Media players

For some time now, the electronic manufacturers have been releasing different kinds of media players. This blog post explains why they are so popular what people are looking for in media players and the future of these devices.

What is a media player?
A media player is a device which enables you to play digital content from various sources like hard disks, flash drives, a local network (LAN) or the internet on your television screen without the use of a computer. To be able to play your media files, it is important that the device supports the right codecs.

Popular or not?
Media players are very popular, that's why manufacturers are smothering the consumers with various kinds of media players. Which brings a lot of difficult choices and many differences between the devices. Should you buy one with a network connection or maybe one with Wifi, can it handle media all media files like .mkv files for full 1080p movies, is the manufacturer posting new firmwares regularly, does it accept NTFS formatted devices, is the user interface nice, what are the other possibilities with the device etc. Not only the names and functions differ, also the quality of the devices.

Are the manufacturers encouraging to download movies?
The answer is short and simple; YES! Definitely no questions about that.
The real question is not if they are silently promoting this, but what can they do to prevent this. (leave a comment with your thoughts on this). However, many manufacturers are integrating digital services like Netflix and Youtube, to expand the media possibilities of their device.

Which is the best media player?
One of the best selling media players is the Popcorn Hour, because of the many possibilities this device has to offer. The device supports .torrent files, the ability for an internal hard disk and supports almost all possible media formats. However there are other devices which are very good, one could look for the media players from Asus or Western Digital. But still my advice would be: look for a device which meets your wishes and look it up on the internet for user feedback and reviews.

Are established brands controlling the market?
Well, this question has a mixed answer, the famous brands of media players are good for a reason, however it is important that the device meet's your requirements. The brands of famous electronic manufacturers, then no brands do not stand for quality every time.
Recently Sony has entered this segment with their SMP-U10. Was it a smart move, definitely not! Where to begin? The interface is bad, people are not waiting on a simplistic device. It doesn't support NTFS formatted devices and the support for HD content (which is crucial in this day and age) is leaving a unsatisfied feeling.

So let me know which media player you own and how satisfied you are with the device.