[cmryan21]

Hey guys, I posted this in another circle but I realized it probably should have been posted here instead. So here goes. I'm looking for a music player that can output a video signal to be used with an hdtv. Obviously pcs/macs have this capability but I want to make sure I don't overlook any other great players. I've looked at some of the network media tanks like the Dune players and they also look compelling. Does anyone know of any other players that can output a video signal? I'd really appreciate any help offered.

[skunark]

Gaming consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 are a great start for both video and music, you can use either internal HDD storage or an external USB HDD as well so no server is required.  They both support UPNP/DLNA so if you wanted to use a computer to stream the files.  I would say their interfaces are lacking for larger libraries. 

I would highly recommend an Apple TV for anyone that wanted both video and music over the PS3 and Xbox 360 just mostly on the ease of use and library selection.  Like the PS3/Xbox 360 you have both internal storage and can stream, but no external USB support.  Remote works, but an iPod Touch is faster with large libraries.  Also i've noticed that the technically challenged folks will use the Apple TV over the PS3..

With any video server you will hit limitations on video codec settings, and can get rather annoying, but this seems to be less and less of a problem now that everyone seems to support h.264.

Another option is to hack an old xbox or find something that can run boxee like what dlink is coming out with.  I'm sure more well post with other alternatives..

[cmryan21]

Gaming consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 are a great start for both video and music, you can use either internal HDD storage or an external USB HDD as well so no server is required.  They both support UPNP/DLNA so if you wanted to use a computer to stream the files.  I would say their interfaces are lacking for larger libraries. 

I would highly recommend an Apple TV for anyone that wanted both video and music over the PS3 and Xbox 360 just mostly on the ease of use and library selection.  Like the PS3/Xbox 360 you have both internal storage and can stream, but no external USB support.  Remote works, but an iPod Touch is faster with large libraries.  Also i've noticed that the technically challenged folks will use the Apple TV over the PS3..

With any video server you will hit limitations on video codec settings, and can get rather annoying, but this seems to be less and less of a problem now that everyone seems to support h.264.

Another option is to hack an old xbox or find something that can run boxee like what dlink is coming out with.  I'm sure more well post with other alternatives..

Thanks for the reply. I have a PS3 and it would fit the bill very well if not for having to stop a song in order to browse other files. That gets kinda annoying. One other bad thing about using the PS3 is the only lossless music files it supports are wav files which have no meta data so once you copy them to the PS3's hd it turns into an unorganized mess. Though that's easily solved by keeping the music on an external hd.

The Apple TV is a good thought. I'd have to convert all my files to Apple Lossless but that's not that big a deal. The interface is nice and I could hack it if I really wanted to play other kinds of files.

Thanks again for the info.

[eclein]

I use a PS3..watch movies via HDMI and because they allow multiple audio outputs I use my 2.1 channel rig for music/movies and my receiver for the center and rear channels on movies over HDMI audio...very versatile, and a great transport/blu-ray player-would buy one again in a heartbeat.