The Oct 2019 - Oct 2021 Out?

[deadlegion]

Rocking caps until they snap off is a common thing to do with original Xbox clock caps.

[Slacker Magician]

Thanks for the advice .

[deadlegion]

could you use one as a digital media player with HDMI out?

You can get cheap media players, even an old WD TV would do and they don't really die.
You might find one in electrical recycling, psu for one is easy (same 12v as most external HDD's) and you can get clone remotes online really cheap.
I still use one of those for some files with older codecs that my tv doesn't support, I have both a genuine remote and a clone.

[Grouch]

You can get cheap media players, even an old WD TV would do and they don't really die.
You might find one in electrical recycling, psu for one is easy (same 12v as most external HDD's) and you can get clone remotes online really cheap.
I still use one of those for some files with older codecs that my tv doesn't support, I have both a genuine remote and a clone.

so whats a good cheap brand?

[Slacker Magician]

Rocking caps until they snap off is a common thing to do with original Xbox clock caps.

I should probably open up all my Xboxes and remove those.

[Slacker Magician]

so whats a good cheap brand?

WD is Western Digital. The one he mentioned is about $20 - $30 used if you're patient.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD_TV

The wiki article mentions that they're hackable.

[Grouch]

WD is Western Digital. The one he mentioned is about $20 - $30 used if you're patient.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WD_TV

The wiki article mentions that they're hackable.

ok. I just checked amazon and seen some non-wd ones running $30-$35 new.

[deadlegion]

Couple of pics...


SAM_0006.jpgSAM_0007.jpg


Remote on the left is genuine, right remote is Chinese clone.
The unit has 2x USB inputs but they're only USB 2.0 (one is on the side), doesn't really matter though imo.
Has DTS decoder onboard and you can output that audio transcoded so it's compatible with your TV (if that can't decode).
No wifi but has network port, I never use it.
Mine is still stock.
I've used it with 4TB HDD's and smaller ones than that, both USB2 & 3.

Upscaling for the unit isn't as good as say PS3 DVD upscaling but it's quite ok for something old that was never super expensive.
As I said these are really well made imo. We've had a few of them in work from time to time and they always test ok and sell (we don't put much on them, like $20 iirc).

[deadlegion]

ok. I just checked amazon and seen some non-wd ones running $30-$35 new.

Careful of the cheap generic Chinese junk. They usually run android and are pretty shit. I have one here somewhere and it's hopeless
I could maybe hack that but can't be bothered. My TV's capabilities combined with WD TV for odd stuff covers everything except x265, I don't have a solution for that atm.

[Grouch]

Careful of the cheap generic Chinese junk. They usually run android and are pretty shit. I have one here somewhere and it's hopeless
I could maybe hack that but can't be bothered. My TV's capabilities combined with WD TV for odd stuff covers everything except x265, I don't have a solution for that atm.

yeah a couple that I looked at were running android. the WD tv gen 2 sounds perfect for me I was using my ps3 with movian it ran everything I threw at it(though I never tried running anything that was subbed)

[deadlegion]

Looking a the wiki it seems mine is a 1st gen WD TV Live. First model with proper 1080p.
So yeah it's pretty old

Edit:
Actually, it must be 2nd gen
I know it decodes DTS and then I send it as stereo to my tv.

[deadlegion]

Nope, checked the serial and it's definitely WD TV Live 1st gen.
So yeah, 1080p with DTS decoding but no wifi. Seems like you might be able to use some USB wifi sticks but I've never read about that before.

[Grouch]

any other brands I could look for that'd be good?

[deadlegion]

yeah a couple that I looked at were running android. the WD tv gen 2 sounds perfect for me I was using my ps3 with movian it ran everything I threw at it(though I never tried running anything that was subbed)

With the model I have there might be issues with recent codec variants, it makes sense if you think about it.
But any files like that play fine on my tv anyway so it isn't an issue for me. As I said I only use it for old files.
This is just with stock OS anyway.

If you hack it then I'm sure that would add more recent compatibility, but iirc x265 decoding is something that should be simply beyond the capability of the hardware.

[deadlegion]

any other brands I could look for that'd be good?

Anything really good is probably going to cost more than Pi.
Honestly imo if you're going to spend $100usd or more then maybe look at a tv and put the money towards that? They have all had media players for years and only have issues with old codecs.