I want to know what you use to playback digital files (MKV, MP4, etc) from an external HDD.
From full blu-ray remux to a blu-ray rip (cropped borders+lower bitrates) to a simple youtube rip.
I'm interested in buying one.

Here's a list of some on Amazon for an idea of what I'm talking about. (http://anonym.to/?http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/13447451/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_e_2_4_last)



NOT XBOX 360, PS3, etc.
Consoles systems are vastly limited in file support and don't offer full video specs. Most of those devices require an h264 level profile of 3.1.
Not to mention, they only have FAT32 support.
Don't tell me about streaming to the console systems, I already stream to the Xbox360 but still don't like it. WMV format is the only format that accept larger than 4GB file sizes.

NOT BLU-RAY/DVD PLAYERS
I had an LG Blu-ray player that can playback various MKV/MP4 formats.
However, I suspect it an indeterminate maximum for video specs.
I did a full blu-ray remux and it froze on me not even 5 minutes into the video. The audio stream was a compliant DTS core. The video was a remux so it was full bitrate, full image dimensions (1920x1080, uncropped). I suspect the extremely high bitrates of the remux may have caused the machine to crap out.
There is no additional information in the manual nor the website for the LG blu-ray player for video formats.
It only lists compatible formats and codecs.
HOWEVER, that is not enough information.

H264/AVC have a multitude of specs that can be entirely compatible on the PC yet cause an independent hardware player like a blu-ray machine or a gaming console to utterly crap out.
I can encode a full blu-ray movie to a small file size that's commonly seen on torrent sites and other forums but with much better quality.
It's all in the settings of x264 when you encode.
Most "scene" releases encode shit qualities because they're "PS3 ready". Which means the console system can't support the full potential of x264 (x264 is the encoder, h264 is the identified codec once it's encoded).

Hell, I've had even the crappier blu-ray rips crash the blu-ray machine. :/
If I converted them to AVCHD or DVD, they playback flawlessly.

File system support for independent hardware devices lack a great deal of support due to them relying on the basic decoder hardware/software.
I would love to see if NVidia had a multimedia hardware player to plug in your external HDD and playback virtually any video file. 2k/4k fully supported with flawless playback. Full profile support. :laugh: Even though I don't have any 2k/4k videos (and that most online aren't that great a quality), knowing that they're supported surely means that a full blu-ray remux will be supported.

Actually, I wonder if NVidia has sort of thing.

Streaming is not entirely important to me. Maybe Netflix at the most.
Wi-fi/wireless is really not important at all. I won't be using that feature at all.

EDIT: I also use Laptop to PC (HDMI), but I want to free up my laptop so it can do stuff while I'm watching something.
Playing back godly HD content consumes much resources and leaves little behind in the way of extracting archives or even browsing rich content websites (or laggy ones!).
It's a game of risks when I want to have a Game of Thrones marathon using laptop to TV via HDMI~


GO!

For exactly the reasons you describe, I use a custom-built HTPC running XBMC. It really is the only way you can reasonably guarantee being able to play everything. Any system-on-a-chip media player will likely give you the same lack of flexibility. It all looks rosy until it suddenly decides it can't play your latest encode because it doesn't like the encoder variant or you've used something other than baseline, etc.

It's an investment to start with, but you'd be surprised how little you can get away with these days. My living room HTPC is seven years old now and it still copes fine. It's even happy streaming BDISO from a NAS (gigabit ethernet, mind you!!!) and it doesn't really struggle.

In short... anything other than a straight PC will not offer you the flexibility you need - you will be forever discovering things that don't play and wasting time transcoding them so they do.

Pain in the fucking arse.

I completely forgot to look deeper into XMBC.
Thanks for that.
I have a few bookmarks but haven't really read anything. (yet)

I'll look into this more as it seems the most intriguing.

I remember XMBC from the old, bulky Original Xbox. :laugh:

Ugh... yeah, tell me about it.

XBMC really used to suck. I tried it a few years ago and I just hated it. I ended up going back to Windows Media Center... which also sucks, but at least it worked which is more than I could say about XBMC at the time... This year I tried it again and was instantly converted. It's finally reached the stage where you can actually use it without it crashing every ten seconds and you rationalising it by saying "Oh well, it's free!" - now, it just works.

It's a bugger to configure but once you've got it set up the way you like it, it's just great. I can't imagine going back to anything else. Definitely not to MCE! ;)

Given I end up being the encoder/ripper of most videos I like to collect, I make sure to have them in PS3-ready formats, so yeah... I guess a PS3 for my playback needs is enough.

Windows Media Center...MCE

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp49tqkNGQ1r0e1jao1_500.gif

I use whatever I have, but for the most part, I use VLC.

I use a computer to listen to music and watch my favorite videos.

the ps3.
i do make sure the videos i want are compatible. or else, i convert them to be compatible.

Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 :)