Topic 'Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas' in forum 'Canadian Chat' - dslreports.com

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 16:11:52 EDT

urbanriot posted :

What are you doing for remote control with that HTPC?

I use Microsoft's remote control, works awesome and made for Media Center (which I use for playing networked media files).

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:55:38 EDT

analog andy posted :

said by alexpb1:

Have you seen Intel's "Next Unit of Computing"? Known simply as "NUC".

Yah NCIX has it for around $300 but once you add RAM/SSD I'm in the $500 range. I priced out a complete A4-5300 box with an HTPC case for around $279+tax. Although the form factor is quite a bit bigger in the custom box.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:45:41 EDT

MichelR posted :

said by alexpb1:

said by MichelR:

Looks interesting. Newegg.ca has it for the price you mentioned. I'm looking for something low-profile for when I decide to ditch my Boxee Box (as far as I know there's one update left "some day", and then nothing), so this has some potential. I haven't really looked into the other alternatives though.

Have you tried the boxee+hacks "hack"? It's pretty cool (www.boxeeplus.com). It adds some interesting features. Even though Boxee has basically ignored us all for over a year, I still think the box is awesome for streaming local media from your home network. I use it all the time to stream 1080p movies from my NFS shares.

Nope, hadn't seen that. I'll check it out, thanks. I'm particularly annoyed by the Flash version being stalled (thanks Adobe). I had to subscribed to unblock-us to stream TV shows from US networks for those shows where the licensed Canadian network website runs Flash 11.x (e.g. Global). I use it daily anyway (mostly Netflix and TV shows), but I figured I'd start looking at future alternatives. Too bad they screwed up such a good product.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:31:27 EDT

alexpb1 posted :

said by MichelR:

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:24:38 EDT

MichelR posted : Looks interesting. Newegg.ca has it for the price you mentioned. I'm looking for something low-profile for when I decide to ditch my Boxee Box (as far as I know there's one update left "some day", and then nothing), so this has some potential. I haven't really looked into the other alternatives though.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:13:37 EDT

alexpb1 posted : Have you seen Intel's "Next Unit of Computing"? Known simply as "NUC".

Looks very itneresting, especially for people looking to build their own HTPC.
The form-factor is quite attractive.

In a 10cm x 10cm case you get:

Intel Core i3 3217U CPU
Intel QS77 Express Chipset
HD4000 Graphics
2x DDR3 SO-DIMM slots
Dual HDMI ports
3x USB 2.0 ports
Gigabit ethernet
Mini PCIe port (half height)
Mini PCIe port (full-height, mSATA support)
VESA mount bracket to mount to monitor/TV
(they also have another model that replaces one of the HDMI ports with a thunderbolt port)

Basically all you add yourself is the RAM/SSD and wifi card (optional) and install your OS of choice and you have a really small fully-functioning HTPC.

The NUC is around $300 right now, which is a little too much for me to consider buying one But with the price of RAM already pretty low and the cost of SSDs continuing to come down, I would definitely consider getting one of these for a future HTPC setup when NUC comes down in cost as well.

Edit: forgot to post link
»www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/···ion.html
There are lots of videos of it on YouTube too.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:59:40 EDT

analog andy posted : So I'm gonna be ditching the WD TV Live players as they are too slow to operate and don't offer much (except price wise) vs a netbook/laptop/basic box running Linux or windows hooked up to the tv.

With Netflix Desktop working 98% on Linux I'll be hunting for a few used netbooks/laptops or building another cheap box. I can probably build a box for $300 since no need for gaming as these go in the bedroom.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:50:50 EDT

analog andy posted :

said by Wolfie00:

What are you doing for remote control with that HTPC?

Sorry for some reason my last reply didn't show a few weeks ago. I'm using a Logitech K400r keyboard combo.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:38:50 EDT

Wolfie00 posted : What are you doing for remote control with that HTPC?

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 14:10:12 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : cool yeah I've been over a year without paying for cable but I still got it they never cut it off. I learned a never sit down to watch TV it's always just something on in the background %90 of the time. Only issue I got is my high ass internet bill at $87 a month.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:42:50 EDT

analog andy posted : I have finally reached the elite "no cable" club. Except for daily news no one in the house seems to be missing anything.

