Video Appliance For a Large Library On a Network?

devjj writes "For the past year or so I have been trying (and failing) to figure out a reasonable solution for bringing my large media library to my living room. All of my media lives on an Ubuntu server that sits on my network. It's been very reliable and it's fast enough for streaming purposes. My content is exposed via SMB. It's the living room side where I keep running into problems. I am currently using Windows 7 and XBMC, but the case is too big and noisy, I don't particularly care for Windows, and the whole thing just seems overkill. What I want is a device that can present a decent UI that the non-Slashdot crowd would be able to use, but that is still powerful enough to stream full-fidelity 1080p. I dream of a small box that can transcode video over a network, but that's probably a pipe dream. The new Apple TV would be great if it could connect to network shares. What say you, Slashdot? Is what I'm looking for possible, or should I just give in to the iTunes/Amazon/whatever juggernauts?"

My Setup

[Nexzus]

I run PS3MediaServer on my fileserver. Streams (and trancodes when necessary) over the network to my PS3. Works well.

What's wrong with XBMC?

[do0b]

XMBC Live on a Atom + Ion machine.
Something like the Acer R3610 ( http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/productv.do?LanguageISOCtxParam=en&kcond61e.c2att101=68913&sp=page16e&ctx2.c2att1=17&link=ln438e&CountryISOCtxParam=UK&ctx1g.c2att92=242&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=2669969291 [acer.co.uk] )
It can process 1080P h.264 without breaking a sweat.

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, there are significant benefits of using a full computer with software such as Plex, namely the ability to use your HTPC as a DVD Player for watching media, utilizing Satellite and Cable Tuners to serve as a DVR, rip movies to your library automatically as well as serve as a distribution hub for transcoding video for mobile devices, whether they be on your local WiFi or remote.

However, this ultimately comes down to what your desires are.

I for example utilize an AppleTV (jailbroken) to mount NFS shares from my file server for my bedroom setup, and then a Mac Mini for my Living Room setup.

All right cheap and easy.

[BKX]

You'll need two things:

1. A computer that stores your movies. This computer must run some sort of UPnP media server software like PS3 Media Server on Windows or fuppes on Linux. It must be powerful enough to transcode in real-time your movies. Think Core 2 Duo 2GHz for 1080p, or P4 3GHz for 720p.

2. A Playstation 3 or XBox 360. This will be your display device hooked to your TV. Both are cake to use for non-computer experts and can do other fun things as well, like games, the Internet, Netflix, etc. I prefer the PS3 since it can handle Netflix without paying Microsoft a subscription fee, but if you already have an XBOX 360 with and Xbox Live account, then that may be a better idea.

All other answers to this question are lame and/or missed the point. Seriously. Making some crap computer out of spare parts and hooking it up to your TV just doesn't make sense when you probably already have a PS3 or Xbox 360 and a computer good enough to transcode on-the-fly and large enough (storage wise) to hold your media. Hell, that computer probably sits in the same spot all day, every day and never gets turned off, so put that wasted power into good use. If you're really just trying to shoehorn some old, piece of shit computer into something useful, then what you really have is a solution looking for a problem. Fuck that. Sell the POS on craigslist and be done with it.

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[Firehed]

As a heads-up, I just tried this and ended up having to return the system. There appears to be some bug with their HDMI which can cause the machine to kernel panic, apparently when powering on either the display or receiver it's plugged into*. A damn shame, as it's otherwise very well suited to that kind of use. A compact, quiet, and fairly cool system that doesn't use a whole lot of power but still has no problem playing back HD video. Hooking the tower back up to the TV just sucks, as it uses about 50x the energy** and is massively overkill for that kind of use, and is certainly not compact by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe I'll dig out an old unused laptop instead.

* I'm not 100% sure that's the cause, but it was as close as I ever got to diagnosing the issue. And this was after exchanging the system for a full replacement. If only only happened to one machine I'd blame the hardware, but two systems with identical problems tells me something else is at play. Of course, it could be specific to my TV+receiver combo too.

**Which only bothers me because of the power bill. Effing hippies.

Re:Popcorn Hour

[kava_kicks]

The popcorn is good, really good, but it is not perfect. The music playback is pretty crappy; the interface isn't fantastic; and it is a little buggy. I think it is pretty much perfect if ALL you want to do is play movies, but if you want to do more, I would use something else.

I still prefer XBMC and after seeing a friend put it on a re-purposed Apple TV (not just jailbroken; completely overwritten), that is the way I am going.

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[drivelikejehu]

That really sucks, but I've never run into that problem and I've had this setup going for several months now (got the mini as soon as the hdmi ones were released). I'd guess it's your TV+receiver combo then - I don't have any problems with my Kuro and Pioneer something or other receiver (the mini plugs into the receiver, the receiver goes to the TV).

Re:WD HD Live

[Anonymous Coward]

Same with the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+(TM) HD Media Player STCEA201-RK. I picked one up last week from Newegg for $50 shipped. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148499 [newegg.com]

They are OOS now but other places have them for about $80.

It will stream over the network, play from any old USB HD plugged into it, or has a custom slot for a Seagate Go drive. I have mine plugged into a bridged wireless router but it also supports several $15 and under wireless USB cards. I have it connected to several Samba shares and it works fine. The interface is a little cludgy and sometimes is slow to respond but I have not noticed any issues while it is actually playing content. I have also used he Netflix streaming and it played fine, quality was comparable to my Xbox with Netflix.

