HD media player

HD media player or HDD media player (HDMP) is a generic term used for a category of consumer product that combines a hard drive (HD) enclosure with hardware and software for playing audio, video and photos through a home entertainment system. It can be used either as a conventional external hard drive, or to play computer-based media files through external media devices without the need for a separate computer.

Market niche

The popularity of MP3 players means that many people have large collections of MP3 files that cannot be played on a conventional HiFi without proper hookups, while the popularity of digital cameras means that many people also have large collections of photographs in formats such as JPEG. Many computer users also download media files from the Internet.

File formats, resolutions and file systems

HDMPs can usually play H.264 (SD and HD), MPEG-4 Part 2 (SD and HD), MPEG-1, MPEG-2 .mpg, MPEG-2 .TS, VOB and ISO images video, with PCM, MP3 and AC3 audio tracks. They can also display images (such as JPEG and PNG) and play music files (such as MP3 and Ogg).

Some devices can be updated to play in new formats.

Recordings from standard resolution TV usually have 720p.

File systems

DVR usually can play FAT32 filesystems, although some others can read NTFS.

Facilities

HD media players are usually designed for compactness and affordability, and tend to have small or non-existent hardware displays. File navigation is usually performed with an infrared remote control, with visual feedback supplied through a connected television set or liquid crystal display.

The devices are not usually able to play CDs or DVDs directly (if they can, are called combo devices), and require a user to convert these media into playable files using a separate computer and software (VOB and ISO images). They are also not usually capable of recording audio or video (if they can, are called multimedia recorders).

Units are sometimes sold as "empty shells" to allow the user to fit their own choice of hard drive (some can manage unlimited hard disk capacity and other only a certain capacity, i.e. 500 GB), and the same model is sometimes available with or without an internal hard drive fitted.

HD media players and recorders can be included in DVB receivers (sometimes in a SCART device) and TV sets with a USB port.

Computer connectivity is usually via USB 2.0, FireWire, Composite, Optical Audio & Video, HDMI, and Ethernet ports and more and more models also have inbuilt wireless connectivity (WiFi and Bluetooth). WiFi HD media players are called telewifis.

See also

• DVD Player
• Digital audio player
• Digital media receiver
• Digital video recorder (HD media recorder)
• HD form factors
• In car entertainment
• Media player
• Transcoding
• USB host
• USB flash drive

References

External links

• iboum.com - HD Media Player Comparison Grid
• hdmediaplayers.co.uk - UK HD Media Players Comparison Grid