Help me pick a Blu-Ray player with MP4 support

cascius

Hi guys, I'm looking at adding a BD player to my system and need your help.

I really don't care about 3D since my TV doesn't support it and I won't upgrade for a couple years. What I do care about is to be able to play video files off a USB hard drive connected directly to the BD box. As far as video format I would love if it could play MP4s with surround audio tracks (AC3 for example).

I have had Windows Media Centers, XBMC , Xbox and PS3 and I'm really looking for a simpler solution. Also, I'd rather not have to deal with DLNA (i.e. having a computer serving the videos to the player).

Essentially, I just want a BD player with USB hard drive hooked up to my receiver. Something simple enough for my girlfriend to use without getting pissed (at the player and myself :eek:).

Do you guys have any recommendations? I'd like to keep my budget to something low ($100 or so) but could double that if there's really a player that would kick some serious ****. :cool:

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

- Olivier

PS: I've got no problem with batch converting all my videos in a descent format other than MP4 if necessary.

cascius

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

- Olivier

PrazVT

Are you looking for a certain format compatibility that the PS3 doesn't provide? Why don't you just hook up a USB hard disk to the PS3? Granted, you'll have to stick with FAT32 and file sizes will have to be limited to 4GB - but XViD, MP4, and .M2TS (h264 + AC3 5.1) will all work.

.MKV can simply be converted to .M2TS using tsmuxer. You'll need megui to convert any DTS tracks to AC3 though.

nguyendot

Any Samsung bluray will do it...

I use a WDTV and it works perfectly..

cascius

PrazVT wrote: »

Are you looking for a certain format compatibility that the PS3 doesn't provide? Why don't you just hook up a USB hard disk to the PS3? Granted, you'll have to stick with FAT32 and file sizes will have to be limited to 4GB - but XViD, MP4, and .M2TS (h264 + AC3 5.1) will all work.

.MKV can simply be converted to .M2TS using tsmuxer. You'll need megui to convert any DTS tracks to AC3 though.

I've played around with my roommate's PS3 and haven't been very happy with it. It's overkill and a bit clumsy I think. Also, I don't care about gaming, so PS3 is just too much.

nguyendot wrote: »

Any Samsung bluray will do it...

I use a WDTV and it works perfectly..

Cool, I have a Samsung TV so these should integrate nicely together.
Any specific model I should look for? Looking at the reviews on Newegg I don't find any player with 5ish ratings.

Aside from playing videos off my USB HDD, I will be using it to play Netflix, Pandora and BDs of course. Oh and I don't care about 3D. BD-C6500 sounds pretty good.

Let me know if you have a suggestion for a perticular player.

Thanks a lot!

- Olivier

nguyendot

I hear the C6500 works well for this. I'll stick with my WDTV though, it does the job the best