck
Reply
Reply
post #71 of 126
5/28/12 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

Between the three of these, I would go with PCH-A300 combine it with YAMJ / Eversion jukebox and you'll be set.

Any chance the everson jukebox adds Hulu plus support. If I an get Hulu on a-300 I would get that in a heartbeat
Reply
Reply
post #72 of 126
5/28/12 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikoogle View Post

Any chance the everson jukebox adds Hulu plus support. If I an get Hulu on a-300 I would get that in a heartbeat

Nope. You can't have the best of both worlds. You either buy a dedicated media player, or you'll have to settle for the WDTV2, which is a hit or miss type of thing with streaming ripped media. I bought one for my parents and they love it. I tested it with an external hdd and it played all the movies in M2TS, MKV, ISo and M4V format.
Reply
Reply
post #73 of 126
5/28/12 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 
I have a wdtv for my other tv. It's solid, plays everything but lags at the menu. That's why I'm considering boxee
Reply
Reply
post #74 of 126
5/28/12 at 2:43pm
If you are just playing single file formats, mkv,avi and such from a network stream take the v8 over the a300 the v8 does allow iso playback I know there is simple iso menu support , unless you are using optical for audio then go with the A300,

If you run eversion the v8 is faster then the A210 and the a300 is slightly faster then the v8.
Reply
Reply
post #75 of 126
5/28/12 at 8:58pm
As long as you don't care about HD audio formats, go with the Boxee. Smooth, beautiful UI.

If you're running PS3 media server, do you have a PS3? Why not just let that handle Netflix and Hulu Plus?
Reply
Reply
post #76 of 126
5/29/12 at 8:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikoogle View Post

I have a wdtv for my other tv. It's solid, plays everything but lags at the menu.

What exactly do you mean by "lags at the menu". That seems to be your #1 priority from your OP, yet it is unclear what you mean. Do you mean general menu operation is slow or is the WD Live too slow for you when paging through your file list -- or is it the lag from when you select a file and it starts playing. How are your titles arranged -- do you use folders to organize -- have you taken into account wireless performance for buffering a large flat file list. Which WD player are you talking about? Do you have the old WD Live, the Live+ or the newest WD Live-SMP. If you have an older WD Live player you may find the UI speed of newest Live-SMP to be a big improvement in terms of paging through lists of folders and files. You already know it plays all your content with your particular DLNA server and it has built-in wireless -- you should give it equal consideration.

It's amazing to me that this thread has gone on for 75+ posts and while people are quick to argue for their favorite players -- and trash others -- nobody has pressed you for any details of your use beyond the meager information you provided in your OP. I marvel if you can arrive at any decision based on the input you have been given.

General comments:
  • Any post citing success, or lack thereof, streaming "1080 HD" is absolutely useless without qualification of the source's bitrate. I've read posts across many threads where people viciously insist they have no trouble streaming 1080 HD with a particular player over wireless. Eventually you drag it out of them that they are talking about a torrent file that has been compressed down to 8Mbps.
  • I use a combination of SMB/CIFS and DLNA for streaming content. DLNA has the advantage of low overhead and I prefer it for streaming full bitrate BD.m2ts BluRay rips. Within its limitations of supported file formats, the biggest thing "wrong" with using DLNA is the inadequacy of most freeware DLNA servers.
Reply
Reply
post #77 of 126
7/29/12 at 2:12pm
Hello, I have been looking for help on buying a media streaming device, all your posts have been really helpful. I would like to see what u guys think about the AIOS HD, it costs less than $100 and with the Xtraios firmware (the latest official xtreamer firmware but for aios) seems like a very good option. Do you think the xtreamer sidewinder 3 is worth the extra 70 bucks? I have seen some bad reviews about xtreamer products despite their appearent greatness in specs, and even worse reviews about their customer support. What do you think about the xtreamer product line? I am looking for a streaming device with a smooth user interface, dvd iso full menu capabilities (for iso files and VIDEO_TS folders), able to play all type of media, and also able to work as a NAS drive for my external hard drive, so I can access it using windows shares from my jailbroken apple tv 2 from a different room, without a PC. I dont care about 3d. The PCH A200 is out of stock in the official webpage and I dont see other place to buy it, and I dont know if it works as a NAS drive as I mentioned before.
The AIOS HD caught my eye because it has good reviews and this xtraios firmware looks really good, it does everything I wanted and has really cool extra things like AirPlay which I do use.
I was about to buy the AIOS until I read some of your posts about these Micca devices, how do you compare it to the AIOS? They have different models ep350, ep250, ep600, the last one has gigabit ethernet the first 2 dont but they seem to be pretty much the same. I know these are a lot of questions I appreciate your help
Reply
Reply
post #78 of 126
7/30/12 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fcalero View Post