Mind you my cable internet (From another company) was suppose to be hooked up that day and I guess the SHAW guy must have "accidentally" not connected it properly when he went to do something at the cable box lol.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:12:29 EDT

analog andy posted : LOL after banging my head for several hours trying to get the HULU plugin for XBMC, Hulu Desktop and Netflix working on the HTPC (Linux Mint 64bit), went out and got another WD TV Live for the living room TV. The HTPC will be used for playing STEAM/Games/DVD's and Browsing the internet.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:16:56 EDT

analog andy posted : So the HTPC has been running good and today I got a couple of WD TV Live boxes for the two other tv's. Got singed up for HULU Plus using the US Zip code trick. With Unotelly I got Hulu and Netflix US running.

Just have to build the OTA antennas and SHAW last day is at the end of the month.

Next up is to get cable internet from my current ISP, Lightspeed as its unlimited data transfer and use that for the TV's viewing and use the ADSL I got from them to download the rest of my DVD library and shows on available through HULU and Netflix plus use it as temp backup if the cable goes down.

I got STEAM running so the kids got some games and once STEAM on Linux is out of beta I'm set.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:57:11 EDT

analog andy posted : Yah I'm surprised how well the case is made and now nice it looks. Was expecting the cheap 10 years ago Chinese made flimsy case but not this is nice.

Just getting the game emulators ready. Wife will be happy to see all the game systems put away for a bit.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:45:54 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : I forking love that case. I just using a tower laid on it's side HA. So is the case built well and lead out well?

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:28:45 EDT

analog andy posted : Ok got it finished and all ready to go. Had problems with the AMD video drivers but managed to get them fixed so sound now works through HDMI and have 3D.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 02:01:36 EDT

analog andy posted : So at the NCIX Black Fri I ended with this for $363 after taxes

MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 mATX FM2 A75 DDR3 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI SATA3 HDMI DVI USB3.0 Motherboard - $59.99

AMD A8-5600K APU Quad Core Processor Socket FM2 3.2GHZ 4MB 100W Retail Box - $99.99

Antec Basiq BP350 350WATT ATX12V V2.01 80mm Quiet Fan ATX Power Supply - $24.99

Nmedia HTPC-5000B Desktop Media Centre Case mATX Black 1X5.25 4X3.5INT Card Reader No PS - $59.99

AMD Entertainment Edition 8GB 2X4GB PC3-12800U DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9 1.5V Memory Module W/O Heatsink - $29.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive OEM - $49.99

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:35:29 EDT

analog andy posted : I changed the specs. Will wait till tonight when NCIX has their sale to see if I can save some more $$$

Decided on AMD. Wanted the A-10 65W but seems unavailable.

MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 mATX FM2 A75 DDR3 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI SATA3 HDMI DVI USB3.0 Motherboard
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=76851

AMD A8 5500 Quad Core Processor Socket FM2 3.2GHZ 4MB 65W Retail Box
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=77419

Antec Neo Eco 450C Power Supply ATX 12V Active PFC 80PLUS 120mm Fan
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=60491···oid=1305

Patriot Viper 3 8GB 2X4GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V Dual Channel Memory Kit - Black Mamba
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=74758···oid=1209

Nmedia HTPC-5000B Desktop Media Centre Case mATX Black 1X5.25 4X3.5INT Card Reader No PS
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=35507···oid=1378

Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB SATA2 Hard Drive 7200RPM 16MB Cache 3.5in OEM
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=57878···oid=1209

Will see if I need any extra fans or might still go with the vertical case and save about $20 more.

$358.94+ taxes

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:49:43 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : cool let us know how it turns out for ya.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:12:35 EDT

analog andy posted : This list here »Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas except I'll go with a desktop tyle HTPC case. I'll go with the i3 for now.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:04:19 EDT

TOPDAWG posted :

said by analog andy:

For the living room I'll go with a HTPC with the above build but with an i3

Totally forgot about game system emulators so this should let me play all the games I want. I'm not into the life like games so prefer my games to be what look like a game should be cartoonish.

For the other tv's I'll just get the WD Live media players.

What PC you getting? yeah sounds like this will cover all your needs you want.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:34:13 EDT

analog andy posted : For the living room I'll go with a HTPC with the above build but with an i3

Totally forgot about game system emulators so this should let me play all the games I want. I'm not into the life like games so prefer my games to be what look like a game should be cartoonish.

