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Since my HTPC looks to be kicking the bucket, I am thinking maybe this time around I could go for a cheap tablet with HDMI and 1080p decoding as media player (I have a large NAS that can do SMB or uPNP, so storage is not an issue).

I guess RK2918 is the safest choice right now for codec support etc but how are the apps on the thing? Or how about those RK2918 based STBs (they seem barely any cheaper than low end RK2918 tablets so I am not sure I see the point), what UI do those use?

How cheap and how much the big screen , maybe 7" ?

personally, if this is to be hooked up to a tv more than used as portable then i would not recommend a device with a screen, you will have to pretty much have it permanently hooked to power which is not good for the device and will just be a little messy really, if you dont really intend to use the screen then its kind of a waste, also think about remote control as im sure you would prefer to have sofa control rather than having to get up and mess on with the device to do anything (play, pause, select etc), also note that the device blanks out when connected to the HDMI, wifi is another issue, cheap ones may not have decent enough wifi connectivity and you will need N based to get streaming anywhere near where you want it, for apps have a look on the android market to see what is the best streaming app

i think you are better searching for a dedicated device for this stuff, there are many out there now, WD has some nice ones that seem worthy

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7 inch would totally do for this (maybe something along the lines of a Teclast P71) - I have a TF101 for serious tablet use but sadly the Tegra 2 just sucks at video decoding. Cheap as less than 150USD. preferably less than 100 but that seems impossible right now. Plus points if there is Cyanogenmod for it, but if the stock image works, I can do without that.

I am aware that the battery is not going to like being attached to power all the time all that much, but then again it does not really matter. I just felt that going for a unit with screen would allow music playing without turning on the projector it is going to be hooked to (those lamps do not particularly like running all day .

As for remote, there is always upnplay on my phone / TF101 to control the thing :P.

The WD units are decent but you cannot install your own apps for what I know. On the other hand, for Android the main thing I am wondering about if there is actually a decent Android HTPC application out there.... If so, any 1080p capable Android platform with HDMI could do the job, really, even something like https://www.dealextreme.com/p/1080p-ful ... cal-101713

I mean ideally I'd want xbmc but that means I have to buy a 250USD+ PC to run it on (for some reason my current Nvidia based mainboard in the NAS just cannot run 1080p very well under Linux even though the chipset has hardware acceleration for it)...

The Novo8 and Novo7 advanced are both good at playing almost any video file you throw at them and that too high resolution files, both also have HDMI out.