Another $100 streaming media player, this time from Asus

[massive88]

Saw this last night on AOTS, the biggest drawback for me would be no WiFi, but besides that (my room is wired up anyway) it looks pretty darn good, and will play mkv's.

Any opinions?

http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/gadgetpr0n/69246/Asus-OPlay-Media-Player-Review.html

[Edgedamage]

Saw this last night on AOTS, the biggest drawback for me would be no WiFi, but besides that (my room is wired up anyway) it looks pretty darn good, and will play mkv's.

Any opinions?

http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/gadgetpr0n/69246/Asus-OPlay-Media-Player-Review.html

Yah because blu ray rips stream so smooth over wifi  . I got one of these and I am loving the way it gives my eSATA drive the shutdown command on power off.

The good:
-Plays uncompressed DVD rips with menu support.
-MKV & RMVB playback.
-Finds all of your networked shared drives.
-Played everything I threw at it.
-Rock solid network playback of 720p rips.
-I am using it behind a closed glass door in my wall unit and it runs cool without any active cooling.
-Loves to stream files from XP & Linux machines.

The bad:
-Rewinding over the network slow.
-Shortcuts not working yet (even though there is a menu item for it).
-Has problems with win7 shares. (still using xp so no problem for me)

[ChadTower]

That actually doesn't look too bad.  $100 a bit high for an upgrade from XBMC but the day is coming soon where there's a drop in replacement that is inexpensive enough to trade in the modded Xboxes.

[EwJ]

This one from Patriot looks good.   Slot for 2 1/2" SATA drive,  network, decent remote,  USB ports (no eSATA ports).

[massive88]

That actually doesn't look too bad.  $100 a bit high for an upgrade from XBMC but the day is coming soon where there's a drop in replacement that is inexpensive enough to trade in the modded Xboxes.

Depending on how much you use it, the price savings could be fairly quick.  This little guys runs at 10W, I dont know how much the Xbox180 pulls, but my 360 does about 150W watching streaming media.

That patriot guy looks pretty swank as well, a little more expensive and doesnt look as attractive imo, but looks like another good option.  Theres getting to be so many of these little devils...

[massive88]

I got one of these and I am loving the way it gives my eSATA drive the shutdown command on power off.

Edge, do you know if it supports subtitles embedded in MKVs as you would find in Anime downloads?  Thats one thing thats been a pain to get streamed to my Xbox360...

[Hoopz]

It's be nice if Directv would integrate something like this into their receivers.  It already has a hard drive and ethernet port.  It'd allow me to move the X-Box running XBMC out. 

[ChadTower]

You'd have to use the thing an awful lot to get back the difference between a nearly free XBMC box and this box based on wattage consumed.   

DirecTV will neeeeeeeever stream stuff like this.  That was the whole problem between DirecTV and Tivo.  Tivo put true multiroom viewing into their boxes - DirecTV is adamantly against that and always has been - and forced Tivo to remove it from the integrated DirecTivos.  Tivo only disabled it.  It was very easy for advanced users to get into the OS (Linux) and enable the MRV.  That was a big enough philosophical problem for DirecTV that they actually severed the Tivo contract and developed their own DVRs.  Even now they are still occasionally teasing MRV on their DVRs at elecronics shows but nobody ever expects them to deliver.  And all of that is just stuff that was locally recorded off DirecTV and the usual mp3/jpg sharing.  It doesn't even factor in outside video content.  We still run SD DirecTivos at my house strictly for the MRV ability.

[saint]

This one is really catching my eye:

http://www.brite-view.com/cinematube.php?gclid=CMOk0_C9uJ4CFRTHsgod1Sj5mg

Anyone have any thoughts on it?

[ChadTower]

The torrent engine intrigues me.  It doesn't specify but I assume it would be downloading content to drives connected directly via USB.  That's cool.  The problem is that few things on the net are as exploited by hackers as P2P clients.  That's a neon flasher of a network entry point.

[Edgedamage]

I got one of these and I am loving the way it gives my eSATA drive the shutdown command on power off.

Edge, do you know if it supports subtitles embedded in MKVs as you would find in Anime downloads?  Thats one thing thats been a pain to get streamed to my Xbox360...

Shhh I like to think of them as screeners  And yes my (screener) of UP 720p MKV has subs embedded.

[Edgedamage]

The torrent engine intrigues me.  It doesn't specify but I assume it would be downloading content to drives connected directly via USB.  That's cool.  The problem is that few things on the net are as exploited by hackers as P2P clients.  That's a neon flasher of a network entry point.

There is a security flaw with the ASUS also. That's why I have the router set to ban any net access to and from the ASUS. 

[thatitalian]

Slightly off topic but I have a QNAP TS-209II Pro and it does all of the above i.e. torrent downloader, squeezecenter for my squeezebox, etc.

