HD100 vs HD200

[rykr]

I see that the HD200 is out of stock currently. I've contemplated moving from MCE to Sage for several months now. I see HD100 on eBay from time to time. Can someone give me a brief comparison of HD100 vs HD200 when used with Sage v7? What about streaming DVD and Blu-ray rips? Hulu and PlayOn support?

Thanks in advance.

[MitchSchaft]

Have you done a search yet?

FYI, I switched from MCE January 2009.

[Taddeusz]

When the HD200 is used as an extender (vs. a standalone media player) the major difference between the two is speed. Not to say that the HD100 is necessarily slow but the HD200 does feel notably snappier when browsing through the menus. The other major difference between the two also has to do with speed. The HD200 is capable of decoding a full rate Blu-ray stream while the HD100 is not. It's just not fast enough.

[Deacon Crusher]

Are you sure about this?

I watch blu-rays on my 100s and 200s and so far haven't found one that plays on the 200 that won't play on the 100, really haven't found anything the 100 can't play (since the new 7 features let me choose which playlist to play which is allowing me to watch more disks through sage.)

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

The other major difference between the two also has to do with speed. The HD200 is capable of decoding a full rate Blu-ray stream while the HD100 is not. It's just not fast enough.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Deacon Crusher

Are you sure about this?

I watch blu-rays on my 100s and 200s and so far haven't found one that plays on the 200 that won't play on the 100, really haven't found anything the 100 can't play (since the new 7 features let me choose which playlist to play which is allowing me to watch more disks through sage.)

Then what you're watching probably isn't maxing out the Blu-ray bandwidth. As far as H.264 goes Blu-ray uses up to AVC Level 4.1. The HD100 is only capable of decoding up to Level 4 which has a maximum High Profile bitrate of 25Mb/s. Whereas High Profile at Level 4.1 can max out as high as 62.5Mb/s, although I believe the upper bitrate limit of Blu-ray is 40Mb/s. Granted, as long as the video's momentary bitrate stays below 25Mb/s you're going to be safe but as soon as a high bitrate section hits you'll get freezing video. I've seen it myself.

[autoboy]

Another problem I've seen with the HD100 is that the power supply has a tendency to fail. It is fixable but you need a tiny bit of experience with soldering.

Also, my HD100 can't output 1080p on some displays without getting speckles in the picture. 1080p over component worked great for me instead, but only a few TVs actually support that.

I've never seen a BD it won't play, but I suppose it is possible.

The slowness only bothers me if I am trying to navigate the menus with a show playing in the background. I tend to have to stop or pause to browse menus.

If it is cheap enough it works fine for most people. As a stopgap till the HD300 comes it would probably work just fine.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by autoboy

Also, my HD100 can't output 1080p on some displays without getting speckles in the picture. 1080p over component worked great for me instead, but only a few TVs actually support that.

There's actually a fix for this. I don't believe I have the information any more but there are some traces on the system board that have to be cut. If you're comfortable cutting a few small circuit traces your best bet is to email support and ask for the information.

[autoboy]

Thanks for the info on the speckles. Right now its on a 720p display so I'm not that concerned about it. But, if it does become an issue, i'll check it out. I'm not scared about a few mods.