JPEG Slideshow

[jroyale]

Well thanks to all those posts...really appreciate it but from another forum there is now a piece of hardware out that looks pretty slick. Haven't read any reviews yet but I'm hopeful. Check out the data sheet on the left column.
http://g-technology.com/Products/G-PLAY.cfm

For those who want to go HTPC, this a great link which gives you a step by step process for it. A little more detailed than I thought it would be so this is a great help.

http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=hdguide

[donshan]

Well thanks to all those posts...really appreciate it but from another forum there is now a piece of hardware out that looks pretty slick. Haven't read any reviews yet but I'm hopeful.

First impressions.

If I interpret the specs right, the G-Play in the link is an interesting product that is a hard drive with a digital to analog video converter output that solves some of the issues I discussed above:
1. The capacity limit of 4.7 Gb of a DVD
2. The upscaling function (assuming it is done well) to let you create and optimize picture files on a computer and then copy your JPEG files in 1920x1080 or 1280x720, and upscale them via component cables to the HD monitor native resolution. No DVI output though- this is all analog output.

What isn't clear in the literature is what software is included to run the slide show and how it works. Also it is fairly clear any DVD MUST be created and encoded on the computer before loading onto G-play, and here you are back to MPEG-2 bitrate and encoding issues and 480 resolution. If MPEG4- software is available on the PC this might be an option. The advantage of MPEG-4 systems is to keep the quality up at a lower bit rate, thus with lots of Hard drive space Max bitrate MPEG-2 should produce a good 480 picture It is also clear commercial DVDs can NOT be copied due to encryption.

I was disappointed in the fact they had Mac support for OSX, but apparently do not support the MPEG-4 AVC ( H. 264) that is coming. The Mac has Final Cut Pro HD software that can create HDTV output, and if this device supported the proper file types it could playback home brewed HDTV content, and possibly store and play captured unencrypted HDTV programs with the commercials edited out on the computer and copied to G-play. I need more info.

Will stay tuned.