im unsure what i need to go for as theres tons of options so i will put what im hooking it upto and what i need it to do. any advice would be highly appreciated!

im after a method of streaming my avi collection to my tv. i use my 360 at the moment but i hate how loud it is and the fact i have to be signed into xbox live to play anything. plus it doesnt play everything!!

i have just bought an apple airport extreme router which im going to plug my external hd in to make it a networked drive and want to watch the films off of that.


im after

hdmi/component connection to tv for hd avi films (future proofing)
network capabilities to see my network drive
optical/coaxal link to my surround sound
not needing my pc on to stream media
easy to use for less technically minded girlfriend


added bonus

torrent downloading
pvr functions


i have been looking at the popcorn hour box and the asus eee desktop which io thought could boot into media portal but what other options are there?

Get a PS3.

i second that, get a ps3 :hihi: aparently the 40gb is quieter than the new 80gb one

I was looking for a dvd player for my bedroom and came across the PHILIPS dvp 5980. Go to AVForum and check out the 40 page thread on this machine (it'll fill u in on the tech stuff that I can't). It upscales to 1080p but, best of all, it pretty much plays anything you throw at it - including AVI files. I bought it as it has a USB port at the front so I can simply place any films I've downloaded onto an 8gb stick and play them no problem. Saves burning everything. Best of all - £40 from Curry's.

O - and it's very very quiet.

The xBox 360 will do this with minimum of effort, and is quite a bit cheaper than a PS3, has HDMI (if you get the right one) network connection, (Wifi available also), and Optical.

Plus the 360 does 1080p, and the PS3 doesn't...

ps3 is a bit overkill for what I need, and I'm after something quiet and not power hungry.

Original xbox. Cheap and when you've installed XBMC you can turn the fans down, or even mod it with quieter fans.

ghozer, read all my post ;)

Original xbox. Cheap and when you've installed XBMC you can turn the fans down, or even mod it with quieter fans.

I have had xbmc running for years but I'm after something with hd capabilities.

O - and it's very very quiet.

thanks but I gave away a DVD player like that. Streaming is essential

ghozer, read all my post ;)

I did read all your post and stand by what I said...

I don't have to be signed into live (Just the live account signed in on the xbox, which it automatically is on power on) to play anything, after I have played the first one and it has downloaded and installed the media update.

as for loud, thats why I got the new elite, much quieter, cooler and smoother.

And its played everything I have thrown at it so far.

but any ways, your best option in this case then, may be to build a little media PC, you can build one for around £100 that will do the job without a problem, £30 for a HD/HDMI GFX Card (ATI HD3550) Fanless, so its quiet, £40 for a simple motherboard and CPU/RAM (even a crappy little Intel Celeron will do the job of playing movies, (but make sure its a PCI-e motherboard for the GFX), £30 for a small shuttle case and power supply..

I have had xbmc running for years but I'm after something with hd capabilities.
Xbox 1 Has.

Mine runs AVI at 720p via component out and AC3 Optical Audio.

Games run up to 1080i ( depending on the game )

http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/6F04255F-F9D8-40CB-B97B-281B203994F2/0/ilmadvancedavpack001.jpg
get one of these , i got mine off eBay for £10 inc. P&P

Xbox 1 Has.

Mine runs AVI at 720p via component out and AC3 Optical Audio.

Games run up to 1080i ( depending on the game )

http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/6F04255F-F9D8-40CB-B97B-281B203994F2/0/ilmadvancedavpack001.jpg
get one of these , i got mine off eBay for £10 inc. P&P

job done, you have just saved me some money :thumbsup:

The xBox 360 will do this with minimum of effort, and is quite a bit cheaper than a PS3, has HDMI (if you get the right one) network connection, (Wifi available also), and Optical.

Plus the 360 does 1080p, and the PS3 doesn't...

The 360 does 1080p what .. ? AVI's .. ? i dont get that ... as the PS3 does do 1080p on games .. blueray etc ... :confused:

Col ..

The 360 does 1080p what .. ? AVI's .. ? i dont get that ... as the PS3 does do 1080p on games .. blueray etc ... :confused:

Col ..

the 360 Does Games and AVI's (can even upscale) in 1080p, the PS3 doesn't do 'true' 1080p, it upscales Games to 1080p from 720p or 1080i..

I did read all your post and stand by what I said...

Which was use the 360, when his post said he already uses it and wants to stop doing so.
I don't have to be signed into live (Just the live account signed in on the xbox, which it automatically is on power on) to play anything, after I have played the first one and it has downloaded and installed the media update.

as for loud, thats why I got the new elite, much quieter, cooler and smoother.

