Ya'll Seen these? WD TV™ HD Media Player

[VA $l!m]

i'm reading about this thing over @shnflac.net and it sounds like i'm gonna have to get one if they update the firmware with gapless playback for FLAC. that really is the only issue that can keep me away from this thing. i've been dying for a solution like this to audio collection problem.
here's the link to the shnflac thread... not sure where else to find out about it.

http://shnflac.net/forum.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=8017&page=1

--Taken from that thread:
"
WD TV™
HD Media Player

High-definition multi-media adapter

Turn your USB drive into an HD media player

Store your HD content on a USB drive. Plug the drive in and play HD movies, digital music and family photos on your TV. It's as easy as 1-2-3.





Quote:
Features Full HD 1080p video playback and navigation
Dock-and-play convenience
Collect without limits – no need to delete movies, just add more USB drives
Supported USB Device file systems: FAT-32, NTFS, HFS+ (no journaling)

Support Media Formats
Video:MPEG 1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4. Xvid. AVC). H.264, MKV. MOV (MPEG4. H.264)
Image:JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
Audio:MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC. Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA

for 119 dollars..thats a steal...music accessable by remote control from two 1.5 TB harddrives would mean a long time sitting on the couch !!"


EDIT:
best buy link:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8993217&st=WD+TV+HD+media+player&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218008588808

[whyweigh5.0]

yeah
I've been thinking about grabbing one since I saw it a couple months ago

[nab]

Gapless playback would be the deal maker or breaker for me with this thing. 

[VA $l!m]

Gapless playback would be the deal maker or breaker for me with this thing. 

shit i'd be at best buy right now if it did that, but i'm still thinkin about one anyway. i'm just screwed with my current setup, and this would fix everything.

[nab]

If I could find a cable long enough to connect my soundcard to my receiver, multichannel style, I'd never have to burn a disc again.  I only burn discs now for DTS playback.  The manufacturer of my soundcard only offers a 3 meter cable and I need at least 6 or 8.  The other option is to bug the wife to let me configure the entire living room to suit my needs, but that ain't gonna happen.

[VA $l!m]

If I could find a cable long enough to connect my soundcard to my receiver, multichannel style, I'd never have to burn a disc again.  I only burn discs now for DTS playback.  The manufacturer of my soundcard only offers a 3 meter cable and I need at least 6 or 8.  The other option is to bug the wife to let me configure the entire living room to suit my needs, but that ain't gonna happen.

yeah i'm pretty much screwes until i get a computer of my own, since i basically hijack all of the USB ports on my dads computer right now. this thing would allow me to hook all of my drives straight to my stereo... i'd be pumped for a solution that i could use without having a computer. especially since i might have to move before i get my own. then i'd be royally fucked with a TB in music on external drives and no way to play them. so for $100 this this thing is really a no brainer for me at this point. we'll se once i get the cash. i think they'll update the gapless issue.

[jasonsobel]

I almost bought one of these a couple of weeks ago.  However, for those of you who have or care about 24 bit playback, the devices will play the files, but resamples 24/96 files on-the-fly and outputs 24/48.  For me, that was a deal killer, because all the shows that I've taped in the past 4 years or so have been at 24/96.

[VA $l!m]

so is there hope for more audiophile-centered devices such as this in the future?
thoughts?
i've been wiating for this, but it isnt perfect by any means... except for the price.

[jasonsobel]

yes, many of these types of devices will be coming.  right now, the popcorn hour looks to be the best:

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

it's a little more expensive ($250 for the A-110), but offers a lot more flexibility (internal HD, external USB harddrives, wired & wireless network connections to connect to your computer or to network storage, etc, etc...)

[VA $l!m]

yes, many of these types of devices will be coming.  right now, the popcorn hour looks to be the best:

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

it's a little more expensive ($250 for the A-110), but offers a lot more flexibility (internal HD, external USB harddrives, wired & wireless network connections to connect to your computer or to network storage, etc, etc...)

nice, 250 aint bad for what it looks like it adds. DTS and all that. guess the only wuestion now is will it play flac gapless.  :lol:

[keeb333]

yes, many of these types of devices will be coming.  right now, the popcorn hour looks to be the best:

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

it's a little more expensive ($250 for the A-110), but offers a lot more flexibility (internal HD, external USB harddrives, wired & wireless network connections to connect to your computer or to network storage, etc, etc...)

nice, 250 aint bad for what it looks like it adds. DTS and all that. guess the only wuestion now is will it play flac gapless.  :lol:

I love my PCH-A110!!!!  :banana:  It's awesome, flexible, and user-friendly (except for lack of documentation in package...but their forums are very helpful at www.networkedmediatank.com)  I don't remember if the flac playback is gapless b/c I've mostly been using it for video, but I believe they are working on that feature in a firmware update, if it hasn't already been released.  There were tons of people asking for it.  Which is another cool thing about the Popcorn Hour -- they take feature requests!

I would totally recommend this device to anyone looking to integrate their home network into their TV/entertainment system.  It rulez ur face, d00dz!!!  (And no, I don't work for them, just a very happy customer!)

