Networked DVD Players, Good or Bad? 28
ageoffri asks: "My 5 year old Pioneer DVD player is starting to act up so I need to replace it soon. A friend of mine mentioned he got a Go Video DVD player. This got me wondering how many more networked DVD players there were and some searches found a few, but almost no reviews on any of them.
I'm wondering if any Slashdot readers have used a networked DVD player and if so how well it worked? Is the picture quality the same for playing a DVD in the player or from a PC? I'm only looking for one that either comes with or can accept a wireless connection."
No (Score:1, Informative)
MythTV Frontend (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway, if you don't have a HTPC (home theater pc), but you want that functionallity, this may be a good approach. If you find a review, pay attention to heat and noise reports--one of the big advantages of moving functionallity to a remote PC is that you also keep the noise out of your living room.
DVD-R/TiVo unit (Score:5, Informative)
My one gripe is that the TiVo doesn't support AAC files yet. TiVo keeps promising that they are working on it, but do not provide a delivery date estimate. This has been the case for over a year.
Other than that gripe, it works great. My only real gripe is that if you transfer a show over the network to this TiVo from another TiVo using the Home Media Option [tivo.com], the TiVo won't burn it to a DVD-R... their notion of DRM.
Oh yeah... and of course, being a TiVo it runs Linux, so all sorts of hacks [saigon.com] are available for it.
you like commercials on your dvds? (Score:1)
tivo could even do a good job of this if they wanted to. if a show has been viewed already, record what the user skipped and use that as the basis for the first round of commercial editing.
Re:you like commercials on your dvds? (Score:1)
What luck (Score:1)
Has anyone found others. With DVD-audio, HD, mac-compatibility?
Re:What luck (Score:2)
I think the main reason I would recommend it over a combination audio- and video-streaming device is that the Squeezebox can be operated entirely via its remote control, without needing to have a television on and tuned to it like a combo-box would. The Squeezebox can also be completely controlled by the web interface to the server software, which is handy if you're too lazy to go out
Slashdot Review (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Get an Xbox and load Xbox Media Center (Score:1)
Yes, but can a DVD-R drive be made to work in Xbox as more than just a reader drive? I have seen hacks replacing the DVD drive, but I do not recall seeing one where a DVD-R was used and capable of actual recording. If you know of one (I have not looked recently), please let me know as I would love to do this.
This is not a sig.
Well... (Score:3, Informative)
How about (Score:3, Informative)
Modded XBoxen can play DVD's, DivX and Xvid (and yes Ogg and Ogm), can connect to your network, and heaps of other stuff. And they're very cheap for what you get. Apparently you can also play games on them, but the games don't compare favourably to the PC equivalents.
Thankfully here in Australia, the trade agreement that is currently being forced on us by the USA hasn't taken place yet so we can still adjust and modify equipment that we own.
Re:How about (Score:3, Insightful)
Make it stop!!!
Gateway networked DVD player (Score:2, Interesting)
xbox (Score:1)
PC as the player. Pros and Cons (Score:4, Informative)
There are however some major advantages especially if you got a powerfull pc and you watch movies with subs.
VobSub allows you to polygnize the fonts. This turns the ugly standard DVD subs into beautifull high quality fonts. It costs a lot of cpu power but the results are a lot better.
Add a couple of other filters and you can dramatically improve your picture especially if you got a decent tv.
Wether this worth all the effort is up to you. A stand alone player is a lot lot simpler to work with.
Wait a bit (Score:2)
Why don't Cliff's articles show up? (Score:2)
Why is is that this article, and other articles often by Cliff, doesn't show up on the slashdot front page?
I don't have any setting to ignore Cliff or anything.
I'm really interested in this particular article, as I am in the market for a networked DVD player. I am eagerly awaiting the Linksys, which was suppose to be available months ago, so I can compare it to the Gateway and KISS models.
Network DVD Users: (Score:1)