Ask Slashdot: Suggestions For a Simple Media Server? 420
rueger writes "We live and breathe Netflix, but sometimes want to watch programs downloaded from the 'net. I've been carrying them downstairs on a USB stick, but would prefer to run a small media server on my Mint Linux box. As usual, I thought this would be simple. Install a package on my PC, and use our Netgear NeoTV Max box to play stuff off of the server. Plex was highly recommended, and installed easily, but will see some .mkv files, but not others, for no obvious reason. The one file that does show up plays fine, except that subtitles don't work. And it completely refuses to see the partition full of music. A quick tour of the Plex forums suggests that making this work would take more hours than I'm prepared to spend. Serviio looked good too, and 'sees' my music, and sees the movie folders that Plex couldn't, but won't show the actual .mkv files. And again, it looks like configuring the thing could consume half of my life. So I'm asking: is there a fairly simple, works-right-out-of-the-box, fairly resource friendly media server that will just allow me to play movies that I download without a lot of headaches? (One obvious issue is that movies and TV shows downloaded can be in a any of a dozen formats. I'd love it if the server dealt with that. I'm also open to suggestions for a Roku style box that does Netflix well, but which will also play nicely with a media server. And if any or all of these things can also let me play streaming video off the web (like BBC iPlayer content), I'll be in heaven.)"
UMS (Score:3, Informative)
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I use this all the time and it’s a great solution using a 6 year old “server” grade computer and CentOS Linux.
Re: UMS (Score:5, Informative)
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SMB streams 1080P stuff fine across my network, as long as I'm close to the router. 720P is damn good anywhere in the house. Been doing it for a long time, most lately on my Nexus 7 and my GBox MX2.
Why would the resolution make any difference to how well it streams? A 2mbit 1080p stream will work fine, a 270mbit 576i stream wont
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That's funny. As long as my network conditions are good I've never had a problem like this with SMB, and I've had a setup for years.
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That's funny. As long as my network conditions are good I've never had a problem like this with SMB, and I've had a setup for years.
SMB used to (not sure if it still does) have issues with high latency. I think you could only get something like 256kbit per round trip time, so a 10ms latency would limit you to 25mbit.
I assume that it's been fixed now.
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Even from Blu-Ray, HD content is at most 50Mbps. Windows in any version (or any modern OS) has no issue delivering that speed from the disk to the network hardware.
At that point, it's entirely a hardware issue (cable quality, WiFi speed, etc.). And, for real-world bit rates of less than 10Mbps, you can use some pretty bad hardware and still have no issues.
Maybe NFS, but uPNP/DLNA is designed for the task.
DLNA is perhaps the worst method of delivery, as it's entirely dependent on the client and server software being able to negotiate the right format to u
MiniDLNA (Score:4, Interesting)
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I have MiniDLNA running on a raspberry pi with 1TB self powered usb disk attached. This is connected directly to the router in a cupboard under the stairs.
Then use an XBox 360 or PS3 as the client connected to the TV.
I do have similar issues with mkv files which the server sometimes sees and "advertises" and sometimes doesn't (i'm guessing based on file exension?) and which the XBox sometimes can decode and sometimes can't (based on enciding?). I haven't determined exactly what the cases are for when it wor
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worth mentioning that it also shares >14000 tracks of music plus photos as separate "shares". Music can be browsed and searched easily using Banshee from Linux laptop and WMP11 on work laptop.
Re:MiniDLNA (Score:4, Informative)
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I've found the 360 to be extremely hit and miss when it comes to decoding certain media. MKV's especially are a nightmare with it. I ended up using my PS3 for streaming for a long time, but realistically nothing quite beats the likes of XBMC for media support.
I've had a raspberry pi since launch (I got one of the first batches) and XBMC was quite flaky at first, especially with things like DTS decoding but right now it's very stable and I find I have few issues these days. There's the odd MKV that gives it
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an alternative is Fuppes, from sourceforge, it is a simple DLNA server that works very well. The only disadvantage I have with it is that it doesn't prevent Windows from sleeping when its streaming (I have Windows set to sleep after an hour of inactivity so halfway through a 2-hour movie, I'd have to nudge the mouse) which is a pretty major problem.
It looks like a dead project but the author said it wasn't, but I still couldn't build it, even on its native Linux platform. Still, if you run it on Linux or ha
XBMC ftw (Score:5, Informative)
XBMC is your go-to media server software.
Install it, set the path for your content and it'll take care of the rest.
Subtitles can even be setup to be downloaded automatically.
xbmc.org
Re:Media Server? (Score:2)
As for Netflix, just go ahead and use a dedicated device such as a Roku or a Bluray player with apps. You won't get a go
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I have an Acer 3-core low profile PC w/ Win 7 that runs XBMC 12. The same app is on both of my tablets (Nexus 10). The media is stored on D-Link NAS drives and is accessible across the network from anywhere in my home. Works awesome. Setup was as simple as specifying the SMB path to the NAS, and letting XBMC run it's media scraper to collect all the file names. I have a large collection of digitized anime, and XBMC handles handles MKV files with subtitles and dual audio as well.
