Looking For a Reliable Media Player

[target2019]

So, the higher end Roku has a USB port, and I've used that with the Roku Media Player app, but just with smaller MP4 file. DLNA works also, as it should.

The setup is Netgear WNDR3700 router with DLNA. Files sit on a USB 2.0 stick. 5GHz WiFi transmits about 10 feet to Roku attached to TV.

A couple of things I found.
- The USB port on Roku may only be 2.0. I couldn't find anything specific, but some reported problem with USB 3.0 media. Could be power requirements...
- Roku will not play back MPG file. That was an unexpected surprise. It did play MP4 though.

The DLNA server will be limited by the hardware limits it has, then you have possible bottlenecks over WiFi when your TV, PC, or Mobile tries to play it back.
If I can find a substantial MP4 I'll give it a try.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

...I download MP4s onto a thumb drive then plug that into the Samsung to watch them on my bedroom TV using the remote. Works well for me....

Another thing I'll mention: I frequently download YouTube videos to my PC and/or to a thumb drive as MP4s to watch later on my TV via that Samsung blu-ray player's USB port. I can do that using this free software (for Firefox browsers) that creates a green "Download" button below each YouTube video. You use that to save the video as an MP4. In fact, I use that a lot as I have only OTA and Internet (not any cable or satellite TV subscriptions).

 

[NW-Bound]

Another thing I'll mention: I frequently download YouTube videos to my PC and/or to a thumb drive as MP4s to watch later on my TV via that Samsung blu-ray player's USB port. I can do that using this free software (for Firefox browsers) that creates a green "Download" button below each YouTube video. You use that to save the video as an MP4. In fact, I use that a lot as I have only OTA and Internet (not any cable or satellite TV subscriptions).

Yes, I do the above. My DVD player that is a few years old can play 720p format without a problem so far. My TV also has a USB port, but the port is broken.

Now, perhaps people who want to play the latest HD format will need newer software/hardware to keep up with technology. I am not an avid video watcher, and I usually watch old movies so do not need the latest stuff. I do not even get OTA, because the connection to the antenna up in the attic is broken, and I am too lazy to fix it.

 

[mountainsoft]

Are you wanting something you can load up with videos on a flash drive, or do you want to stream videos that are stored on your computer (over your home network)?

I have a Micca Speck that works OK for playing videos from a flash drive (I think I have their newer Mplayer HD too, works about the same). It's nothing fancy, but it does the job. Personally, I find it inconvenient to copy movies to a flash drive before I can watch them, so my Micca players are stored unused in my office cabinet.

I prefer a "Network Media Player" so I can stream video over my home network from my main desktop computer. I have a TV tuner card to record over-the-air TV shows, and download videos from YouTube and other online sources. The content changes daily, so the network player is a lot more convenient. Of course, I have lots of home movies of our vacations, and movies I've ripped from our DVD's too.

I'm currently using an old Dvico N6600N network media player. I don't think it is available anymore but it works well. It's several years old now so it doesn't support a lot of the newer media formats (h.265 HEVC or Dolby Digital Plus for instance), so I have to process all of my videos to standard h.264 MP4's so they work with my media player.

Unfortunately, when my Dvico player dies I'm not sure what I will get to replace it. I will be watching this thread for suggestions...

 

[easysurfer]

Are you wanting something you can load up with videos on a flash drive, or do you want to stream videos that are stored on your computer (over your home network)?

I have a Micca Speck that works OK for playing videos from a flash drive (I think I have their newer Mplayer HD too, works about the same). It's nothing fancy, but it does the job. Personally, I find it inconvenient to copy movies to a flash drive before I can watch them, so my Micca players are stored unused in my office cabinet.

I prefer a "Network Media Player" so I can stream video over my home network from my main desktop computer. I have a TV tuner card to record over-the-air TV shows, and download videos from YouTube and other online sources. The content changes daily, so the network player is a lot more convenient. Of course, I have lots of home movies of our vacations, and movies I've ripped from our DVD's too.

I'm currently using an old Dvico N6600N network media player. I don't think it is available anymore but it works well. It's several years old now so it doesn't support a lot of the newer media formats (h.265 HEVC or Dolby Digital Plus for instance), so I have to process all of my videos to standard h.264 MP4's so they work with my media player.

