In the range of Panasonic, LG, and Sony, what is the best or most recommended Blu ray DVD player for streaming with the most smart tv features, ie. Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
In the range of Panasonic, LG, and Sony, what is the best or most recommended Blu ray DVD player for streaming with the most smart tv features, ie. Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
Basically I've never seen a Blu-Ray dvd or Tv that was acceptably fast enough to use regularly. They all drive you crazy waiting for basic tasks. Far better to use a streaming media device which can play directly to a TV or Home Theater receiver.
I included the following information from my information gathering and strictly as a consumer. I am in no way related to any of the products or companies.
The media streamers are attacking 2 markets
1. All of them attack online-streaming to some degree. Common are Netflix and Pandora and then the media streamer products all have their own agreements with other-online providers.
Since almost all new HD tvs and/or new Blue-ray's give you this functionality, you would think this is a dead end market aimed entirely at older Tv's/blue rays that don't support online-media.
2. Network streaming of music (usualy mp3) , photos (usually jpg), Videos (usually mp4 but many variations) from home computer, laptop or online storage device
to Home Theater or Tv. This is usually support for uPnp/DNLA. which also supports streaming from other sources such as iPads, iPhones, Androids. I use Mezzmo as the DLNA server. Many people complain of the server software choices of all brands when working with different combinations of products hardware and software. They all claim compatibility but no one could claim copatibility for all combinations of products used in the multitude of combinations a consumer might want to use them as. For Example, in my house we have mp3's and pictures on a PC with the Mezzmo software. We also have an IPad, a Samsung Android tablet, Android Phones and a Sony SMP-N100 media player on the network connected to my home theater. We want to display all media on any device, and use the iPad and Android devices as controllers to send stuff to the Home theater. We would also like to stream stuff from the internet to the home theater through the computer, which we haven't got working reliably yet. All of this is defined in the DNLA world but getting this combination to work has been a challenge of trial and error of many products. I am currently using Mezzmo as my central server but nothing is perfect.
I thought I was out of HDMI slots on my receiver (cable, tv, blue-ray) which influenced me originally however it turned out there our switches you can buy to expand your HDMI slots on your Video/audio Receiver
Xbox 360, PS3 are both streamers and if you have one you may not need a separate media streamer box. I've read a lot of good things about the PS3 as a DNLA device.
Seems like all products have pros and cons, and a common story is that people buy multiple brands until they find ones that do what they want them to do. I was using the Sony SMP-N100 and was happy until I upgraded Mezzmo to 2.5x. Several things not working correctly now.
# Model # Cost Desc.
1 NETGEAR NeoTV 550 Ultimate HD Media Player $169.00 Seems as good as any. Has uPnP/DNLA support as well as Requires an Open HDMI slot, no other connections available. Since
I don't have any HDMI slots avail. This won't work. but if I had the HDMI slots, it would be a serious contender.
2 WD TV Live Plus - Digital multimedia receiver $59 - $100 Plays just about every media file. Those that are happy are very happy. Cons: Firmware upgrades slow. Many complain of
complaints others don't see, such as slow network, occasionally freezes, picky as to what router and/or switchs it works with.
Has a lot of content, hulu, netflix etc. One of the best for networked streaming
HDMI and it claims it has av jacks but they look like headphone jacks to me, so must need a special cable.
3 Roku 2 XS $100 One of two best for on-line streaming, Lots of content, Including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, Crackle, and Pandora. Mostly a
device to add content to old TV, not good as a home theater streamer from other devices, 1080p
4 Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV $90 - $188 Good for on-line streaming, but not as good as a home theater streamer. Reject
5 Sony SMP-N100 - Digital multimedia receiver $65 - $80 Good feature set, not reviewed often so not much feed back. User Interface is weak. Has Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon VOD,
Pandora, and Slacker so as strong as Roku for online streaming but is also meant as a good home theater streamer (DNLA/uPnp)
Lots of ports including HDMI, and older ones to go to regular plugs on receiver, Component Video out and Not alot of codecs esp
with video. But does well with mp3s and photos. 1080p. Can get at Best Buy.
6. Apple Tv Uses IOS not uPNP. Good for online-media but won't be good for home theater streamer. May not support Android. 720p
7. D-Link Boxee $97-$190 Decent online offering Netflix, vudu, pandora and some others. Also works as a home theater streamer. 1080p Unforunately you
have to have an HDMI slot again.
All of mine are Sony BDP players. Note that they are NOT the best, Sony is a studio so makes it difficult to do dlna well. They have very limited formats that they support (i.e. no dts audio over dlna).
That being said they are consistent and since I pre transcode everything it can do it into one format and it works on all the devices.