Networked HD Media Players

Many big names have started entering into the networked media player segment to display what their product can perform in home entertainment business. For those, who have not heard about Networked High Definition media player, here is a small brief about what this gadget can achieve at your home. Hold on...I'm not talking about the software media player you get along with Windows/Linux or Mac, but the real hardware player just like your Bluray/DVD/CD player. Read on...

Networked HD Media player is similar like a Bluray/DVD player which can play almost all popular formats of Audio & Video files on your HDTV or the standard CRT Tv. The prime ability of these networked media players is to stream your collection from your personal computer or a standalone NAS harddisk server or Internet through wired LAN cable or Wi-Fi (though there are limitations). In simple layman's language, functionally it is more similar like your home computer and very smaller than your Laptop and can be used by anyone who don't require any computer knowledge.

In a nutshell, some of the features that a networked media player can do are as described below.
1) Ability to play any type of Video files like AVI, MPEG, MPG, VOB, MP4, MKV, FLV, MOV, ASF...the list goes on...you name it it should be there in the list of supported file formats.
2) Plays any type of Audio files like WAV, MP3, FLAC, AAC, OGG, AC3, DTS...you name it!
3) Streams from your PC/Laptop, NAS, Internet and displays on your HDTV or normal standard CRT TV.
4) Can be networked via wired LAN or Wi-Fi options.
5) You can view photos and supports mospt popular file formats like JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP etc.
6) You can even view TXT, HTM, HTML files, design your own 3rd party applications like jukebox based on html etc. for movie/music/photo categorisation.
7) Supports full High Definition media upto 1080p with Lossless High Definition sound in either Dolby True-HD or DTS-HD formats in 7.1, 5.1 etc. depending on the source material.
8) Can automatically create a jukebox for easy navigation of your collection by scraping data from internet and showing as movie posters with thumbnails for easy use. Some players have in built software pre-installed while others may need 3rd party installations.
9) Can be interfaced with your computer and other third party applications designed for your media player can installed.
10) Very compact, light weight and sits perfectly in your equipment rack with less foot print.

Now I hope you would have got a feel of what we are taking here....So, lets see a few popular NMT players who are already flooding the market.

1) Asus
2) D-Link
2) Popcorn Hour
3) Seagate
3) WD TV
4) Xtreamer the list goes on...(I would have missed some popular/reputed brands which doesn't mean to hurt users that they are not good)
OR
5) HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer)

Personally, I have a Popcorn Hour A-110 bought 3½ years back and satisfied with its capabilities. I also have assembled a HTPC when I felt that my current popcorn Hour A-110 had some limitations. I could have bought Popcorn Hour C-200 or the latest A-300. But, the drawback in these hardware media players are that they cannot be upgraded in terms of memory/cpu etc except for Harddisk/optical drive options.


"I would personally recommend for a layman, a simple user interface networked media player which doesn't require one to learn greek/latin. For others who are always on the verge looking for latest capabilities the HTPC is the best choice (software and little hardware knowledge required)."

A separate article on HTPC would be discussed soon...