My sister wants something to plug her portable HDD into and play all her movies through our big TV. Should I just buy something like this off ebay or should I pay a bit more?
Don't need HDMI connection or wifi or anything fancy. Does need to play a variety of media formats.
Her budget is up to $50-60.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Muiti-Media-Center-Player-720P-AV…
That computer is tiny!
Although a good option I might try something a little more "fool proof" and simple to use out of the box because it will be other family members who will be using it most and I would like for them to work out how to use it by themselves as much as possible. I'm really tired of explaining simple tech things to other people, especially when they don't get it the first time.
Apologies if I'm explaining the obvious here, but does your TV have a USB port? If all she wants to do is play movies from a portable HDD on the TV, she can just plug the drive straight in, even if it's not a 'smart' TV.
Yes, the TV has USB but it is rudimentary and crap e.g. no MKV files and cumbersome to operate.
try upgrading the firmware.
Look no further than wdlive
Plays anything, literally everything
"Her budget is up to $50-60."
Ahh missed that
With draw of luck, should be able to grab second hand one for that price
Or I go 50-50 with her and we get the WDLive :)
I think this is the best option and I would probably use it too.
Now I just have to wait for another sale.
try this one mate… I have one of the older models of this and it does a great job. perfect for people who wants to just plug and play hard disks or usbs. It also connects to home network if needed. Plays everything you throw at it. Sydney based company but product is made in china. Has a good support forum - I have been using my player for last four years and still going great and not thinking of upgrading yet.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Astone-EP-05-EP05-Full-HD-1080p-A…
Seems alright but when you factor in postage that makes it almost $70 so I think I will just stretch out her budget and put in a few more quid to get the reputable WDLive(which are around $100 I think).
its your choice but those extra $10 are well worth it… my opinion.. best of luck…
I bought one for $46 on ebay after the item I was watching dropped in price from $60. Yay! I think this is a very good price. Is the standard remote sufficient or do I need one of those fancy QWERTY ones?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MINIX-NEO-G4-Android-4-0-Dual-Cor…
Best Buy › TV & Home Theater › Smart TVs & Devices ›
Smart Set-Top Boxes http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Smart-TVs-Devices/Smart-Set-Top-…
You can build one quite cheaply and easily with a Raspberry Pi, a spare sd card and a USB to microusb cable.
You can buy the Raspberry Pi from http://downloads.element14.com/raspberryPi3.html?isRedirect=… (about $36 dollars + GST) plus about 9 dollars for a case.
Install either openelec (I like this one because it's faster) or raspbmc
http://openelec.tv/
http://www.raspbmc.com/
Pretty much will play anything, easy to use, can be controlled with your tv remote if you have HDMI CEC, uses minimal power (5W) from the tv or any spare AC USB charger.