AppleTV Alternative

[cyberrico]

Hello all, this is my first post in what looks like a great forum, so I apologize in advance if I posted it in the wrong forum. What I want falls into several categories.

Simply put, I want to watch MPG, AVI and other various video formats on my TV. I own a lot of DVDs, am tired of organizing them and plan to turn them all into divx/xvid and store them on a large drive instead of filtering through hundreds of DVDs.

I have done a bit of research on this and the first thing that popped up was AppleTV. Reviews are decent enough but there seem to be two problems with this product:

1) Only likes Apple formats which requires additional conversion.

2) Streaming, especially HD quality, can be laggy over wireless networks.

Going with some other products, like the D-link alternative to AppleTV fixes the limited format issue but I still have the potential problem with streaming latency. I could fix that with a hard wire connection. Back when I was playing Xbox live a lot, I ran a cable (50') from my office to my living room and it all runs neatly behind my couch out of sight.

I'm answering all of my own questions, right?

Unless I misunderstood what I read, there also seems to be the alternative of putting an external drive on some devices. This will remove any issues with having to stream across my network and it will allow other family members to watch movies while I am gaming on my PC as I imagine that streaming can use a bit of my resources.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you might have.

 

[Slick5150]

If you want to be able to do HD stuff, there aren't a lot of great options. The one that seems the most promising is here:
http://www.popcornhour.com

It was just released recently and there's very limited inventory so they're selling it on a "first registered, first served" basis. I'm in the queue to get one at some point, but don't have it yet, but from the people that already got theirs the reviews are quite positive. This will be replacing my XBMC.

 

[Eug]

Mac mini

The AppleTV is hopelessly crippled.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
If you want to be able to do HD stuff, there aren't a lot of great options. The one that seems the most promising is here:
http://www.popcornhour.com

It was just released recently and there's very limited inventory so they're selling it on a "first registered, first served" basis. I'm in the queue to get one at some point, but don't have it yet, but from the people that already got theirs the reviews are quite positive. This will be replacing my XBMC.

I've been notified that mine has shipped yesterday. I'm excited to finally be able to get some sort of HD compatibility. However, I don't think you should count on this replacing XBMC. They are very different. They should complement each other nicely.

 

[Modelworks]

XBMC FTW !
Thats if you don't need HD.
Otherwise I think a htpc is best for now.

I looked at the popcornhour box but I'm waiting to see if they are going to implement DRM.
The chipset they use is great with the exception that it is used in a lot of other devices to implement drm. If they leave the box open that would be awesome.

If they start implementing private firmware, and start making deals with sites that require drm, I'm not so sure.

Its basically the vantage 8634 box without the tuners.
I hope they make the firmware open or someone finds a way to install open firmware.

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Slick5150
If you want to be able to do HD stuff, there aren't a lot of great options. The one that seems the most promising is here:
http://www.popcornhour.com

It was just released recently and there's very limited inventory so they're selling it on a "first registered, first served" basis. I'm in the queue to get one at some point, but don't have it yet, but from the people that already got theirs the reviews are quite positive. This will be replacing my XBMC.

I've been notified that mine has shipped yesterday. I'm excited to finally be able to get some sort of HD compatibility. However, I don't think you should count on this replacing XBMC. They are very different. They should complement each other nicely.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it, but I'm a little confused how you don't think its a replacement for the XBMC. It can play audio, video (pretty much all formats, including DVDs in either IFO or ISO format, and HD content that the XBMC can't do), photos, go online to sites like Youtube and whatnot. And the software seems fairly intuitive from what I've seen of it.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Slick5150
If you want to be able to do HD stuff, there aren't a lot of great options. The one that seems the most promising is here:
http://www.popcornhour.com

It was just released recently and there's very limited inventory so they're selling it on a "first registered, first served" basis. I'm in the queue to get one at some point, but don't have it yet, but from the people that already got theirs the reviews are quite positive. This will be replacing my XBMC.

I've been notified that mine has shipped yesterday. I'm excited to finally be able to get some sort of HD compatibility. However, I don't think you should count on this replacing XBMC. They are very different. They should complement each other nicely.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it, but I'm a little confused how you don't think its a replacement for the XBMC. It can play audio, video (pretty much all formats, including DVDs in either IFO or ISO format, and HD content that the XBMC can't do), photos, go online to sites like Youtube and whatnot. And the software seems fairly intuitive from what I've seen of it.

Well, I'll let you know. I found this a good read.
Review

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: DBL

Originally posted by: Slick5150
If you want to be able to do HD stuff, there aren't a lot of great options. The one that seems the most promising is here:
http://www.popcornhour.com

It was just released recently and there's very limited inventory so they're selling it on a "first registered, first served" basis. I'm in the queue to get one at some point, but don't have it yet, but from the people that already got theirs the reviews are quite positive. This will be replacing my XBMC.

I've been notified that mine has shipped yesterday. I'm excited to finally be able to get some sort of HD compatibility. However, I don't think you should count on this replacing XBMC. They are very different. They should complement each other nicely.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it, but I'm a little confused how you don't think its a replacement for the XBMC. It can play audio, video (pretty much all formats, including DVDs in either IFO or ISO format, and HD content that the XBMC can't do), photos, go online to sites like Youtube and whatnot. And the software seems fairly intuitive from what I've seen of it.

Well, I'll let you know. I found this a good read.
Review

If it can pull down DVD cover art for each movie in your library from IMDb, I'll check it out. If not, I'll stick with XBMC.

 

[cyberrico]

For the record, I don't care about HD at this time. The only critical factor in terms of HD is that this device will work on an HDTV when I get one in the next 6 months. I know the answer to that is yes to all of the solutions out there.

I have heard people rave about XBMC. I'm going to have to do some research there. I can buy an old Xbox for cheap at a local game store. At the very least it could prove to be a cheap way for me to dive into the world of streaming to my TV.

Thanks a bunch guys.

 

[DBL]

Originally posted by: cyberrico
For the record, I don't care about HD at this time.....

XBMC. Just make sure you get the component connectors also. They don't come with it normally.