docking stations still the best way to stream video?

[BadOmen]

Greetings.
Am I wrong to conclude that I'm better off streaming stuff from a 7200rpm HD on a USB 2.0 docking station to a media player (Aios), than wirelessly from a NAS through DLNA?

I think I'm missing something, as the DLNA solution seems way more popular today, and my experience with it is zero.

Any opinions are welcome.
Thanks

[smitbret]

Streaming video wirelessly is still a bad choice when hard wired options are available. DLNA between wired devices is the easiest method and that's why it's popular.

[sdifox]

Depends on what your setup and habit is really. If you need to stream the same content to multiple locations, then DLNA would be a better solution, otherwise local storage will always outperform networked storage unless you get into arrays.

[BadOmen]

Thanks for the answers.
I actually have modest streaming habits. Just need it to get to one TV.
Although centralizing videos in a NAS sounds tempting, not cursing in front of the TV due to lagging streaming speeds as the whole family watches in horror is still more important. I guess I'll keep local storage, then.

[sdifox]

Originally Posted by BadOmen

Thanks for the answers.
I actually have modest streaming habits. Just need it to get to one TV.
Although centralizing videos in a NAS sounds tempting, not cursing in front of the TV due to lagging streaming speeds as the whole family watches in horror is still more important. I guess I'll keep local storage, then.

Since you have the hardware already, you can always just try it. setup dlna in windows 7 is not hard at all.

I am a big fan of sneakernet

[smitbret]

Originally Posted by BadOmen

Thanks for the answers.
I actually have modest streaming habits. Just need it to get to one TV.
Although centralizing videos in a NAS sounds tempting, not cursing in front of the TV due to lagging streaming speeds as the whole family watches in horror is still more important. I guess I'll keep local storage, then.

Your success in wireless streaming via DLAN is going to be dependent on your wireless speed. I used to stream BR rips over a 5Ghz Wireless N network. And while playback worked fine, FF/Rew was pointless. The bandwidth just wasn't there to perform it. When I got my WD Live Hub, I just hardwired it.

It looks like you are using the Pivos AIOS as a media streamer. I tried one out and hated it. The DLNA folders were too deep in the folders with the crappy interface to really be intuitive enough for general use in my household.

However, the unit seemed much more friendly for SMB use. You may wanna just try to share your media folders from a PC and stream them via the network to the AIOS without DLNA. That device supports just about every video format and codec so transcoding won't be much of an issue. I would have gone this way with my WD Live Hub, but I had my libraries for movies and music already set up in my Mezzmo DLNA software and couldn't fathom losing all of the information/metadata that I had collected.

[BadOmen]

Originally Posted by sdifox

I am a big fan of sneakernet

It has served me well since the cassette tape, but I think my feet could use a break now

Originally Posted by smitbret

Your success in wireless streaming via DLAN is going to be dependent on your wireless speed.

If your 5Ghz wireless N didn't do the trick, the maximum my WRT54G v2 sitting on the basement will achieve is make me foam at the mouth.
The AIOS is definitely friendly for SMB use, but it's famous for its ultra low transfer speeds problem related to the Realtek chip. Well, it's been a while I don't check for firmware updates, maybe that's already fixed. Worth a try.

[smitbret]

Don't worry about it being a little slow. Any wired connection will be more than enough for streaming media.

I did stream DVD rips wirelessly on a G connection to my PS3 for awhile, but when I started buying BR it was time for an upgrade. If your patient, the new 802.11ac standard should provide a good enough connection for HD streaming.