I want a player that works, and can pay for it!

[masken]

Are all MPEG4-players still at such a beta-stage?

To me, the Z500 seems like the most competent one, but it's still so full of bugs that I won't buy it for at least a couple of months.

I want a player that works! And I can throw up... well up to €600 to get one.

I want stable MPEG4 ASP playback with working ff/rw, good subtitle support (selectable SRT, MicroDVD, and preferably Vobsub support), good image and slide show playback, support for the most common audio formats, networking capabilities, HDMI interface and upscaling, and High definition playback. Packed with a nice GUI.

Is there any player which will do this without crashing?

[ilovejedd]

How much do HTPC's usually go for (whether you build one yourself or buy one in an aesthetically pleasing package)? Because I'm thinking if you can get one in the region of €600, it would be better to go with that since it gives the most flexibility and support for file formats.

[~bT~]

I'd just get an X-Box and mod it...

[masken]

Well in my experience an MPEG4-chipset decodes with much better image quality than a PC does. Add HDMI upscaling to that and you've got superior image quality compared to a PC when playing DivXviD...

[warath]

600 Euros! Just buy a small form factor computer (Shuttle, or such) computer, get a remote for it (FireFly, or "shudder" even MS with Media Centre)... I've used this method with the FireFly remote and love it! No HDMI, but as support for that become more prevalent in video cards, its a simple upgrade away.

[rectangular]

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/product-detail.php?productid=96&categoryid=18

Buffalo’s High-Definition Wireless Media Player might be an excellent choice for those of us who want to play anything without having to purchase a full blown Media Center PC.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Well in my experience an MPEG4-chipset decodes with much better image quality than a PC does. Add HDMI upscaling to that and you've got superior image quality compared to a PC when playing DivXviD...

I wholeheartedly disagree.

MPEG-4 chipsets do not decode any "better" or "worse" than a software decoder like ffdshow. They are MPEG-4 compliant and assuming they have the capabilities to decode an input file, that input file will produce the same output on either platform.

That said, there should be no difference before the video hits the rest of the player. Some set top players might have post-processing filters to sharpen, deblock, or otherwise enhance the video. That's all well and good. However, the problem is that frequently these settings are not very adjustable, or selectable. With a software decoder like ffdshow, you have total control.

Finally, the upscalers used by most "upscaling dvd players" suck. Frequently they use a bilinear resize. The only upscalers that can compare to high quality software scaling (lanczos4, spline36) are the $5k+ commercial / videophile grade standalone hardware scalers/deinterlacers.

Of course, all these fancy schmancy things on a HTPC require a lot of skill and experience to put together and effectively use. For example, I have yet to find a simple way to automatically tell ffdshow to scale the video to my monitor's resolution using lanczos4.

Unless you can afford the very best hardware, a software solution running on a HTPC can generally provide the best image quality and flexibility.

~MiSfit

[masken]

I wholeheartedly disagree.

MPEG-4 chipsets do not decode any "better" or "worse" than a software decoder like ffdshow. They are MPEG-4 compliant and assuming they have the capabilities to decode an input file, that input file will produce the same output on either platform.

That said, there should be no difference before the video hits the rest of the player. Some set top players might have post-processing filters to sharpen, deblock, or otherwise enhance the video. That's all well and good. However, the problem is that frequently these settings are not very adjustable, or selectable. With a software decoder like ffdshow, you have total control.

Finally, the upscalers used by most "upscaling dvd players" suck. Frequently they use a bilinear resize. The only upscalers that can compare to high quality software scaling (lanczos4, spline36) are the $5k+ commercial / videophile grade standalone hardware scalers/deinterlacers.
~MiSfit
I wholeheartedly disagree with you ;)

My experience from several players says the opposite. Wether this is due to post-processing or not, I cannot tell. But I've never experienced a PC-setup with a projector (in my case a Sanyo PLV-Z4 pc-connected with a VGA-cable) that can produce an image as good as my cheap Philips DVP-5900.

I think this is because of the projectors 1280x720 resolution which should be pixel-mapped 1:1 (meaning PC resolution is the same). To play a standard-res encoded DivXviD in full screen at this resolution means alot of stretching (AR-correct stretching) which with my experiences with ffdshow doesn't produce nearly as good image as with the standalone.

Have you actually tried this yourself?

[Blue_MiSfit]

I have, but not recently.

I suggest trying it out with ffdshow, using the avisynth script function build into the directshow decoder, and do an AR correct lanczos4 resize, maybe with a gentle unfilter, like (5,5) or (10,10), for some luma sharpening. That may not be necessary...

You have to admit that there's more flexibility with a software solution, even if I'm not entirely correct.

I'll defer to your opinion as you have an HD projector etc set up right now and that's certainly more recent than my experience, which was with a really nice 1080i DLP projector and a HTPC vs a cheap MPEG-4 player.

Cables could have something to do with it, but I kind of doubt it.

As we always say, it's subjective! :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

I can only speak from personal experience when I say I'm very happy with my Zensonic Z500.

I'm not saying it's not without its quirks but with each firmware release it's getting better and better. And it's picture quality has always been excellent via it (analogue) component and (digital) HDMI video outputs.


Cheers

[laura_lee]

Maybe It's hard to get your desired player.Just Try more players.No one player is perfect . I see that when I try to rename my hard driver.