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Streaming media device or htpc ?

P

Pardus

Diamond Member
Is there a simple to stream audio/video contact from a pc or tablet to a tv wirelessly or is it better to build a htpc for this purpose?

Was looking at the Belkin Universal Wireless HDTV Adapter, but i don't know how well it works or for that matter doesn't work.

Don't want a roku or apple tv.

Suggestions ?
 
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what services are you planning to use?
ChromeCast - is very cheap and very uncomplicated. it makes your phone your remote and you can use most of the mayor media services out there. netflix, hulu plus, youtube, etc. amazon not yet and there is no good DLNA player out yet.
Google TV - not as cheap, not even nearly as cheap as the roku but plenty of features. many more applications as chromecast and probably roku but still somewhat limited.
NUC - there are version of the NUC ranging from just under $200 to about $399. the need ram and mSATA HDD. through in windows and you can have a nice DLNA media center or XMBC if you are more of a linux friend.

other options:
xbox
playstation
 
No services, want to take a dvd or video on my pc and play it on the tv. Basically want to emulate whatever plays on the pc to play on the tv.
 
sounds like you would be better off building a system; however, you could use plex server on your current pc to serve media to other devices. the chromecast is $35 and has a plex client available which would allow you to play your content on any TV with HDMI. plex has clients for iOS and android for any device.
 
Get a Raspberry Pi Model B + Wireless USB adapter
Purchase MPEG-2 License (For your DVD rips)
Install OpenELEC (XBMC) to an SD card that you have lying around. Only takes about 100MB.

Enjoy for $40

WDTV TV Live costs more but would support more file formats if that's an issue.
 
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smitbret said:
Get a Raspberry Pi Model B + Wireless USB adapter
Purchase MPEG-2 License (For your DVD rips)
Install OpenELEC (XBMC) to an SD card that you have lying around. Only takes about 100MB.

Enjoy for $40

WDTV TV Live costs more but would support more file formats if that's an issue.
Click to expand...

Yep. I just set up a Rasperry Pi myself. Supports all my content just fine (1080p mkv and mp4)
 
I am not gonna lie, I am flat out shocked at how well my RaspPi has worked. Playback of full BR rips is flawless. I can't speak too much about audio passthroughs and things, but I imagine if XBMC supports it then it should play it back. Even then, I would just set up my streaming software to transcode it and it would work fine anyway.
 
smitbret said:
Get a Raspberry Pi Model B + Wireless USB adapter
Purchase MPEG-2 License (For your DVD rips)
Install OpenELEC (XBMC) to an SD card that you have lying around. Only takes about 100MB.

Enjoy for $40

WDTV TV Live costs more but would support more file formats if that's an issue.
Click to expand...

Correct me if i am wrong, but if looks like all you get is a board, no power supply and no case. The Raspberry Pi Model B Linux Board looks like a good idea, but to have a board hanging loose invites trouble. Some sellers on ebay sell an enclosure for this so you don't accidentally short it out.

Guess i have to watch some youtube videos to see what this does.

Per Amazon:
The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It's a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing, and games, as well as plays high-definition video. The design is based around a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 512 Megabytes of RAM. This revision 2.0 board features two mounting holes for easy installation, a built-in reset circuit, and can be powered via the USB data ports. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card (not included) for booting and long-term storage. The Raspberry Pi is intended to run Linux kernel based operating systems. Component colors may vary. Not all units manufactured in the UK.
Click to expand...

Will check into this more. Thanks.
 
Pardus said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but if looks like all you get is a board, no power supply and no case. The Raspberry Pi Model B Linux Board looks like a good idea, but to have a board hanging loose invites trouble. Some sellers on ebay sell an enclosure for this so you don't accidentally short it out.

Guess i have to watch some youtube videos to see what this does.

Per Amazon:


Will check into this more. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The "power supply" is any 1A microUSB phone charger. The Pi takes a little more work to deal with than a media player box (it was designed first and foremost to be an educational tool), but it's surprisingly capable for media playback.

If you don't have the parts around, you'll need to get a microUSB charger, a SD card (at least 4GB), and some kind of controller device (something like this, or you can get a cell phone app), as the device just comes as a bare board.

Important notes: Its hardware supports both H.264 and MPEG-2 decoding, but to decode MPEG-2 you need to purchase a license. OpenELEC also doesn't handle hardware decoding of ISO copies of movies very well, so it's better to have MKV files of your media.

If you really want to play ISO files, the WD TV Live (NOT the TV Play) is probably your best bet for a simple, cheap solution.
 
Pardus said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but if looks like all you get is a board, no power supply and no case. The Raspberry Pi Model B Linux Board looks like a good idea, but to have a board hanging loose invites trouble. Some sellers on ebay sell an enclosure for this so you don't accidentally short it out.

Guess i have to watch some youtube videos to see what this does.

Per Amazon:


Will check into this more. Thanks.
Click to expand...

If your use is just for a media player, then I recommend using OpenELEC as your OS. It's a stripped down Linux distro that boots straight into XBMC, so no controller needed outside of your Wifi connected phone or tablet is necessary. Since all the extraneous stuff has been stripped out, too, it only takes up about 120MB, so a 128MB SD card that you have collecting dust will work fine. Because there's literally next to nothing running in the background, all system resources are available for media playback. I just use an old cell phone charger. I bought an $8 case off of Amazon and velcro it to the back of my TV. Actually, I bought 2 cases cuz the first one was clear and the glow from the board's LED indicators glowed rather brightly at night.

