Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Stand alone dvd player or a PC? Loong and boring

Hey ya,

This is long and pretty worthless to read except the last bit!

Since I'm waiting on a new set of m50's and a new entertainment center. I thought I'd look for a solution to my little delema.

I burn boat loads of dvd's. Have a HTPC < BYTV, Abit NF7-S(ver2), XP Pro sp1, AMD XP2kmhz Geil 512MB(256MBx2)+ 512 of somethin elseDDR 400, Haup 250 PVR, EVGA 5200 tx, Optorite DVD RW(Nero suite), WD 80gig, Seagate 200 gig, MYBlaster,Usb-uirt, Firefly remote, SILVERSTONE SST-LC03 and some other stuff>.

BTV is essentually a tivo in software form. I record alot of stuff for friends so it's pretty busy.

Anyway the HTPC is excellent for watching DVD's except when it's busy recording TV shows or doing other things with them. Which as it turns out is when I want to watch DVD's.
So I thinking either use another pc to watch movies or get a stand alone dvd player. Most of the dvd's I watch are copies I've made...I rent a movie and burn it then send it back to avoid late fees>>that's my excuse anyway.

Right now I use a ps2 to watch these copies. Every dvd player I've owned has been cheap and couldn't play my copies. Hehe a Playstation will play dvd's fine but it has problems with music cd's.

Snapstream has come out with a btv link that would allow me to stream video over my network so I can set up my system so the pc in the living room isn't so busy and can be used for playing dvd's and music without having the recording and processing interfer with it. This bit of software only costs 40 bucks. It would involve a whole lot of work to change everything around and will be a general pain to set up.

All that said I'd prefer a stand alone player that can handle cd cd-r/w dvd dvd-r/w dvd+r/w maybe even dvd-a. Essentially a player that can handle anything. I've read dozens of reviews and stats on dozens of players. It's been my experience that most of the claims are exagerated or just plain wrong.

So..
Does anyone have any player that truely plays everything you throw at it?

Not looking for such and such says they can but more along the lines of I have xxx and it plays everything.

Thanks...Two days of a 2 week wait and I want to call and ask how long till delivery hehehehehe

Leaf
Don't have a hdtv but plan to get one at some point.

Welp,

No one replied to this post here or really anywhere else except to recommend the Phillips divx player. I was a bit concerned that the Phillips wouldn't give me the audio I'd be wanting so here is what I've done.

In the above mentioned htpc I've removed the wintv card and installed it on another pc in the bedroom along with the btv software. Installed btv link on the htpc in the living room.

So my htpc in the living room is a very advanced dvd player. With
Audio: opt dig, 5.1 analog...Nvidia soundstorm onboard
Video: Svid, dvi, db15...Nvidia fx56 fanless..can be tweaked for hd output

Plays any format
Through btv link plays any recorded shows over the network.
With Firefly and girder:
Controls all av equipment including denon 2805 through the serial port.
Controls btv over the network
Plays anything on any networked drive
Lol it goes on and on..oh and I will be able to surf the web from my couch while listening to my new axioms when they arrive next week!

If anyone is interested:
http://www.snapstream.com/
http://www.promixis.com/products.php?section=girder

Leaf
PS I'll post some pics later if anyone is interested.

You may want to edit this post and remove the text concerning your practices w/ rented videos. It's not out the realm of possibility that those viewing these forums may have some affiliation w/ the people that would have a serious problem w/ what you are doing.