Which streaming devices will play MKV video?

[budmonster]

I'm trying to find the easiest and cheapest way to stream large videos (2-20gb 720-1080p) from my PC to my HDTV. I'm trying to find a device that can stream MKV videos w/ DTS audio, and so on. Something that can handle pretty much all formats, video and audio.

I've tried several methods, some have worked to an extent and some have failed.
- Tried using my PS3 along with PS3MediaServer to play videos from my PC to TV. Every video would play but they all would stutter and lag. I've never been able to find a fix.
- I just recently purchased an iPad Air. When I was at the Apple store I saw an Apple TV and also a Lightning Digital AV Adapter, so I decided to try those. I was able to use the AirPlay mirroring feature on my iPad to mirror my iPad screen. Only issue is that iPads don't play many formats let alone MKVs. So I had to download an iOS application called AirVideo HD. It would stream videos from my PC on the fly to my iPad and then I just use. This worked well but I don't think AirPlay mirroring supports 1080p output and also the quality of the video declined. I also used the Lightning Adapter to hook my iPad to my TV with HDMI. This also worked but it's not wireless and I also had to use that AirVideo HD app to play my videos.

I'm just looking for any ideas or products that can do what I need, any help would be appreciated. If anyone need to know, my FiOS connection is 75/35 and my router is pretty close to my TV, so streaming should be an issue.

 

[Zivic]

I use WD TV Live.. works very well for me. I have 4 of them around the house.

 

[nsafreak]

The WDTV Live works, however be aware that it does not support DTS Master Audio. It will play the DTS Core audio from a DTS MA stream but not the full stream however it will play Dolby Digital True HD audio and the rest of the Dolby formats.

 

[budmonster]

I use WD TV Live.. works very well for me. I have 4 of them around the house.

How do I set WD TV Live up. When I click on the Video tab from the main screen it asks me if I want to add a Home Server, Network, etc. Which do I pick?

What folder do the movies need to be in on my PC? Don't I need to create a homegroup for my files to show up on WD TV Live? I have no idea what I'm doing. Ally my videos are in this folder "C:\Users\*****\Downloads\Completed". I'm on Windows 8.1.

 

[nsafreak]

First thing you're going to want to do is to share the folder where your videos are located across the network. Next you'll want to add a Windows Share, it should be one of the options listed (might be also listed as a SMB share, used to have one of these units but its been a while) it should then scan your network and show all PCs with shared folders. Choose the appropriate PC and it should be fairly automatic from there.

 

[budmonster]

First thing you're going to want to do is to share the folder where your videos are located across the network. Next you'll want to add a Windows Share, it should be one of the options listed (might be also listed as a SMB share, used to have one of these units but its been a while) it should then scan your network and show all PCs with shared folders. Choose the appropriate PC and it should be fairly automatic from there.

How do I share the folder though? Right click on it and then what am I looking for? Never did this before.

 

[nsafreak]

I'm running Windows 7 and I haven't used 8 before but presuming they haven't changed the structure too much you should be able to right click on the folder and then select properties. There should be a tab labeled Sharing and within that tab there should be a Share button. Click that and select the option to share with Everyone and then click the Share button on that dialog.

 

[budmonster]

I'm running Windows 7 and I haven't used 8 before but presuming they haven't changed the structure too much you should be able to right click on the folder and then select properties. There should be a tab labeled Sharing and within that tab there should be a Share button. Click that and select the option to share with Everyone and then click the Share button on that dialog.

Ok, I did that. When I go into WD TV Live and select the Videos tab it asks me if I want to use "Media Server", "Local Share" or "Network Share". I have no clue which each is? I'm assuming "Local Storage" is if you put a USB drive in the back and play your files that way.

 

[nsafreak]

It should be listed under Local Share.

 

[Zivic]

I believe if you are going across a network it is a network share

 

[budmonster]

It should be listed under Local Share.

When I go to:
Select Content Source, these are my choices:
- Local Storage
-- Media Server
---- Network Share
----- Online Services

- When I click on Local Storage it says "No Storage Present".
-- When I click on Media Server it says "John-PC: John:".
--- When I click on Network Share it gives me a "Windows Share" option and when I click on that it says "John-PC". And then after I click that it says:

Login to John-PC
Username: anonymous
Password: ****************
I then click "OK" and it says "Unable to connect to the select service. Please make sure the selection source is active and available for sharing."

---- When I click "Online Services" it just asks for Facebook login.

 

[nsafreak]

My guess would be that like a default Windows 7 install the Guest account is disabled which is what the WD Live TV is trying to use. Just use the same username and password that you use to login to your PC and it should let you access the share in the Windows Share option.