Unfortunately, when my Dvico player dies I'm not sure what I will get to replace it. I will be watching this thread for suggestions...

Looking just to load videos to flash drive.

I've used both the Micca Speck and Micca HD. The Speck I returned because wasn't happy with the darker picture with no option to brightness setting. The HD is the one that on some files has the popping/snapping noise.

 

[mountainsoft]

Looking just to load videos to flash drive.

I've used both the Micca Speck and Micca HD. The Speck I returned because wasn't happy with the darker picture with no option to brightness setting. The HD is the one that on some files has the popping/snapping noise.

I have encountered random popping noises on my old Dvico player too. In my case, it seemed to be an issue with the encoding of the video, most likely the audio tracks. That's why I process every video with VideoRedo to ensure it is an MP4 (or MKV) with h.264 video and AAC audio. No problems since.

 

[easysurfer]

I have encountered random popping noises on my old Dvico player too. In my case, it seemed to be an issue with the encoding of the video, most likely the audio tracks. That's why I process every video with VideoRedo to ensure it is an MP4 (or MKV) with h.264 video and AAC audio. No problems since.

What does the processing with the VideoRedo software entail?

I'm not sure if that would help at all in my case as seems to me like the random popping noise is somehow generated by the Micca Player. As when played with something like VLC on computer, no popping noise. Or am I missing something?

 

[mountainsoft]

What does the processing with the VideoRedo software entail?

I'm not sure if that would help at all in my case as seems to me like the random popping noise is somehow generated by the Micca Player. As when played with something like VLC on computer, no popping noise. Or am I missing something?

An MP4 file is just a container that can hold a variety of audio and video encoding formats. Since my Dvico media player is older, it does not support many of the newer audio encoding formats (such as Dolby Digital Plus). There are also minor quirks with some encoders that cause weird pops and clicks on my media player, even though the file is technically okay. Like you, the same videos play fine in VLC on my computer.

Basically, I load the video into VideoRedo, then save it out again with the desired encoding (h.264 video, AAC audio). Nothing more to it than that. I like VideoRedo as it will only re-encode the video or audio if they are not already in the desired format. For instance, if the video is already h.264, VideoRedo simply passes it to the output file without further processing. This is much faster and doesn't cause deterioration like re-encoding would. It only converts what is needed.

There are certainly other applications you could use like Handbrake or Freemake (both free applications). I would probably experiment with one of those first, using a video you know you have trouble with to see if that is what is causing your popping issue. If not, you will know to continue looking for a different media player.

 

[easysurfer]

An MP4 file is just a container that can hold a variety of audio and video encoding formats. Since my Dvico media player is older, it does not support many of the newer audio encoding formats (such as Dolby Digital Plus). There are also minor quirks with some encoders that cause weird pops and clicks on my media player, even though the file is technically okay. Like you, the same videos play fine in VLC on my computer.

Basically, I load the video into VideoRedo, then save it out again with the desired encoding (h.264 video, AAC audio). Nothing more to it than that. I like VideoRedo as it will only re-encode the video or audio if they are not already in the desired format. For instance, if the video is already h.264, VideoRedo simply passes it to the output file without further processing. This is much faster and doesn't cause deterioration like re-encoding would. It only converts what is needed.

There are certainly other applications you could use like Handbrake or Freemake (both free applications). I would probably experiment with one of those first, using a video you know you have trouble with to see if that is what is causing your popping issue. If not, you will know to continue looking for a different media player.

I am familiar with Handbrake. Also see there is a free trial version of VideoRedo. May have to play around with them to see what I get.

If not, right now I'm leaning towards if a files gives the the snaps and pops, and I really want to watch not on computer, there's always the convert and burn to DVD approach as I'm too cheap and lazy to look for a new TV just for this purpose.

 

[Qs Laptop]

There are certainly other applications you could use like Handbrake or Freemake (both free applications). I would probably experiment with one of those first, using a video you know you have trouble with to see if that is what is causing your popping issue. If not, you will know to continue looking for a different media player.

I use AviDemux. There is a moderate learning curve but it does what I want it to do, including passing through video or audio formats that don't need to be re-encoded. Can also resize the video so it fills a 16:9 screen.