Hello, I have been looking for help on buying a media streaming device, all your posts have been really helpful. I would like to see what u guys think about the AIOS HD, it costs less than $100 and with the Xtraios firmware (the latest official xtreamer firmware but for aios) seems like a very good option. Do you think the xtreamer sidewinder 3 is worth the extra 70 bucks? I have seen some bad reviews about xtreamer products despite their appearent greatness in specs, and even worse reviews about their customer support. What do you think about the xtreamer product line? I am looking for a streaming device with a smooth user interface, dvd iso full menu capabilities (for iso files and VIDEO_TS folders), able to play all type of media, and also able to work as a NAS drive for my external hard drive, so I can access it using windows shares from my jailbroken apple tv 2 from a different room, without a PC. I dont care about 3d. The PCH A200 is out of stock in the official webpage and I dont see other place to buy it, and I dont know if it works as a NAS drive as I mentioned before.
The AIOS HD caught my eye because it has good reviews and this xtraios firmware looks really good, it does everything I wanted and has really cool extra things like AirPlay which I do use.
I was about to buy the AIOS until I read some of your posts about these Micca devices, how do you compare it to the AIOS? They have different models ep350, ep250, ep600, the last one has gigabit ethernet the first 2 dont but they seem to be pretty much the same. I know these are a lot of questions I appreciate your help

I used to own the AIOS. It is a good, inexpensive media player. The only things I didn't like about it was that it doesn't support BD ISO's, and the remote isn't responsive at all. They've got new units with new remotes now, but I am not sure if they are any better. They also have an android media player XIOS, which doesn't support HD sound or ISO's.

I think the AIOS is well worth $80 dollars.
Reply
Reply
post #79 of 126
7/30/12 at 12:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GusGus748s View Post

I used to own the AIOS. It is a good, inexpensive media player. The only things I didn't like about it was that it doesn't support BD ISO's, and the remote isn't responsive at all. They've got new units with new remotes now, but I am not sure if they are any better. They also have an android media player XIOS, which doesn't support HD sound or ISO's.
I think the AIOS is well worth $80 dollars.

Thank you for your response. What do you think about the AIOS with the Xtraios firmware? Is it better or should I just use their official firmware? And how about aios vs micca? Which one do you think is better?
Reply
Reply
post #80 of 126
7/30/12 at 7:57pm
I just bought the AIOS, I will let u know how it goes.. Hey one more question, I have an old laptop with a 2.5 SATA hard drive, is there an adapter I could use to make this hard drive work with the 3.5 hard drive for AIOS? Thank you
Reply
Reply
post #81 of 126
7/31/12 at 2:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fcalero View Post

Thank you for your response. What do you think about the AIOS with the Xtraios firmware? Is it better or should I just use their official firmware? And how about aios vs micca? Which one do you think is better?

The Xios is a tablet in a box, whick cannot play HD sound or ISOs.
Reply
Reply
post #82 of 126
8/2/12 at 7:09am
What is the best player?

After today I would have to say an el cheapo droid tv box from ebay running XBMC.

I have a $90 16ref VISSON MBX V2 with Cortex A9 1.2GHz with 4.0.4

XBMC is running fine on this box streaming 1080p mkv.
Skins are working as are some of the video add ins and it is quite snappy.

This is with the alpha XBMC Pivos build.
Reply
Reply
post #83 of 126
8/2/12 at 6:37pm
Hi streamerlover smile.gif
I have some questions; I have also been reading from many users that dune is the most stable
player out there. Which is pretty important mad.gif I have now tried boxee and popcorn a-300.
Boxee was cool and easy but poor picture quality on my projector, and bugs. A-300 a little better
picture quality, but full of bugs and ****! Both are returned! Actually my older LG blu-ray player Bd 390 (Eisa Winner)
can also play some common mediafiles like mkv and mp4. And it does it better than a-300. Sharper picture
and better contrast and color! Just had to mention this..
I am wondering if the pq of the dunes you have had, have been the same? Or any changes? And do you know about other
media players that you are sure have better picture quality than the dunes?
Thank you if you have the time to answer.
Regards from Norway!
Reply
Reply
post #84 of 126
8/2/12 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by paasan View Post

Hi streamerlover smile.gif
I have some questions; I have also been reading from many users that dune is the most stable
player out there. Which is pretty important mad.gif I have now tried boxee and popcorn a-300.
Boxee was cool and easy but poor picture quality on my projector, and bugs. A-300 a little better
picture quality, but full of bugs and ****! Both are returned! Actually my older LG blu-ray player Bd 390 (Eisa Winner)
can also play some common mediafiles like mkv and mp4. And it does it better than a-300. Sharper picture
and better contrast and color! Just had to mention this..
I am wondering if the pq of the dunes you have had, have been the same? Or any changes? And do you know about other
media players that you are sure have better picture quality than the dunes?
Thank you if you have the time to answer.
Regards from Norway!
If I had to pick only one player to play my iso's it would be a toss up between the oppo 93(running ISO capable firmware) and my Dune. If the oppo could stream off my unraid server it would be THE one to beat. The kicker is that the hard drives must be directly connected to the oppo. On the Dune front, I have had the 2.0 the base 3.0, prime 3.0, max, duo, b1, h1, d1 and all produced excellent picture quality with no discernible differences I could tell.
I also liked the neotv 550 for my Blu ray iso's as well but it too, has/had a few quirks and is not nearly as stable as the Dunes.
Going to revisit the pch series with the a200 I just picked up off eBay and see if all the firmware updates have made it more stable...
Reply
Reply
post #85 of 126
8/3/12 at 1:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamerlover View Post

