5-90
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Hammerspace
We should be coming into a few buck here shortly, and I'd like to upgrade a few things (she does as well.) What I'm looking for and my revised requirements follows:
Digital video player for the televisor.
- Need to be able to mount an internal HDD (form factor unimportant) if possible. A USB plug or an SD/MicroSD (yech!) card slot would also be helpful, either/or. I checked with Roku, they don't have a unit that would accept a hard drive (and this is somewhat important to me - it would allow me to put a load more video on the thing that I don't have to change about.
- Preferably fairly small - less than a foot cubed (shouldn't be a problem.) Especially with the internal HDD, I'll probably want to move the thing about.
- HDMI & Component video out. Not all of my TVs are ready for HDMI, and I'm not sure when they all will be (gimme time.) Roku again does the HDMI and component video - just can't store it locally to the box.
- Able to interpret common video formats (.mpg, .mp4, .avi, .wma, .wmv - I doubt this would be a problem, and I do have a copy of Prism Video Converter which works fairly well.)
On that last - does anyone know of a decent video file compression agent? I've converted a bunch of stuff from various formats (.mkv and suchlike) to more common formats I can put straight onto DVD (.avi, .mpg, .wmv) but I'm sure I can still squish them down some more. It needs to be fairly idiot-proof, I just plug the files in on one side and they come out the other, and I may just have to make a few setting changes.
I'd like to keep the cost for this thing (the basic box) under $200, if possible. It should be - and the HDD can be added when convenient to do so.
Tablet computers:
- Android OS okeh - I'll just have to break down and learn it (it will take me a bit, but it's doable.)
- Therefore, it shouldn't have any trouble handling .pdf files, common video formats, and .mp3 or .wav audio (I have an audio file converter as well, so odd formats should be convertible.)
- Fairly rugged. My portable gear can get knackered about a bit, and I don't want to have the thing break with the first bump (that's why I like the ThinkPad T series - I've dropped them from several feet up off of carts - they just stumble for a minute while they're checking themselves out, and then pick right back up.) It don't need to be waterproof or something I can use for a hammer, but it needs to be able to survive bumps & dings without any trouble
- I'm hoping that the power input plug should be fairly common (barrel plug or micro-A/B USB,) so I can easily make or buy a battery extender pack if I need to.
- Able to accept removable storage (SD/MicroSD, Memory Stick, whatever. i have plenty of SD/MicroSD around, so it gets listed first. Although those wretched MicroSD cards get lost in my hands as it is...)
- Easily synchronise/accept data from a Windoze machine (which shouldn't be a big problem.
- I do not want to get a "data plan" for the thing - I don't care about cellular networks and suchlike. WiFi is a plus (I have it at home, and it comes in handy at libraries and such) but isn't necessarily a dealbreaker.
I'm inclined to think this should be doable for under a $300 bill, but I won't swear to it.
Why am I asking here? Because I've never trusted marketing blurb, I prefer to put my faith in reports from the field. I'm sure we've plenty of people here who have used enough of this stuff to get a useful batch of input.
What do you like, and why do you like it?
Digital video player for the televisor.
- Need to be able to mount an internal HDD (form factor unimportant) if possible. A USB plug or an SD/MicroSD (yech!) card slot would also be helpful, either/or. I checked with Roku, they don't have a unit that would accept a hard drive (and this is somewhat important to me - it would allow me to put a load more video on the thing that I don't have to change about.
- Preferably fairly small - less than a foot cubed (shouldn't be a problem.) Especially with the internal HDD, I'll probably want to move the thing about.
- HDMI & Component video out. Not all of my TVs are ready for HDMI, and I'm not sure when they all will be (gimme time.) Roku again does the HDMI and component video - just can't store it locally to the box.
- Able to interpret common video formats (.mpg, .mp4, .avi, .wma, .wmv - I doubt this would be a problem, and I do have a copy of Prism Video Converter which works fairly well.)
On that last - does anyone know of a decent video file compression agent? I've converted a bunch of stuff from various formats (.mkv and suchlike) to more common formats I can put straight onto DVD (.avi, .mpg, .wmv) but I'm sure I can still squish them down some more. It needs to be fairly idiot-proof, I just plug the files in on one side and they come out the other, and I may just have to make a few setting changes.
I'd like to keep the cost for this thing (the basic box) under $200, if possible. It should be - and the HDD can be added when convenient to do so.
Tablet computers:
- Android OS okeh - I'll just have to break down and learn it (it will take me a bit, but it's doable.)
- Therefore, it shouldn't have any trouble handling .pdf files, common video formats, and .mp3 or .wav audio (I have an audio file converter as well, so odd formats should be convertible.)
- Fairly rugged. My portable gear can get knackered about a bit, and I don't want to have the thing break with the first bump (that's why I like the ThinkPad T series - I've dropped them from several feet up off of carts - they just stumble for a minute while they're checking themselves out, and then pick right back up.) It don't need to be waterproof or something I can use for a hammer, but it needs to be able to survive bumps & dings without any trouble
- I'm hoping that the power input plug should be fairly common (barrel plug or micro-A/B USB,) so I can easily make or buy a battery extender pack if I need to.
- Able to accept removable storage (SD/MicroSD, Memory Stick, whatever. i have plenty of SD/MicroSD around, so it gets listed first. Although those wretched MicroSD cards get lost in my hands as it is...)
- Easily synchronise/accept data from a Windoze machine (which shouldn't be a big problem.
- I do not want to get a "data plan" for the thing - I don't care about cellular networks and suchlike. WiFi is a plus (I have it at home, and it comes in handy at libraries and such) but isn't necessarily a dealbreaker.
I'm inclined to think this should be doable for under a $300 bill, but I won't swear to it.
Why am I asking here? Because I've never trusted marketing blurb, I prefer to put my faith in reports from the field. I'm sure we've plenty of people here who have used enough of this stuff to get a useful batch of input.
What do you like, and why do you like it?