Peace,

Keeb

[keeb333]

Here's the specs on the PCH A-110, from their website:

Also, they are only $215 if you don't need/want the wireless adapter (I have one -- they support b/g/n and are easy to configure).

HTH

The Popcorn Hour A-110 is an enhanced version of the popular A-100 model. It adds support for 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDD and USB Slave functionality to improve connectivity and transfer rates. HDMI has been updated to the 1.3a spec, allowing full support of HD Audio pass-through for DTS HD-HR, DTS HD-MA, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD. The ports on the device have also been reconfigured, with a USB port moved to the rear panel, optical S/PDIF replacing the co-axial S/PDIF and a hardware reset button to allow for easier use of the device.

Popcorn Hour A-110 allows you to pull in digital video, audio and photos from various sources for your enjoyment on your HDTV or Home Theater setup.

You can stream or playback your digital media content from a variety of sources, such as your PC, NAS, digital camera, USB mass storage devices (Flash drive, HDD, DVD drive) ,  internal SATA HDD* and even directly from the Internet via the Media Service Portal.

It also serves as a NAS and a BitTorrent peer-to-peer downloader** to eliminate the need to switch on a PC or other device for this purpose.

The Popcorn Hour A-110 supports the latest high bitrate video formats (MPEG2 MP@HL, H.264 HP@L4.1, VC-1 AP@L3 in TS of at least 40Mbps) to give you up to 1080p high-definition videos.

In recognition of advances in Internet TV, the A-110 supports peer-to-peer Internet TV streaming technology from SayaTV, as well as popular unicast internet TV such as YouTube, Revision 3 and Vuze via the Media Service Portal.

The A-110 firmware is upgradeable to support future media containers, codecs and features.

* HDD not included, please refer to the HDD compatibility list for Popcorn Hour A-110   
** An internal HDD is required for these functions.

Specification :

Connectivity

    * Bonjour
    * UPnP SSDP
    * UPnP AV
    * Windows Media Connect
    * Windows Media Player NSS
    * SMB
    * NFS
    * HTTP servers: myiHome, WizD, SwissCenter, MSP Portal, Llink, GB-PVR
    * BitTorrent P2P
    * NAS access : SMB, NFS, FTP

Web services

    * Video : YouTube, Veoh, Videocast, DLTV, Cranky Geeks, Bliptv, PodfinderUK, Vuze, Break Podcast, Revision 3, CNN The Larry King Podcast, CNN Anderson Cooper 360, The CNN Daily, CNN In Case You Missed It , NBC Meet The Press, NBC Today, CBS Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, Mevio
    * Audio : Live365 Radio, iPodcast, Radiobox, ABC News, BBC Podcast, CNN News , Indiefeed, Jamendo
    * Photo : Flickr, Picasaweb
    * RSS feed : Bloglines, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo Traffic Alerts, Traffic Condition, Cinecast, Yahoo! News, MSNBC News
    * Peer-to-peer TV : SayaTV
    * Internet Radio : Shoutcast

Media files supported

    * Video containers:
          o MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
          o MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
          o MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
          o VOB
          o AVI, ASF, WMV
          o Matroska (MKV)
          o MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
    * Video codecs:
          o XVID SD/HD
          o MPEG-1
          o MPEG-2
                + MP@HL
          o MPEG-4.2
                + ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
          o WMV9
                + MP@HL
          o H.264
                + BP@L3
                + MP@L4.0
                + HP@L4.0
                + HP@L4.1
          o VC-1
                + MP@HL
                + AP@L3
    * Audio containers:
          o AAC, M4A
          o MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
          o WAV
          o WMA
          o FLAC
          o OGG
    * Audio codecs:
          o Dolby Digital
          o DTS
          o WMA, WMA Pro
          o AAC
          o MP1, MP2, MP3
          o LPCM
          o FLAC
          o Vorbis
    * Audio pass through : DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus
    * Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
    * Other formats:  ISO, IFO
    * Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA

DRM

    * Cardea DRM (WMDRM-ND)

Chipset

    * Sigma Designs SMP8635

Memory

    * 256MB DDR SDRAM, 32MB Flash

Audio/Video outputs

    * HDMI v1.3a (up to 1080p)
    * Component Video (up to 1080p)
    * S-Video
    * Composite Video
    * Stereo Analog Audio
    * S/PDIF Optical Digital Audio

Interface

    * 1x USB 2.0 slave
    * 2x USB 2.0 host (placed at front and back panel each)
    * SATA
    * Hardware Reset Button

Network

    * Ethernet 10/100

Power

    * 12V DC, 3A

Dimension

    *  Width 10.5"(270mm) x Depth 5.25" (132mm) x Height 1.25" (32mm)

Weight

    *  2.2 lbs (1Kg)

Package Content

    * Popcorn Hour A-110 (HDD not included)
    * 100~240V Power Adapter and 3 Prong Flat US Cord
    * 1.5M length HDMI cable
    * Remote Control with 2 "AAA" batteries
    * USB Slave cable
    * Quick start guide

