Best DLNA-Based Player?

[bassmadrigal]

I am currently using my xbox as my DLNA player and thoroughly love it. However, the xbox is extremely limited in the formats it supports, and when you need to transcode something the encoding codec only supports 1 core of my processor. So most of the time this means I cannot transcode some 720p videos nor any 1080p videos. I am looking at a possible replacement to this, but I have no idea where to start.

Ideally I would like it to support as many formats as possible natively, but I am not worried if my computer has to transcode anything. It needs to support 110v/60hz but ideally I would like for it to be dual voltage (110/220v 50/60hz) as I am in the military and can go anywhere in the world. It can be a standalone unit (no dvd/bluray support), but if it does have that, I wouldn't be opposed to it. I would like for it to support wireless (preferably built-in, but an addon card/dongle would be ok).

Essentially this is what I want.

• Playback support of most formats
• Dual-voltage (not absolutely necessary, but if not, it would need to be 110v)
• Standalone unit or DVD/Bluray player (don't own any blurays, and most dvd's are ripped onto my harddrive, so a disc player isn't a huge deal for me)
  
  • If it does support dvd/bluray, it would need to be region 1 or region free
• Prefer built-in wireless (but wireless-ready necessary, after going wireless on my xbox, I don't want that network cord going across the floor anymore)
• Capable of 1080p output (preferably through HDMI)
• Support for Thumbnails/Movie Posters

I had thought about getting a PS3, but I have heard of issues on the forums with detection, and I really don't think I will play games on the console enough to justify it (I barely use my xbox for gaming). Getting a TV with it built-in is currently out of the question. I am happy with my 46" Samsung, and it is only a little over a year old (DLNA-based tv's weren't very common and the base didn't have any). I am not opposed to getting a dvd player/bluray, but I most likely wouldn't really use the disc portion of it, so it would probably just be a waste and I don't currently own any blurays and am not worried about what I am missing out on (from the distance I sit from the TV the quality isn't really noticeable).

Overall I am open to any suggestions that meet the criteria above. The xbox is just too limited in respect to DLNA support, and it is pretty power hungry.

[Zek]

I've got a DLNA TV but if I didn't I would probably get something like the new WDTV HD gen2 device. It doesn't have WiFi but other than that it looks perfect. Doing 1080p over WiFi is pushing the limits.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/U ... 705025.pdf

Cheers,
Zek

[bassmadrigal]

I doubt I would do much with 1080p (I think I have 2 items in my 7000+ video collection that are 1080p), but I would like it to output to the tv at 1080p. But I do not want a cable running across my hall into the family room anymore, so wireless (whether by an addon, or builtin) is a must.

But thanks for the suggestion. Does Western Digital make any that are wireless?

[Zek]

Update: I guess it supports USB WiFi dongles too:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg ... faqid=3805

[amunoz_tico]

@bassmadrigal

I have a some DLNA products, but the PS3 is the BEST for me.

Why? Because I can play games, Blu-Ray movies, DVD movies, and view my media (videos, pictures and music). Also, it has an internet browser.

If you want to get all those functions, you have to buy more than one devices.


Regards!

[bassmadrigal]

Why? Because I can play games, Blu-Ray movies, DVD movies, and view my media (videos, pictures and music). Also, it has an internet browser.

If you want to get all those functions, you have to buy more than one devices.

I'm not actually looking for all those functions. And the games thing is the probably the lowest of them all... I hardly ever use my xbox to actually play games, it is mainly used as my DLNA device. And there aren't any PS3-exclusive games that make me yearn for a PS3. As for the internet browser, my computer is in a room across the hall, plus I have my Google Nexus One phone on me almost all the time, so I don't see much of a benefit of having it on the tv. Plus the cost of the PS3 is not very welcoming for what I want. Although I really do appreciate your input (and maybe it will help someone else who may use those additional features).

But in doing a search for something random for a friend, I came across a Sony Bluray player that had wifi built in for $150 that supports DLNA (and 3D, if I ever do upgrade my TV years down the road). (Unfortunately, it seems all dvd/bluray players will only support one voltage unless you are willing to pay exorbitant prices for a region free player which is usually dual-voltage. But I have been running my xbox on a transformer for over a year, and my electricity prices weren't as high as I was expecting, so if I have to deal with a 110v device in 220v Germany, so be it...) The previous suggestion from Zek about the WDTV device was given serious consideration. I can pick up the device for $100 and get a wireless adapter for it under $20 on Amazon. But in seeing this Sony for only $30 more, it made me seriously question my thoughts behind getting the WDTV. For $30, it would allow me to play bluray if I ever decide to go that route.

