Media streamers

[Tom]

http://bbx.boxee.tv/

Theres 2, neither of which are any good.

 

[JonnyK]

not very good in which way? all the magazines rate it highly and it had an amazing interface, unlike the western digital live where everything is all on one list whereby if something occurs late in the alphabet in your collection then it's a ballache to find!

 

[Tom]

It's old hat, not very cheap and they will go bust if the latest us venture doesn't work out.

 

[JonnyK]

changed my mind now, got a pc running XBMC and it's exactly what I needed.

 

[jam.]

Should have got a Mac Mini.


yes, I'm on commission. Sir Jony promises to acknowledge I exist for ten seconds for every Mac Mini I convince somebody to buy who otherwise wouldn't. So thanks.

 

[cava83]

Should have got a Mac Mini.


yes, I'm on commission. Sir Jony promises to acknowledge I exist for ten seconds for every Mac Mini I convince somebody to buy who otherwise wouldn't. So thanks.

With Plex or XBMC?

 

[jam.]

Wait a minute...Mac Mini? I clearly meant Apple TV. Duh.

Sorry Jony.

 

[JonnyK]

how many hard drives fit in an apple tv?

 

[Gouldy]

The Mrs has got me an Apple TV for Christmas. Happy days.

 

[jam.]

how many hard drives fit in an apple tv?

Hard drives shmard drives. You are living in two thousand and late girlfriend.

uh huh

 

[JonnyK]

oh no you diiii'ent

 

[conneh]

PS3 Slim.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Apple TV 3 for me, server PC set up in the loft with a whole host of movies, tv programs etc, news groups, 120mb broadband and software called 'logmein' (for remote control of the PC through my Ipad, my ipad essentially becomes my PC screen, keyboard and mouse)

Job done.

 

[Gouldy]

PS3 Slim.

What advantage would that give over using an original PS3 as a media player?

 

[cava83]

Apple TV 3 for me, server PC set up in the loft with a whole host of movies, tv programs etc, news groups, 120mb broadband and software called 'logmein' (for remote control of the PC through my Ipad, my ipad essentially becomes my PC screen, keyboard and mouse)

Job done.

+iTunes or are you using XBMC/Plex?

 

[Webby.]

That western digital tv thing look like it would be quite good? anyone got/used/heard much about them?

Although i would prefer a mac mini/ jail broken apple tv...

 

[Jay_G]

Say you AirPlay, from ipad to ATV3. What's the quality like? I will use it for plex, it's either ATV3 or Roku XS.

 

[jam.]

Say you AirPlay, from ipad to ATV3. What's the quality like? I will use it for plex, it's either ATV3 or Roku XS.

More or less exactly the same as it is on your iPad. As long as you're not watching a tiny resolution video from 1995.

 

[Gouldy]

I've got an Apple TV coming now so I really hope I can stream from my iphone 4.

 

[FlamingMonkey]

That western digital tv thing look like it would be quite good? anyone got/used/heard much about them?

Although i would prefer a mac mini/ jail broken apple tv...

Yep I have one, its excellent. Never failed to play any media I have thrown at it.

 

[jam.]

I've got an Apple TV coming now so I really hope I can stream from my iphone 4.

You don't need to hope anything. It works.

 

[Gouldy]

Well, that's just lovely.

 

[Webby.]

I thought f**k it and I've bought a Mac mini that'll get the job done...

 

[Gouldy]

Good man.

I picked up an Apple TV 3rd gen tonight. I'm not allowed until Christmas though said my Mrs

 

[Webby.]

Good man.

I picked up an Apple TV 3rd gen tonight. I'm not allowed until Christmas though said my Mrs

Was tempted by a Apple TV but I think I would have gone for a 2nd jail broken one, then I thought I'm in quite a good financial position and I could benefit from have a computer too so a Mac mini ticked all the boxes for me ...

 

[Tom]

Say you AirPlay, from ipad to ATV3. What's the quality like? I will use it for plex, it's either ATV3 or Roku XS.

Depends on the source content. Plex for iOS can stream at 1080p.

 

[Chrisgti6]

+iTunes or are you using XBMC/Plex?

Yes, iTunes on the server pc. Download HD films in MKV format, convert to MP4 using mkvtomp4 converter (takes about 20 mins for a 10gb file. Can keep the subtitles, languages etc. Takes maybe 1 - 1.5 hours to download, extract, convert.

 

[Tom]

Really? Waste of time.

Plex will do transcoding work.

 

[Chrisgti6]

To be honest I've not tried plex, I quite like the apple interface and being able to use the apple tv without using my iPhone or iPad.

