I have the opportunity, in a trendy retail space, to have a small 1' x 1' cube (shelf space Ikea style) for showing our work to potential clients. I wanted to put a small media player of some sort that would show off our work in HD (720p). I would like to accomplish this with a "bang for the buck" approach. Any ideas?

I just bought the WD live (you can get the non-network capable one for cheaper) for showing HD content at wedding shows on a 2nd TV while another TV has a Blu-Ray hooked up to it, its AMAZING!


Its so small & lightweight, I have about 6 or so highlight clips (m2t HDV exports, but it will play pretty mch any file you throw at it, the only problem file type i've came accross so far is WMV HD) onto a USB thumb drive, make a playlist, put it on a loop, and viola! The IQ is AWESOME

From what I read its also very good on power consumption

The attatched pic shows my latest setup at wedding shows, big TV in middle is a blu-ray, small tv on left is playing WMV HD file from usb thumb drive via XBOX 360, small TV on left is showing from USB via WD live.

All tvs 1080p (the 2 small ones are actually PC monitors with HDMI, phillips, also really good)

I have to say, the image from the WD live was just as good IF NOT BETTER than the Blu-ray!

Its so good, I bought another one so I dont have to lug the xbox as well.

Hope that helps

James

edit: the pic was taken from my mobile, so not the best

Thanks for the quick info James. That's good to know and I have been looking at this but my only concern is the 1 foot by 1 foot cube. Also, where am I getting a decently priced 12 inch monitor for this setup? That's why I am thinking something along the lines of a personal DVD player but one that plays .mov files.

How about mounting a couple of video ipods in there, so it looks like they're floating, each playing a different highlight clip!

ah yeah, 1 foot cube, not alot of space.

I suppose your best bet would be a portable DVD player, or a digital photo frame that plays video files. But i'm guessing the portable DVD player would be your best option.

I have a digital photo frame that plays videos, not tried it yet though.

I have an HP Dreamscreen 100, which is the perfect size although it's not HD. If you do a good job of converting the file tho, it looks really good on the screen, and plays in a loop for as long as you want. It's not battery powered, so you'd need power for it - but it really does do a great job. I converted the file so that it plays letterboxed 16x9 - and even tho it's SD video it still looks really good on the dreamscreen.

Good luck - let us know what you go with!

Bill,

what settings do you use to make the most compliant video file for the dreamscreen?

James

I suppose this new 'ipad' thingy would be an expensive thing to just leave lying in a cube for anyone to 'walk away with'

Hey James,

It has to be an mp4 extension, and has to be 720x480 and it is set up to letterbox the HD source.



Here are the specs of the Compressor custom setting I created:

Description: for the HP Dreamscreen from HD source
File Extension: mp4
Estimated size: 1.02 GB/hour of source
Audio Encoder
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 720
Height: 480
Pixel aspect ratio: NTSC CCIR 601/DV
Crop: None
Padding: Preserve source aspect ratio
(L: 0, T: 60, R: 0, B: 60)
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 24
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
Average data rate: 2.048 (Mbps)

How about mounting a couple of video ipods in there, so it looks like they're floating, each playing a different highlight clip!

I'm not sure that's the best bang for the buck considering they would cost almost $450 for tiny screens.

Bill - It's good to talk with you on here. Thanks for the recommendation on the Dreamscreen. I didn't know about it but looks like the way to go for small SD.

James - I would love an excuse to buy an iPad but it would have to stay in my hands.


I imagine there is some creative way to do this HD that some dude out there has been dying to share. If you're that guy then speak up :)

Hi Jon,

Great to see you here as well! It's funny that I know we've been crossing paths now for a while, but we've still never met. I love your and Kelsey's work. If you ever need a hand or anything, please give me a shout! :)

Bill

Jonathan you may want to look in to some of the digital photo frame since some of them can play video file with a speaker at the back. The media will store on a SD card and can play in loop on the digital photo frame. It very easy to manage as well. When you got new video, just update the content in SD card. the size can go from 9 to 12 inch.

Good idea SiuChung. Have you personally played an HD video through one? I would be interested in finding one with a good quality picture.

I had one digital photo frame, but it is a old model, only play SD video. Anyway, go to your location store and check out the new model, there should be some HD version.

I have not personally found a digital video photo frame that plays HD clips that are created from an editor. The only one I found that plays any HD clips at all was Kodak, and they only play videos that are created by cameras - not edited video. (As much as I wanted to disagree with them and believe that I could somehow create a file that would work, I was never successful, and I tried many different codecs and compression techniques). Finally I spoke to someone at Kodak who confirmed that it was only meant to accept non-edited clips straight from cameras.

You *might* be able to somehow work around this, but I couldn't, and I've done lots of file conversions in my day. As for other picture frames that play HD, I'm sure there will be some soon that can take HD clips. In the meantime, the HP Dreamscreen is a really acceptable solution - the SD looks really great on the small screen and plays really well. I letterbox the HD content and it looks great.

I did some tests on my 8" digital photo frame that plays video files.

It plays divx files, I transcoded a HD m2t clip (edited highlight clip) to divx using the divx converter software (only about £15) and out it on the HD in the frame (its got 2gig internal storage)

The Divx file is only about 50Mb (4mins long), but it looks great, sure, its only SD, but its an 8" screen

The quality is AMAZING!

Here's the link, not sure if its available outside the UK

Jessops Digital LCD 8" Hi-Resolution 2GB Frame - Jessops (http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/76621/show.html)


Something like that would be ideal for a 1ft cube retail space, I'm thinking about getting a few more and seeing if I can set them up in hotel lobbys (if photographers can leave albums, why not this for us?)

The sound is pretty good too (its not great, but its better than what I thought it would be)

The fact that its got internal memory, you dont need to worry about any cheeky passer bys nicking your usb/mem card.

This thing has been sitting in my flat since xmas, and I've only now just discovered this!


Good times!

James

Meant to say as well, i tried all types of formats (HD & SD) on it, it only seemd to play divx, and some ipod

I took a picture of my digital photo frame

http://i45.tinypic.com/33wmibq.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/24gkt35.jpg

Is a old model, it will play avi and mov, 480X270

Thanks James for the link. I will have a look. I have been researching digital photo frames but like Bill I haven't had much luck. It would be ideal if I could find one that accepted .mov 1280 x 720 HD files but this will be my backup plan if I can't find that. My next plan is to go to Best Buy with my flash drive and test out a few. I will report back on Monday.

Ok....so I looked at the photo frame option like the HP DreamScreen suggested and other options like using smaller specialized LCD's. At the end of my research I have decided that for a couple of more hundred bucks I am gonna go with a 32" Samsung LCD and a WD Live with a 7 day TV timer. I know this is a lot bigger than the 1 foot cube I originally described but I got permission to "GO BIG" so I did. Thanks again for all of your recommendations.

Wow, nice that they are letting you go "outside of the box". Can I get that deal too?? ;)