With the full range of p
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Not if it's a codec issue that causes Plex to refuse to recognise certain .mkv files.
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If it's a codec issue, he needs to remedy that in his OS...
Re:XBMC ftw (Score:5, Informative)
Plex uses an internal ffmpeg to decode (and transcode, if needed) media files -- if it doesn't play there it will be hard to play in general. And you don't need to muck with an OS-level codecs, as Plex won't see or use them anyway.
But that's not relevant in this discussion; Plex will add files to the library even if it can't read them, so long as it can figure out from the file path what they are. If you need Plex to parse the tags in the file it will have to be able to decode it, but if it can match based on the name it doesn't care if the file can even be opened.
The problem is almost certainly a naming issue, or possibly a selection of the wrong scanner type. If you select a TV or Movie scanner Plex will only add files it can specifically match to databases like thetvdb.com, and you must use one of the naming conventions to help it do so. If you just want it to put up all of your media as-is without matching against a DB you need to select the "Home Videos" scanner type, which simply walks the filesystem and builds a matching hierarchy in the Plex library. And of course Music has its own scanner, which can similarly match against Last.fm or simply read local tags, depending on wishes.
It's not quite brain-dead simple if you have a mess of unorganized media, but it's not hours of work either, and the DB-matching modes provide rich metadata with all the hassle of ensuring that your paths include the series title and episode number somewhere along the line.
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Re:XBMC ftw (Score:5, Insightful)
"Netgear NeoTV which he wants to utilise for that."
He can, you pick it up, walk over to the trash bin and drop it inside. He wants to use a toy he got duped into buying, there is no happiness until he realizes that and get's rid of it.
XBMC on a low end core duo throwaway PC and a mild out of date nvidia video card will blow away any device you can buy to play back media on your TV. utterly blow it away.
and the side effect, the same XBMC pc can act as the media server so it is an all in one solution. but you can not buy one. You have to spend time to build it and you have to take the time to educate yourself on how to build it. He refuses to even spend time fixing his problem.
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Some QNAP NAS can run XBMC out of the box. They even come with a remote control. No need for a PC, if you just want a simple solution with XBMC.
Agreed, XBMC. Your "server" can be NFS or Samba (Score:2)
I run XBMC on an Apple TV first generation, upgraded to include a 1080p hardware decoder card. Everything streams from my server, using simple file sharing mechanisms like NFS or Samba. Occasionally I copy a file to its hard drive so that I can take the AppleTV with me to a friend's house. It's small, the UI is polished, and it handle almost everything.
For Netflix, I have a Sony Bluray player with built in applications (Netflix, Pandora and Youtube are the only ones I regularly use. It also has Hulu Plus an
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DLNA is not a standard. if it will not play off of a SMB share it is not worth buying. I have seen more things fail with DNLA than anything else.
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XBMC on a low end core duo throwaway PC and a mild out of date nvidia video card will blow away any device you can buy to play back media on your TV. utterly blow it away.
My two cents: used Mac Minis are *really* good for an HTPC application such as this. Low power consumption, quiet operation, tiny footprint, and decent mid-range hardware on even the baseline models of a given generation. They also have decent wifi chips too: I run Windows Media Center on mine (a mid-2008 model), and it connects wirelessly for everything, including to its network-based CableCARD tuner.
I wish they were a little cheaper, but Apple has done a great job of filling the "I want a very small, b
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yes and no - whilst XBMC is an awesome media client, it also does have a little bit of server code tucked away insode it, so you can load it up, and use it to stream stuff across a DLNA link very easily.
It has 2 problems with using it in this way - first there is no "run headless" mode, and 2nd, it doesn't stop Windows from going to sleep when it wants.
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XBMC has a DLNA server switch you can turn on.
Seemed to work pretty well.
Can I suggest: (Score:2)
PS3 Media Server (Score:5, Informative)
WD TV Live plays almost everything (Score:5, Informative)
Re: WD TV Live plays almost everything (Score:4, Interesting)
I also use and recommend the WD TV Live. I use it in conjunction with a rooted Seagate Go flex home 3 tb NAS. I run transmission on the NAS and use is Web interface to snag torrents of movies and shows. I can then turn my computer off and still be downloading and watching movies. I have 3 of the WD units and they all stream from the NAS simultaneously without skipping a beat.
Re:WD TV Live plays almost everything (Score:5, Informative)
I third this recommendation. I have 3 WD Live boxes in my house, all connecting to my media SANs (DNS 323s with DLNA enabled) , streaming my music, videos and photos. It also does netflix, Hulu (US only), Pandora, YouTube, TuneIn, Shoutcast and a few dozen other built in apps. The best deal is to get them at Costco as they're not only cheaper but they come with a HDMI cable. The one I bought at an electronics store didn't come with the HDMI.
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I also love my WD TV Live. I don't need to use Handbrake any more -- anything I rip to an MKV (either DVD or Blu-ray) works great as-is. Any video I've ever downloaded from the Internet also works as-is.