If I had to pick only one player to play my iso's it would be a toss up between the oppo 93(running ISO capable firmware) and my Dune. If the oppo could stream off my unraid server it would be THE one to beat. The kicker is that the hard drives must be directly connected to the oppo. On the Dune front, I have had the 2.0 the base 3.0, prime 3.0, max, duo, b1, h1, d1 and all produced excellent picture quality with no discernible differences I could tell.
I also liked the neotv 550 for my Blu ray iso's as well but it too, has/had a few quirks and is not nearly as stable as the Dunes.
Going to revisit the pch series with the a200 I just picked up off eBay and see if all the firmware updates have made it more stable...

Streamerlover,

I just updated the firmware of my A210 two days ago, and it was easy, but a PIA to get my internet back on it. Now, my UI response time is a lot slower than before. I'm thinking of re-flashing my A210 with the older FW. It would be nice if PCH FW was as easy as the Dune's to update.
Reply
Reply
post #86 of 126
8/3/12 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamerlover View Post

If I had to pick only one player to play my iso's it would be a toss up between the oppo 93(running ISO capable firmware) and my Dune. If the oppo could stream off my unraid server it would be THE one to beat. The kicker is that the hard drives must be directly connected to the oppo. On the Dune front, I have had the 2.0 the base 3.0, prime 3.0, max, duo, b1, h1, d1 and all produced excellent picture quality with no discernible differences I could tell.
I also liked the neotv 550 for my Blu ray iso's as well but it too, has/had a few quirks and is not nearly as stable as the Dunes.
Going to revisit the pch series with the a200 I just picked up off eBay and see if all the firmware updates have made it more stable...

I have a NeoTV550, and have not noticed any stability issues, but I am only playing DVD Video_TS folders (straight DVD rips) from my NAS. I don't rip rip Blu-ray's, so I was wondering if you were referring to stability with that type of media?

Thanks.

Mark
Reply
Reply
post #87 of 126
8/3/12 at 7:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by giomania View Post

I have a NeoTV550, and have not noticed any stability issues, but I am only playing DVD Video_TS folders (straight DVD rips) from my NAS. I don't rip rip Blu-ray's, so I was wondering if you were referring to stability with that type of media?
Thanks.
Mark

dvd rips are easy for 99% of the players out there. Yes, I am referring to blu-ray iso's which when infected with java....I mean...."enhanced with Java" rolleyes.gif can be problematic and require a reboot once in awhile of the neotv. I do like the unit and it travels with us on vacation as it has a plethora of outputs ranging from component to composite and hdmi.
Reply
Reply
post #88 of 126
8/3/12 at 7:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by streamerlover View Post

Yes, I am referring to blu-ray iso's which when infected with java....I mean...."enhanced with Java" rolleyes.gif can be problematic and require a reboot once in awhile of the neotv.
How can one tell if a BD rip has java menus.
Specifically, I like to take HDTV captures and author my own BD-R using MultiAVCHD. The menus created are relatively simple pick-from-a-list types. I'm wondering if these would qualify as "BD-Lite" and thus require one of the lesser players (i.e cheaper than a Dune or PCH). Is there any way I could look at my BDMV structure and tell if java menus have been used or not? It would be nice to have the option of keeping the titles bundled together and playing the .iso with a simple menu instead of maintaining them as separate .m2ts files as I now do.
Reply
Reply
post #89 of 126
8/3/12 at 8:52am
Thank you very much for the answer!
I have read a comment elsewhere http://www.iboum.com/pr/dune301.php that the
new Dune HD Tv`s 301 and 101 has better pq than the dune hd max. But
isn`t that stable. Do you guys know anything about these new Dune`s?
They are much cheaper, and fits my wallet better..
Reply
Reply
post #90 of 126
3/6/13 at 11:11am
FYI, some more testing regarding Sound Quality with Realtek and Sigma chips. There is a Difference for Sure !!

I just got the iconBit player with Realtek 1186 chip and it plays everything and it is quick and can read and play files from 3TB and 4TB drive so I give it strong grades for that

BUT the sound quality is not as good as my Sigma 8642 chip in my HDX; there is a clear difference; the sound on Realtek is thinner; Bass not as strong
I noticed on 5.1 playback as well as 96/24 audio files

this is the exact same thing I noticed on Egreat R300 with Realtek 1186 chip when I compared that to my HDX

so the realtek chip is great when it comes to features and playing all files but there is no way it sounds as good. I am sure of what I heard; I compared a few times

for those just hooking it up to a TV, you won't hear a difference but for people with High End Sound Systems with multiple Subs, 5.1 etc, you can hear it for sure, the Realtek Chip somehow has a compressed sound; especially with the Bass
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › What is the best player? Boxee Box, PCH A-300, Dune, WDTV2, AIOS, or NeoTV550?