Media Centre Drives
Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone could recommend me a decent media centre drive.
Thinking of buying my dad one for xmas. He saw my Media Centre PC and quite liked it how you can just select what you want and it comes on.

So im looking for one thats nice and easy for someone who isnt tech savvy to use. (He's 65!) Doesnt matter about loading data onto it. I'll do that. Im just interested in the screen navigation and using it being nice, easy, and clear.

Probably will get him a 1TB one. Should keep him quiet for a bit. And busy as he's just retired also !

So any advice on some good ones would be great!

Thanks in advance!
(Miggyman, Wed 25 Nov 2009, 23:25, 6 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I've heard good things about the
WD TV one.

Never tried it though, only one I ever bought was a cheapy from Maplin, which didn't work, so I don't recommend that.
( broadsword, Wed 25 Nov 2009, 23:29, Reply)

I've got one of these. Very happy with it. A couple of minor issues - it wont recognise my USB powered 320Gb hdd. It picks up my 1Tb mains powered drives though and 16Gb usb sticks. I find the remote a bit small but no huge deal there. Rewind is dodgy - slow, jumpy etc.

That said, I'm well pleased with it. Easy to navigate, firmware upgradable, 2 usb ports, 1 hdmi, 1 composite. Apparently you can stream to it via a bluetooth dongle.

As far as I know there are 3 models. The one in the link is the one I have. Then there is the Mini which handles less formats, and the Live can access net tv I think.

To address screen navigation - straightforward, shouldnt be a problem. I'm using a composite connection and the file names could be a little clearer but no biggie. They looked better with my mates hdmi cable.


ymmv
(XmanX captain upsetter hahahahaha, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 8:17, Reply)

Get him an Xbox 360.
They do streaming via Media Centre. If you get the Elite with a 120 GB HDD then you can put everyhting on there, and if he's got a PC in the house, set it up as a streaming extender.
(dozers, do fuck off ur a nob m8, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 0:07, Reply)

haha
Nice idea man, but a little OTT for my 65 year old father :) Plus over my budget! Im looking at a nice 100 quid jobby between my bro's! Tight buggers we are!
(Miggyman, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 16:12, Reply)

I got my mum this one for christmas.
www.ebuyer.com/product/174567

She managed to get it out of me what I was getting, and isn't happy, so I said "OK, no probs, we'll count this as something I've brought for myself that I just happen to leave here, and i'll get you something else".

Mum doesn't currently have any kind of DVD player, so I thought it would be great, and I can bung a whole load of xvid/divx stuff on there for her, so she can catch up with Heroes, House, Lost and all her other faves.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 3:06, Reply)

Surely thats just a blu ray player rather than a media whatsamajig
so to play divx / xvid stuff you'd need to bung it on an optical disk of some description first. Which is a pain in the arse. Unless I've missed something.
( broadsword, Thu 26 Nov 2009, 3:52, Reply)