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| Porn Users Forum » Anyone use a hardware media player on their TV? |
| 1-17 of 17 Posts | Page 1 |
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| 03-13-09 05:21pm - 5669 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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plan b (0)
Active User Posts: 15 Registered: Apr 25, '08 Location: Oregon |
Anyone use a hardware media player on their TV? One thing I've always considered doing, but never got around to, was playing some of the stuff I've downloaded on my TV. A year and a half ago I bought a Pioneer plasma and after watching some HD content and the Super Bowl, my next inclination was obviously to think about porn. :) I experimented with plugging in different laptops and was underwhelmed. It's unnecessarily complex and not easy to control from your couch with limited cable lengths. I thought about building an HTPC (home theater PC) but they get pretty expensive, pretty fast for such a niche product. Last November, Western Digital released a small box they call the WD TV that lets you plug in USB hard drives and play videos, music & photos from it. The music & photo playback doesn't interest me at all but the video playback was a gold mine. And the price was reasonable at $99. This thing plays almost everything you can throw at it. If you can imagine downloading the latest HD porn and seeing it on such a big screen, it's exactly the revelation you can imagine. After having it for about 5 months now, I'm starting to think that this is a great idea and just ordered a Popcorn Hour A-110 ($215). It purports to play everything the WD does and adds a couple extra video and audio formats! It also lets you stream stuff over your network directly from your computer. So does anyone else use their TV to watch the stuff they get online? Porn or otherwise? | |
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| 03-13-09 06:23pm - 5669 days | #2 | |
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Jeffrey99 (0)
Active User  Posts: 106 Registered: Nov 04, '08 Location: Good Ole Midwest USA |
I use my tv some but not alot. When I do use it, 90% of the time I'm using the PS3 and streaming the videos across my network. Every once in a while if the PS3 finds a video it doesn't like, then I'll use the 360. The PS3 works great with the remote. It plays most files and of course you've got the added Blu Ray and the ability to play PS3 games. So to me it's more then pays for it's self. And it's the only media server I ever plan on having. | |
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| 03-14-09 03:20am - 5669 days | #3 | |
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Colm4 (0)
Active User  Posts: 117 Registered: Sep 22, '07 Location: Holland |
I bought one a few weeks ago. Haven't played much with it yet as I'm getting a new pc next week. But it's certainly a cool device. On DVD, only a few scenes fit on it and you can forget about hd all together. Also no more switching dvd's. The only drawback is that it doesn't play WMV's so I need to convert it to mpg first. | |
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| 03-14-09 08:45am - 5669 days | #4 | |
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rome476 (0)
Active User Posts: 78 Registered: Aug 19, '08 |
Great thread; I had wanted to do one myself. I have a couple of questions. I also have and like the WD TV but it won't play certain wmv videos, most importantly downloaded "DVD quality" videos from Videobox- any ideas, suggestions? (I have limited tech knowledge.) Second, I have tried to convert them using the included conversion program but it literally takes as long or longer than the length of the videos; Colm4- how long does it take for you and what do you use? Thanks rome476 | |
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| 03-14-09 09:03am - 5669 days | #5 | |
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Colm4 (0)
Active User Posts: 117 Registered: Sep 22, '07 Location: Holland |
Yes the conversion takes a long time; I don't think there's a way to shorten it. I use AVS video converter (http://www.avsmedia.com/). I found that this program keeps the best quality after conversion. Actually the same quality. But you must set the option to Frame size: Original else you get quality loss. Also you must register it else it keeps a logo in the middle of the screen. As said before, I'm waiting for my new pc else I need to buy it twice. | |
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| 03-14-09 09:15am - 5669 days | #6 | |
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plan b (0)
Active User Posts: 15 Registered: Apr 25, '08 Location: Oregon |
Rome, the only WMVs my WD player chokes on are those that use WMAP (Windows Media Audio Professional) as the audio codec. It should handle most any video type unless Videobox does something really funky with their rips. Try searching for an older program called GSpot (yeah, the name is very ironic considering what we discuss on this site). It hasn't been updated in a while, but it tells you the audio & video type so you can check and see if it's actually supported by WD. Probably not judging by your experience. If you have the VLC player, hitting control-i during playback will also give you some stream info. Video conversion is very processor heavy, so yeah, it can take a long, long time. I have a 2.4ghz Cord 2 Duo and most videos process slightly faster than real time depending on the settings (i.e. a 30 minute clip takes a little less than 30 minutes to convert). I try not to convert video though, cause it makes a noticeable hit in image quality. | |
