OT Media Players

Spectralis wrote on 8/4/2016, 2:06 PM
I create video installations and one of the biggest headaches is trying to find a reliable media player that will maintain a HDMI connection with a projector and loop media files seamlessly for long periods without any stuttering or other glitches.

I've tried Bluray players but many of them are unable to seamlessly loop files whether they are on Bluray disk or USB stick. I've tested many Bluray players and none seem able to do this. In my experience Android/Kodi media players/streamers are also unreliable because either the processor or ram isn't able to cope with HD files reliably or they randomly lose connection with the projector. They're also very fussy about which codecs they support. I've been using the Sumvision MiniPC, a Win 10 PC, with VLC player. This is very reliable, supports virtually any codec but isn't very practical as an instant on/off solution to playing files.

Does anyone have any advice about or experience of using media players for video installation?

Comments

Former user wrote on 8/4/2016, 2:21 PM
These are the players our company uses for most video installations

[url=https://www.brightsign.biz/]
Spectralis wrote on 8/4/2016, 2:34 PM
Thanks, they look very sturdy and reliable players. I've also looked at the DullTech player but both of these options are a bit beyond my budget atm. I'm hoping to find a player in the £100/$150 price range.
DrLumen wrote on 8/4/2016, 6:57 PM
You could use a raspberry pi with vlc loaded and put a script that autoruns at boot.

intel i-4790k / Asus Z97 Pro / 32GB Crucial RAM / Nvidia GTX 560Ti / 500GB Samsung SSD / 256 GB Samsung SSD / 2-WDC 4TB Black HDD's / 2-WDC 1TB HDD's / 2-HP 23" Monitors / Various MIDI gear, controllers and audio interfaces

Spectralis wrote on 8/4/2016, 9:07 PM
I looked into the Raspberry Pi 3 which has 1GB RAM shared with the GPU. I'm not confident that it'll playback HD or possibly 4k smoothly for extended periods of time. Many of the Kodi media players now have better processors, 2GB RAM and claim to be 4k ready but they aren't always reliable either. I've no experience of the Raspberry Pi so I'm not sure how reliable it is.