For the other tv's I'll just get the WD Live media players.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 08:33:49 EDT

CyberCam posted : Right now the best media box on the market is the Vizio Co-Star, when it comes to embedded media players! You just can't get any better for $99

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjOo5NY_SPs

The only thing better is a HTPC!

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:40:49 EDT

Doonz posted :

said by TOPDAWG:

oh yeah I like your set-up you posted as it's future proofing more then what I posted exp if 4K ever comes home you'll need more then a dual core to run that I'd guess. Issue was OP did not give enough info on what he wanted and his budget.

Most time people settle on the lowest price but not necessarily what they wanted...

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:57:18 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : OP I just saw this on engadget. It may be a good HTPC for ya. hm looking at it seems like by time you get everything it's a bit piracy. Also looks like dell.ca does not curry it.

»www.engadget.com/2012/11/10/inte···-priced/

»www.anandtech.com/show/6444/inte···hands-on

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:35:09 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : oh yeah I like your set-up you posted as it's future proofing more then what I posted exp if 4K ever comes home you'll need more then a dual core to run that I'd guess. Issue was OP did not give enough info on what he wanted and his budget.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:28:56 EDT

Doonz posted :

said by TOPDAWG:

good god man he does not need a 4 core PC with 16GB to run media. That is way over-kill just for media unless he also wants to run games. I like your idea but that is so costly and can be done so much cheaper.

Andy can you post what your budget is so folks can better list your options. Also what you want to do and how many TV you got and the like.

If he wanted to run HTPC then i woulda just recommended a Zotac and called it a day.

But i figured since the poster was looking for a solution I provided one that would not only grow with the next new thing but is simple and easy to use and can also allow him to bring his media on the road also would allow playback of any file type onto any device..

Just for reference My setup:

Usenet Server:

Quad core xeon @ 2.6ghz with 16gb ram, 4x240gb ssd in raid 10 (This set up was required to achieve full speed on Usenet on 250/15 package from shaw)

Software installed: Sabnzbd, sickbeard

Couchpotato Server:

Virtual machine running 8X2.6ghz cores with 4gb ram

Deluge Server:

Virtual Machine running 8x2.6ghz with 16gb ram

PlexMediserver

cpu 2x 6x2.4ghz opterons with 32Gb ram, 4x 128gb ssd in raid 10

Freenas File server
Quad core xeon @ 2.6ghz w/32GB ram

16x3tb in raid 10

End Devices (Multiple in use at the same time)

3x Ipad
1x Iphone
1x ATV2
1x Android phone running plex
3x Roku 2 XS

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:39:08 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : OK that PC would handle all your needs but I'd add a GPU in the mix too for the GPU acceleration. For the other tv's I'd get a WD live box. they can be had for like 100 bucks and play media on their own if you don't want to store everything on the network.

Someone may can come in here and list out some better hardware for the same price or a little more. I don't keep up on hardware much.

»www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/···pot%2002

Take a look at some PC's on there some nice hardware for cheap prices. I got my father in law a system to build him off there 2 weeks ago for a good price.

»www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/···CatId=31

A system like this would cover all your needs I'd think. If I'm wrong someone please say something. No idea of the build quality of the hardware but hardware wise this would cover your needs. Some of the reviews on there say the case sucks.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:11:11 EDT

analog andy posted : Basically I could get away with two tv's for now. The kids can go to hell and stick to their notebooks.

What I need is a media player that will let me browse the internet and have full video playback. Not worried about audio files. From too much reading seems most of the media players seem half ass attempts at something with each one missing something (I do have a Asus O!play Mini which works good as bare bones video player). So ATM I'm thinking HTPC or a netbook capable of playing video on a 47" TV. I'm also not worried about BR playback as I'm ok with DVD quality and really none of the videos I download are 1080 usually stick to downloading videos in the 1.5td or less size.

Main thing is getting news and having a video playlist availability. We have a 92 year old grandma living with us so when everyone is at work I'd like to just create a play list of bunch of video files and let it play for hours.

I was going to go with Boxee Box but being discontinued I guess I'll pass?. My budget is obviously the cheapest I can get but seems with a new router, htpc/media players/netbooks I'll be hitting close to $1000 for two tv's.

This is what I was thinking of for the htpc

»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=58341···oid=1230
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=67325···oid=1230
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=70273···oid=1230
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=61144
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=41337
»www.ncix.com/products/?sku=52411

Oh yah and say another $60 for a small HD. I have a bunch of Segate 500/1BExpansions which I use to store the video.

