I'm looking for a blu-ray player with these specific features.

[DeeBye]

I want a blu-ray player that has a USB input and can play a variety (divx/mkv) of media from external USB storage (flash drive or hard drive). I know something like this exists because I saw a LG blu-ray player with these features about a year ago in a store. It was really cheap too - about $70.

I can't seem to google the specific model I saw, but I'm sure there must be something like it on the market now. Can anyone help with this?

[LochnarITB]

I want a blu-ray player that has a USB input and can play a variety (divx/mkv) of media from external USB storage (flash drive or hard drive). I know something like this exists because I saw a LG blu-ray player with these features about a year ago in a store. It was really cheap too - about $70.

I can't seem to google the specific model I saw, but I'm sure there must be something like it on the market now. Can anyone help with this?

Did you try going to Best Buy or NewEgg and looking at their LG units? A quick glance shows a BP220 that lists USB 2.0, with specific mention of a flash drive, and MKV anyway. I don't know if "divx/mkv" means two different things or if mkv is a kind of divx.

[DeeBye]

Did you try going to Best Buy or NewEgg and looking at their LG units? A quick glance shows a BP220 that lists USB 2.0, with specific mention of a flash drive, and MKV anyway. I don't know if "divx/mkv" means two different things or if mkv is a kind of divx.

BP220 looks like what I want. No idea how I kept missing that with a Google search.

Mkv is like the high def equivalent of divx.

The reason I am asking this is because I got a new TV to replace an old Panasonic Plasma, and the new one is really limited on inputs (2 HDMI and one component), and I used to stream mvk stuff from my computer and use a divx Philips DVD player for other stuff. I'd like to just use a single blu ray player to handle both of those without connecting my computer, and I think that will be the neatest way with way less cables running all over the place.

[swirly]

I used to stream mvk stuff from my computer and use a divx Philips DVD player for other stuff. I'd like to just use a single blu ray player to handle both of those without connecting my computer, and I think that will be the neatest way with way less cables running all over the place.

Something to possibly consider is that you can set some media sharing on a windows 7 comp. I have mine set so it shows as a "Media Device" and have it sharing a specific video and music folder off of my computer. Then in the living room we have a blu ray player that has a network cord plugged in. (I feel like most people do this due to things like netflix/youtube/hulu... mine can do wireless too, but I prefer being plugged in) It then registers other media devices and lets you play off of them. I think this is the DLNA stuff which the blu ray player you listed supports too. So if you are going to have a net connection on your blu ray player then you might be able to get around using a usb stick at all and just play things over the network itself.

[LennyLen]

Mkv is like the high def equivalent of divx.

Not really. MKV is a container file format (similar to AVI, but with more advanced features), and does not actually have anything to do with the quality or size of the video. That is determined by the codec (such as divx, xvid, H.264, etc) used to encode the video component contained within the MKV file.

Before you buy the Blu-Ray player, check which video (and to a lesser extent audio) codecs it supports. High quality rips will nearly always be in H.264 format, but lower quality ones are usually divx, xvid or mp4 format. Not all players will decode all of the formats.

[DeeBye]

Something to possibly consider is that you can set some media sharing on a windows 7 comp.

I really just want a single unit to play all the media on my TV. I know I can do it all with my computer connected to the TV, but I want to keep it as simple as possible so my son and wife can play whatever they want without having to use my computer to do it. This blu-ray player will be replacing a Philips divx DVD player that they used to use to play divx media from a flash drive and regular DVDs, so it will be exactly the same for them but can also handle high-def stuff I have on an external HDD.

Not really. MKV is a container file format (similar to AVI, but with more advanced features), and does not actually have anything to do with the quality or size of the video. That is determined by the codec (such as divx, xvid, H.264, etc) used to encode the video component contained within the MKV file.

Before you buy the Blu-Ray player, check which video (and to a lesser extent audio) codecs it supports. High quality rips will nearly always be in H.264 format, but lower quality ones are usually divx, xvid or mp4 format. Not all players will decode all of the formats.

Yeah, I know that was not exactly correct, but it was more of an analogy.

From what I heard, LG support of various MKV stuff is pretty good.

[DeeBye]

Update on this:

I finally got around to finding what I wanted, and it's the LG BP120. I got it for $68 at Wal-Mart.

It plays high-def MKV movies from an external HDD quite well, and the menu interface is great. 10/10 would buy again.

[eppie]

Update on this:

I finally got around to finding what I wanted, and it's the LG BP120. I got it for $68 at Wal-Mart.

It plays high-def MKV movies from an external HDD quite well, and the menu interface is great. 10/10 would buy again.

Coming from someone who still uses an old fashioned cathode ray TV set.

If you just want to see DIVX etc files on your TV (which in your case is a very new model) why don't you just stick in a USB drive or stick in your TV and play the files? Why do you need a blue ray player for that?

[DeeBye]

Coming from someone who still uses an old fashioned cathode ray TV set.

If you just want to see DIVX etc files on your TV (which in your case is a very new model) why don't you just stick in a USB drive or stick in your TV and play the files? Why do you need a blue ray player for that?

USB doesn't work like that. I'm not sure how to explain it.

[LochnarITB]

Coming from someone who still uses an old fashioned cathode ray TV set.

If you just want to see DIVX etc files on your TV (which in your case is a very new model) why don't you just stick in a USB drive or stick in your TV and play the files? Why do you need a blue ray player for that?

USB doesn't work like that. I'm not sure how to explain it.

Isn't it that the TV does not have the necessary player? The USB stick is just storage so you have to have a program in the TV to actually play the file. If the TV can't understand DIVX (or whatever file format), then the need comes for an external device, computer or DVD player or whatever, to decode the file and pump out a video signal.

[DeeBye]

Isn't it that the TV does not have the necessary player?

Yeah, that's it. Divx/MKV and even MP3 files are all compressed formats so they require software to play them. It's why you can't just play a CD full of MP3s in a regular CD player unless the CD player has that ability via software.

The LG Blu-ray player I bought has the necessary divx/mkv decoding software built in to its firmware. I used to have to run a HDMI cable from my computer to my TV to play these files, but this LG player handles it all in a more compact and easy way.

I'm seriously impressed with how well this LG BP120 plays video from a mass USB storage drive. I thought I might get input lag, stuttering, audio blurps, and other weirdness - but everything I've thrown at it works flawlessly. The only thing it doesn't do is play DVD image files.

[LennyLen]

I thought I might get input lag, stuttering, audio blurps, and other weirdness

Well, it's going to be a minimum of USB 2.0, which can transfer 35Mb/s (over 100Gb an hour), which is more than fast enough to transfer even the highest quality format several times over. The limiting factor in such devices is the decoding software.