Where to go next?

[notposting]

Hi everyone, hopefully I can get some different advice scenarios to help move my family's entertainment setup forward. This will be a longish post by necessity.

I'll start with what we've been using, are using, and what we would like.

What we have and use

For the last several years our entertainment setup has consisted primarily of a WHS v1, a W7 HTPC, and an HDHR. Movies ripped via My Movies and in video_TS format. Very occasional use of an XBOX 360, and Linksys MCX. We moved (too many times) this year and are now temporarily in an apartment, but will hopefully be in a house within a year or two. Currently we are just using a Roku (2 XS) with Amazon Prime, Netflix, and trialling Aereo currently.

Right now, our WHS is obviously getting old (software wise) and isn't the long term solution going forward. The movies are in video_TS format which has worked great on 7MC (like having menus, chapters, extras, and the ability to recreate discs if needed) but having a good universal single file format seems like it might be best. Currently there are 793 individual DVDs copied, and I know there are more.

Needs

Even with a house, our entertainment needs are pretty low. A living room TV, which has also doubled as the stereo playing music through 7MC or Zune. Possibly a master bedroom TV, pretty minimal use, but nice to have now and then. Having access to our movie and music collection on our devices would be nice.

We use a mix of devices -- WP8, Windows 7 and 8, iPod, Kindle, Roku, etc. And mobile devices are obviously something that can change quickly -- I could see an iPad or Nexus tablet showing up perhaps.

Power consumption is a concern, would prefer not to have a large power drain at all hours, and even peak power is better if lower. The Roku is really nice in that regard.

Ease of use (WAF) is key as well.

Possibilities?

Everything is on the table at this point. We have a couple young kids so daddy-IT time is only getting less and less. The easier solution (ESPECIALLY long term maintenance) is preferred. I expect a good chunk of time to be needed at the outset.

So, the server? Stick with WHS v1 and just keep it as locked down as possible? Move on to something else (NAS? Server 2012 Essentials?)?

TV hookup: Roku? 7MC (which I don't have setup to do Bluray, as it sounds like a kludgy affair)? We are steadily watching less real TV, (honestly, it's down to Marvel Shield, Castle, Grimm, some PBS, etc) and use streaming and our collection a lot. If an HTPC, being able to pipe sound to a receiver/stereo with the TV off would be nice.

The current movie collection? Convert the folders to something else (the more universal the better)? A way to utilize the MyMovies metadata would be great as well. I had thought Plex would work for me now, but the folder rips are evidently not supported. So converting them and using Plex via Roku could really simplify things.

Spending money wisely is not out of the question, but should be as low as possible obviously.

Anyway, thanks for any advice, even if it's only a part of the equation it will be appreciated!

 

[crashtestdummy]

What's your budget? Do you need computer features other than media streaming? Do your tablets and such need to be able to stream from the NAS, or will you only be watching them on the TVs

With the number of DVDs you have, a 4-drive NAS is probably your best bet as a media server. For viewing said files, get a WD TV Live (NOT the play). Total cost will be a bit under a grand. (If you don't need RAID 1, you can bring it under $500.) This can be a fire-and forget system once set up. The WD TV will have a much better wife acceptance factor than trying to deal with a full-on HTPC. The only downsides to this system are 1) No full computer on your TV and 2) The WD TV Live doesn't support Amazon streaming.

If you need to view things on your tablets, it gets a little more complicated, as you'll have to deal with format compatibility issues.

 

[notposting]

Budget can be spaced out, and wife is pretty good about not second guessing tech decisions. I also obviously have piles and piles of hard drives in the WHS, and there is free space on it, so I could start pulling drives from it to repurpose them.

It would be *nice* to watch things from alternate devices like tablets. But with streaming services it might not be needed (between Netflix and Prime on the Fire it's probably "good enough").

Not having Amazon video streaming is a killer. The HTPC we were running had a high WAF for the last several years, though I only had Amazon video streaming integrated directly into 7MC this year, and that plugin died over the summer. Otherwise though, MyMovies, Netflix, TV/DVR, and music all worked great. Had (have, I guess) a good setup using only one remote for TV and HTPC, if it ever rebooted it went right back to MC, and needed little maintenance.

I might even keep an eye on something like the XBox One at this point.

 

[crashtestdummy]

Another option is that the Roku plays H.294 mkv files and has Amazon prime, but you'd have to convert all your movie folders.

 

[notposting]

Another option is that the Roku plays H.294 mkv files and has Amazon prime, but you'd have to convert all your movie folders.

That is kind of where I may be leaning. At the very least I can test out a few conversions first (check different codecs, playback on different devices).

Want to try to keep using My Movies for data as well, no direct export path to Plex makes that a little bit of a headache I think. From what I've seen people have used it to create XBMC metadata, then used a Plex plugin to import that. I may see how good Plex is at identifying things first.

On the bright side, I am realizing that some of the .m4a tracks that I got from iTunes Match when it first came out are garbage (they will play, and halfway through they are dead air). I need to dig out my computer and external hard drives and look for the original mp3 tracks now. Goodbye, free time!





My soul for a Roku that played local network media