Total is $300+ tax and give me the ability to go to i3/5/7

I would run Linux on it and XMBC. I do have a bunch of Humble Bundle games I bought and with Steam being in Beta for Linux I'm thinking an HTPC.

I also fund this cool little guy »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···13138368

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:42:25 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : good god man he does not need a 4 core PC with 16GB to run media. That is way over-kill just for media unless he also wants to run games. I like your idea but that is so costly and can be done so much cheaper.

Andy can you post what your budget is so folks can better list your options. Also what you want to do and how many TV you got and the like.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:38:17 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : Yeah that would work fine. You don't need a power house PC to run media now. With what they call gpu acceleration pretty much any modern graphics card will take the load off the CPU and process your video. This is my PC and I can run 1080P video no issue. I got a amd hd radeon 6450.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:21:34 EDT

decx posted : With Black Friday coming up, it would not be surprising to find unlimited accounts from a Highwinds reseller for $5-6

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:57:09 EDT

graniterock posted : I took another look.... Looks like I'm on a grandfathered plan with much more generous limits making new accounts less appealing. Looks like they've kept the price the same and halved the usage limits. That said for what I need it for it almost all comes off their own unmetered server. I Set the highwinds as backup or turn it on if i want something now. I've accumulated 150GB of unused high winds credit and pull about 150 GB a month from them. Shows download over night and I watch them the next evening. If you are in a hurry and rely on the high winds as your primary source, it's probably not for you.

But I think you are right. I didn't realize they had changed their rates. If I was starting fresh today it is no longer that great. Which is too bad because the grandfathered rates are decent.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:43:30 EDT

decx posted :

said by graniterock:

They run a few servers you can pull from. The first server is speed throttled but unlimited. The second server is unlimited speed but has a daily cap. What you don't use you can bank for another day. The speed and cap are linked the subscription fee you choose (starting at $4 a month). (Note: the speeds on their site are actual kBps not kbps as listed).

Their upstream is Highwinds (unthrottled servers) but they operate their own server on the side with less retention and some missing groups (some major alt.binaries are not carried). Frankly, it's not good deal. At $4 all you get is 250MB/day (yes that's MB) off of the Highwinds servers (basically ~7GB/month). That's not even enough for moderate users but rather occasional/light users. Honestly for light users, block accounts from some of the providers often discussed in this forum would provide a much better deal.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:18:36 EDT

graniterock posted : If you are a moderate user looking for a usegroup which is reliable, cheaper but is a bit different I've had good luck with »www.sonic-news.com/ . They run a few servers you can pull from. The first server is speed throttled but unlimited. The second server is unlimited speed but has a daily cap. What you don't use you can bank for another day. The speed and cap are linked the subscription fee you choose (starting at $4 a month). (Note: the speeds on their site are actual kBps not kbps as listed).

In practice I default to the speed throttled server. If I need something right away I use the unlimited speed server and draw from my banked GB (which I have 150 of right now).

My media server is a single core 1.2 Ghz with 4GB of Ram which also streams via network sharing. I bascially took an old computer and added a large SATA drive and SATA controller. Sometimes the usenet downloads take a bit of a performance hit but it works. What you list is the dream / ideal setup but certainly not the bare minimum required. People on a budget can get by on less.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:16:24 EDT

Doonz posted : A total solution cost a fair amount up front. But after that your golden.

1: Media Recording Server.
A) Grab a Usenet account (Astraweb $96/yr, Supernews etc)
B) Build a usenet server.
I:) 4 Core +
II:) 16GB Ram
III:) Fast Hard Drives for handling downloads unraring repairing
IV:)Install Ubuntu Sever
V:) Install SABnzbd (Usenet Downloader)
VI:) Install Sickbeard (Tv-Shows)
VII:) Install Couchpotato (Movies)
VIII:) Grab an account at a nzb indexing site. I recommend NZB matrix. There are others.
This server will handle grabbing all your media and sorting them and make life simeple.

2: Media Streaming server
A) Build a Plexmedia server
I:) As many cores as fast as you can afford
II:) 16gb ram
III:) 128gb SSD
This will stream all media to all devices .