 

[mountainsoft]

If not, right now I'm leaning towards if a files gives the the snaps and pops, and I really want to watch not on computer, there's always the convert and burn to DVD approach as I'm too cheap and lazy to look for a new TV just for this purpose.

I played another raw video on my media player this morning and ran across another problem this morning I had forgotten about. On some videos my media player will play about 5 seconds of video and freeze while the audio continues. Even though the video is already h.264 video and AAC audio, processing through VideoRedo fixes that problem too.

Some BluRay players have USB ports you could plug a flash drive in to stream videos from there.

 

[easysurfer]

I use AviDemux. There is a moderate learning curve but it does what I want it to do, including passing through video or audio formats that don't need to be re-encoded. Can also resize the video so it fills a 16:9 screen.

I played another raw video on my media player this morning and ran across another problem this morning I had forgotten about. On some videos my media player will play about 5 seconds of video and freeze while the audio continues. Even though the video is already h.264 video and AAC audio, processing through VideoRedo fixes that problem too.

Some BluRay players have USB ports you could plug a flash drive in to stream videos from there.

mountainsoft - you are right on target about trying something else to re-wrap the suspected video.

Qs Laptop - I've used AviDemux before to sync audio/video in the past. So I went ahead and used as a test, AviDemux to create from my suspected video, saving in mkv format.

Yes, the test file in mkv format surely did get rid of the pop/snap noise .

 

[mountainsoft]

mountainsoft - you are right on target about trying something else to re-wrap the suspected video.

Qs Laptop - I've used AviDemux before to sync audio/video in the past. So I went ahead and used as a test, AviDemux to create from my suspected video, saving in mkv format.

Yes, the test file in mkv format surely did get rid of the pop/snap noise .

Awesome, I'm glad it made a difference. I tried AviDemux, but still prefer VideoRedo for my needs. Whatever works best for you.

 

[easysurfer]

Awesome, I'm glad it made a difference. I tried AviDemux, but still prefer VideoRedo for my needs. Whatever works best for you.

Main reason I tried AviDemux over VideoRedo is because of familiarity and also free just to do a quick and dirty test.

Though when I have a bit more time, will probably try out the free trial of VideoRedo. I'm always game for checking out nice software.

 

[ERD50]

mountainsoft - you are right on target about trying something else to re-wrap the suspected video.

Qs Laptop - I've used AviDemux before to sync audio/video in the past. So I went ahead and used as a test, AviDemux to create from my suspected video, saving in mkv format.

Yes, the test file in mkv format surely did get rid of the pop/snap noise .

Glad this fixed it for you. But to be clear, I'm pretty sure that "mkv" is another one of those "wrappers" that contains the various audio and video files. Those files can be various types.

I'm guessing that the conversion to mkv also did something to the contained files to clean them up? Did you get any sense of that?

-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

Glad this fixed it for you. But to be clear, I'm pretty sure that "mkv" is another one of those "wrappers" that contains the various audio and video files. Those files can be various types.

I'm guessing that the conversion to mkv also did something to the contained files to clean them up? Did you get any sense of that?

-ERD50

Yeah, must have done "something." Met my satisfaction .

For some reason, the player plays nicer with mkv than MP4.

At least now I have two options when I encounter a problem child video with snapping noise. Convert to mkv or put to DVD. So, not all is lost .

 

[mountainsoft]

Main reason I tried AviDemux over VideoRedo is because of familiarity and also free just to do a quick and dirty test.
Though when I have a bit more time, will probably try out the free trial of VideoRedo. I'm always game for checking out nice software.

Same here. I've used VideoRedo for a long time to remove commercials from TV recordings, so I'm already familiar with it. That's probably a big reason I prefer it.

I have a custom utility I wrote to process videos. I dump them all in a folder, and run the utility. It cleans up the file names, determines the codecs used with MediaInfo, reprocesses the video with VideoRedo, then saves them to a new output folder. Saves me a lot of time.

 

[mountainsoft]

For some reason, the player plays nicer with mkv than MP4.

