I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to view HD quality downloads on my big screen HDTV. I have memberships at Videobox, ElegantAngel.com, and 21Sextury.com and all of them offer supposed HD quality downloads. I found some information on this thread over here: TopicIs this the best way to go? What are other people doing? Edited by - Porn Scout on Dec 29 2012
A media player is a great option. If you're able to run Ethernet cable from your router to the Media Player, then it would make sense to get a media player that is network capable. That way you don't have to bother copying files from your computer to the hard drive that you use with the media player. I have a hard-wired WDTV Live media player (the older version). The current version has built-in Wifi. I don't know how well that works for High-Def content. I would go hard-wired if possible.
If your computer has and HDMI out on the back you can connect it to the HD TV with an HDMI cable. The TV then becomes a monitor and you can control the videos with your keyboard or mouse which works alot better than the remote controls the media players come with. The videos I have downloaded from Elegant Angel look incredible on an HD TV. Edited by - RichK on 12/29/2012 10:01:56 PM
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jan 12 2013 : 11:16PM
My solution to this was to buy a Roku 2 XS. So far, it's working pretty well. One downside is that it doesn't play .wmv files. But overall, performance seem to be pretty good. I've had one issue with one particular download from 21Sextury.com, something in the encoding of the file isn't quite right. It's viewable, but choppy.
Most media players won't play .wmv files unless they are WMV-3 Video/WMV-2 Audio. If you come across WMV2 video and/or WMV Pro audio files, you can reencode them to the proper specs using the Microsoft Expression Encoder. You can use Mediainfo to see the detailed specs of video files.
DVDs are not HD. HD is a general term that applies to a wide range of video resolutions. If you have an HDMI output port on your computer, that's the most straight forward approach. Otherwise, a media player with an HDMI output will work. Be careful to check the file formats on any media player you purchase to make sure it plays the file format you want. You don't want to have to convert every file you download into a compatible format. If your TV is wifi compatible, you may be able to stream to your TV without an HDMI cable. I stream from laptop to iPad because it's so portable.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jan 16 2013 : 12:40AM
You actually misquoted me. That was something RandomPrecision mentioned on another thread. I probably should have edited it down for clarity.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jan 16 2013 : 12:45AM
That the Roku doesn't play .wmv files isn't really a problem. It seems like the standard file format for HD downloads is either .mp4 or .mkv. If I do need to downloada a .wmv file, I can use handbrake to convert the file format. I would like to know what to do about these 21Sextury downloads. If anyone on here has a subscription, I'd be interested in comparing notes. I emailed their customer service and they responded, but weren't helpful. There's obviously something wrong in the encoding if some of the downloads play perfectly, but others don't.
^Try mediainfo, as Bill suggested, to get an analysis of the problematic files. It could be that the Roku is just incompatible with those particular files. It's not uncommon for a website to change their video encodings from time to time, for various reasons. 21Sextury likely is using several different encodings; some if them are compatible with the Roku, some of them are incompatible with the Roku. That'd be my guess. Have you tried playing the troublesome files on a computer or on something other than the Roku? Edited by - ninja1 on 1/17/2013 7:24:26 PM
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jan 18 2013 : 9:32PM
The files seem to work fine on my 6-month old windows PC. I'll check out mediainfo. I must have missed that from Bill.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09
Posted - Jan 20 2013 : 11:18PM
MediaInfo is awesome to see all encoding parameters and more. I use VLC Media Player most of the time. Sometimes K-Lite's Media Player Classic cause of it's GUI and small footprint.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Jan 30 2013 : 11:33PM
I installed Mediainfo and it looks like it somehow got bundled with something called "AVG Toolbar", which I have no idea how to get rid of.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09
Posted - Feb 4 2013 : 10:38PM
MediaInfo is one of those freeware programs (like CCleaner) that has a lite version where no ad-aware programs/tools are supposed to install with MediaInfo (no toolbars or other crapware programs) - in addition to the regular program with bundled crap. I always avoid crapware and look for lite programs (Adobe Shockwave used to release a lite plugin installer atone point). MediaInfo Lite 0.7.61
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Mar 2 2013 : 3:26AM
I tried a different Media Player called the Micca Speck. I read some good reviews on Amazon and it seemed worth trying out. Unfortunately, no luck with the 21Sextury HD Videos, so that's too bad. They actually played worse on this device than they do on the Roku. So, I'll return the device I suppose.
^Did mediainfo reveal what is the encoding of the problematic HD videos? I suggest you have that info at hand when shopping for the next player. Or, consider another approach. Convert the offending files to a Roku-compatible format. It will be time-consuming (requires lots of computer processing time/power), especially for large filesizes. You could make that an overnight task for your computer, or delegate the job to that spare/old/forgotten computer you might have lying around. Format Factory is one software which can do the job, though I am sure there are others available. Edited by - ninja1 on 3/3/2013 11:29:29 AM
Whenever I have a problem playing back a file, I just re-encode it. Some companies used to have bitrates that are too high for some media players. In some cases, the files just contain errors that a PC can handle, but a media player can't. For .wmv files, you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder, which will create WMV-3 (aka VC-1) files, which are the type of .wmv files that most media players can play (use regular WMA audio, not WMA Pro). For MP4 files, I use Handbrake.
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Porn Scout Deactivated User
3735 Posts 10/02
Posted - Mar 4 2013 : 3:05AM
I guess reencoding is the next step. I was really hoping to avoid having to go that far.
^Re-encoding is the simplest, cheapest and most reliable solution. No media player will do every format you run across. And you can't predict what different formats the various video sites will decide to use. Having the ability to re-encode puts you in the driver's seat. Edited by - ninja1 on 3/5/2013 12:06:48 PM
Reencoding is easy. With both Expressions Encoder and Handbrake, you can create a queue of files to reencode (each can have its own attributes (resolution, bitrate, etc...)) and run the encode processes overnight, unattended.
Sexy Brunette Fucks Her Accountant - review by Danielmayu33216
Posted - Dec 29 2012 : 5:17PM