3:) Media Players
A:) I would Go with the Roku. Very good channel support.
I:) Install Plex Channel
II:) Install Netflix USA
III:) Install Hulu +
IV:) Install NHL Center ice and any other thing you see on Rokus website. Also there are off beat channels for ROku as well.

This whole set up requires a back end storage server.
Also Look at getting un-blockus.

SO costs. Hardware Dependent on what you Decided to get.

The rest

Astraweb - $8/mnth
Supernews - $11/mnth
Block Account - $1/gb Liftime
Netflix - $8/mnth
Hulu + - $8/mnth
Unblockus - $5/mnth

So you've got pretty much access to EVERYTHING in the media universe for $40/mnth

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:45:46 EDT

analog andy posted : Anyone know if this would make an ok HTPC »www.tigerdirect.com/applications···=3170831

I've stopped following hardware years ago so some of the spec are a bit alien to me.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:50:18 EDT

graniterock posted :

said by capdjq:

Interesting. But what about News, Hockey games, Football games, Olympic Games, World Cup, Poker Games. These, according to what I read, are great if you want to watch movies or TV Shows all day long. Unless I'm missing something.

If you don't care about it being live some stuff you can watch after. Playstation has both NHL and Baseball subscriptions you can get. I have no idea how well they work but it could be an option.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 17:12:02 EDT

TOPDAWG posted : well for your mean TV a 300 bucks HTPC would be a good best for the rest streamers are the answer. What is your budget? On that first box on future shop hm never heard of it. If you get that post a review it sounds interesting.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:29:08 EDT

analog andy posted : Anyone know much about these »www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/···4541en02

Maybe even this one »www.thesource.ca/estore/product.···=8001390

Also this one »www.thesource.ca/estore/product.···=8004101

Just load up Linux and XMBC.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:50:11 EDT

Anav posted : I mentioned the Pivos unit because I think it has a better browser capability compared to the WD Live models.

As for the cad who noted what about sports....... heck what is the diff from a d/l TV show or movie to a d/l sports event especially in HD. Why would anybody waste their time watching people play poker. Get a life.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:44:40 EDT

analog andy posted : Hmm looks like the WD Live might be the way to go although it would be nice to have a full web browser, this is where a netbook would come in handy with a htpc keyboard/mouse pad combo.

Lol I just remembered the kids have two netbooks I'll have to see if they have hdmi and if so I'll repo them.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:39:23 EDT

EUS posted : The best feature of the WD unit is the upscaling it does.
Basically all my back up dvd's do not require repurchasing in blu-ray format as the upscaling does a decent job when viewing sd dvd's on 50" tv.
--
~ Project Hope ~

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:30:27 EDT

TOPDAWG posted :

said by capdjq:

News can be got on the net and if you want sites will stream live TV so you can watch fox news CNN or whatever news station you're into. On that other stuff some people may not be into it. Now on that poker I don't get how anyone can watch that.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:49:00 EDT

capdjq posted : Interesting. But what about News, Hockey games, Football games, Olympic Games, World Cup, Poker Games. These, according to what I read, are great if you want to watch movies or TV Shows all day long. Unless I'm missing something.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:31:07 EDT

graniterock posted : +1 for the WD player. I have had mine for over a year. Costco sometimes have them a bit cheaper. The one I have does mkv if you are downloading alot of HD stuff and it supports un-block.us with netflix and hulu. Can't speak for the others because I have never tried them.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:08:44 EDT

twizlar posted : I've got 2 WDTV Live Plus boxes and they work great for everything I throw at them.

I also have a zotac bookshelf pc setup for streaming other things but it rarely gets used.
--
Broadline Networks Inc.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:56:42 EDT

Anav posted : Another vote for WD Live. I have it, kids love it. If I was in the market I would be tempted by the Pivos AIOS Media Centre model when its on sale.

»www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX40159

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:37:34 EDT

analog andy posted : Too much reading on the media players. So thinking a netbook with HDMI/linux/XMBC/wirelss htpc keyboard or one of those Zotac mini pc's.

Re: Ditching Shaw cable need media player ideas

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:32:11 EDT

alexpb1 posted : manufacturer refurb boxee box on ebay for $100.
Bought 2 of them a while back. They work fantastic.

1080p playback
support for a plethora of formats
apps like netflix, navi-x, pandora, etc.

If you were going HTPC route though I would suggest XBMC.