 

[budmonster]

My guess would be that like a default Windows 7 install the Guest account is disabled which is what the WD Live TV is trying to use. Just use the same username and password that you use to login to your PC and it should let you access the share in the Windows Share option.

hmmm. when my pc starts up i dont have to enter anything in. whenever i got windows 8 it asked me create a Microsoft, outlook login or whatever. i used my gmail email and a password i made to login to windows for the first few times then i turned it off so i dont have to enter pass anymore.

 

[nsafreak]

hmmm. when my pc starts up i dont have to enter anything in. whenever i got windows 8 it asked me create a Microsoft, outlook login or whatever. i used my gmail email and a password i made to login to windows for the first few times then i turned it off so i dont have to enter pass anymore.

Windows still recognizes it as a valid login for the purpose of accessing network shares and other services that are setup to user user logins. You should be able to use the same username and password and it will allow access to the share. The other option would be to create a login for the wdtv and have it login using those credentials.

 

[smitbret]

If you want to keep it simple, disable Password Protected Sharing on the host PC. WDTV Live requires Read/Write access on the host files, so if you want a truly secure setup, you'll need to create its own User Account on the host PC.

 

[budmonster]

What is the difference between "Media Server" and "Network Share". For some reason I have them both turned on. It seems like only the Videos folder that Windows make is allowed to be used for Media Share. Network Share I think allows any folder to be shared?



But when I click on "Select Content Source" from the WD TV Live and select "Media Server", it will only show me the Videos folder, It wont show the "Completed" folder too. But If I then go to "Network Share" it then brings up all my videos in the Completed folder.

 

[GregGreen]

Not a direct answer to your question, but as an alternative to buying another device, you could remux your mkvs into m4vs with something like MP4Tools (or something similar that works on Windows) and then serve the m4vs to your AppleTV via iTunes. I do something similar to this and it works really well for me.

 

[budmonster]

Not a direct answer to your question, but as an alternative to buying another device, you could remux your mkvs into m4vs with something like MP4Tools (or something similar that works on Windows) and then serve the m4vs to your AppleTV via iTunes. I do something similar to this and it works really well for me.

I've done that before but I'm looking for the easiest way. Just download video, stream and press play. I'v have a 4 year old and I dont want to have to fuss with muxing and so forth. Just want to be able to download a video, turn my tv on and press play. Trying to find the best streaming box out there.

 

[luv2liv]

i have been searching for an mkv player too. year 2013 is almost over and there's still none. WD Live is as close as it gets. i tried an android box too, and that didnt work out.

the ultimate player i use now is a laptop with HDMI. it plays everything known to mankind with absolutely no issues. i cant stand that transcoding crap or file conversion! i find it hard to believe anyone has time to transcode/convert.

 

[Childs]

You can always go with a refurb Roku 2 XS and Plex.

 

[Zivic]

i have been searching for an mkv player too. year 2013 is almost over and there's still none. WD Live is as close as it gets. i tried an android box too, and that didnt work out.

the ultimate player i use now is a laptop with HDMI. it plays everything known to mankind with absolutely no issues. i cant stand that transcoding crap or file conversion! i find it hard to believe anyone has time to transcode/convert.

the live is simple and easy... once setup it is as easy as changing the channel. I have over 7TB worth of movies I share through mine. works great

 

[poofyhairguy]

WD Live is the cheapest. I gift those to family.

A custom HTPC is the best though.

 

[budmonster]

Has anyone tried Popcorn Hour, Micca, Dune, Mede8er, or KDLINKS? What players are you guys using?

 

[Claudius-07]

Personally I have used pretty much every media player under the sun. The original WD Live, the Seagate Theater+, the Pivos one, I had a HD1000, PS3 and Media server... the list goes on and on. I then got an Apple TV2, JB'ed it and installed XBMC. It was awesome for a long time, but most of my watching was mainly TV shows even HD but never 1080p. It would have issues with anything high bitrate over 720p which was understandable and it served my purposes. Anyhow somehow I fubared the TV2 during an update and ended up with what for now has worked best for me. The MyGica ATV520 Dual Core Android 4.1 Media Player. It comes with XBMC... it's simply the best, set it and forget box I have ever used. It plays all my HD movies and TV shows, it uses XBMC which I love, for $79 when it was on sale it is perect - I use a Harmony Remote to control it. My wife can use it easily so that gets a pass right there.
Now most of my HD movies dont go over 6-8 GB in size but I do have some larger ones and have had zero issues. I do have it plugged into Ethernet though, none of this WiFi for me. I gave up on that years ago. All my media is stored on a Windows 7 server machine in my basement. Done.

 

[SheHateMe]

Plex.