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#260383 - 14/07/2005 12:32 Networked DVD players
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Does anyone have recommendations or experience with a newtworked DVD player? Someone I know wants one and I suggested it should be able to play DivX and XviD files. Playing DVD rips over the network would be nice too. The current GoVideo unit looks good. Has anyone used this? I can't seem to find an in-depth review with screen grabs.
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-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#260384 - 14/07/2005 12:43 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: robricc]
eliceo
enthusiast

Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
Ive been looking for something similar too but so far nothing fits my list
1: networked hopefully SMB with no extra client software
2: support for many formats: mpeg1/2/4, xvid,divx , etc
3: dvd menu playback over network
4: digitial connections a plus. HDMI or dvi.
5: upscaling a plus too
Maybe someone can make some good suggestions.

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#260385 - 14/07/2005 13:25 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: eliceo]
tman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
Quote:
1: networked hopefully SMB with no extra client software

All the networked DVD players I've seen require their own special software to be running on the server.

Quote:
2: support for many formats: mpeg1/2/4, xvid,divx , etc

All the cheapo players have supported this for years now.

Quote:
3: dvd menu playback over network

This is the difficult one. Apparently if you want to get CSS keys from the DVD CCA then you have to block this feature.

Quote:
4: digitial connections a plus. HDMI or dvi.

Not too hard now. Lots of them are beginning to have this.

Quote:
5: upscaling a plus too

If you have #4 then chances are it'll upscale as well.

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#260386 - 14/07/2005 14:00 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: tman]
tahir
pooh-bah

Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
I was tempted by Kiss last year but heard a lot of bad things about tehm, unstable firmware and stuff, wonder if they've improved any:

http://www.kiss-technology.com/

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#260387 - 14/07/2005 14:14 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: tahir]
andym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3995
Loc: Manchester UK
I've got a DP-1000 and the first couple of firmware releases were crap. I've recently upgraded it and it hasn't it hasn't missed a beat since.
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Andy M

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#260388 - 14/07/2005 14:20 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: tman]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
Quote:
This is the difficult one. Apparently if you want to get CSS keys from the DVD CCA then you have to block this feature.

This is the one feature I want - I keep assuming XBMC will get on the ball and get it working. I really want a DVD server, but I don't want to do it unless I can do it right with menus and no recompression.

Matthew

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#260389 - 14/07/2005 14:42 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: matthew_k]
Attack
addict

Registered: 01/03/2002
Posts: 598
Loc: Florida
I'm just going to create DVD images on my network (2TB raid array I'm planing on getting this year) and use Daemon Tools to mount the image on the local HTPC and then play it using WinDVD or Zoomplayer with the Nvidia DVD codec.

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#260390 - 14/07/2005 15:09 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: matthew_k]
eliceo
enthusiast

Registered: 18/02/2002
Posts: 335
Quote:
Quote:
This is the difficult one. Apparently if you want to get CSS keys from the DVD CCA then you have to block this feature.

This is the one feature I want - I keep assuming XBMC will get on the ball and get it working. I really want a DVD server, but I don't want to do it unless I can do it right with menus and no recompression.

Matthew


I currently use XBMC. DVD menu support is still in alpha, I have never tested it. But with free software you cant be demanding. I currently have a dvd server with a ~ 1tb array. When it comes to dvds it actually isnt a lot of space.

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#260391 - 14/07/2005 15:55 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: andym]
tahir
pooh-bah

Registered: 27/02/2004
Posts: 1900
Loc: London
Quote:
I've got a DP-1000 and the first couple of firmware releases were crap. I've recently upgraded it and it hasn't it hasn't missed a beat since.


Just had a look, there still seem to be plenty of problems:

http://www.gooddvdstuff.com/kissdvd/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=

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#260392 - 14/07/2005 19:01 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: robricc]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12318
Loc: Sterling, VA
I bought this In January. It's good, and considering it was the first player on Divx's own site. But now they have a few more. I think the Momitsu is pretty big now.

I definitely like my player, but it has some quality issues. Other than that, I have no problem playing DVD rips with surround sound AC3 tracks that I've made with FairUse.
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Matt

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#260393 - 14/07/2005 19:04 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: Dignan]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Quote:
I definitely like my player, but it has some quality issues.

Build quality, or playback quality?
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#260394 - 14/07/2005 19:12 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: Dignan]
tman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
The IoData LinkPlayer, Buffalo LinkTheater and Momitsu V880N are all based on the same common hardware and software platform. Each company has made some tweaks to the hardware and software however but the underlying stuff is all the same.

The hardware is based on an older Sigma Designs chipset and the software is based on something called myiHome by Syabas. The server side software is pretty much compatible between them all.

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#260395 - 15/07/2005 02:19 Re: Networked DVD players [Re: tman]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12318
Loc: Sterling, VA
That explains why the Momitsu looked so familiar to me. I suspected as much.

Quote:
Quote:
I definitely like my player, but it has some quality issues.

Build quality, or playback quality?

Well, both, unfortunately. The player software has some quirks. And simply starting up and ejecting the disc tray takes about 30 seconds sometimes. Other than that, it's got the full array of outputs (well, the Momitsu does - the Iodata has this stupid D4 connector), and suprisingly it doesn't look horrible. The only design changes I'd make are that the remote is pretty cheap and definitley looks like it wasn't made by the same company, and when the unit is in standby it has a blindingly bright blue power LED that I can't seem to turn off (it's mostly annoying because none of my other LEDs are blue - oh, and it's burning my retinas).

I can only speak to the USB thing a little. There's a port on the front that I thought would be great for plugging in my CF card reader and showing a slideshow. Well, maybe it's because the reader is 1.1 and maybe I have a slow CF card (and maybe my pictures were too big), but it took forever to go through the images, and I couldn't run them as a slideshow. I'd have to go back and select the next picture. I haven't tried viewing pictures from CD/DVD yet.

What I have noticed is that I've had trouble playing video files off of DVDs. I have the least expensive DVD-Rs I could find, so maybe that has something to do with it, but it would frequently freeze on me, and I have to put the files on my computer to stream them to the unit.

As a DVD player...it's just a DVD player.

As for the software side, I'll give them some slack. I bought this thing when this type of product was still pretty new, and they've already put out two or three firmware revisions. Plus, I haven't gotten a chance to update it yet (it doesn't seem to update properly if on a direct connection to the PC).

Any other questions?
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Matt

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