The VideoLAN Forums

Hello, i hope these is the correct forum for my concern , i`m wondering if there is a external drive ( those you connect to the TV ) that plays all the format movies like the VLC does in our PC ?

I bought one, that only plays VXD, MPEG, and not AVI, WMV, and others. .. so i have to allways being converting the format to watch it.. i`m tired to do it.. .

I will appreciate any suggestion.

H.

There are devices like Popcorn Hour which have very good format support, but if you want to run VLC, Plex, xbmc or similar software, you need computer for that.

You know I myself have always wondered why none of the PVR's or hdd recorder's on the market have ever features a mini operating system (Linux like) that would come shipped with VLC or encourage consumers to download VLC if they dont want to ship it. Ideally it should be the same dev VLC for the external device as the one run by users on the desktop.

Linux is open-source and so is VLC so why has no manufacture thought of this ps. the PS3 doesn't do this properly with the necessary support not run Linux()allowing to run features

You would run to license hell if you would try to ship PVR with VLC preinstalled (assuming that you would keep deCSS, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MP3, WMA etc. support).

SanDisk made a thumbdrive type thing a while back that could plug into a tv but im pretty sure they were taken off the market because of lack of interest.

Thank you all of you for send me some suggestions... i hope to find an external HDD Media Player, that work like a PC and watch all kind of video format like i do in my PC with VLC... i see that all in the market do the same... there is somewhere one i`m looking for..

Good Luck.

H.

My Archos IMT 5 plays a lot of the formats on my hi def tv without a computer as long as you have the dvr module. The only format they can't play is mkv which I have a lot of, bummer, But I know of no stand alone hd that will play on a tv without a computer.

Hard drives itself can't but casing around them can.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?l ... ee0a0aRCRD

But hardware based players have usually some limitations of media formats they can playback and because of that those players cannot compete against ones that are run on computers.

Thank you for all your helps... i´m a little confuse on IMT 5... i see i will need something else.. so, i just want to find like a HDD Media Player that plays all the formats...


Thank you.

H.

I believe there are third-party firmwares out there that release the full potential of Linux on media players like the Popcorn Hour and WDTV... though I am not certain whether their processors have enough horsepower to run VLC smoothly enough or not!

You would run to license hell if you would try to ship PVR with VLC preinstalled (assuming that you would keep deCSS, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MP3, WMA etc. support).

This iw what I WISH and should exist by now:

There needs to be a Linux based OS created for PVR's and DVD players too (with many supports for programming languages and API's). Manufacturers (Sony, LG, all others) could agree on an industry standard of this new open-source OS so that the UI and application support remain the same across all devices except in certain circumstances. The manufacturers can also ship thier own ui themes on the device like the way mobile phone carriers do (t-mobile, vodafone). The same PVR's or DVD players only need support the files they currently support and leave the other multitude of file types for the 'third party' apps that will run on this OS. These same players would have more superior processors and ram to be able to handle long hours of watching video, HD video and larger file sizes of video or media like 4 GB +. With this new (Symbian like) Linux OS supported and shipped by all the manufacturers it is then when third party apps like VLC can be downloaded by users with the full potential of every file type under the sun. And the manufacturers could provide developers the out-of-the-box API support for the remote controllers in which all players, TV's use to operate from a distance in a room. For VLC running on this OS, the existing Linux developers on the main project could make a few programming 'adjustments' to support these hardware's or otherwise a separate indepenedt VLC project could be initiated for this purpose. Installtion of any apps can be done from with FOTA (best) or if fota fail then the user's choice of standard usb or discs.

So many more possiblities, no "licence hell" and all at the home consumers user discretion.

Hmm wishful thinking eh

http://gizmodo.com/5338415/leaked-weste ... ec-support and there we go.

Hello to all, i still looking .... here i found these, but i want to ask you what do you think about it ?

Media Player USB 2.0 SATA HDD Dock - Turn your 2.5"/3.5" SATA Hard Drive, SD Card or Flash Drive into a Media Player!


http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Invtid ... ign=MP002A


Supported Video Formats:
MPEG4: AVI, DivX, Xvid
MPEG2 (DVD): AVI, VOB
MPEG1 (VCD): AVI, MPG, DAT

PS.. i see WDTV is the best choice lately.. but i'm still not sure..

Thank you.. i really appreciate...

H.

Don't by cheap/old devices like that. Personally I would make sure that the device has at least Matroska (MKV) and HD H.264 support.

Thank you Very Much... i`m watching some other suggestion on ebay... but really when VLC will be out in external Media Player.... as you can see.. many people are interested on....


Good Luck to all.

H.

Dear people, before of my asking i want to express my apologies in advance, not because i don`tI want to do things for myself, but the truth is I'm always looking on ebay, and now i`m super confused as to the subject of my desire to have a multimedia player ( to connect to my Plasma TV ) that could read all types of video formats as I do in my computer.

If some of you .. has the opportunity to see different options on ebay, please let me know your recommendations for me.

Thanking you in advance, and sorry again if there is a inconvenience.

H.

that could read all types of video formats as I do in my computer.

That doesn't happen as I have explained earlier. Hardware players have limitations.