Streaming Media Player with 1080p output for under $200
Posted by a virtual unknown on April 20, 2009
I have been researching video playback devices for quite some time, looking for one that can stream files over a network as well as play videos at 1080p resolutions. Other important criteria were that it have wireless control, be quiet or fanless, and as inexpensive as possible.
I began evaluating the PlayStation 3; but it lacks the ability to playback h.264 encoded Matroska MKV files. In fact, most media players will be compatible with DivX, XviD, and MPEG-2 videos; but hardly any of them were capable of playing back MKV files or h.264 encoded HD content.
Then came the Popcorn Hour and other Networked Media Tank-based players (HDX1080). They met all the technical criteria; but with $300+ price tags.
Enter the Western Digital WD TV player. For $120+tax CAD, out of the box, it can play 1080p video including MKV files. It has 2 USB ports to connect external hard disks to; but it has no stock network streaming capability. There are HDMI, optical audio, and composite audio/video outputs (so you can connect to an old non-HD set). It is tiny – not much larger than an external hard drive. It is quiet because there are no moving parts, and it has very low power consumption – somewhere well under 40w max, when playing back video.
With this hack from B-RAD, it can use a USB ethernet adapter. I suggest the following WIRED ethernet adapters (there is no working wireless solution that is fast enough at this time):
Get the TrendNet TU2-ET100 (should be ~$28).
Or have FutureShop or BestBuy price match $28.99 for the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter (regularly $49.95)
**Update May 13, 2009: I have tried and tested the wdlxtv hack and it works as advertised. Please note that I have the Apple USB2.0 Ethernet Adapter and I can stream a video file that is a movie (roughly 90min) sized 4.5GB or less. I have tried a movie that was over 6GB in size and the player stuttered in streaming it over CIFS. I suspect you would require an NFS share or that you are better off copying it to a USB drive to obtain a higher transfer bitrate in those cases.