Ill give plex a try though, I might be converted. I presume I would AirPlay content from my phone or iPad to the apple tv?

 

[Tom]

No you use the iPhone or iPad as the "controller" in conjunction with the plex app and the plex media server.

What it actually does is transcodes the media to the iPhone/iPad which then in turn outputs to the ATV. On both my iPad and iPhone I can continue to use the phone while this is happening.

Beauty of this setup is that plex does all the meta work and you don't have to sit there converting all day.

Also works with any other DLNA devices you may have in other rooms.

Downside is that the media server (mac /pc) has to be on all the time.

This also means the iOS app will access the server anywhere as long as its on. This obviously depends on your upload speeds but works really really well. No jailbreaks either, although you can cut out the middle man (iOS) if you do.

 

[Jay_G]

Tom, what did you use as a media server? As in hardware. I'm trying to get a perfect combo, I can have 2-3 720 films on, but one 1020 absolutely cripples it. I even tried using my computer as a player, therefore direct playing it but still jumped and skipped.

 

[Tom]

a 2009 MBP.

 

[iain187]

i built a small win7 box for this task. i picked the components specifically for no fans because it will be on all the time (it's basically a netbook motherboard - laptop PSU, no CPU fan, just heat sink) so it is silent. It's not really the simplest or cheapest of solutions but I like a new toy...

I run it in conjunction with a NAS which the media PC maps drives from (I am risking disk failure as it's a cheap NAS but the plan is to upgrade.)

I mostly use sabnzbd to get all my content, so i can access the interface through my brower without going on the PC as it sits under my TV with no Keys/mouse, there are plugins for my PC/phone so I can set downloads off from remote PC's in 1 click, quite cool.
The next task for sabnzbd is to ensure 'watched' folder works properly - I think I can get it to look in my dropbox for .nzb files so hopefully this will solve the issue I have of no memory - someone tells me a TV show is great but I'm not home - I want to get my phone, stick the .nzb in my dropbox then have my media PC pick it up and start downloading all ready for the time I get home. I think theoretically it should work but I've not had a chance to check the dropbox app on my phone will do this yet. Fingers crossed.

I get music by sticking a shortcut to itunes in the startup folder - then playing music through my speakers controlling it with the apple remote app - no mouse of course!

I play my TV/Films using windows media centre as it's just a win7 box. I have all the plugins sorted so i dont care about converting stuff I just take it as it comes. Might investigate that when space becomes an issue. I also have some WMC plugins to get onto xbmc/youtube/iplayer etc. I bought the official microsoft remote to control it, seemed the easiest way. Amusing that when I tried it out it started sending my xbox mental. Didn't realise it was going to do that... ended up taping over the sensor.
I also have a TV card so I can just watch normal freeview, although I never really do. Obviously WMC will record too but I never bother with that either.


As I said it's not the easiest solution to get going but I like that if I think of something for it to do, I know I can get it setup somehow...

 

[Tom]

Sounds horrible.

 

[Chrisgti6]

No you use the iPhone or iPad as the "controller" in conjunction with the plex app and the plex media server.

What it actually does is transcodes the media to the iPhone/iPad which then in turn outputs to the ATV. On both my iPad and iPhone I can continue to use the phone while this is happening.

Beauty of this setup is that plex does all the meta work and you don't have to sit there converting all day.

Also works with any other DLNA devices you may have in other rooms.

Sorry I worded my post wrong. I understand that I would be using the ipad as a controller, but my concerns are that the contecnt will be streamed from my PC to my Ipad, then airplayed to the Apple TV. Doesn't this mean a lot of WiFi bandwidth will be in use?

 

[Tom]

No, even at its highest setting its only 20mbps.

Unless you have BD rips Thats ott.

I have an ATV2 so its 720p max and thats 4mbps. Its terrific quality.

 

[Chrisgti6]

No, even at its highest setting its only 20mbps.

Unless you have BD rips Thats ott.

I have an ATV2 so its 720p max and thats 4mbps. Its terrific quality.

I'll give it a try later, thanks for the info.

Chris

 

[Tom]

No worries, like i said its not perfect but it does work well.

 

[Brad182]

Nas Drive, Apple TV, XBMC, Ipad &/or iPhone as the remote. Sorted.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Nas Drive, Apple TV, XBMC, Ipad &/or iPhone as the remote. Sorted.

Jailbroken ATV2 i'm asuming?

I've got XBMC running on my Ipad, but i'm yet to try mirroring it to my ATV3.