And its played everything I have thrown at it so far.

but any ways, your best option in this case then, may be to build a little media PC, you can build one for around £100 that will do the job without a problem, £30 for a HD/HDMI GFX Card (ATI HD3550) Fanless, so its quiet, £40 for a simple motherboard and CPU/RAM (even a crappy little Intel Celeron will do the job of playing movies, (but make sure its a PCI-e motherboard for the GFX), £30 for a small shuttle case and power supply..

I've got a philips stremium, my model is out of date now, but it does 720p via composite and will play internet radio + slideshows, and stream most of my films and music locally. It works best with the software they ship, but is dnla compliant so will work with most streaming software.
Maybe the latest model will do 1080p.
A full on media centre is more flexible though.

the 360 Does Games and AVI's (can even upscale) in 1080p, the PS3 doesn't do 'true' 1080p, it upscales Games to 1080p from 720p or 1080i..
Surely that cant be true, PS3 not playing in 1080p?

Surely that cant be true, PS3 not playing in 1080p?

as I said, the PS3 upscales to 1080p, not true 1080p... and the upscale support was only released in an update a few months back, it wasn't available on release.

Sure the PS3 is CAPABLE of displaying 1080p games and movies, however its highly unlikely that games will be released in 1080p because the Graphics Processing power required to render full 1080p in full frame rate is beyond the PS3's capabilities. Take a look through google yourself :)

Says 1080p on the back of my GTA 4 Game ... but i dont know much about the subject ... so for that reason .. am out !! .. :hihi:

Col ..

The xBox 360 will do this with minimum of effort, and is quite a bit cheaper than a PS3, has HDMI (if you get the right one) network connection, (Wifi available also), and Optical.

Plus the 360 does 1080p, and the PS3 doesn't...

Mine does 1080p. Yours must be very broken. Also once you add wi-fi the cost difference is minimal, may as well get the cheap Blu-Ray player out of it. Also they're a LOT quieter.

But all this is based on being used solely as a media centre. Don't get a PS3 to play games on, whatever you do!

the 360 Does Games and AVI's (can even upscale) in 1080p, the PS3 doesn't do 'true' 1080p, it upscales Games to 1080p from 720p or 1080i..

360 only has 3 games that run native 1080p. PS3 has about 8. GT5 Prologue is native 1080p. Blu-Rays are native 1080p. Where are you getting your info from? I'm assuming you don't own one.

Says 1080p on the back of my GTA 4 Game ... but i dont know much about the subject ... so for that reason .. am out !! .. :hihi:

Col ..

GTA IV is 720p native on both machines, the 1080p means it 'supports' it, ie the machine will upscale it if you have a 1080p TV. Very misleading.

AFAIK on 360 the only 1080p games are Virtua Tennis 3, Boogie Bunnies and Geometry Wars 2. On PS3 there is GT5P, GTHD, Virtua Tennis 3, Ridge Racer 7, Super Stardust HD and a couple of PSN games. Most 360 and PS3 games are native 720p, some are lower and upscaled (Halo 3 is 600p, PGR3 was I think 640p, Haze on PS3 is actually 576p, standard definition, upscaled!).

Xbox 1 Has.

Mine runs AVI at 720p via component out and AC3 Optical Audio.

Games run up to 1080i ( depending on the game )

http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/6F04255F-F9D8-40CB-B97B-281B203994F2/0/ilmadvancedavpack001.jpg
get one of these , i got mine off eBay for £10 inc. P&P

Not for video though. It can output the dashboard ok, put you try playing a 720p WMV, MOV or MKV file, even saved locally on the HDD, and see what framerate you get (usually <1fps, seriously). The graphics chip isn't up to decoding that resolution of video. It can upscale a lower res video to that quality very well, but it can't run HD files to a watchable level.

Back on subject of the original post any ways..

I was in maplins today and saw a couple of things on offer, one for £60 that did WiFi/Lan streaming, with inbuilt HDD, as well as External USB playing, supporting AVI's, Jpg's, Mp3's etc, The only down side to it is it wasn't HDMI, it was Component, although it did support 5.1 output via Optical.

Link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222579

Then there was a LinkSys one, that plays actual DVD's as well as streaming etc, this also has optical but has HDMI too... I think this was around £130

Link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=219226

My PS3s job is mainly a media centre. It plays video to TV much much better than my old ATI all in wonder did.

New equipment I'd expect to be better, though. And a dedicated media centre pc can record TV to hard disk. I probably should have looked into a shuttle PC as I really dont use my PS3 for gaming.

The 2nd one from maplin is this

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/113178/linksys-kiss-1600.html

So, the Linksys KiSS 1600 is a mixed bag. The inclusion of a decent DVD is a great touch, and the wealth of connectors makes it flexible. We also like the wide format support. But bear in mind the price: it isn't far off an Xbox 360, which also acts as a superb media extender. In that light, we can't overlook the primitive interface and can only hope that the upgradable firmware provides some future improvements.

And only 720p.

It's a good price from maplin though.