[mythtv-users] OT: HD playback device
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org
Sun Aug 16 15:58:46 UTC 2009
On Sunday 16 August 2009 02:25:57 Richard Morton wrote:
> http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/16/wd-tv-2-spruces-up-western-digitals-alre
>ady-attractive-media-pl/
Interesting, but probably inevitable.
I'm starting to see more and more such devices, using hardware for playback.
The baseline is probably the Roku Netflix player at $99, I'm wondering if we
will see alternative firmwares for this device.
Moving up in cost, we go through the PCH units, the various Networked media
Tanks including Myka, high-end networked Blu-Ray players, TV sets (HP and
Sony Bravia) that can act as UPnP/DLNA clients, and even game consoles like
the PS3 and the XBox can be used as UPnP clients.
The reason I'm interested in the Myka is that the OS and software is on a hard
drive, and accesible via telnet, FTP and other protocols, and so it is easier
for the user to modify things without having to create and figure out a way
to load a third-party firmware.
The PlayON server is (IMHO) a bargain at $40. I makes Hulu, Netflix, Amazon
VOD and most other such services available to any UPnP/DLNA client, including
some DirectTV receivers that have UPnP/DLNA capability. The main drawback is
that it is Windows-only, at least so far.
Most of these units use a Sigma Designs hardware chip to playback just about
anything. Given the problems that video cards and their drivers/setup cause
for Myth users, I think this may be the way to go for HD (and SD) playback -
easier setup (virtually none), lower power consumption and (in many cases)
beter picture quality, are all nice things that we all want.
--
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org
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