To Apple TV 2 or not 2?
#61
if you think about it though - apple tv is approx £85-£100+

if i built a custom pc:-
atom cpu/motherboard m-itx combo = £55-£70
ram=£20
case= (my choice) £20-£50

total should not cost more than £130-£140 and you have a very powerful media player with no issues.
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#62
If that works for you better then you go for it.
It's whats best for you in the long run.

Once I get my new 3D TV, it has the capability to stream OR have a USB HD connected, which it will happily play movies off and it plays anything.
Yeah I won't get the gorgeous interface of XBMC but it involves no setup or maintenance really :-)
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#63
i can assure you darnun mate, i have a sony bravia ex503 and it hardly plays all the files i would like...a pc is the best solution for guaranteed compatibility as you can get the necessary codecs for it.
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#64
Well I only have avi and MKVs (including 3D) and I know it plays both of those so I am good for now at least.
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#65
mkv's are containers, are they not? So surely what matters is whats within those containers?
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#66
Darnun Wrote:Well I only have avi and MKVs (including 3D) and I know it plays both of those so I am good for now at least.

as noobnas pointed out correctly, both avi and mkv are considered "container formats", meaning they're just a container for the actual encoded file (that can be encoded in a variety of codecs).

while it is true that the needed support from a device starts with the container itself (no point supporting the within used codec by the device if it won't even open the container/file itself in the first place), the real decision whether the file can be played back is, in the end, made by the codec.

proprietary solutions (that actually, in a way, includes the Apple TV2 etc) have always shown in the past to , at some point, be missing the ability to decode a kind of media that becomes popular (try getting some very old sigma chip to decode current content ... good luck with that).

if you want to make sure u're getting something that is going to work for a great length of time, get a small nettop (Zotac ZBOX AD10 comes to mind ... insanely powerful little thing that is).
Fractal Design Node 304 | Intel i3-3225 | Gigabyte H77N-WiFi | 4GB RAM | Intel HD 4000
Samsung UE55F6500 | Denon AVR-X2000 | Infinity Reference MKII 5.1 + Quadrapole
Kodi 17.1 Kryptonite | Arctic : Zephyr
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#67
noobnas Wrote:if you think about it though - apple tv is approx £85-£100+

if i built a custom pc:-
atom cpu/motherboard m-itx combo = £55-£70
ram=£20
case= (my choice) £20-£50

total should not cost more than £130-£140 and you have a very powerful media player with no issues.



*cough* £300... don't forget the disk drive, wireless card (mini PCI more expensive), SODIMM memory and 4GB is better running Win7 etc I have mine plugged in next to ATV2.... Choices... but then my ATV2 may go to my bedroom eventually.
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#68
What you on about mate? How is it £300? For a good htpc base, it should cost approx £140-£180 in total.
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