# Looking for a blue ray player/media player



## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

I'm looking for a blue ray player or HD media player which has component video output as my television does not have an HDMI port. I live in India and am considering this HD media player: 

http://www.ebay.in/itm/Intex-Media-Play...=item2a28857df9 

It plays many formats. Is it okay? Also, does AV output refer to component or composite?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You aren't likely to find any. At least none that I've seen. They aren't popular as HDMI is required for HDCP to function. The few players that used to support component output, reduced quality (to 480P I believe) if HDMI wasn't used. 480P is DVD quality, so you could save money by just using a standard DVD player.

I'm not familiar with that player. I've heard good things about the WD players, which is what I would recommend.

AV typically refers to Audio Video and consists of standard RCA outputs. Yellow composite video and red/white stereo audio.

In order of quality (lowest to highest):

Composite (yellow RCA)
COAX
S-Video
Component (red/blue/green RCA) - up to 720P
DVI/HDMI - up to 1080P


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## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

Do you think I should go for the HD player I mentioned: Intex Media Player Full HD 1080p Mini Home Cinema IT- MHP-1080 | eBay


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Choose whichever model has the features you want/need and fits your budget. As with Blu-Ray players, you aren't likely to find one that uses component output, so you aren't going to get "HD". Composite video is SD and less than DVD quality (resolution is 352x240 or something like that - DVD is 720x480).


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## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

I've found one with component video output here:

LG BD370 Bluray player +Free 240 volts Adaptor +Iron man bluray disc | eBay


My only concern is that it is capable of playing very few video formats, and .avi and .mkv are not in the list. What do you think?


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## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

In order to play .avi and .mkv files, should they be listed under "video playback formats" or "video decoding formats"?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Specs are here: LG BD370: Network Blu-ray Disc

Appears to support "avi" and "mkv". 

NOTE: As with ALL media playback devices, it isn't likely to support ALL "avi" and "mkv" files.

Note 2: Component output resolution is "up to" 1080i. Restrictions will be based on source. Not that it will matter, as if your TV doesn't have HDMI input, it likely doesn't support 1080P anyway.


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## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

> Appears to support "avi" and "mkv".


Umm.. avi isn't mentioned on the list?



> NOTE: As with ALL media playback devices, it isn't likely to support ALL "avi" and "mkv" files.


What do you mean by all avi and mkv files?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

>>DivX®/DivX HD, MPEG4 AVC, [email protected], MPEG2, [email protected], SMPTE VC1, [email protected], MPEG2, [email protected], AVCHD, MKV

DivX and avi are often used interchangeably. 


As for support, I meant exactly what I said. It will NOT play ALL avi or mkv files. If you tested 100 files, I wouldn't be surprised if 25 or more do not work.

The reason is that AVI and MKV are NOT codecs. They are containers and can contain video encoded using numerous codecs. So you can create an avi/mkv that isn't "standard". ALL formats supported by a standalone player also have limitations/restrictions on the file specs. Most notable are resolution, bitrate, and audio format. 

So lets say the player supports "AVI/Divx" with upto 1366x768 (720P) resolution, a bitrate of 1000k, and AC3 audio. If the file you try to play has a resolution of 1920x1080 (1080P), the file won't play. If the file has a bitrate of 1500k, the file won't play. You get the idea.

This applies to ALL standalone players, including the WD I recommended. It's just something to keep in mind. If/when you have trouble playing files, you will need to determine why it doesn't work, and then correct the file on your computer.


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## Akshay Dwivedi (Sep 26, 2010)

> So lets say the player supports "AVI/Divx" with upto 1366x768 (720P) resolution, a bitrate of 1000k, and AC3 audio. If the file you try to play has a resolution of 1920x1080 (1080P), the file won't play. If the file has a bitrate of 1500k, the file won't play. You get the idea.


Is there a way to convert such files so that the player can play them? Without loss of quality, that is.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Once you figure out what works, yes. There are numerous programs available to encoding video. Quality shouldn't be an issue, but will largely depend on the source file and what needs to be changed.

I was mainly bringing that up so that you are aware of it. Specs always list the file types, but the actual file specs are usually buried in the User Manual. But the more common/popular a player, the more help and information will be available when you need it.


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