The license for MPEG-2 (DVD) is about $2 extra as is the license for VC-1 (a few Blu-Ray titles).

Like the previous posted recommended, if you are doing .iso files then a WDTV is gonna be better, but if you're ripping them to single MPEG files then the RaspPiXBMC route is probably a cleaner option, especially considering you have to get the WDTV Live that is NOT the Play model for MPEG-2 playback.
 
Raspberry Pi is about the same size as a Roku, and its more complicated, so I'm not sure why that would be preferable.

Roku2 or Roku3, streaming from media browser 3 server that is installed on a computer in the house. Cost is $50-$90. Ease of use is very good. You can try out the basics of this setup with a slightly different interface by installing and configuring the server, then installing their "Theater" self contained PC client.
 
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Binky said:
Raspberry Pi is about the same size as a Roku, and its more complicated, so I'm not sure why that would be preferable.
Click to expand...

Because XBMC can handle a much larger library than a Roku can and will present that library in a much prettier interface. My main XBMC machine manages my library via MySQL, and my 5 clients do nothing but connect and play. That give you advantages (stop a local movie in one room and finish in another, tracked watched status in the entire house, etc.) that set top boxes can't match.

With that said, I think PC hardware is a better value than a Pi box. Older ION and ION2 hardware can be had for pennies on the dollar on Ebay, and can play every file type you throw at it without buying any licences.

Heck for less than $200 I built a celeron HTPC that can handle my huge library via MySQL, run a skin that is 10 times as attractive as the best set top box, and play Hi10P files via CPU. Hard to beat that.

It is worth it just for the "wow" I get from when people visit and they see Aeon Nox in its full glory.
 
The Roku is probably a good idea, but I've never used one and the file support looks no better than the RaspPi, in fact worse if you count the fact that you can spend $4 and get licenses for MPEG-2 and VC-1.

I thought long and hard about a SFF HTPC but the reason I went RaspPi/OpenELEC was for simplicity. It boots straight into XBMC. It behaves just like a set top box like WDTV or Roku. I don't want to field the phone call from my wife when the power goes out while I'm at work and I have to walk her through booting back up and relaunching the media software. Additionally, I don't want to spend $$$ on an OS and I know next to nothing about Linux. Thirdly, the RaspPi draws less than 5W at idle and makes no noise at all. It's not one of those "You can't hear it over the TV" things or "Almost Dead Silent" type things. It is absolutely quiet, like your toaster.

If your goal is to play:
.mp4 or .mkv files with .h264/AVC

If you want to add the ability to play old DivX or Xvid or MPG or VOB files from DVD:
Spend $2 and get the MPEG-2 license

If you wanna rip your BR discs to .mkv or .mp4:
Get the VC-1 license for another $2

Sure, if you've got a collection of .flv or .wmv files then something else may be a better idea but for $35 and the repurposing of old components I have lying around (cell phone charger, 128MB SD Card).......?
 
Binky said:
I don't think you have tried the solution that I proposed in my post.
Click to expand...

I bought a Roku 3 to be my guest bedroom Netflix streaming device. It worked great, too great in fact since we gave it to my wife's cousin cause she liked it so much. The Roku is my go-to recommendation when people ask me what streaming box to buy. I love me some Roku.

I am also familiar with Media Browser 3, and I have had a Plex server since 2008. They are all very nice programs and great solutions for streaming media to a variety of clients.

But the Roku's GUI is nowhere near the fanart magic of Aeon Nox, nor can any of those library manager programs provide on a Roku what XBMC can provide on a HTPC.

With XBMC if I want I can get really detailed information on the fly. I can pull up a sub-menu that will list for me the actors in each of my 1600 movies and it will generate that list onscreen after only a short pause (and we are talking tens of thousands of actors). Or every movie by year in seconds.

And there are hundreds of plugins that you can extend XBMC with. Some like auto skipbacks after pauses and tvtunes really add to the experience.

I will admit it was a pain to setup XBMC for my library- the default MySQL settings choked on that many movies. But that is the advantage of the HTPC route- you can throw more hardware at it. I threw in more ram, tweaked the MySQL config and now its faster than ever before.

I can't throw a better GPU in a Roku and make it look like Aeon. And it is a pain to import a library like mine into MB3 or Plex. It takes a very long time even on a quad core desktop.

A Roku is the best solution for streaming period and a great solution for local playback. But if you have a large library and some spare time XBMC on a HTPC can be the best local playback experience possible.
 
currently, im using a laptop with SSD that boots into windows 8 in mere 3 seconds.
how fast does the pi boot into XMBC? if reasonable, i might give it a try...
 
I have an pi lying around somewhere. I fucked the file system up :0 so maybe I'll install OpenELEC. I was using it as a simple Web server before.

Off topic but did you know the pi can transmit FM radio signals 😀
 
luv2liv said:
currently, im using a laptop with SSD that boots into windows 8 in mere 3 seconds.
how fast does the pi boot into XMBC? if reasonable, i might give it a try...
Click to expand...

I would guess that mine boots into XBMC in about 20 seconds. I have never timed it though, cuz it has probably only been booted 3 times. It just stays on 24/7
 
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