Media Streamers?

On Holiday · 25 Jan 2014 at 21:30

Hey guys

Any recommendations on a decent but somewhat low price device to stream movies from my PC to my TV?

Got about £60 to spend.

Roku LT Media Streamers? WD TV Live Media Players? etc.

Got a perfectly good Samsung T27A550, was thinking about just buying a new 32" SMART TV that can do it already, but not really any point..

Thanks

V4NT0M · 25 Jan 2014 at 22:31

I'm looking for something similar for the same kind of price.

I have a boxee box in my livingroom which streams stuff from serviio on my pc flawlessly. It is a really good media device and has played almost everything I have thrown at it.

But they are a little more than I want to pay and not sure I want to buy another one as they are officially discontinued. The other problem i have with the boxee is that it has a cooling fan in it and it makes quite an audible buzz constantly.

Im looking for something that will play everything like a boxee and also work as easily without transcoding.

Was looking at the roku boxes but not sure how well or how easily they will play from serviio

FerretBoy · 26 Jan 2014 at 00:37

WD TV Live is a good device. Cheaper alternative is a raspberry pi with openelec installed.

dacads · 26 Jan 2014 at 00:50

lucid · 26 Jan 2014 at 02:15

Have a look at the various MX Android TV boxes. They run XBMC with the confluence skin and look just as good as the same on a media PC. It also has Netflix (no LoveFilm) and YouTube. You can add BBC iPlayer, 4oD, Demand5. Then there's the other streaming apps also running inside the XBMC environment for movies, sport, documentaries, TV series etc etc.

I demo'ed one to a client who has WDTV. He reckoned the Android box was way faster and much slicker. I've also compared against Apple ATV3. Unlike that product there's no need to rip then convert files to a compatible format. The MX boxes play most things you can throw at it including 1080p. They also do DTS-MA, Dolby True HD, AAC and all the rest of the higher end audio formats as well as DD and DTS.

Prices range from £55-£75 depending on how it's preloaded.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/images/5/5b/XBMC_home.jpg

V4NT0M · 26 Jan 2014 at 12:15

Thanks ill have a look at those I looked at android tv sticks before I bought the boxee and it was difficult to get any kind of review or information on the quality of the many devices out there.

Just had a quick look, Ethernet port too... oooh

Dammit, I'm an idiot... I don't need a TV box, I'm going to plug my PC in via HDMI anyway to play games, ill just use xmbc!

Lee · 26 Jan 2014 at 22:45

How about a Raspberry Pi running Openelec ? Mine works fine and it's a good learning experience.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Confused · 27 Jan 2014 at 11:08

Skyfall said:
Dammit, I'm an idiot... I don't need a TV box, I'm going to plug my PC in via HDMI anyway to play games, ill just use xmbc!

Definitely the best option!

Add to that Steam's big picture mode, and you've got a fantastic combination - decent enough hardware to play games and any form of video without issues

meandu229 · 27 Jan 2014 at 11:26

Confused said:
Definitely the best option! Add to that Steam's big picture mode, and you've got a fantastic combination - decent enough hardware to play games and any form of video without issues

This
XBMC supports xbox controller now so pc booting to big picture after windows loads then access to all steam games + xbmc (+ Ive got netflix in there too) from couch with gamepad. Rarely need to touch kb/mouse.

nightrider1470 · 27 Jan 2014 at 19:28

The best and I mean super best is mede8er

Slade2 · 27 Jan 2014 at 21:19

Watching this thread with interest and yeah the mede8er looks really nice, will wait to see what the reviews are like but I really like the look of this. I was looking at The little black box but some of the reviews are not great and it doesnt pass through audio like the mede8er does. This could be the answer for me for sure.

On Holiday · 28 Jan 2014 at 20:03

Just received a ROKU 3 from the rainforest.. About 1 hour later and I've already arranged for a return!

Can't fault it for it's Apps, it does what it's designed to do, but the problem for me is that there is not a good App or pre-built feature for streaming from PC to Roku/TV..
I will say that it's very fast and responsive, and if your wanting to turn your non-SMART TV into a SMART TV then the Roku's do seem a good choice.

I did try an App called "Plex" and it loaded all the movies and then renamed them as it saw fit.. i.e "IT Crowd Series 4" is now known as Dante and Water :confused:

I think I'll probably end up plugging in my PC to TV with a HDMI too tbh.. Either that or get a silent HTPC built!

V4NT0M · 28 Jan 2014 at 20:35

That's one of the things I wasn't clear about on the roku either it didn't seem like it was going to do that well. Makes the boxee box actually seem like a contender still... Again it's not officially supported anymore but the streaming functionality is great. The YouTube app also has that thing where you can push stuff from your phone too.

I ended up actually buying a smart TV in the end and though my plan was to use xmbc I think I will probably end up just using the smart capabilities as the Sony really wowed me. Media browsing was much quicker than the boxee and the iplayer, youtube and other on demand apps were great. Better still was wireless screen mirroring and control from tablets and phones.

Depending on what smart TV you're looking at you might be pleasantly surprised by what you get.

utajoker · 28 Jan 2014 at 20:49

so is it better to get one of these little boxes now than build your own now?

im wanting one for netflix and to stream media in 1080p

Raymond Lin · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:00

utajoker said:
so is it better to get one of these little boxes now than build your own now?

im wanting one for netflix and to stream media in 1080p

roku actually does that...I am not sure why Badpilot doesn't like it. I've not had any problems with the file naming. It plays netflix in 1080p, youtube in 1080p, stream movies from my NAS (it is also a server) just fine.

EndlessSky · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:03

Another vote for Roku and Plex, streams beautifully and Plex keeps getting better and better.

On Holiday · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:12

Raymond Lin said:
roku actually does that...I am not sure why Badpilot doesn't like it. I've not had any problems with the file naming. It plays netflix in 1080p, youtube in 1080p, stream movies from my NAS (it is also a server) just fine.

A good 3rd of my (2TB worth of) Movies/TV Series were displaying incorrect titles and pictures in the Library.

Had issues with it buffering every 5-10 seconds when trying to play back a few 10GB+ Movies. (Connected via Gig Ethernet, playback set to 20Mbps and the movies in question streamed to my phone with no issue)

The lack of "Search" function and ability to order movies by date added to folder (not date added to plex/roku media streamer) was a bit disappointing too.

Other than the issues above, I did like it, but the primary purpose of the Roku, for me at least, was to stream media from my PC to TV.

Raymond Lin · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:17

I have zero problems with file naming...I have about 3TB's worth, not a single one is named wrong, not TV shows, not movies. I can't say it is 100% accurate but it's like 99% easy, actually, 99% would be low, because that equates to about 4 movies being wrong (not counting TV shows), and I don't think any movies is labelled wrong...

I think you can search, it's right at the bottom? besides, you can sort by alphabet by folder too so you can find a movie easy enough.

p.s. I have a file that is 30G and that plays fine!

On Holiday · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:21

Hmm, is this with Plex or a different App?

My movies aren't in separate folders (although it probably would be easier if they were!), and I couldn't find an option to display all movies as a list in A-Z.
I checked everywhere for a Search function too!

Raymond Lin · 28 Jan 2014 at 21:22

On the Roku, Plex, select your server, movies, press down, keep going down, there are various sorting options.