Buffalo LinkTheater High-Definition Wireless Media Player - looks the business

STaN

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=96

Looks like an amazing product and a real alternative to a XBMC or a HTPC what to you think?

8T8

I've seen these before they do have their uses but are not without their own set of quirks, though I recall reading Buffalo was one of the better companies in supporting the product.

Often other companies would do a hit & run with their version and leave lots of outstanding issues with these kind of units (a few were built of the same core chipset/software from whoever cooked this thing up, edit: as it turns out Lite-On).

There is a sub-forum dedicated to the Buffalo unit at the link below I high recommend doing some research before parting with any cash;
http://www.mpeg-playcenter.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=73

Of course this is a fixed function unit so while it can fulfill certain needs it will never be quite as capable as a full HTPC setup.

STaN

Good review here: http://www.mpcclub.com/modules/Reviews/reviews/Review_Buffalo_LinkTheatre.pdf

Fallschirmjager

i am gonna get the tivx 5101 which is out end of this year. the 5000hd is out now and is getting good reviews as well.



http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/

8T8

Interesting looking device though read the fine print;

Doesn't play CSS protected DVDs
WMV & WMV-HD (no DRM support)
Does not support WMV-Advanced Profile (aka VC-1)
MPEG-4 ASP (XviD/DviX support) only, no MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) support.

(H.264 & VC-1 being two of the 3 formats used for HD videos the other MPEG-2 wouldn't be used for videos that you can download from the net)

For all it's talk of high definition support the reality is a little different. Still the DVD jukebox idea is a neat feature.

To Stans post below

is this on which player?

The TivX HD M5000 unit, but the Buffalo player probably has similar restrictions minus the CSS/DVD issue as obviously it can play those.

STaN

is this on which player?

subway

after much experience i wouldnt touch any hardware based player again.
for 130 euro you can get a quiet sff pc off ebay.
install mce on that and youll never have problems with codecs / resolutions / etc etc etc.
the amount of times divx cds stopped playing halfway thorugh a film was enough to warrant a proper htpc.

i can play ogg / mov / divx and whatever else is thrown at me in the next few years.
many dvd+divx players will abrely play current standards, never mind next weeks

Conar

subway wrote:

after much experience i wouldnt touch any hardware based player again.
for 130 euro you can get a quiet sff pc off ebay.
install mce on that and youll never have problems with codecs / resolutions / etc etc etc.
the amount of times divx cds stopped playing halfway thorugh a film was enough to warrant a proper htpc.

i can play ogg / mov / divx and whatever else is thrown at me in the next few years.
many dvd+divx players will abrely play current standards, never mind next weeks

I agree.
I'm moving to MCE now as my DIVX player just doesn't cut it.
Sometimes its fine but it often goes off-synch and can't really handle variable bit rates.

Fallschirmjager

8T8 wrote:

Interesting looking device though read the fine print;

Doesn't play CSS protected DVDs
WMV & WMV-HD (no DRM support)
Does not support WMV-Advanced Profile (aka VC-1)
MPEG-4 ASP (XviD/DviX support) only, no MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) support.

(H.264 & VC-1 being two of the 3 formats used for HD videos the other MPEG-2 wouldn't be used for videos that you can download from the net)

For all it's talk of high definition support the reality is a little different. Still the DVD jukebox idea is a neat feature.

To Stans post below
The TivX HD M5000 unit, but the Buffalo player probably has similar restrictions minus the CSS/DVD issue as obviously it can play those.

all good points, hence the 5101 which is showcased this week and why i am waiting

not to sure of the protected dvd's issue as i wont be using it that way

i emailed their support and apparently 264 standard is in the 5101 box -- but only time will tell i suppose..


ps... apparently drm is also covered (same caveat as above)

subway

is it just a pc with a custom os?
seems very expensive if it is.

even more expensive if it isnt.

8T8

Possibly a mix with the TivX units could be part PC running some form of Linux with custom chips that handle the decoding.

You can see some pictures of the 5000 series UI at this link.

I saw some topics on the 5001 and it does seem to be coming with H.264 and Windows DRM? support. I still think though that the lack of a DVD player is a major draw back for such a device it really seems such an obvious thing to have.

By the way where can you actually buy these TivX devices around these parts ?

There is a thread on the AV Forums that details the 5000 series unit and some brief mentions of the 5001 near the end.

subway

for the price it costs id want a dvd burner and tv support.
it doesnt have either.

as it stands, i can do a lot more for a lot less with a cheap pc

Fallschirmjager

8T8 wrote:

Possibly a mix with the TivX units could be part PC running some form of Linux with custom chips that handle the decoding.

You can see some pictures of the 5000 series UI at this link.

I saw some topics on the 5001 and it does seem to be coming with H.264 and Windows DRM? support. I still think though that the lack of a DVD player is a major draw back for such a device it really seems such an obvious thing to have.

By the way where can you actually buy these TivX devices around these parts ?

There is a thread on the AV Forums that details the 5000 series unit and some brief mentions of the 5001 near the end.

well now that begins to be a problem, they dont have a distrib in ireland and i asked, but there is a few sites in the uk selling it and i saw it also on amazon.com (not that that means anything these days). so the nearest would be the uk distribs. on the tvix site they have a link to the uk sites. i seem to recall pixmania had some of their older kit.


http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/WhereToBuy.aspx


and subway u are right on the pc issue, but i am trying to move away froma pc on, hence this....but as they say 'whatever floats your boat'...