jk1002 wrote:

Personally I don't understand the hype around the Tvix player .... Hacked Apple TV or if budget allows the Mac Mini gives you so much more.

Why can't you understand the hype?

No connectivity problems. HDMI - HDMI, the cables are available everywhere.

Trow in any video format you wish including HD and the TVIX will play it in its native resolution.

Picture quality is not really an issue with these cheap players, supported with 1,5 TB.

And on top of that, the TVIX is PUC-controlled.

If you are looking for a dedicated video-player, I can see no advantage with a Mac Mini.

Completely agree with DoubleU. I had a mac mini connected to my BV7-40. To control it via Beo4 with the six button Apple Remote functions was very annoying. No linkroom sound or picture, no standby mode. Not very media player like, too much computer.....

So I replaced it with a Tvix 6500. Easy to install, easy to control. Standby mode, HDMI for picture and sound, sound for linkroom use out of the box, can play two HD movies simultaneously (!),first via HDMI on my BV7-40, second wireless on my macbook.

Just replaced Tvix with an LG BD 390 Blu-Ray/Media player. PUC controled, 3 minutes install, very fast startup (!!), direct linkroom sound AND picture, can play Blu-Rays (didn´t want to pay 1000 Euros for the BV7 BR player upgrade...!) and HD movies via USB and network, integrated wlan, DD True HD, DTS HD decoding, You Tube feature, BD live, sw updates via internet ....  240.- Euros.

Stefan

DoubleU wrote:

jk1002 wrote:

Personally I don't understand the hype around the Tvix player .... Hacked Apple TV or if budget allows the Mac Mini gives you so much more.

Why can't you understand the hype?

No connectivity problems. HDMI - HDMI, the cables are available everywhere.

Trow in any video format you wish including HD and the TVIX will play it in its native resolution.

Picture quality is not really an issue with these cheap players, supported with 1,5 TB.

And on top of that, the TVIX is PUC-controlled.

If you are looking for a dedicated video-player, I can see no advantage with a Mac Mini.

 

I haven't been able to get a single movie to play on my store unit. Tried and tried then got the answer it was not Mac compatible (some on here said it was, which I believe). Finally loaded with a PC and the files won't play. Maybe my HD is formatted incorrectly, but the box automatically formats the internal hard disk (after the user installs it themselves!). I lost interest and put it back in the box. I have to much to do to spend another afternoon screwing with it. 

All in all the Tvix box is not only not worth the hype, but the least user friendly media box I've ever come across and there is no support in the US. It requires more knowledge than should ever be required to watch a movie on your couch and is, in a nutshell, everything that 's wrong with the current state of digital media. 

EDIT: And also, by the time you buy the box & the hard drive you could buy a basic Mac Mini! Much better set top box and all with the famous Mac ease of use and support.

I use a mac mini as I found the apple tv just too limited in it's original setup and hacking it is just a temp. patch to extend it's limited functionality.

The mac mini (not the latest model !!) is being used as a dedicated mediacenter connected wirelessly to a nas. I have tried xmbc which I didn't really like and boxee which is just aggravating, so I tried plex which did it for me. Beautiful interface, easy to use, doesn't crash. My wife likes it very much as well and has no problem with it .....

I do agree a little more work is involved to rip/catalog movies etc. But the mac and plex are handling 2TB of data brilliantly.

I use the mini also to rip movies with Mactheripper. (Way easier than handbrake)

I have been demoed both tvix and kaleidascape solutions. The mac imo is the more versatile solution till someone will actually come up with something better...

And what about Axonix® MediaMax ? See this comparison:

Aside from several points on that comparison being false, it doesn't mention the inferior service, less elegant interface, and that it's not that tremendous a savings by the time you make a serious investment. 

A pretender to the throne. 

I had no problems setting up a tvix for a friend of mine. Same goes for the +100.000s other users in the rest of the world, I guess. Even B&O is supporting this player. Now why would that be? Maybe your harddisk was an exception to be compatible with your tvix. Don’t know.

Anyway, I use a Popcorn myself, and have it setup like a kaleidescape. A lot of work, I admit but it was fun. But after setting it up that way, I found out I'm only interested in watching my movies and series, than watching the user interface. I have no problems anymore in browsing text files. I know what movie I am going to watch and don’t need the info and covers about the movie. It is the content what is important for me. 😕

Besides that, a movie is something you gonna watch once, few exceptions maybe, so for me a Kaleidescape with its wonderful UI is certainly not worth the hype, IMO.

My next upgrade is probarly going to be a Dune BD Prime when it's available.

Looks solid and has a BR-player.

I'm using a tvix 6500 since some three months. Total acquisition price inl 1.5TB HD: EUR 399, which is not to bad at all imo.
Installation of the HD took less than 2 minutes, very simple just connect a cable and push it into the disktray.

My wife converted all DVD's (and that says something, as she already has to call me on how to restart the pc ;-).
She used AnyDVD, which automatically removes any copy-right protection and annoying pre-movies, to rip the dvd's in one click. After ripping all CDs just start up My Moviies and it found almost all of the album info and album covers automatically. Very simple.

After that, just connected the tvix thru HDMI to the BV7 and there it goes!

The userinterface is very simple as far as I consider (in Icon mode), Even my little son of a little over three years old uses it intuitively. The tvix itselves looks ok (sure its not B&O) but it is small and can easily be hidden away. I wish B&O would offer a solution like this, but for me its one of the best things I bought (of which my wife did not see the need of) in years.

Very convenient, good UI and affordable.

and on top of it: it comes with a ftp server build in, so I can access it from everywhere in the world on my pc to see the movies.

Beoaddict (or anybody else),

Maybe silly question but:

How did you get the ripped DVD's/CD's from the place you ripped them (your PC/laptop ?) in to the Divx ?

As I`m a mac user I ripped my DVDs with Mac the Ripper and transferred them via network to my Tvix - works also wireless but takes a lot of time.

Stefan