As I understand it, MKV has less "overhead" than MP4 does. However, I suspect the playback issues are caused by incorrect formatting within the file, rather than if it's an MKV or MP4 wrapper. At least for me, either format works as long as I reprocess the video to clean up the streams. I also strip out chapter marks, closed captioning, extra audio streams, and other stuff I don't need.

 

[easysurfer]

Same here. I've used VideoRedo for a long time to remove commercials from TV recordings, so I'm already familiar with it. That's probably a big reason I prefer it.

I have a custom utility I wrote to process videos. I dump them all in a folder, and run the utility. It cleans up the file names, determines the codecs used with MediaInfo, reprocesses the video with VideoRedo, then saves them to a new output folder. Saves me a lot of time.

That sounds like a nice system you have. Nothing like cleaning things up in a batch run. Sounds like you put in some work in the effort.

 

[Freedom56]

We have gone through many generations of media players:
Past:
Several Western Digital Live Media Players (discontinued and does not support 4K)

Present:

Roku Premier (plays back 4K and HD MP4 files) - You can connect your portable USB hard drive containing your media

Samsung, LG, Roku Smart TVs - Most TVs today have build in media players. You can connect your USB storage device and play back media.

The Smart TVs are a good option for playing back Mp4 files. I can even play back 10 bit color 4K video recorded in either mp4 or .mov format with my camera on my LD and Samsung TVs.

 

[DaveInMi]

Music Player, mainly MP3

I use "Media Monkey" software on my Windows computer and Android phone.
https://www.mediamonkey.com/
I spent about $3.00 upgrading the app on the phone.
Both computer and phone have bluetooth transmitters. I bought a cheap bluetooth to analog converter that plugs into my (~1983) Pioneer amplifier.
https://www.wish.com/product/blueto...eceiver-adapter-35mm-5abc8eea799e367f2a868dd9
Every once in a while, I need to recharge the converter.
Media Monkey will do MP4s and other video media, depends on how much you upgrade it, but it's cheap.
Decided to use Media Monkey on my phone after Google Play disappeared.
My friend used above hardware and software to do part time DJ work.

 

[rayvt]

Sony BDP-S6700 will play MP4 and MKV.

Main problem is that if it overheats that kinda kills it -- it works sometimes and doesn't work sometimes after that. So buy a long extended warranty and expect to get it replaced by a new one in a year or two.
Or....don't put it on top of the audio amplifier.

I used to play videos from a USB stick, but then I set up a media server (minidlna) and now play everything from that.

 

[jayanu]

I have used VLC as a media player for many years. But, TBH, PLEX and PlayOn are my usual so really haven't look for an alternative. https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Nevertheless, VLC in addition to being free, has (IMHO) any adjustment to video (and audio) that one could ask for.

Would this (image of) be what you are looking for?

View attachment 36695

I second and third VLC.
Love
Jay Shah

 

[mtshus]

Its MUCH simpler

HDMI cable from laptop to TV..... Pepper Jobs W10 GYRO Air TV Remote, QWERTY Keyboard Fly Mouse for Win 10 (Amazon $25)

BEST remote I've ever used with a WIN10 system!!

Enjoy in your lounger and don't get up except for another beer

 

[Fielding]

I'm liking my Odroid N2+ setup

I use an Odroid N2+ with 2GB ram running OpenELEC:

https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-n2-with-2gbyte-ram-2/

It looks rather raw in that picture but there's a good case you can order:

https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-n2-case-black/

For a remote I'm using an "Rii Mini i25 Multifunction Mini Wireless 2.4GHz Air Mouse Keyboard K25 Infrared Remote Control, Black (mwk25)". It's not perfect, but it's good enough, and the charge lasts forever - I've only charged it once since C19 started. There are many other choices for remotes in this little ecosystem, I stopped immediately when I hit good enough.

I play back MKVs made from 1-to-1 blu-ray rips. The player is responsive and full featured, zero issues with audio or video, and the OpenELEC software does a nice job with TV series and movie collections like sequels. Ideally you'd pair it with a NAS or network file share as I've done, but it definitely supports an external hard drive or flash drive.

I tried a raspberry pi before settling on the Odroid hardware but it had stuttering issues. Before that I was running Boxee Boxes for many years, which I really liked but which were starting finally to have compatibility issues of various kinds.

I also have a Roku I use for all commercial services.