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Television Media Hardware

Recommendations for Desktop DivX Players? 28

Posted by Cliff from the hassle-free-hardware dept.
Gheesh asks: "Early this year I was thinking on buying a desktop DVD/DivX player. When the KISS issue with MPlayer arose, I decided to postpone the purchase until things cleared up. Six months have gone by and there is not much useful information around on the licensing and hacker-friendly capabilities of the various hardware players that have appeared since then. Can anybody provide some insight into this subject?" Are there any hardware players out there that aren't mired in licensing fights that actually are worth the money?
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Recommendations for Desktop DivX Players? More

Recommendations for Desktop DivX Players?

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  • This is a joke, right? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @04:35PM (#9434352)
    Trust me, Penny Arcade's DivX machine [penny-arcade.com] is the *ONLY* one you want to get.
  • Then install OpenBSD and run kissd [benzedrine.cx]. :-)

  • Xbox (Score:5, Informative)

    by Vaevictis666 ( 680137 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @04:37PM (#9434368)
    Not for everybody, but I went the modded xbox route. Using a soft mod you can get XBMC on it running divx (or xvid, ogm, whatever) off of the DVDRom, hard disk, or even over the network. No remote control unless you get the DVD remote addon or a wireless controller, but it does work quite well. And it sure beats bringing the PC out from the other room :P

    • Re:Xbox (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      How do I soft mod my XBox? Web link? Google is not giving me anything.

      • Re:Xbox (Score:5, Informative)

        by Vaevictis666 ( 680137 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @05:46PM (#9435285)
        Soft mod being a software mod. This is using a special save game. Instructions and tutorials and such can be found at www.xbox-scene.com [xbox-scene.com]. (Try the "Tutorials" link up top)

        Xbox-scene also has gobs of information if you want to go the whole way with your xbox and get a mod chip.

        Other than that, like the other guy said, xbins.org [xbins.org] has a whole slew of homebrew games and such, ranging from emulators to actual homebrew games, file utitlies, and the like. You will generally need to go on IRC to download them, since they are built with the official XDK and as such are illegal to distribute. I do highly reccomend XBOMBERBOX if you have 4 controllers and have a few friends that would enjoy a few rounds of bomberman :)

    • Re:Xbox (Score:4, Informative)

      by sycotic ( 26352 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @04:49PM (#9434504) Homepage
      amen brother!

      http://www.xboxmediacenter.com [xboxmediacenter.com]

      cheap and effective with the added bonus of being able to play games too (and linux for all you loonie linus lovers ;-)

      and of course if you actually want to download XBMC you will be needing none other than XBINS http://www.xbins.org [xbins.org] - the definitive homebrew software archive for XBOX enthusiasts!

      just to keep you in the loop once you're interested you also can't go past _the_ modding/homebrew news source http://www.xbox-scene.com [xbox-scene.com]

    • Re:Xbox (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Earlybird ( 56426 )
      Are there any Xbox players with web-based front ends?

      • Re:Xbox (Score:3, Informative)

        by cdrudge ( 68377 ) *
        Yes. XMBC has a web gui for queueing up files. I'm not sure how well it works as I've only used it once I beleive.

    • Re:Xbox (Score:3, Informative)

      by Tobias Luetke ( 707936 )
      There is nothing compareable to a modded XBOX.

      Indeed not even a pc connected to a TV can compare because the xbox has a HDTV compatible tv out and there are no affortable HDTV out pc gfx cards yet. ( none which aren't more expensive then the entire xbox anyways ).

      Here [tomshardware.com] is a good article from toms hardware

      Here another [tomshardware.com] quote from the same site :
      As things stands, the scope of functions offered by a modified XBox has little or no competition. Only a full-value mini PC can overshadow the Microsoft multi

  • VideoLAN VLC (Score:2, Informative)

    by jeremy_dot ( 734236 )
    I would suggest VideoLAN VLC. It is a low footprint video player that can use the common codecs when they are installed (ie you have to install the Divx for Linux and a third party DVD Decoder). It's open source and has been ported to multiple distributions of Linux.

    You can get it at http://videolan.org [videolan.org]

    It also runs on Windows.
    • they're looking for a dedicated HARDWARE player

      "Are there any hardware players out there that aren't mired in licensing fights that actually are worth the money?"

