Best Media Puck?

B

board2death986

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
1,404
Well after cutting the cable, I mostly live off of netflix, youtube, various video channels like CNET, Revision 3, etc, as well as my exhaustive collection on my NAS (thinking around 7TB of video). I've been searching for the best non-PC option to stream all of this to my projector but so far I've tried the WD TV live, Roku XD, and the apple TV 3.0.

Unfortunately though none of these seem to handle all the content ideally. The WD TV handles any format I can through at it, but it's interface isn't very good for Youtube and I'm not sure it even has the channels for Revision 3 and CNET. The Roku handles Netflix and those other channels like a boss, but it can't stream my personal content except through Plex. Although my NAS box has a Plex server, I've found it painfully slow and hard to navigate. Finally the Apple TV is ok with Youtube and Netflix, but it can't handle content unless I migrate everything over to .mp4 which would be a chore for 7TB of movies and TV shows.

I have a wildcard on the way, a Android streaming stick called the Equiso from a kickstarter campaign. Basically Android on a flash drive with an HDMI port. I have an Android phone but I'm not sure how this will work with everything else. I can see it handling youtube and my channels fine as I know there are dedicated apps, but does anyone know if there are good android apps that can handle .MKVs and stream from a network or DLNA device?

Overall just not seeing a device that handles all of my needs well. .. does anyone have experience with other devices like this that can handle this mixed bag of content, and well?
 
Third option: The Sony Blu-Ray player I have has Ethernet and a rudimentary DLNA capability. That's how I watch OTA recordings made by my HDHomeRun and WMC. (as well as MPEG-2 rips of DVDs I've made over the years) It even has WOL capability if the desktop housing the media is asleep. Only downside- sometimes the directory views don't update with the latest recordings; i.e. I'd see everything except last week's recordings of Last Resort and 30 Rock. This usually requires a manual disconnect/re-connect of the server in the Blu-Ray player to resolve.

Make sure you get the Ethernet port player. Don't try to do this over wi-fi.

I'm a big Roku fan, and still hope they'll add a non-Plex way to play local media someday.
 
Seems like you are looking for something more sophisticated than a set top box. XBox 360 as a media extender for MCE maybe.
 
Boxee box handles everything you seem to want, mine work fine, it is a dead device though so don't expect much support from boxee.
 
Last edited:
I have 2 of them and they work but I'm not super happy with them either, of course the alternative is spending 2-3x as much on a pc and that was what I was avoiding by buying a boxee.
 
I have tried Boxee 2 times, and ended up giving them away as gifts to family members w/ a 500GB hdd of stuff to watch.

Boxee really is a pretty good device. Its a bit slow, but for what it is, it Really works well. IMO it needed Amazon VOD to purchase shows, HULU would be nice, but their service is a bit to tied up with shitty licensing agreements.

What is really struggled with was scraping very large collections of media into its tiny little Boxee brain. It would get slow as hell when I would load up a folder w/ over 1000 movies, even if i had all the Tags and Images in folders done with Ember media manger. It would get slow and crash periodically when handling these collections.

I have not tried any of the BluRay players for streaming yet but the Roku is something I can recommend. The devices is very stable, wife friendly, and has Plex on it, which is not as pretty looking as, but is more stable than the Windows version. Also, spend the extra money for the NIC version, I have the wifi and feel it was a mistake, I think it might account for some of my lag.

If you are going to use Plex, take my advice and get a beefy CPU for your server. Don't try to run it off a NAS or HP MicroServer like I did. Sometimes the Plex Server (PMS) will transcode things that don't really need to be transcoded. Also, if you have multiple devices streaming from a server simultaneously, low power server devices just don't cut it.

Lots off people around here will tell you about XBMC, Plex, WMC, Media Portal etc. I have been an HTPC guy for a LONG Time, and have used them all for extended periods of time. I have tried bout about every media player devices that looked half decent, and I will say this, Plex is the way to go especially if you are serving up multiple devices in a home.

Edit: On another note, The PS3 is a very nice device as well. The netflix, hulu and vudu apps for it are really top notch, and some of the fastest and responsive I have found. BluRay is also very nice bonus for it. The device is rock stable and does a good job streaming Plex through DLNA. Plex Server hosts the content under its Tagged name that it scraped, not the "ugly" file name you might have grabbed it as, (I.E. BLURAY.x264.DTS.MKV.HAXOR.LOL). The DLNA data will not have the episode info, and is not as quick or responsive as the Roku or HTPC software version.
 
