Media drives any good?

[Pob]

Usual problem - recording too much and my hard drive getting rather full - and now I am using GBPVR I like having everything available rather then archived onto discs...
So started looking at external USB2 backup drives. (Great prices now like £69 for a 500gb Freecom 7200rpm 16mb cache - which is cheaper then a 500gb internal OEM drive!)
But I then stumbled across media drive enclosures. For not much more than a normal USB2 external enclosure, you get the ability to connect the drive up to any TV or monitor. It just seems such a good idea - all the benefits of an external drive and, when required, disconnect it and take it to friends or family to watch whatever...
So the question is, anyone with experience of these, and if so can you confirm they will play shows recorded by GBPVR?

I really want to keep the price down, and this is the one I was really interested in, perhaps paired with a 300gb drive, as it is only about twice the price of a basic 3.5" enclosure:
http://svp.co.uk/product/sumvision_aquap...osure_4482
But then also found these other contenders:
http://svp.co.uk/product/sumvision_zengo...order_4773
http://svp.co.uk/product/freecom_network...o_hd)_4198
And here is one with a 320gb drive already installed http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Modu...1&doy=9m11
And there are others around...any thoughts much appreciated
Pob

[jh61408]

Hi, I have Dvico Media Player and it will just about play anything. Formats played :.avi, .wmv, .mpg, .iso .vob, .ifo, .mp4, .asf, .tp, .trp, .ts, .m2ts, .mov(H.264),MKV.
Also MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, PCM, M4A, AC3,FLAC, WAV.
It has a enclosed SATA Hard drive. I use it for HD media Files.
I am not sure if this is what you are looking for but from the SumVision player i would say this would be a fit.

[Pob]

Hi, I have Dvico Media Player and it will just about play anything. Formats played :.avi, .wmv, .mpg, .iso .vob, .ifo, .mp4, .asf, .tp, .trp, .ts, .m2ts, .mov(H.264),MKV.
Also MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, PCM, M4A, AC3,FLAC, WAV.
It has a enclosed SATA Hard drive. I use it for HD media Files.
I am not sure if this is what you are looking for but from the SumVision player i would say this would be a fit.

Thanks for the info - this is the only enclosure I've seen that plays high-def content, and that has a digital DVI output- all the others seem to have a 720*576 lmit, even though they then upscale this to 720p/1080i
And certainly the Dvico TviX supports the most file types.
But at a price! The empty enclosure seems to start at about £129!
Seeing as I started out just looking for extra storage for GBPVR, this may be going over the top. I am still amazed though - until I stumbled across media drive enclosures I did'nt know anything like this existed...Suprised more people are not using them.
Pob

[jh61408]

Yea, They are a bit pricey but for what they do you can't find anything like it. By the way
it has HDMI output not DVI. They play the MKV files flawless. DD,DTS output also. The only problem with them at the moment is they will not show subtitles that are encoded on the file but they are aware of the problem and working on it.

[Pob]

Yea, They are a bit pricey but for what they do you can't find anything like it. By the way
it has HDMI output not DVI. They play the MKV files flawless. DD,DTS output also. The only problem with them at the moment is they will not show subtitles that are encoded on the file but they are aware of the problem and working on it.

It's quite exciting that there are other ways of getting PC media onto a TV - any look at the forums shows the problems we can have, getting a decent picture from the ATI and Nvidia cards.
Back in the days when video cards had 'proper' TV-out chips like Philips and Connexant, you had to use third-party tools to get them to work well as ATI's and Nvidia's implementations were so poor. Then Nvidia ditched the dedicated chips and made TV-out a component of their own GPU (NV12) - but they refused to release any info about the chip so the third-party programs no longer worked. I think their obsession is DRM, and the quality of media viewing from their cards comes a poor second.
Going by the file support of the Tvix, DRM does not seem to be a concern for them!
Pob

[jh61408]

You are quite right, It seems if you want to play back a media file it is dominated by DRM, But it is not completely saturated by it. As i think most people are growing tired of the restrictions you get with them. But that is a whole different matter. I really like the Dvico Media player as it very portable and easy setup. plus the Firmware updates are very good.They have addressed many issues that have plagued some the first players that came out. Their are some times too many new gadgets to keep up with.

[Pob]

I got the Maplin one in the end - £92 inc delivery using the £7off £100 voucher.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Modu...1&doy=9m11
Although it does not play high-def files, and does not have a digital output, I have to say I'm impressed. It functions like any external hard drive, powering itself up when windows starts, and going into standby when the PC shuts off.
As soon as the PC shuts down, or you disconnect the USB cable, it's video outputs become active. Using component it upscales eveything to 720p and the picture is great on my LCD. Also tried using the RGB scart output on my CRT TV and the picture is as good as my DVD/DivX player
Come to think of it, it must use a chipset very like a DVD player that plays DivX, as it plays exactly the same file types - complete ripped DVD's, individual VOB's, DivX and XviD, mpeg 1 & 2. No jerkiness during playback either, and it plays GBPVR recordings!
Anyway the main purpose was storage and have taken all my archived stuff off discs now - so I have a massive library available through GBPVR:-)
Pob

[jh61408]

Yea, That was one the reasons i bought one was for play back of any file i had. And it was portable. As most people don't have the set up to play them it makes it very convenient to play the media file i have. I am surprised that you don't see them more often in stores, But stores like best buy and CC are more interested in Big TV's as it seems 1/2 the store are big screen tv's. I guess that is where the money is these days and they are going to sell what is the most profitable.

Jim