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An update in case anyone was interested. I managed to get on of the
Hisense units (MP800H) for $50 off TradeMe so thought it was worth
getting to experiment. After a bit of playing around with MythTV
recorded HD samples, and a firmware update, here are my conclusions:<br>
<br>
Pros:<br>
Very quiet and power efficient front end (apparently <18W but I
didn't measure)<br>
Cheap :-)<br>
Plays TV3 and TVNZ HD very well, no artifacts, sound was fine (analog,
HDMI or optical SPDIF). No issue with MPEG2 from DVB-S or PVR350.<br>
Even played the AVCHD lite video files from my Panasonic TZ7 (ZS3)<br>
Works off SMB network shares or uPnP<br>
Runs embedded Linux, so in theory at least should be
expandable/flexible in features<br>
<br>
Cons:<br>
<br>
No myth frontend scheduling, recording categories, deleting files etc<br>
Playing off SMB shares, it won't read symbolic links (eg the pretty
directory, but tv & video recordings are otherwise fine)<br>
Playing off uPnP, it can't jump in time, REW, or FFW beyond 2x. Didn't
work with Myth uPnP but FUPPES was OK.<br>
No jump during playback (eg 30s forward, or 10s back)<br>
<br>
The last point is pretty much a killer for me right now. Assuming I
find a way around the symbolic links issue (any ideas?), it is possible
to FFW up to 32x, or jump to specific times in the file, but it really
sucks compared to just skipping forward a few times to get past
adverts. As a second frontend it would be fine for occasional use but
not something I think I could use every night. Worth noting also that
it only has HD outputs (HDMI/component). The remote is pretty basic but
apparently easily replaced with a Harmony programmable (the Hisense
unit is in the database) or other learning remote.<br>
<br>
There is thread <a
href="http://www.avforums.com/forums/streamers-network-media-players/1091137-hisense-media-player.html">here</a>
which is quite interesting and suggests the possibility of further
non-official development of the firmware.<br>
<br>
Nick & Ann Read wrote:
<blockquote class="cite" id="mid_4B822F3E_5070900_engineer_com"
cite="mid:4B822F3E.5070900@engineer.com" type="cite">Hi all<br>
<br>
Has anyone had experience or recommendations in connection with using a
media player box as an alternative to a Myth frontend? The reason I ask
is that I have an HD TV and can easily pick up DVB-T broadcasts, but
would need a fairly major hardware upgrade to my mythbox to be able to
play HD. It strikes me that I can keep my existing box as a dedicated
backend with the additon of a DVB-T tuner and just use a media player
as a frontend.<br>
<snip><br>
One unit which looks very interesting is the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.expansys.co.nz/d.aspx?i=188892">Hisense</a> unit. For
$125 plus shipping ($191 all up) you get an HD ready frontend. It
appears to cope with H.264 and uses PnP to pick up media. Would prefer
it if there was an SMB share facility but perhaps PnP will do?</blockquote>
<br>
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