Last edited:
threeclaws said:
Boxee box handles everything you seem to want, mine work fine, it is a dead device though so don't expect much support from boxee.
Click to expand...

woah, i had no idea the boxee was dead.

regarding the ps3, i'm very tempted to pick one up myself, seeing as how i don't yet have a blu ray player and these often go up for sale.

does the ps3 support pandora, and can it play mkv files from its blu ray drive? also, is there an active forum you can recommend for converting this device into an htpc?

EDIT: i'm seeing some relevant topics in the forums listed here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759011
 
Last edited:
About the PS3. While it is a wonderful device, it will not play Pandora unless you use the Sony web browser which is pretty weak. As a BluRay player, its about the best you can get for the money. The PS3 cannot read Data BluRay's from it's ODD, it can read 8.5GB dvd's. The only video containers it really reads, are XVID .avi's and .mp4's for h264 stuff, and those can be read from the ODD or USB flash drive.

You can use the Game controller for the PS3, but as a media box you may want to either get the PS3 Bluetooth remote for around $20, or the Logitech IR to Bluetooth adapter for $49

The PS3's real strengths are the quality of its Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu apps, which are responsive and top notch. Since there are bazillions of them out there since 2006 DLNA servers like PS3 Media Server, Twonky, Tversity, and now Plex Media server offer top notch support for stream from a server, and transcoding on any $59 CPU you buy now is laughably easy.

Only real issues I ever have w/ DLNA streaming is sometimes when you have a lot of media, your lists of shows or movies can load kind of slow. While playback of 1080p usually works fine when its transcoded, FF and Rewinding through large chunks of a movie can sometimes jack something up and you will get some kind of 'failed playback' message.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Well until my Equiso (android on a stick) gets here, I have given up and installed a Plex Server on my gaming rig (see my sig, plenty of power, MORE than enough). I was just trying to avoid a workaround like this as I try to keep my rig off to reduce heat and noise when I'm not using it. I'm actually quite surprised how well it works with collecting meta-data and organizing your TV shows. It does take time though, It's been a full day and it's still collecting data on my collection.

The streaming seems to work fine, although the server is under constant load downloading meta-data, it still streams to my Roku without many hiccups. I wish my Synology did better, but the DS411j only has a 1.2Ghz CPU and 128mb RAM, if I got the newer DS413J with the 1.6Ghz and 512mb RAM it may have done a better job. . maybe.

I've tried a few Android DLNA apps and they seem to handle my content fine. I don't think I gave my server enough time to propagate the meta-data though, so I may use Plex anyway, it just may take a week to propagate my collection into the service using my NAS as a server. Boxee seemed to have the right idea, if Roku would release a dedicated streaming app for local content, it would hands down be the best of the bunch in my opinion.

Either way, it looks like some lucky family members are getting streaming boxes this christmas. . .
 
zer0nix said:
woah, i had no idea the boxee was dead.

regarding the ps3, i'm very tempted to pick one up myself, seeing as how i don't yet have a blu ray player and these often go up for sale.

does the ps3 support pandora, and can it play mkv files from its blu ray drive? also, is there an active forum you can recommend for converting this device into an htpc?

EDIT: i'm seeing some relevant topics in the forums listed here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759011
Click to expand...

I'm sure boxee would argue otherwise but they effectively dropped support for it earlier this year.

I think it can do pandora via the browser, no to the rest of your questions.
 
Yea, for now this thing is laughable. In "theory", it should be able to perform as I was hoping, but that is a dream at the price point this was created at. I understand it being a "beta" run there are significant bugs. . but literally starting up the device causes the launcher to crash.

Most apps bring up the wait or close app message. Some basic apps like netflix work fine but not at the speed/quality my Roku does. I've gotten DLNA streaming apps to work but finding a player that supports .mkv with subtitles has been a pain.

I'm willing to wait this one out until a firmware update or two to work out the majority of bugs, but i'm not planning on using this thing when I actually plan on enjoying media, because so far using it is anything but enjoyable.
 
Have you looked into Netgear's boxes? They have the added bonus of doing WiDi streaming with any recent laptop with Intel Wifi... I've heard good things about them compared to Roku/WDTV. They recently launched a bunch of 300 series models ($50-70) but I'm not sure if they're on sale yet, the newest high end one does local streaming too tho which used to be the Achilles heel.
 
Well I will certainly look into that, considering how much I have spent on boxes already, a few more $$$ won't kill me.
 
Looks an awful lot like the WD TV live, in fact the interface is near identical. . . It would appear my best bet is a combination of using the Roku and WD TV live, which isn't horrible but not ideal. . .oh well.
 