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| 03-14-09 09:38am - 5669 days | #7 | |
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wiild1 (0)
Unverified User Posts: 52 Registered: Apr 14, '07 Location: UK |
I use my Xbox 360 connected to a Western Digital portable hard drive. It plays 99% of all my WMV files. I am very happy with this set, the new 360 userinterface is really slick, with HDMI pictures and videos look very nice and it's cheap: an Xbox 360 and a drive is just over USD250. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=525 | |
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| 03-14-09 02:16pm - 5668 days | #8 | |
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mbaya (0)
Suspended  Posts: 891 Registered: Jul 07, '08 Location: new jersey |
I recently starting using the Western Digital media player. I find some WMV clips don't play and some do. I never know until I try them, even if they are from the same website. Yes, I think the conversion to AVI is extremely slow. What I have experienced is that I cannot get clips to play consecutively, but sometimes they do so on their own. Maybe someone here knows what would help. Further, if I click on play for a video,there is a long delay, maybe sometimes as long as fifteen seconds. This is too long to keep me interested in a video that comes in multiple clips. I don't see a way to set up a playlist, or search easily for a particular clip. I have my files set up within folders for each website, so that helps a bit. If there are say 20 or 30 videos for each folder/website, it takes a long, long time to go to the clip I want. Any suggestions? | |
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| 03-14-09 09:56pm - 5668 days | #9 | |
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plan b (0)
Active User Posts: 15 Registered: Apr 25, '08 Location: Oregon |
RE: The 360 & PS3, I think these gaming systems are on the right track as far as being able to serve as a media center. I've just found their support of file formats & codecs a little limiting. I don't have a 360 but I do have a PS3 and it's great when the files are supported. mbaya: I can't help you w/ the delay, but I did figure out a trick to get clips in a folder to play sequentially. If you go into the options menu while the first clip is playing, select the "repeat" option (turn on the time display first to see what you've selected). If you set it to repeat all, it won't have the number 1 in the icon, then your clips will play sequentially. | |
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| 03-16-09 06:59am - 5667 days | #10 | |
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JustThy (0)
Active Webmaster Posts: 14 Registered: Sep 28, '08 Location: Uruguay |
having a PC as a part of your media center is the best option... at home i have my pc attached to my LCD and i just do everything on it... i dont play much nowadays but i used to have a 360 and after i set this up i sold the 360... i know a pc is not same as a 360 but im not that fan of games anyhow... and with a wireless keyboard+mouse its as comfortable as it can get.. (and you can get read of your DVD player as well... ) atxnetwork.com torbenetwork.com | |
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| 03-16-09 08:07am - 5667 days | #11 | |
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ControllingMind (0)
Suspended  Posts: 52 Registered: Jan 29, '09 Location: Inside An Unseen Force |
I use the same method. Seperate from my main PC I use an unobtusive media centre PC connected to the TV, it sits nicely on the TV stand as if it was a VCR/DVD player. I can browse the web on it if I want and there's also the option of adding a TV card, so you can record your digi channels to the hard drive as well. More bang for your bucks. | |
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| 03-16-09 08:43am - 5667 days | #12 | |
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james4096 (0)
Suspended Posts: 132 Registered: Mar 02, '09 |
I've been watching pr0n using a soft modded original XBOX with xbox media center for years. I keep my media files in a shared drive (smb) on my PC and play them over the network from my xbox. It plays most formats and codecs and you can use the remote. It can't handle huge HD movies, so eventually I'll have to get something better. I think I'm going to check out one of those WD devices that plan b mentioned. It's be well worth $99. | |
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| 03-17-09 12:10am - 5666 days | #13 | |
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mbaya (0)
Suspended Posts: 891 Registered: Jul 07, '08 Location: new jersey |
Thanks for the tip about the repeat feature. I think the delay is due to the fact the tv is a bit far away from where I sit. | |
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| 03-22-09 08:30pm - 5660 days | #14 | |
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Wittyguy (0)
