Im quite confused and need some pointers from mp users. Sorry if this seem to be an age old question, i need some comments and suggestions..

I collect movies and tv series, most of them are sd and 720p a few are 1080p. Im also a indie music video producer, most of my raw files are from a canon eos 7d / 5d 1080p or 720p (MOV h.264). my raw shots and final work is fed from my acer laptop (hdmi) to a viewsonic 24" lcd monitor.

my other job believe it or not, is farming of broiler chickens, so half of my month is spent on site with an old school 21" crt tv.

i've been contemplating between HTPCs and HD Media players.
i like mede8er because of the front panel buttons and int hdd.
i like asus hr3 because of the cf reader built in (eos cameras use cf cards).
wdtv2 looks lovely but almost 20% of my library is rmvb files.
i also love XBMC front end and currently all my movies are managed by ember manager and played on my lappie fed to the 24" lcd.

at home, when i want to watch a movie, i just hook up my lappie to the 24" lcd, will be getting a full hd 32" lcd soon. problem is when i'm at the farm i end up watching my movies on my puny 14" lappie screen.

my library is complete with fanarts and poster jpegs, reading realtek players specs crushes my dream knowing all those jpegs are useless.

to cut it short..

i am looking for a solution that:
1) is light and portable
2) can play all known formats, mkv, mov, rmvb
3) displays fanart / poster / movie info from nfo files
4) remote controllable navigation, power on/off
5) future proof as possible

our yangxi brings in the hdpro (1073dd) player for a cheap RM400 including a wireless n dongle whereas a mede8er on ac ryan pohd will set me back to rm550 - 600. wdtv live costs around rm450+ and the sleek hdx bd1 is around rm 1099.

to build an itx based htpc (nettop size) would cost me around rm 1200 - 1500. i'm quite ready to take that plunge but having to physically switch on the power button the htpc and wait for the long OS loading times is not that fun. most itx motherboards also don't provide analog connections (composite RCA) to connect to old crt tvs

i saw some people using xbmc live with their acer revos. the startup time is not that long, but are there hassles in linux driver support for the onboard hardware? this maybe the wrong forum to ask, but i know there is someone who could show me the light!

thanks!!

I got my Mede8er a few months back for RM900 or so (with 1TB HDD... should have gotten 2TB instead... sigh)... it was either it or a HTPC (Dell Zino HD). In the end, I picked the Mede8er because I was gonna move soon and thought I waited for the new crib before I set up a HTPC system in the living room with a LCD TV.

These days, portability isn't an issue...

1. Get the Mede8er if you want no hassle, fast boot up and playing those files straight off to the TV. Plug into your TV, navigate and press play.

2. Get a HTPC if you want to do more than just that... a cheap and I think quite ok HTPC you can actually buy for RM1199 (the Dell Zino HD) with an option to add in a BD Rom.

Note that nothing is really future-proof but these days, all the formats you see out there are covered by HTPCs and Media Players.
If you got cash, get yourself a projector to carry back to the farm with you to enjoy your movies... or with that money, you can invest in a tv and small sound system for the farm... heh

yeah bro..

how would one compare between yangxi's hdpro and mede8er's med500x?

they are both same spec, same hardware but almost rm200 diff in price. i see bro yangxi also updates fw regularly..

based on your profession and requirements and also highlighted issues by bro azxel

you indeed need a realtek based player and a portable HDD with external casing

so you get the best of 3 worlds, an upgrade to the farm screen ( a must)

This post has been edited by moomoos: Mar 16 2010, 11:30 AM

what program are you using for video editing?
Since nothing is really future-proof, I would NOT spent so much for an item that is going to be obsolete in 8 months time!

This post has been edited by DarkNite: Mar 16 2010, 12:24 PM

i use sony vegas, my editing machine is at my studio.. 24" oso..


met yangxi today, nice seller.. the hdpro i got is kinda brown / bronze alu finish, not silver.

haven't got a chance to fully test yet, but i straight away loaded earth 1080p as my first play.. i was amazed.. realtek can handle this bitrate!

rm400 for a hdpro + wireless n dongle is good price for a 1073dd player. yangxi should at least set up a blog site for fw updates and bug reports.