It is not perfect but damn, for under $100, it is small, silent, uses very little power, and will play 90% of audio and video formats. I've messed a little with some of the other features it has like Youtube videos, Picasa, and Flickr long enough to test them but not long enough to critique them. I never opened the included software that comes with it, I think it includes some type of sync software if you are using it with a USB HD.

The published specs of what it can play:

Streams Netflix
Easily enjoy your photos, movies and music on your TV.
HDMI connectivity and 1080p HD video playback.
Dolby Digital and DTS audio support
Ethernet connection for accessing shared content on your network.
Unique docking system eliminates fumbling with cables and connections.
Front-mounted USB port for digital cameras and additional storage devices.
Includes sync software for PC and Mac computers.
Intuitive user interface with DVD-style navigation.
Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X compatible.

Supported Video Formats
Formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (DivX /Xvid), DivX HD, Xvid HD, AVI, MOV, MKV, RMVB, AVC HD, H.264, WMV9, VC-1, M2TS, TS/TP/M2T
Subtitles: SAMI(smi), SRT and SUB
Video resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p, PAL 576i/576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p

Supported Audio Formats
AAC, MP3, Dolby Digital, DTS, ASF, FLAC, WMA, LPCM, ADPCM, WAV, OGG
Playlist: M3U, PLS

Supported Photo Formats
JPEG files up to 20 megapixels, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF

Output
Video: Composite, Component, HDMI 1.3
Audio: Stereo, Optical S/PDIF, HDMI 1.3
Interface: 1x USB 2.0 at front, 1x USB 2.0 at back
Network: Ethernet 10/100 mbps

Official webpage
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?name=STCEA201-RK-fa-theater-plus-player&vgnextoid=2f6549738cbb3210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f424072516d8c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&locale=en-US&reqPage=Support [seagate.com]

 

Re:Popcorn Hour

[Anonymous Psychopath]

+1 for Popcorn Hour. They make very good media streamer with great community support and add-ons.

I use the following setup:

Popcorn Hour A-110 [popcornhour.com] hooked to wired ethernet
Kroozbox [networkedmediatank.com] for TV user interface
Personal Video Database [videodb.info] for video database management

The way it works is I put a video file on a Samba share and run PVD from my desktop. PVD scans the share, finds the new video file(s), and populates the database with information from IMDB and posters from Amazon. Kroozbox runs on my Linux server and uses the PVD database to display the movie library information in a friendly way on the screen. The whole thing was a little tricky to initially configure but works very well. Everyone in the house was able to immediately browse and use the video library without any training (we're talking ESL grandparents here).

I also have a WD TV Live which is decent but the interface isn't nearly as good as the setup I described above.

Re:WD HD Live is your friend.

[QuantumBeep]

Hard drives fail. Consumers tend to take the hilarious path of refusing to use again any hard drive brand that ever fails on them.

For what it's worth, I've had to replace drives made by WD, Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi, Samsung, JVC, JTS, Quantum, Conner, Miniscribe, IBM, IMS, CDC, Imprimis, ExcelStor, Fujitsu, Micropolis, and I swear to god one Plus Hardcard.

But more Seagate than anything else.

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[Vancorps]

I just installed XBMCLive on a en Eeebox, the eb1501 handled bluray level playback without an issue. It's an Atom 330 so it's already kinda dated as the 510s with Ion2 will actually handle flash in full screen without the benefit of the crappy 3d acceleration now offered in Flash 10.1. It's based on Ubuntu 9.04 so there are some issues with certain wireless controllers but it took me all of an hour start to finish to get the thing setup how I want it. That even includes being able to launch Firefox with the Launder app, coincidentally this method will work with Pandora too although sadly Netflix natively is a no go but a lot of people have Bluray players already with netflix so you just use XBMC as a uPNP client at that point and you can enjoy all the benefits. My whole setup complete with SSD so there is zero noise after the sound of pressing the button.

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[MyFirstNameIsPaul]

Why not just use the minimal install [xbmc.org] option? This turns the unit into an XBMC appliance, so there isn't an OS for the end user to deal with.

I actually put this on a CF card with a CF to IDE converter. I use the PicoPSU-120 [mini-box.com] power supply and I removed all the fans on the mobo and cards with large heat sinks. It's completely silent. However, I only use mine for music so I don't have any large graphics cards, but I'm pretty sure you can get fanless cards capable of 1080p since I have a fanless one in my desktop that runs at WQXGA.

mede8ter

[Dude404]

You forgot mention it can stream from SMB. Actually the 2009 batch of mediaplayers [mpcclub.com] run linux on a mips based CPU. They can also function as a slow(2,5 MB/s-5MB/s) NAS. I myself have a mede8ter [mede8er.eu] with a 2 TB drive builtin. It plays all the downloads without transcoding and possibly with the PC off. A HD of course makes a small sound and the thing might have a fan (not sure). Since it boots in a short time i turn if off to get rid of any whirring. You can buy such boxes without a HD (xtreamer, AC playHD mini) to have more silence.

Price? about 99 euro for a diskless streamer, my mede8ter (without disk, with ALL cables) 139 euro, for a disked station like the popcorn A200 220 euro.

(and forget those cheaper pre-2009 streamers, they are underpowered and don't eat averything you throw at them.

PS, despite the fact these boxes run linux, they have large binary blobs so i would not consider them open source NMT's

Re:Mac Mini + Plex

[Anonymous Coward]

I personally have to second the WD TV units. I've got a WDTV Live myself, and it works wonderfully. Every once in a while (Avatar 1080p, self ripped) a HD stream can't quite make it over the wireless and I have to throw it on the little hard drive I attached to it, but other than that, these things are marvelous.