[LarrxX]

I'm looking to buy a dedicated box for using Kodi to play videos from an SMB share (through WiFi) and also be able to directly pop in a BluRay disc and play it.

3D/4K is definitely not required, but it is mandatory to have 5.1 audio and a remote control (IR or Bluetooth).

Do I have to build a mini PC from scratch to be able to do this, or are there any "ready to go" alternatives out there?

And in a perfect world, I'd like to pay sub 200€ if that's at all possible

Is that even possible or is it an unattainable dream?

[juramusger]

I was wondering myself just last week and opened a thread about building this myself. Concerning price, I arrived at about € 350 but that included a big case for € 85 which I'd like to fit with my receiver.
Before I have continually checked prebuilt devices but none of interest were released in the last years as far as I could see. It seems optical media is on the way out (and I seriously doubt UHD-Bluray will change this).
As for people like us, I'm also still hoping for more input from the community, but am again leaning towards just buying a dedicated BDP in addition to my Kodi solution.
(Cheap BDPs cost around the same as just the drive for an HTPC, and players for 4x that money are reported to be just as loud and prone to break as the cheapest.)

[LarrxX]

That's what I was afraid of... I was hoping to get an all-in-one solution, but I guess I'm going to have buy a "Kodi Box" and keep my PS3 for Blu-Rays

[juramusger]

that's what I should've done, Iwouldn't have to choose between all those crappy BDPs now.

[ozkhan1]

that's what I should've done, Iwouldn't have to choose between all those crappy BDPs now.

If you want just a plain vanilla BD players, there are some pretty nice ones out there, especially 3 D ones, which would probably do a better job than PS3.

I like some of the newer ones that are coming out. They are small, efficient and can meld in nicely with your chromebox or HTPC.

[LarrxX]

Everyone keeps going on about Chromeboxes and RPi, but I don't see much talk of Android boxes. Why pay more for a Chromebox, or go through the hassle of building a RPi rig when there are affordable Android boxes with all the bells and whistles for relatively low prices? Where's the catch? What's wrong with the MX3 for example?

[ozkhan1]

Everyone keeps going on about Chromeboxes and RPi, but I don't see much talk of Android boxes. Why pay more for a Chromebox, or go through the hassle of building a RPi rig when there are affordable Android boxes with all the bells and whistles for relatively low prices? Where's the catch? What's wrong with the MX3 for example?

Android has several limitations which Linux based HTPCs do not. You can look it up on the Wiki, I am sure you will find details. Also I dont think any decent Android box can beat RPI 2 ON PRICE.

I would much rather go for FireTV or Shield TV over MX3, by the way. Only reason I would go android is if I want Netflix or other apps and they dont work that well on Chinese boxes.

[Deucehearts]

I have built a similar device for myself. I am able to stream all my media to it as well as pop in a Blu-ray or DVD when I choose to. I built my computer for about $500 5 or 6 years ago. Blu-ray drives were $150-200 at this time. I think today you could build a device (AMD) for about 250€. Blu-ray can be found significantly less now. I do use this Blu-ray drive about twice a month to watch movies on physical media (not much, but worth it to me).

[nickr]

Why not a chromebox and an external usb bluray player?

[wrxtasy]

I would spend money on a NAS and forget about this Pipedream of BluRay inclusion in an all in one media player box.
It will cost you a fortune for little benefit.
Just rip the BD's to .iso's on a high capacity NAS and get a good Kodi media player to network to it.
Easier to setup.
Less stress and you can send either device back if it fails under warranty.

[Topken]

Why not a chromebox and an external usb bluray player?

Likely becuase getting blu-ray disc playback in linux is a headache right now and I would rather go with something like the BI320 or HP Stream Mini running Windows with the formentioned external Bluray drive. Getting disc playback via windows is so much easier then it is via linux/openelec. Linux is fine if you are streaming the videos over the network or via a drectly connected hdd.

[nickr]

Yeah my point was a small box with external player really. Which small box doesn't matter too much although I take your point about win/Lin.

Personally though I go with the rip to server option.

Sometimes it'd nice to take an all in 1 box on holiday and know you can plug it into the hotel tv and hire a bluray from the shop down the road.

[Topken]

I personally use MakeMKV to rip all my blura movies to mkvs that can be played back perfectly fine via KODI/Openelec.

I use MakeMKV so i get the best possible quality file from the disc. I can then use a different program to encode that file to if need be for playback on other equipment that might not handle the full quality rip. Such as compressing movies to take on vacation for example. so I can fit more onto the tablet/laptop.

[juramusger]

I'm piggybacking on this thread now because my own from last week, linked above and pretty much about the same topic, didn't garner much attraction.

that's what I should've done, Iwouldn't have to choose between all those crappy BDPs now.

If you want just a plain vanilla BD players, there are some pretty nice ones out there, especially 3 D ones, which would probably do a better job than PS3.

I like some of the newer ones that are coming out. They are small, efficient and can meld in nicely with your chromebox or HTPC.

That's what I thought when I sold my PS3 which didn't get used for playing games anymore because I don't have the time. I have since read so many reviews and just about every player in the reasonable price range seems to be plagued by drive noise lottery and/or highly unstable firmware. Any recommendations from personal use?

I would spend money on a NAS and forget about this Pipedream of BluRay inclusion in an all in one media player box.
It will cost you a fortune for little benefit.
Just rip the BD's to .iso's on a high capacity NAS and get a good Kodi media player to network to it.
Easier to setup.
Less stress and you can send either device back if it fails under warranty.

I totally get the "two devices won't probably break the same week" argument. But I, and I guess some others, don't have a NAS or a PC with a drive to begin with and might not want or need one. The attraction of the AIO box vs a dedicated BDP for me also comes from the opportunity to rip discs on it in addition to being able to just pop them in and play them spontaneously.

I have built a similar device for myself. I am able to stream all my media to it as well as pop in a Blu-ray or DVD when I choose to. I built my computer for about $500 5 or 6 years ago. Blu-ray drives were $150-200 at this time. I think today you could build a device (AMD) for about 250€. Blu-ray can be found significantly less now. I do use this Blu-ray drive about twice a month to watch movies on physical media (not much, but worth it to me).

Since you seem to be the only one in the thread living the pipe dream:
Are you still satisfied?
Are you using commercial software for playback under Windows or do you go the MakeMKV hackery route?
$ 200 seems hard from my (see my thread) investigations. I arrived at € 350 without software licences. the internal drives, while a bit cheaper than USB-external ones go for around € 70 in my country (including tax, of course).

[ozkhan1]

I have tried this route and I did not enjoy it.. only way you can get it to work is if you use windows and honestly using windows as os for your htpc with an external blu ray player with software comes with a lot if hassle and maintenance.

I tried it with a windows mac mini and external blu ray for almost a year and then gave up and went the openelec nuc route. I watch blu ray disks maybe once or twice a month. Bought a samsung blu ray player for around a 100 and it has been working fine.