  • Momitsu V880 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tyrdium ( 670229 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @04:50PM (#9434519) Homepage
    The Momitsu V880 seems to be pretty famous over at AVS Forums. It plays DivX, XviD, MP3, and pretty much anything you can throw at it. It's got a DVI output, and the image quality is supposedly at the top of the pack. One of the only places I've found in the US that sells it is Extreme Phono [extremephono.com]. The V880 costs about $250, and they're supposed to start selling the V880N (networking capabilities) around late June for about $400.

  • Lite-On (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Nynaeve ( 163450 )
    I got a Lite-On LVD-2002 for $100 and I really like it. I can play my DivX MST3K movies on it. :)
    There is a LVD-2010 [liteonit.com] out now for $200 [erwincomputers.com], but the last word [pcclub.com] is that it is not available.

    • Re:Lite-On (Score:3, Informative)

      by WoTG ( 610710 )
      I've got one of these too. I got it for around the same cost, after counting for the exchange rate.

      It has served me well. Almost every NEW DivX file that I throw at it plays with no problems. It doesn't like a lot of the old DivX3 files though.

      Be warned, it is flash upgradable, BUT they've only released one (flakey, by many reports) update and they don't intend to release any future upgrades. I wonder if it's hackable...

      I also wish the MP3 playing functions were smarter. Really, who wants to liste

  • xbox (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ezelkow1 ( 693205 )
    like the previous post I suggest the modded xbox route. Softmodding is still debatable since it still has a few issues, using an actual modchip to just play homemade software is probably a bit more legal than using an exploit within ms's code. Anyway, im not a legal expert and am completely wrong about it but in any case for the money you will not find a better standalone player than a modded xbox, thats pretty much the sole reason why i purchased mine. A home entertainment unit that can play pretty much

  • Try the Phillips DVP642 (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It plays DivX 3 4 and 5 and you can make it regionfree just using the remote. Here is a link [videohelp.com]

  • Philips DVP642 (Score:3, Informative)

    by nekdut ( 74793 ) on Tuesday June 15, 2004 @06:22PM (#9435752) Journal
    I just bought a Philips DVP642 from CompUSA for $69. For the price it can't be beat. Plays Divx 3,4 and 5, Xvid and a bunch of other formats. I haven't had any problems playing anything yet.

    Check out this extensive thread at fatwallet:

    http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?ca tid=18&threadid=306890 [fatwallet.com]

    • Re:Philips DVP642 (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dubl-u ( 51156 ) *
      Yep! I have one of these and it's a pretty swell box. There have been a couple things that xine will play that the DVP642 won't, but by and large it's been great. It also plays music and will show photos. The firmware could be a little better and the remote needs a better UI, but for the basic functions it's a fantastic value.

      I haven't had a TV in years, and have been reluctant to get anything with a tuner; it's too easy to "just see what's on" and suddenly realize that you've watsted two hours that you'll
    • The Philips DVD 737 also plays all this. It looks nice too. I have it; it works well.
  • I'm running GeeXBoX [geexbox.org] on an old laptop. It's a very nice distro. Eventually, I'll probably build my own mini-itx system.

  • UMAX / Yamada 6600 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... is an awesome piece of kit, it plays anything you throw at it, divX, Xvid yadda yadda yadda. Firmwire upgradable. Optical out, Dolby 5.1, multi region, remote control. its silver and has blue LEDs!

    I bought mine after two friends raved about theirs, haven't been dissappointed.

    only cost me 59 (~$100). Ebuyer is your friend.
  • Has anyone had any experience with software media front ends?

    I'm pretty happy with my current means of recording but I would really like to have a diskless VIA EPIA based machine that provided a nice GUI using TV output and IR remote input to browse all the video files on other networked machines (SMB, NFS, etc.) Right now, video playback involves VNC and a keyboard/mouse.

    The problem with MythTV is that it REQUIRES a capture card in the backend box. You allegedly can create front end boxes without a captu
  • they are the most hackable desktop dvd players imaginable

  • divx is still around? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hasn't that gone away already?

    It's not a very good idea. DVD's these days are so cheap that a pay-per-play scheme such as divx isn't very cost efficient. And your local rental place probably has better hours, a closer location, and a better location than Circuit City.

    Stick with a plain old DVD player, or just use your PC. Don't go for faddy activation schemes. You'll thank me later.

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