[VA $l!m]

yes, many of these types of devices will be coming.  right now, the popcorn hour looks to be the best:

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

it's a little more expensive ($250 for the A-110), but offers a lot more flexibility (internal HD, external USB harddrives, wired & wireless network connections to connect to your computer or to network storage, etc, etc...)

nice, 250 aint bad for what it looks like it adds. DTS and all that. guess the only wuestion now is will it play flac gapless.  :lol:

I love my PCH-A110!!!!  :banana:  It's awesome, flexible, and user-friendly (except for lack of documentation in package...but their forums are very helpful at www.networkedmediatank.com)  I don't remember if the flac playback is gapless b/c I've mostly been using it for video, but I believe they are working on that feature in a firmware update, if it hasn't already been released.  There were tons of people asking for it.  Which is another cool thing about the Popcorn Hour -- they take feature requests!

I would totally recommend this device to anyone looking to integrate their home network into their TV/entertainment system.  It rulez ur face, d00dz!!!  (And no, I don't work for them, just a very happy customer!)

Peace,

Keeb

yo keeb, is there anyway you could test out the gapless flac issue for me since you have one of these?

i'm looking at the WD media player again and its on sale right now at best buy and i have a best buy credit card burning a hole in my pocket, but i just want to look over the  other options out there again before i grab one.

[keeb333]

yes, many of these types of devices will be coming.  right now, the popcorn hour looks to be the best:

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

it's a little more expensive ($250 for the A-110), but offers a lot more flexibility (internal HD, external USB harddrives, wired & wireless network connections to connect to your computer or to network storage, etc, etc...)

nice, 250 aint bad for what it looks like it adds. DTS and all that. guess the only wuestion now is will it play flac gapless.  :lol:

I love my PCH-A110!!!!  :banana:  It's awesome, flexible, and user-friendly (except for lack of documentation in package...but their forums are very helpful at www.networkedmediatank.com)  I don't remember if the flac playback is gapless b/c I've mostly been using it for video, but I believe they are working on that feature in a firmware update, if it hasn't already been released.  There were tons of people asking for it.  Which is another cool thing about the Popcorn Hour -- they take feature requests!

I would totally recommend this device to anyone looking to integrate their home network into their TV/entertainment system.  It rulez ur face, d00dz!!!  (And no, I don't work for them, just a very happy customer!)

Peace,

Keeb

yo keeb, is there anyway you could test out the gapless flac issue for me since you have one of these?

i'm looking at the WD media player again and its on sale right now at best buy and i have a best buy credit card burning a hole in my pocket, but i just want to look over the  other options out there again before i grab one.

OK...with the original firmware from the factory it is not gapless...I've downloaded the firmware update, but you need a USB stick to install it....last week I ordered a couple from Amazon...they should be here today or tomorrow, then I can update the firmware and let you know if they got the gapless output fixed yet  :-D

[Marmar]

just get one of these....

http://mcintoshlabs.com/products/mcintosh-ms750-music-server.asp

With storage for more than 2,500 CD's and 120,000 individual songs, the McIntosh MS750 puts a world of music at anyone's fingertips. It can hold, catalog, and sort over 2,000 hours of music at full CD sound quality on its 750 GB internal hard drive. Its easy-to-navigate, on-screen menus make storing and accessing your music collection a breeze. Create Playlists, burn discs to play in the car, network with your PC; the possibilities are limitless! For parties, the new jukebox function permits on-the-fly "song requests" to be added to a play list already in use.

The MS750 features an on-board analog to digital converter input that enables listeners to transfer their vinyl and tape collections to the hard drive; imagine playing your favorite LP's in the car or on your portable digital music player.

MS750 750 GB Music Server Features

HUGE 750GB HARD DRIVE AND INTEGRATED WEB INTERFACE CAPABILITIES
Store over 2,500 CD's, more than 2,100 hours of music, with full Compact Disc audio quality.

FREE LOSSLESS AUDIO COMPRESSION (FLAC)
The FLAC encoding and decoding used by the MS750 eliminates the inherent loss of data common in MP3 compression. FLAC encoding yields CD-quality archival storage.

MUSIC IN OTHER ROOMS
Ethernet web interface for remote control and music streaming via any standard web browser equipped device.

FRONT PANEL DESIGN
McIntosh glass panels do more than look great. Long-life fiber optic back-lighting makes operation easy in low light. The MS750 also features milled aluminum side panels and fully engineered steel chassis components for quiet, stable, long life operation.


    * 750 GB Internal Hard Drive
    * Built-In CD, CD-R, CD-RW MP3,
    * WMA, and ACC Player
    * Built-in CD Burner
    * High Performance D-to-A Converters
    * Integrated Music Guide
    * Lossless Audio Compression
    * System (FLAC)
    * Multiple RS232 Data Ports
    * High Resolution Two-Line
    * Multi-function Display
    * Multi Language Support
    * Analog Recording Capabilities
    * Fiber-Optic Faceplate Lighting
    * Internet Radio Device