1) HDMI 1.3 for better connectivity
2) Sigma Design SMP8635 Media Processor for better network streaming and better handling of high bit rate HD content
3) 256 MB Main Memory allows better performance, and a better user experience
4) FLAC Lossless audio playback
5) Can be configured as a NAS so that you can freely copy files from your PC or download directly to the TVIX Box

More specs and information can be found at:

TVIX Box HD M-6500A Digital Network Multimedia Player

Thanks,
Paul
http://www.tvixbox.com

Good to hear that you’re happy with it!

I looked at iTunes store to have a look if you could buy movies of the webshop, seeing as i live in Norway i could not do that yet, and still cant.

File formats, it only supported its own formats, apple formats, so that means you have to convert the movies you have from DVDs. If you want to have good quality movies it will take a great deal of time to convert them, and seeing as that the higher quality you want to have the more disk space it takes.

In essence the apple TV is limiting your flexibility and makes it quite a hassle. So much so that its not even worth it, you might just aswell use the time it takes to convert movies, transfer them to the box, hook it up look at the eye-candy interface more productive, like for instance… open the DVD cover, put the DVD in the player and … well… play it :)) … which ofc. puts you right back at square one and a couple bucks shorter.

And look at the disk space you get, its pathetic! 40 and 160. Its just a joke! To be honest i think the people that buy this thing dont have a clue really, i mean… its nice looking, front row is eye candy but thats it! Its completely useless if you look at it from the perspective of actually having something that really works the way you want it to work.

Now back to the Tvix 6500. Sure.. it has its bugs now but they are paying attention and working on the firmware and thus upgrading the thing and making it more stable. IM now in my first firmware upgrade since i bought it.

This thing is a beast! I put in a 500 GB disc in it and i have all my fav. DVDs in .iso format on it. Some divx files, some xvid files, some .mkv files and more coming in as time goes by.

I bought some blu-ray movies and extracted the movies only and made them into .mkv movies. Works perfect. Sure it stumbles at times when you ffw and rew the .mkv files but so does my PC.

.iso files (DVD copies) works like a charm. No problems what so ever so far. This thing is the best thing since sliced bread :p … and you know what? It works the way you want it to.

Only downside is that the Xbox’s hardware is too old to run native 720p content. Then again, I never download native 720p content.

Personally, I just can’t stand the hassle of burning DVDs all the time, and I regard the hard drive of the TViX as my backup.

Sébastien,

I don’t know of any hard disk player that does but, but I guess it’s bound to exist. TViX is updateable through firmware updates, for new codecs and other things.

Regarding strike: Well, you’re absolutely right. Thing is, the default WordPress supports it either way, and to me it’s such a small deal so I haven’t looked into preventing it.

vaporland,

Interesting input, thanks! I’m not sure about the sizes, and ripped DVDs work fine for me (although I haven’t double-checked the size of the files).

Hansaplast,

Absolutely, I guess a cheap computer is the other viable option.

Paul,

Great, thanks for the info!

Rick,

Good to hear! Now that you mention, I’ve heard others who are also satisified with their KISS players.

They are now owned by Linksys and some of the models are now HD compatible, have internal hard drives (although I can’t find how big they are), use a wireless network connection and support even more formats. And firmware updates keep it up-to-date. I’m thoroughly satisfied with it.

The model in this post (M-4000PA) now features optional wireless LAN and optional HDTV digital tuner and HDD recorder.

Regarding the questions about DVD integration - the TVIX Box line can store and/or play ripped CD’s and DVD’s. In addition, if you plug in an external USB DVD drive it can play supported files and unencrypted DVD’s off the DVD drive - however, it CANNOT play encrypted DVD’s this way.

If you are connected to your network via the built-in LAN or optional wireless, you can even stream SHOUTcast Internet radio direct from the web, and of course virtually every type of media from your PC, digital camera, camcorder, or external USB storage devices.

Thanks,
Paul
http://www.tvixbox.com

1) a cheap computer with plenty disks space in it running WinXP, WizD, FTP server, WAMP, etc.

2) bought 2x Avellink Player (http://www.iodata.com/) which I hooked up to my TV’s

Connected it all using wired networking, and now the “library” of movies/music is accessible in both livingroom and bedroom.

Cool part is that the Avellink Player plays pretty much any format, is compatible with WizD/Nero/etc, can play DVD’s and CD’s (regular or with AVI’s/MP3’s).

Works like a charm and the AppleTV (although it looks cool) cannot keep up with the formats …

PS: You should not allow strike if your page has a strict doctype.
is this page invalid now?
Sorry

A DVD player which also supports the same video formats you mentioned. I just burn the TV shows/Movies/etc onto the DVD as data files and I’m ready to go.

I know its not quite as handy but I don’t have to worry about running out of space or syncing the media player and my computer. Also the DVD’s serve as handy backups incase my computer hard-drive dies.