Alternatives for streaming media that aren't a PC?

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Disrespective

1921 posts

Uber Geek

#104080 14-Jun-2012 13:27

I've recently jumped on the MySky bandwagon after many many years of using an HTPC for all my TV and media browsing needs and am considering retiring the HTPC altogether and moving to a smaller device if possible.

I don't know what is even available but am after something that can put my already organised movies and TV shows (which live on a windows based server) into a nice interface like MediaBrowser has done for years.?

Can a Roku/AppleTV/Slingplayer/Google/Boxee do this?

Or perhaps it might be worth a try to set up a Raspberry Pi to act like my PC has all along?

I'm cheap, but for the sake of argument lets just say budget isn't as important as WAF...?

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5792 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#640702 14-Jun-2012 13:33

the WDTV will do what you want, but it's interface isn't as pretty as, say, XBMC. It won't scrape Metadata or anything (just displays folder thumbnails). I have one and it plays pretty much everything no hassles.

If anyone works out how to Jailbreak the Apple TV3, that would be the device to go with as you could then put XBMC on it. If you can get hold of an Apple TV2 and JB it, then they are a good solution.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung (affiliate link).

MurrayC

79 posts

Master Geek

#640708 14-Jun-2012 13:42

I've got a Netgear NTV550 connected to my 2Tb hard drive. Works really well...

http://www.netgear.com/home/products/hometheater/media-players/ntv550.aspx

Disrespective

1921 posts

Uber Geek

#640717 14-Jun-2012 13:48

I'm currently leaning towards an Apple TV and XBMC. Seems nice and compact. Not too expensive. But I need to wait for a jalbreak to come out for me to use the ATVv3 that is out there now. I'd rather get the 1080p and wait then only get 720p and get it now.

trig42

5792 posts

Uber Geek

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#640723 14-Jun-2012 13:59

I think the JB for the ATV3 could be a long way off, if at all - no-one has managed it yet and it's been 3 or 4 months since it was released. Apple may have confounded them.

reven

3729 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#640734 14-Jun-2012 14:13

trig42: I think the JB for the ATV3 could be a long way off, if at all - no-one has managed it yet and it's been 3 or 4 months since it was released. Apple may have confounded them.

someone will jailbreak it, it took months for them to jailbreak the ATV2, so im not worried about it.

but in the time it takes for them to jailbreak it, the raspberrypi will probably be stable enough to use instead. and theres probably lots of raspberrypi clones coming out soon, since XBMC now runs on ARM. a raspberrypi with twice the CPU and twice the memory would be a very good device.

Disrespective

1921 posts

Uber Geek

#640876 14-Jun-2012 17:35

I certainly hope someone jailbreaks it... might have grabbed one on the way home to try some things out on.

I'm still interested to hear what others have to say but it's looking like a XBMC frontend is going to be the best bet at this time.

Blanch

254 posts

Ultimate Geek

#641064 14-Jun-2012 23:14

I’ve got a AC Ryan mini, similar to WDTV not in the same league as XBMC. I’m still waiting
on my Raspberry Pi, interesting reading Raven’s comment RE "a raspberry pi with
twice the CPU and twice the memory would be a very good device", I’ll take 3 thanks.

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#641866 16-Jun-2012 17:31

From what I've seen the Raspbery Pi just doesn't have the grunt to be a good media centre. It is not surprising giving the specs.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

Blanch

254 posts

Ultimate Geek

#641935 16-Jun-2012 20:42

Does the ATV2, and will the ATV3 suffer the same issue as the Raspberry Pi with just
a share lack of power?

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

Uber Geek

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#641942 16-Jun-2012 21:06

I've read that ATV2 is a bit sluggish running XBMC
ATV3 doesn't run XBMC because it hasn't been jailbroken yet, so no one knows

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

PANiCnz

982 posts

Ultimate Geek

#641962 16-Jun-2012 22:19

There looks to be some progress being made with porting XBMC to run under Linux one the Chinese ALLWINNER chip, in particular this hardware:

http://liliputing.com/2012/03/mele-a1000-is-a-70-hackable-linux-friendly-arm-based-pc.html

Once successfully ported XBMC on one of these will likely trumped both the Pi and ATV.

insane

3205 posts

Uber Geek

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#641969 16-Jun-2012 23:11

I use my WD TV Live for this, as others have mentioned it's interface is basic but can coupe with any format I've thrown at it so far. I got the US version so it streams Huluplus etc with the help of unotelly.

Anything running XBMC with the same basic hardware functionality would probably trump it though.

Buttonmash

361 posts

Ultimate Geek

#642001 17-Jun-2012 08:49

I'm in exactly the same boat. Moved house a month ago and got MySky which is taking care of all the recording, so the HTPC for streaming only seems overkill.

As a tide me over I've been using PS3 Media Server and it's a bit rubbish. I'm seriously tempted to order one of these:

http://www.xtreamer.net/ultra2/

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#642047 17-Jun-2012 12:01

Buttonmash: I'm in exactly the same boat. Moved house a month ago and got MySky which is taking care of all the recording, so the HTPC for streaming only seems overkill.

As a tide me over I've been using PS3 Media Server and it's a bit rubbish. I'm seriously tempted to order one of these:

http://www.xtreamer.net/ultra2/

That looks kind of cool, especially the mini wireless keyboard remote which I would be very tempted to order if I was sure it would work with a generic HTPC as well. In fact, at that price I may order it just to try and see.........

The box itself is looks very nice, and would be a great streaming player if it is anywhere near as good as it looks on paper. Sadly, I already have streaming players, and unless it runs windows and I suspect it won't be able to support the hardware I plan to put into my HTPC build (I need it to work with 1-2 satellite tuners, 1-2 terrestrial tuners, a Hauppauge HD PVR).

To date, I have been using a pair of WD TV Lives (one is a Live, the other a Live Hub), networked to a 3TB Mybook Live for storage, and they work pretty well. The MyBook has Twonky server and only draws circa 4 watts when idle, so might be an option if you think PS3 media server is overkill.

Disrespective

1921 posts

Uber Geek

#642058 17-Jun-2012 12:16

My biggest problem as I am seeing it is that with my current HTPC the database of media is huge and can really bog the machine down, so using a small form factor machine without a bit of grunt worries me.

I need to find someone using XBMC on a small box with a large amount of media so I can see how their system behaves. If it's going to be slow then there is no point downscaling.

I'm getting sick of flakey windows systems so would like to try something with an integrated media OS but would love it to look nice too. The WD TV does look interesting and I think i'll have to have a better look at the reviews before getting to stuck into XBMC at all.

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