# Recommendations for a media player?



## sfreemanoh (Jul 9, 2011)

I currently have a WD HD TV Live. I used to swear by the thing...now recently, in the last few months (and no, I haven't made any changes or updated the firmware since a previous update borked .mkv playback, which forced me to resort back to the prior update), I've been having frequent issues with it not displaying subtitles correctly (and selecting subtitles is difficult, since it only pops up the subtitle option display for 1-2 seconds, so you can't always read which subtitle option is selected). Also, it doesn't seem to always use the correct audio streams.

So, I'm looking for a possible replacement, but I'm torn as to which to get. I'm considering the following:

WD TV Live Hub - Like I said before, the previous model has been great for me for the last 2-3 years. It's played everything I've thrown at it, which is a big deal for me since I have a wide array of various video types.

Logitech Revue - Well, it's Google...and I can control it using my (hopefully soon to be shipped) Nexus 7. It's customizable, it supports media streaming and Netflix, and people that have it and use it seem to like it a lot.

A Roku box...but I know very little about them other than they seem to fairly similar to the WD media devices, and I have no clue which model would be good for me.

Requirements:
1080P
HDMI (a single connection is fine, and I don't need component or composite or anything else)
A gigabit network connection, and possibly wireless-N
Netflix support
Support for a large variety of streaming video and audio codecs
Ability to stream media off a NAS device (specifically a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+)

So...any recommendations?


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## number5toad (Sep 13, 2011)

I have two Roku boxes, they're great. they don't have native support for streaming local content, but if you're willing to install a server client on whatever box holds your media and the corresponding channel on the Roku, it works just fine. I use Plex on our network and it has yet to choke on anything I've thrown at it - with the nice bonus of being able to stream to other devices on our network (the wife's iPhone and iPad, my Thunderbolt and [hopefully soon to be shipped] Nexus 7). it supports Netflix, Hulu+ (and regular Hulu through Plex), HBO GO and Amazon VOD.

all of the models have wireless-N, but if you need it to be wired, you'll have to spring for the high end model (which is $100). if you can get by without the wire, the $79 model still does 1080p quite nicely. all models have an HDMI port, as far as I know.


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## sfreemanoh (Jul 9, 2011)

Can the Roku stream using DLNA? There's a native app for my NAS for DLNA, but not one for Plex for my NAS model that I can find.


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## number5toad (Sep 13, 2011)

Roku isn't designed for local streaming at all, so unfortunately no, it won't work using DLNA natively.

I looked around a bit and found references to people installing the Plex server on a different x86 based machine on the same network, and pointing it to the NV+ as the media library, and apparently getting good results. doesn't exactly sound like an ideal solution, but it apparently works pretty well.


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## jellybellys (Apr 3, 2012)

Used to have a roku box, but then out of nowhere, one day it decided to die. Had it for like 2 years before it broke. Looking at maybe the Nexus Q now because of the built in amplifier.


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## sfreemanoh (Jul 9, 2011)

jellybellys said:


> Used to have a roku box, but then out of nowhere, one day it decided to die. Had it for like 2 years before it broke. Looking at maybe the Nexus Q now because of the built in amplifier.


Yeah, not for $300 though...and not unless native support for streaming local network content is added. Unless if it has...maybe it's just me, but I'm still a little confused as to what the Q can actually do, other than streaming Netflix, Youtube, and Play Store audio/video content.


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