Media Player or HTPC

[moshel]

Hello Friends,

I request your views/recommendations on whether I should go for a Media Player (O! play, WDTV,.... etc) or a HTPC.

Here's what I want.
It will be for movies only including video songs, youtube videos etc.
A good interface, I really like the look of XBMC and would be very good if any media player can be hacked to play XBMC
A cool and fast interface
Should be easy to operate (start, play & shut down) for non-geeky members of the family.
should be usable with a remote (preferably universal remote)

Here's what I have
LG PQ60 42" Plasma (720p)
Sony HTIB (5 yrs old). will connect the media player or HTPC with this one through RCA cable for now (no 5.1 for me as of now :sad

In future will be upgrading to either a Onkyo, Yamaha or JBL AV+Home theater speaker system for about 30K.

Whatever, I buy now should be able to easily connect to the future HTS.

I tried out O!play mini of a friend but wasn't really impressed by the speed. The scrolling is frustratingly slow and also I hate the fact that everytime i start it up, it scans the hard drive again.


Specific questions for a media player:
1. Is there a media player with an cool and fast interface?
2. Would it be able to download covers and other info from the internet like XBMC does?
3. Would I be able to customize it with themes?
4. Can I hack a media player to use XBMC?


Budget is ofcourse most important part and I would like to go with the cheapest available solution. I am willing to spend abt 15K for a HTPC and only upto 8K for a media player.

Too much to ask for in this small budget, but hope there's something out there for me.

Shall look forward to your suggestions.

Thanks,
Moshel

 

[GeorgeO]

I think a good media player should easily do the trick for you.

 

[dheerajjotwani]

select between playonhd mini or xtreamer sidewinder... both would be sub 10k

 

[TheCoolestOne]

I am using a Himedia 900B and very happy with it. It plays every and any format and the interface and scrolling is very quick.

 

[GeorgeO]

The WD TV LIve is another good option and shouldnt set you back more than about 6K I think-I dont know the exact price though.

 

[theironhorse]

sub 10k.. media player is the way to go.. if budget is more.. nutin beats the verstality and ease of use of a HTPC..

again between the comparison.. portability and power consumption are also important factors to consider.

 

[moshel]

Thank you very much for your suggestions

Last question: on which media players is the feature wherein the covers, movie stills, plot synopsis, actor/director names, etc are downloaded from IMDB automatically like in XBMC. The look that XBMC gives is what I want; like in the library view whenever we scroll to a movie the whole background shows a still from the movie, and we also see the DVD cover, information like plot synopsis, length, actors, etc at the bottom and icons labelling the video file (720p, MKV, AVI,etc). This is one feature I must have.


Moreover, a media player with capability to play dvd from a connected external DVD drive would be preferable but not mandatory.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

^^ I dont think any media player will give all the features of XBMC.

If you are serious about watching movie and storing movie, plan with the future road map in mind. If you just want to watch the latest movie conveniently in the TV and not bother about preserving, there is no need for HTPC. Some of the factors need to be considered are


1)How much data(movie) is available currently
2)How much data will be added in the next one year
3)If you go the media player, how do you plan to store the movies, is it external USB HDD or NAS Storage box or media player with HDD slot(many media players does not support more than 1 or 2TB HDD)
4)If movies are going to be preserved and large in size, how the backup is going to be maintained.

I have both HTPC and Asus O!Play HD2. I primarily use the HTPC for watching movies in projector. I use the Asus O!Play for backup and casual viewing in the TV. This is not efficient way. I will shortly setup a NAS box with data redundancy, and remove the HDD from media player and probably HDD(secondary) from HTPC too.

 

[Jhononweed]

HTPC can be made in limited price point.

1.Gigabyte 350 mobo USB3 - 6.6 ~ 7K Rs
2.Memory DDR3 2/4 Gb sticks - .7 ~ 1.4K Rs
3.FSP saga 350W or Gigabyte Superb 350W - 1.8 ~ 2K Rs
4.Zebronics Case / Coolermaster 360 /Silverstone case - 1.5K / 2K / 5.2K Rs
5.Hard drive 250 GB - 3.5 ~4 K Rs
( If you got any spare 2.5/3.5 form factor HDD then better )

Total - Min 12500 Rs
Max 15000 Rs

Total power consumption will be around 30-40 W for full HTPC.
If you need soundcard then add Asus Dx / D2X ( 4.2 / 8 K Rs)