Active User  Posts: 1,138 Registered: Feb 04, '08 Location: Left Coast, USA |
x Edited on Apr 19, 2023, 02:58pm | |
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| 04-07-09 06:34pm - 5644 days | #15 | |
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picdude (0)
Active User Posts: 107 Registered: Dec 26, '08 Location: Italy |
Perhaps I've gotten the wrong end of the stick when it comes to this question but what about a divx DVD player (it reads divx movies burnt onto your dvds) I use that alot is great. | |
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| 04-07-09 07:22pm - 5644 days | #16 | |
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GCode (0)
Active User  Posts: 386 Registered: Feb 23, '09 Location: USA |
Ok let me tell you my experience with this. I use the playstation 3 to playback wmv files through a 42 inch LCD with my max res at 1080p. To be honest, I have had some of these look even better than dvd's I've rented. For example, most dvd's come out at full screen while most of the scenes from sites are at least widescreen now. Therefore, when it stretches to full, the widescreen wmv's look great in comparison to dvd's. Now, just like a media player on a computer, you can zoom in or out to make it bigger if you want. Most of the time, you can even just do this with your tv remote control. However, if you want the better stuff, you need to find at least 720 to start with but 1280 is 10x better. Plus, you want to look at the kbps, I have found the minimum for the best is at at least 1000 kbps but if you want to get stuff that looks absolutely great on your tv, get at least 1280 and 4000 kbps. Just remember, you have lots of settings that can change the size of your format playback. Therefore, your tv can be set a 4:3 to get bars on the sides or widescreen to stretch. There is really no aspect ratio so you will rarely get bars on the top or bottom if you go to 16:9. There are even auto modes on your tv that will stretch to use the whole screen. Then, you have to look at your player options and see if there is a normal, original, zoom, stretch capabilities that will stretch for you also without using the tv settings. For example, my ps3 has a few settings which I find easier to use than the tv, so I keep the tv setting at widescreen always and change the video using my ps3 settings. These settings for the ps3 include an original screen (makes it a small box in the middle for 640 and 720 videos and a bit larger as we go up), a normal which makes it big enough to fit the screen (if it's at least 1280) without any bars on the sides (bars on the sides for 640 and 720), then a zoom that will make stuff larger but may cut off the 4 outer edges a bit. So, of course, if you are at 640 or 720 and want to make it the whole screen, you will always get som pixelation but it all depends on the quality of the wmv to begin with, thats why a video at 1280 at 4000 kbps will always be superior to even a video at 720 at 4000 kbps. As faras the amount, I have found once you get to under 1000 kbps in general the video gets unbearable and almost non watchable when stretched. Hope this all helps and makes sense.... :) As far as the jpegs go, you can pretty much check out them on any dvd player that is newer. Personally, I just use the ps3 for an all in one for photos and videos. Rarely, when viewing, just like in your photo viewer on your computer, does it auto stretch to your screen to begin with. Usually, it fits it to the screen (bars on sides) and you have to use zoom. My dvd player nor my ps3 stretches the photo automatically to fit the screen at the highest res. Therefore, in my experience, you can view the pic, then zoom in really close and examine a bigger picture in close up chunks. Does it get pixelated?, it matters. Some places photos are just better than others. It all depends on the camera used and other tech shit (shutter speed, etc etc) and just like with every thing, the bigger the res, the less pixelated it will get as you zoom closer. So no doubt, once you at the max zoom, there may be a little distortion. As far as the minimum, I have found that the better quality stuff starts at least at 1000 or higher. Hmm if you have any questions or are confused even more let me know :) Sexted From My iPad | |
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| 04-08-09 08:04pm - 5643 days | #17 | |
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Goldfish (0)
Active User  Posts: 265 Registered: Jan 19, '08 Location: Boston, MA |
I mentioned this in another thread. I have an HP PC with a good video card and a terabyte of disk space. I also have a Sony 46" LCD that works great with the PC. I've tried the DVI to HDMI connection but the picture kept going out so I switched back to the analog cable and it works fine. I set the PC resolution to 1280 x 1080 and it looks great. It's a home theater PC so it comes with a remote but my wireless keyboard and mouse work from the coffee table so I use those. If I'm watching HD video I've downloaded from a porn site it looks just as good if not better than some of my HD cable channels. I also watch streaming video of TV shows I missed on occasion. It's not HD but the quality is good enough. | |
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