I connect it to my 360 and stream movies that way. However, I can't for the life of me play any mov files. Someone told me to rename it to mkv, I did so and it didn't play. Also I can never get the 360 to play sub files i.e. an avi file with a separate subtitle file for the movie.

Can anyone shed any light on this as i have a few blu-ray rips that my 360 won't play,

[ChadTower]

There is a security flaw with the ASUS also. That's why I have the router set to ban any net access to and from the ASUS. 

Bummer.  Take away external streaming from the net and my motivation to move to one of these drops a lot.

[Dexter]

I've been looking at this lad...

http://www.xtreamer.net/

[shmokes]

Here's the upcoming official Boxee box.  It looks very cool.  It'll be $200, but it's based on XBMC, aka the greatest media center software ever created.  Boxee is basically XBMC with a bunch of social network and internet streaming stuff added on.

It's gonna be twice what these others cost, so we'll see if it's worth the extra scratch.

Edit:  Here's a quick look at the new version of the Boxee software

[ahofle]

LOL what an eye sore.  I mean seriously, are they trying to make it into a work of art or something?

[shmokes]

It may only seem horrifying to you because you are picturing something the size of a Nintendo Gamecube (I did at first).  Look at the ports on the back to get some scale.  It's pretty small.  At that size I don't think it looks too bad, but if it does it can be easily tucked away.  The interface looks great, though.

[ChadTower]

Whoa.  Could they have made that thing harder to fit nicely into an entertainment center?  It's like they sat there and thought "okay, you have a nice setup with shelves and glass doors and a rack.  Everything has a place, it all fits in an orderly manner.  How can we eff that up?"

[massive88]

It may only seem horrifying to you because you are picturing something the size of a Nintendo Gamecube (I did at first).  Look at the ports on the back to get some scale.  It's pretty small.  At that size I don't think it looks too bad, but if it does it can be easily tucked away.  The interface looks great, though.

Whats the advantage to going for that over say this guy - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103228&cm_re=ion-_-83-103-228-_-Product

I guess not having to set up software and probably comes with a remote?  Wifi too I guess, though if you are doing 1080p, might not use it anyway.

I think id rather get the Acer and just hide it away with an RF remote, and have the option to put some games on it as well using Xbox controllers.

[shmokes]

Yeah, I'd say software config is the big one.  I think that in the past that Acer box wouldn't work with Boxee cos the Atom guts were too week.  But this new version of the Boxee software apparently adds support for Nvidia's ION platform so now that box would probably run Boxee just fine.  I know it'll run the linux version of XBMC well.  In fact I posted a link to an article about doing just that with that box a few weeks ago.

[Edgedamage]

Yeah, I'd say software config is the big one.  I think that in the past that Acer box wouldn't work with Boxee cos the Atom guts were too week.  But this new version of the Boxee software apparently adds support for Nvidia's ION platform so now that box would probably run Boxee just fine.  I know it'll run the linux version of XBMC well.  In fact I posted a link to an article about doing just that with that box a few weeks ago.

No eSATA?

[shmokes]

Does it need it?  USB has way more than enough bandwidth for streaming media.

[Edgedamage]

Does it need it?  USB has way more than enough bandwidth for streaming media.

When you start rewinding / FF uncompressed blu ray rips it's nice to have the wiggle room.

[shmokes]

Uncompressed blu-ray rips???  That's gotta average like 25 GB per movie.  Just how much hard drive space do you have?

[2600]

Isn't Blu-ray already mpeg4, what would you compress it to?

[shmokes]

DVD's are also already compressed (MPEG-2).  But you compress them further because you aren't happy with the file size and are willing to suffer some degradation in quality.  Shrinking a blu-ray movie down to an 8 or 9 GB 1080p picture is not going to look as good as the original, but it will still be a helluva lot better than an SD DVD.

[shmokes]

Small

.

.

.

[ChadTower]

That's not nearly as small as the pic implies.  If you aren't willing to put it on the very edge of an open shelf you have to acount for all of those cables sticking out of the back.  That at least doubles the space required.  You also have to be sure nothing is ever going to tug on any of those cables as that thing doesn't have any weight and will fall right off.

[shmokes]

That's what epoxy is for.

[protokatie]

That's what epoxy is for.

I was thinking metal straps with screw holes, but that would be for the industrial look. If you want it to stick to a surface, but want it to be removable again, I would suggest spilling a little beer or soda on the surface, then sit the thing down. Once the soda dries, you will have a perfect water soluable glued bond.

[Ed_McCarron]

I would suggest spilling a little beer or soda on the surface, then sit the thing down. Once the soda dries, you will have a perfect water soluable glued bond.

Hairspray on the feet.  Won't attract insects.

