Media streaming on home network - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

TurnedTheCorner · 03-20-2013, 09:38 PM

I currently stream media from my PC to my Xbox360 for viewing on my HT set-up. I am looking for a device that can replace the Xbox360 in this capacity. So something that will recognize the media on my PC (and ideally continue to use TVersity as my media server) and playback the content onto my TV.

I see things like the Netgear's Home Theater Kit, WD's TV Live Hub, D-Link Boxee and the like. Are these devices what I'm looking for? I don't really want to store the media on these devices if I can avoid it, as I have existing storage capacity on the network already. I just need something to stream the media.

Thanks in advance for thoughts and suggestions.

Rathji · 03-21-2013, 08:14 AM

If I was in the market right now for such a device, and wasn't tied to any ecosystem, I would get a Roku 3, which was announced recently. Things like the headphone jack in the remote and wide selection of apps available on it, will likely handle any situation you want to use it in.

photon · 03-21-2013, 08:59 AM

I've got a Boxee Box but I use it to play video files directly from a network share (not through something like TVersity). It's not bad, but not great either, never seems like a smooth experience.

For both the Boxee and the Roku 3 I don't know if they can stream from TVersity, neither are on the supported devices list.

Rathji · 03-21-2013, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

I've got a Boxee Box but I use it to play video files directly from a network share (not through something like TVersity). It's not bad, but not great either, never seems like a smooth experience.

For both the Boxee and the Roku 3 I don't know if they can stream from TVersity, neither are on the supported devices list.

True, but I think both are good enough that setting up another server, such as Plex would be well worth the minimal effort.

Bill Bumface · 03-21-2013, 11:52 AM

I haven't tried a lot of the others for comparison sake, but the form factor and functionality of the WD TV Live work great for me (and cheap at Costco!).

RW99 · 03-21-2013, 04:30 PM

I've done a fair bit of research, but I'm no expert. I currently have a Roku 2. Roku devices are designed for internet streaming and not your own network streaming (and they admit this as well). There is no out of the box option for your network, you have to get an app called Plex and set it up on Roku and the computer. I never got mine to work. My LG Blu-Ray player does network play better than the Roku.

If you have an equal mix of network and internet streaming, I'd say Boxee. WD TV Live may be an option as well.

Jacks · 03-21-2013, 04:37 PM

I've tried the Patriot, WDLive and the Boxee. The Boxee is the most expensive but it is the best of the 3 by a mile. The Patriot is rock solid but has almost no features, no Wifi and the scrolling sucks. The WDLive is okay (and cheap) but I had problem with bugs in the file system. Another major plus for the Boxee is that the back of the remote has a full qwerty keyboard, very convenient for when you want to search for something on Youtube. Combine the Boxee with a NAS box like the DNS-323 and a wireless router and you can stream your media anywhere in the house without having to have your computer turned on.

You won't need Tversity, it will play pretty much any format natively.

TurnedTheCorner · 03-21-2013, 05:56 PM

One things that concerns me from browsing around Boxee is that it is discontinued and not supported anymore - at least I thought I read that?

I'll also look into other server options possibly. Plex, you say? Any other recommendations in this vein?

Hemi-Cuda · 03-21-2013, 06:02 PM

i currently use the Xbox 360 as well and i like it just fine, except i wish it would natively playback .mkv files. you can get it somewhat working with Divx and Windows Media Center, but it seems to only work half the time at best. i tried Tversity in the past as well for HD files but ran into the same issues

TurnedTheCorner · 03-21-2013, 06:03 PM

TVersity was a bitch to get up and running, but once I got it it's been golden ever since. Which is part of why I'm reluctant to change from it, even to a newer version. I even got subtitles working, kind of - they're either always off or always on.

sa226 · 03-21-2013, 07:47 PM

Depends on your budget.

But my two suggestions are Plex and XBMC, ditch TVersity.

Plex would be the easiest. Run the server from your PC and then have whatever internet enabled network device do the streaming. Its quite easy.

My favorite is XBMC, but you would need either apple TV or a cheapo computer. Its not your typical server either. You just run it on your selected device and point it to wherever you media collection is.

MickMcGeough · 03-21-2013, 07:57 PM

I think a Plex solution is about as good as it gets in a media center.

- Auto drive-scanning, media scraping, and metadata download
- Clients on just about anything. (I run a Plex client on my Samsung Blu-Ray Player)
- Placeshifting to mobile devices over wifi/3G/LTE on iOS/Android/Windows8 with real-time transcoding
- bookmark YouTube/etc. clips for later viewing on any client
- iTunes library support
- Automatic media syncing to mobiles/tablets

I don't know about TVersity but migrating your media to Plex would probably be totally painless. I haven't tried using a 360 as a client but it's supported.

Here's an article that breaks stuff down.

Honestly, if you're into a streaming media system and you don't at least check it out you're doing yourself a disservice.