For whatever reasons, I have never been a fan of Sony, but I was looking for a media player to do a lot of what you are wanting to do. I grabbed a Sony SMP-N200 at a local Target store for $50 since the reviews I read online made me believe that it would suit my needs.

I can't talk about its Netflix interface, but one of the main reasons I got this unit was for the Amazon Prime streaming. I am very happy with the quality of the interface and the quality of the video as well.

This unit plays mkv's just fine, and also supports the embedded subtitles as well. I have an LG Blu-Ray player (BP620) that also plays mkv's (and also supports embedded subtitles), but that player defaults the subtitles to ON, and that pretty much drives me crazy (even though it is simple enough to turn them off).

I use the SMP-N200 via its built in wireless. I can play 720p without a hitch, and can stream some lower-bitrate 1080p stuff too. The higher-bitrate stuff over-saturates my wireless bandwidth, but in instances where I want to watch a Blu-Ray rip or whatever, I just throw it on a USB thumbdrive to solve that issue.

I don't have a PS3, but from what I have read, the interface of the SMP-N200 is quite similar (if not identical) to the PS3. The included remote is pretty cheesy, but it gets the job done just fine. It is really thin, and is powered by a watch battery (more like a motherboard battery).

For $50, I am very pleased with the unit. I looked around at all sorts of media players before deciding on this one. I was going to try the Aios, but I knew that I would spend more time messing with the player as opposed to actually using the player, so I opted for something that shouldn't need any tinkering.

Anyway, you might be able to grab one at your local Target store. If not, they are all over the place online for $50 too.

Hope this helps.
 
Yea. . .I have a problem.
Top - Netgear WiDi Adapter (for my HP Envy 15")
Bottom - Apple TV 3rd Gen, Roku XS, Equiso (Android), WD TV Live, Netgear NeoTV
20121015_173426_zpsf8008107.jpg


To be honest though I'm probably returning the NeoTV (Netgear), it's good in theory but it's probably among the slowest to load apps, and it's media app doesn't handle some of my .mkv files for some reason.
 
The only ones I would honestly consider keeping are the Roku and WD TV live, the rest are either too far past their return dates and the Equiso was a kickstarter, so i'm best waiting for a firmware update to help solve its' issues or try selling it off at a loss.
 
I don't have amazon prime so for me, between those, I'd keep the wdtv and atv3.

WDTV would cover my current needs (local media + netflix) and I still hold out hope that the atv3 will be jailbroken.
 
The Roku is by no means perfect, but I feel it has one of the most comfortable interfaces and the bluetooth remote is a big plus not having to point it at anything. Apple's interface is a close second.
 
Yeah, the boxee remote is bt/rf (not sure) but I still instinctively point the remote at it LOL


Actually I wish the boxee was IR because I could use my harmony with it.
 
threeclaws said:
Yeah, the boxee remote is bt/rf (not sure) but I still instinctively point the remote at it LOL


Actually I wish the boxee was IR because I could use my harmony with it.
Click to expand...

Any USB MCE receiver works with it. Just send the typical MCE IR codes to it and it will wake, sleep, up down, pause, play and so on just like any HTPC. Its actually a pretty nice feature that it supports such a standard device.
 
MrSmegzabush said:
Any USB MCE receiver works with it. Just send the typical MCE IR codes to it and it will wake, sleep, up down, pause, play and so on just like any HTPC. Its actually a pretty nice feature that it supports such a standard device.
Click to expand...

I know but I didn't want the cord hanging out the back, I was hoping someone would come up with one designed for the boxee but now it's too late and at this point I'm looking to move on to something else altogether (likely a itx amd setup.)
 
Sounds like a PC is in order. Either direct to the TV or as a middle man streaming to the puck.

Wish there were more of these to choose from but something like Playon.tv and TVersity could pull a lot of the missing content types together into one place viewable by most of those pucks. So between those services and the built in features of the puck, its your best chance to cover everything. Playon.tv premium option is the most complete but has a fee.
 
I have to say the android devices seem the most promising to me. Something like the vizio costar almost has everything covered, netflix/youtube/amazon vod, hulu plus is missing but I don't see why it won't eventually be added or hacked to work since it is available on other android devices.

There might be a hitch with mkv playback, it has an app that can supposedly stream from DLNA enabled devices but personally I'd probably try and get XBMC working.
 
Ouya is another option that will be more "open" but it will be probably 6mos. before we see it and it likely won't be $100.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top