[ChadTower]

Won't come off of the wood, either, for those of us with a hardwood entertainment center.

[Ed_McCarron]

Hardwood?  Faaa-ncy.  Mines vinyl coated MDF.  A little rubbing alcohol takes it right off.

[ChadTower]

Nothing but oak laminated plywood for me, baby!

 

[protokatie]

So chad, do you have Hardwood or Plywood? Either way it seems like it would be hard to pee... (Just try to visualize what "plywood" would be... Luckily I dont have that problem...)   

[Edgedamage]

Uncompressed blu-ray rips???  That's gotta average like 25 GB per movie.  Just how much hard drive space do you have?

I only have 4tb networked storage so far, I use a 500gb hdd in a eSATA / USB dock. I am just a sata whore but to be honest USB will work also. Plus my drive gets the shutdown command when using eSATA with the asus.

[ChadTower]

So chad, do you have Hardwood or Plywood? Either way it seems like it would be hard to pee... (Just try to visualize what "plywood" would be... Luckily I dont have that problem...)   

Depends on how cold it the room is, I suppose.

[shmokes]

I keep plugging this Boxee Box, but I can't help it.  It keeps getting better.  Check out the remote.  Navigation on one side, Qwerty on the other.

[boykster]

Uncompressed BD rips are anywhere from 12 to 30+ gigs per movie - its a lot of space but its worth it if you have a display that supports it and can swing the storage.

That Acer box thats linked will run XBMC, but the UI might run slow if you run a heavy skin (ie Aeon).  Video playback if you run the linux version will be flaweless and smooth using gpu VDAPU, but the windoze version doesn't (yet) support gpu playback.

XBMC rocks - I just bought 2 Asrock 330 ION PC's to replace my aging HTPC's running DVDLobby / ZoomPlayer and it effing rocks. 

Oh, and that Boxee box is effing akward!  Um, why?  I don't care how small it is, but um, you could try to make it "fit", no?

[shmokes]

Yeah . . . that's just too much space.  At 20GB a pop I'd need at least 16 terabytes to store just what I have now (~400 movies and enough TV shows to take up at least 1.5-2x as much space as the movies), and my media library is always growing.  I know hard drive space is always coming down in price, and not nearly all those movies and TV shows I have are even available on BluRay, but in principal 20 GB for a single movie is just too much for today's hard drive cost and capacity.

As for the box . . . it's definitely awkward, but Boxee is still an open system so there will be other options.  For example, this upcoming $300 box.  Or you can always use an IR blaster to hide the bastard. 

[boykster]

Sure its a lot of space, but like I said before - if you have a display that will benefit from uncompressed full 1080p content, and can swing the storage, it's totally worth it.  I currently have a 10Tb RAID5 storage array that cost me just under $2k to build (12 1-Tb drives on a 3ware 9500SX sata RAID card in a Norco 4020 rack mount chassis).  It would probably cost closer to $1k to build that same setup today.  I've filled nearly 8Tb of that space with ~ 700 movies and TV shows.  I'd say I have probably 30% BD rips in MKV format, and the rest are DVD rips (also uncompressed) with a smattering of compressed BD / HD-DVD rips, also in MKV format.  I have room to add a second 8 drive array, and am planning on building that out early this year with 8 1.5Tb drives in RAID5 (approx another 10Tb after the RAID is built) - I already have the drive bay space and the RAID card, just need the drives

My critical viewing display is a 92" 1080p front projector - a panasonic AE4000 - and I can easily distinguish a compressed 1080p source from a native BD rip.  There is also a very distinct difference between a DVD version and a BD one - hands down the uncompressed BD wins every time.  XBMC in linux using VDAPU handles these full 1080p BD rips without missing a beat on my ION based systems.  Good stuff!

[shmokes]

Well, more power to you.  If money were no object I would surely do something similar.  Someday (not that someday money will be no object, but that such a setup will be perfectly affordable ).

[Edgedamage]

Yeah . . . that's just too much space.  At 20GB a pop I'd need at least 16 terabytes to store just what I have now (~400 movies and enough TV shows to take up at least 1.5-2x as much space as the movies), and my media library is always growing.  I know hard drive space is always coming down in price, and not nearly all those movies and TV shows I have are even available on BluRay, but in principal 20 GB for a single movie is just too much for today's hard drive cost and capacity.

As for the box . . . it's definitely awkward, but Boxee is still an open system so there will be other options.  For example, this upcoming $300 box.  Or you can always use an IR blaster to hide the bastard. 

Nuu made a smaller version:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/08/nuu-player-runs-boxee-on-atom/

[Ed_McCarron]

My critical viewing display

Critical?  If you miss an episode of Chuck, the world may end?

Wanna watch boykster cringe?  Mention Divx.

[boykster]

Wanna watch boykster cringe?  Mention Divx.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!