HDD Media Players

Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10

Does anyone have any experience with these HDD media players. Do they work
100%, what is the quality of the audio and vision, is the fan noisy.

Can anyone recommend anything better. I like the idea being able to move it
easily between TV's/Hi-Fi. Ideally I would like it to be networked but the
pace of this type of technology everything is obsolete within seconds so
might just dip a toe until the better stuff arrives.

Jane T wrote:
> Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins
>
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10
>
> Does anyone have any experience with these HDD media players. Do
> they work 100%, what is the quality of the audio and vision, is the
> fan noisy.
> Can anyone recommend anything better. I like the idea being able to
> move it easily between TV's/Hi-Fi. Ideally I would like it to be
> networked but the pace of this type of technology everything is
> obsolete within seconds so might just dip a toe until the better
> stuff arrives.

I use a chipped X-Box.
It plays all formats with a very nice picture, has a decent remote and UI
and more importantly for me has a network connection.
I'd find it a pain to have to keep carrying it to a PC to load on new files.

Mine cost under £100 with a 160gb drive

--
Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk www.ebayfaq.co.uk

Jane T wrote:
> Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins
>
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10

Personally I'd avoid it. The manual makes no reference to whether the device
is capable of playing high definition sources, so I assume it isn't. I also
didn't like the documentation concerning possible hard disk drive errors -
these include codes for the disk not being a "certified disk by the
manufacturing company". I read that as a booby trap designed to stop you
replacing or upgrading the drive yourself. I'm also not convinced that the
Scart output is RGB (though it does have progressive component outputs), or
that it can handle Dolby digital or DTS audio streams through the digital
outputs.

Sorry that's a bit negative. There are other machines available, but the
only one I'm familiar with is the Showcenter 200, which is a networked media
player with no hard drive. It's no longer actively supported (although it
does work pretty well - excellent image and sound quality), so I'd look
elsewhere. Someone mentioned a "Snazzio" machine recently, so you might want
to take a look at that...

In <zP-(E-Mail Removed)>, "Pyriform" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Jane T wrote:
>> Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins
>>
>> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10
>
>Personally I'd avoid it. The manual makes no reference to whether the device
>is capable of playing high definition sources, so I assume it isn't. I also
>didn't like the documentation concerning possible hard disk drive errors -
>these include codes for the disk not being a "certified disk by the
>manufacturing company". I read that as a booby trap designed to stop you
>replacing or upgrading the drive yourself. I'm also not convinced that the
>Scart output is RGB (though it does have progressive component outputs), or
>that it can handle Dolby digital or DTS audio streams through the digital
>outputs.

I agree with all the above, and I'd add lack of automatic widescreen
switching too. It says "Supports 16:9 and 4:3 TV screen" but I bet
that's a fixed setup option. And does it letterbox a widescreen image
for 4:3 viewers, or centre cut it?

"Jane T" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message

>Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins
>
>http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10
>
>Does anyone have any experience with these HDD media players. Do they work
>100%, what is the quality of the audio and vision, is the fan noisy.
>
>Can anyone recommend anything better. I like the idea being able to move it
>easily between TV's/Hi-Fi. Ideally I would like it to be networked but the
>pace of this type of technology everything is obsolete within seconds so
>might just dip a toe until the better stuff arrives.
>

If you were thinking of buying an external USB hard disk anyway it
might be worth trying, it's not really much more expensive than a
normal one. And Maplins are usually pretty good about refunding on
things that don't turn out to be as good as you expect. But if you're
just looking for a TV output option for your downloaded pirate videos,
there are better options in that price range. It doesn't say anything
about being able to upgrade it as and when new audio/video codecs
become common, or even whether you can swap the hard disk for a bigger
one. But if I was looking for a USB hard disk I would probably go for
one of those. Whether I would regret it or not is another question. So
if you do buy one, please do let us know how you get on with it.

On 20 Oct 2006, Edster <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>If you were thinking of buying an external USB hard disk anyway it
>might be worth trying, it's not really much more expensive than a
>normal one.

There are 250 and 300 GB units around at about the same price for just
external storage (USB or USB + 10/100 ethernet).

>if you're just looking for a TV output option for downloaded videos,
>there are better options in that price range.

Probably worth checking www.bigpockets.co.uk and www.svp.co.uk where
there are Freecom and other units around to play audio / video with
various sizes from 160 to 500 GB (and units without any drive fitted,
if you already have something suitable)

(E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> Seen this hard drive media player from Maplins
>
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ce=1&doy=19m10
>
> Does anyone have any experience with these HDD media players. Do they work
> 100%, what is the quality of the audio and vision, is the fan noisy.
>
> Can anyone recommend anything better. I like the idea being able to move it
> easily between TV's/Hi-Fi. Ideally I would like it to be networked but the
> pace of this type of technology everything is obsolete within seconds so
> might just dip a toe until the better stuff arrives.

I use a buffalo Linktheater (American spelling) and this works very well
indeed, and I've just added a linkstation (not the pro version) 300Gb
NAS drive to my home network to allow me to use the linktheater without
having the PC on. The Buffalo supports more codecs and formats than the
player you name above, but then it also doesn't have a HDD built in.

I would certainly look for one with networking capability but for the
price the player seems reasonable value.
--
Regards
Jon