Now my question is, how well are the Sony's supported, or how well do they support the features of Serviio? If I remember right, they don't support srt subtitles sent by serviio. I don't use them now due to the xbox not supporting them, but if the player did support them, I would love to use them (I prefer watching movies with subtitles on because I came from a house with lots of pets and kids). IIRC from reading forum posts, it seems like Samsungs are supported the best. Is that still the case? They support subtitles sent by serviio, right? I may end up deciding what to get by mid-week, so I am open to all opinions on the matter.

[zip]

hey support subtitles sent by serviio, right?

Yes, as well as the LG players - but hose don't work very well with transcoding. Samsung C series player is probably a safe bet (EU version seems to be the best in terms of codecs)

Anyone using the Logitech Revue to receive media?

You should really consider the Boxee Box from D-Link, if I only had a tv with HDMI I would have bought this. It supports almost all formats including subtitle files, fetches meta data from internet and all.
http://www.dlink.com/boxee/

Boxee Box is one of the best network media players but it's intended for use with samba shares not UPnP/DLNA.

Really though your better off moving away from DLNA if you do get a network media player in general & let the player manage the media, one thing DLNA is still useful for with the Boxee Box is music. The Boxee software lost some music features when the Box debuted and Boxee have promised to restore the missing features eventually so using a DLNA server to provide music sorting options is a handy stopgap measure.

[n3mmr]

Boxee Box is one of the best network media players but it's intended for use with samba shares not UPnP/DLNA.

Really though your better off moving away from DLNA if you do get a network media player in general & let the player manage the media, one thing DLNA is still useful for with the Boxee Box is music. The Boxee software lost some music features when the Box debuted and Boxee have promised to restore the missing features eventually so using a DLNA server to provide music sorting options is a handy stopgap measure.

The accuracy of that advice depends on the capabilities of the network player. For the WDTV Live, Serviio fills in a lot of gaps and generally improves usability.

For a full-fledged HTPC, serviio might still have some special advantages, but probably wouldn't add a lot of useful stuff.

A Boxee seems in between: Note that one can test a Boxee before buying if one has a small PC free: install the software on the PC and see if it does what you need.

You can probably do without the online feeds of serviio, and Movies would probably be better handled via Boxee's own metadata management, for the rest it'll be a matter of taste, mostly.

The MAJOR, general advantage of serviio will be very dependent on what control points are available for say your Android phone or iPod Touch.
And, of course on if your taste is main stream or not. Classical music is a sore point with me, no control point does an even half-decent job of presenting the Metadata for classical: the structure assumed and programatically fixed in sw for main stream music is too simplistic to manage displaying classical works metadata properly.

And what I consider the main advantage of a DLNA Server-Controlpoint-renderer setup is the ability to control the selection of and check the playback of music without having your TV turned on. A well designed "Now Playing" - screen in a control point app is worth a lot.
Alas, so far such apps don't exist.

[DEJ710]

For Bassmadrigal,

If you want ethernet without cables and don't want to use wireless, why not try something like this:

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/powerline-and-coax/high-performance/default.aspx

I use one at home to send ethernet to the lounge room (4 port switch), which works great as they are designed for HD content and can transmit up to 200MBps.

[TOPIC MERGED]
I'm about to give up on my 2 Samsung Purchases. I was completely DLNA ignorant when I bought them. Now I'm only about 50% DLNA ignorant My main goal is losless Blu-ray and DVD ripping for playback through Serviio.
My BD-C6500 has worked ok with a lot of kicking, screaming, and tweaking. The final straw though is it cannot fast forward or rewind and DLNA streamed MKV files. MKV files from makemkv seem to be the preferred file type for lossless DVD and Blu-ray ripping. Unfortunately, the newer BD-D6500 is even worse. It can't ff or rew straight VOB files. That at least worked on the BD-C6500. I'm looking for a affordable player that is fully Serviio compatible, can ff and rew streamed MKV files from makemv (Blur-ray and DVD) and has a full (not instant only) Netflix interface. At first search, it seems the OPPO BDP-93 may be my best bet. Any thoughts?

[moltra]

I am not sure if it will work on your samsung, but on my samsung D5300 if while I am watching a video file, I hit the tool button on the remote a little screen pops up and show tools for that show. The second line down is the current time vs the total time for that file. if you scroll down to it you can change it using the left and right menu buttons on the remote. The same buttons that you use for FF and Rev normally. I love this cause it allows me to FF all the way to the end of the file if I wanted to.