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I fourth this suggestion. Got it about a year ago, have been quite happy with it. It plays everything I've tried to play including subtitles, and it mounts NFS shares from a LAN linux box effortlessly (mounts CIFS too if you prefer). Also plays netflix and youtube, but the text entry leaves a lot to be desired (character by character with a remote), I haven't tried connecting a (wireless) keyboard to the USB port but that may solve that problem too.
WDTV Live is the best! (Score:3)
Another happy WDTV Live user here. I have this exact model, purchased in November 2011:
www.amazon.com/Live-Media-Player-Wi-fi-1080p/dp/B005KOZNBW/ref=sr_1_1
Just set up a SMB or NFS share on any computer you want, and this device will play ANYTHING you can throw at it (including flv, at least in my experience). Has 100Mb ethernet, N wifi, HDMI out, optical out, USB port, and a remote.
It will talk to a "media server" if you really want it to (DLNA, etc), but I've found a simple file share is the way to go.
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I have the same setup people hear are talking about - headless NAS serving multiple WDTV boxes.
Don't "forget" to upgrade the firmware to WDLXTV firmware. It adds tons of features - nzbget, torrents, nfs, DNLA, subtitle download and much more. In a pinch you can even have one of the boxes serve content off a USB drive.
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I use to have WD Live devices on each of my TV's pulling from a network share. The problem is once you get a super large library (over 1000 movies, hundreds of tv show episodes) the WD Live units bog down and are slow to scan (5 minutes initially on power up to over 15 for a large library) and you have to wait to use them.
The WD Lives cant be left on or plugged in, each of t he 3 unit I had would get extremely hot, even left plugged in and powered down. We took to unplugging the power from them when we
get_iplayer (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure this supports streaming although I've not used it in that manner - preferring instead to simply download before using.
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That I cannot speak to its ability to stream doesn't stop me from speaking to its ability to download content that could still be used on a mediaserver as I do.
Why do anonymous cowards come into threads to troll? Sorry, question answers itself.
I keep it simple. (Score:5, Informative)
I plug my laptop into the TV and play stuff from my storage array.
If I wanted some sort of dedicated device, I'd put XBMC on a Raspberry Pi, point it at my array, and control it with my phone, tablet, or laptop.
Re:I keep it simple. (Score:5, Interesting)
even better is XBMC on pi uses libcec so you can control it from your TV remote.
Its not the server (Score:5, Interesting)
The problems you've found come not from the server, but from the netgear box you are using. Apparently, it only supports USB or DLNA to play your local content, and that is a huge limitation. Should it support some other ways to access your content, you could play whatever you wanted; for example, windows networking, that is native in windows machines and easily incorporated into linux machines via the samba package and (I think) also in OSX machines. That way, anything in your computer could be accessed from the client machine just by locally sharing the path where you store it.
So, really, the best solution would be to have a more capable box in your TV (a XBMC box will be probably the best solution, although it can take some time to configure everything properly, specially if you want just one box and so XBMC need to take care of netflix etc to get rid of the netgear device).
If you do not want to add a new box to the TV and keep only your actual netgear client machine, you must then bend everything else to cope with its limitations, in this case you should look for a capable DLNA server that plays nice both with your actual content (format, naming convention, etc) and also with the special needs of the NeoTV Max, whatever they are; plex is one possibility, and there are others, but probably none will be at the same time good enough, cheap enough and easy enough for your purposes. But the main culprit is the less-than-capable box in your TV: local windows sharing should be more than enough.
TVMobili DLNA Server (Score:2)
I've been using TVMobili on a Kubuntu machine I have set up as a media server. It's not free... you can pay a one-time fee of $30 or $1.50 per month - but you can try it out first, to see if you like it. I've found it just works for everything I've thrown at it, I mostly use it for playback on my Samsung plasma smart TV (AllShare feature), handling MKVs, MP4s without a hitch, as well as the usual formats and containers. It can also do transcoding, and it has a web interface (My server sits in our basement).
No solution for you... (Score:5, Insightful)
"making this work would take more hours than I'm prepared to spend."
There is no turn key no work involved media server out there. you can try a standard NAS and build yourself a XBMC playback box, but you can not buy one.
You will have to invest an entire weekend if you are a novice, or an entire saturday if you are an expert to do what you want. You had better prepare to spend some hours on this.
Actually there is... (Score:2)
And it's to pay somebody else to build your media server for you.
You say you can not buy one.
Hogwash. I'm sure if you had the money you could find a computer savy nerd to build you an XBMC server solution for your home.
That being said, Roku + Plex pretty much does everything.
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Mediatomb (Score:2)
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FreeNAS (Score:2)
My setup (Score:3)
Backend: commodity Pentium 4 2.6GHz PC (that I was given) with 2TB RAID & laptop with XBMC and 11TB USB storage->Softmodded XBox Crystal Rev. 1.1, 20GB HDD (£15 at good gaming stores), XBMC->TV
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And you can transcode on the fly a 1080p video + stream it using a Pentium 4?
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not that the XBox can actually decode a 1080p stream (being an SD box via SCART), but... no. Just tried it. It'll do a buffered transcode, but not live streaming. Can a Raspberry Pi do it? I would think not being a 700MHz single core. Please don't throw out challenges that you know damn well can't be fulfilled with common gear (and no, a 2.4 quad core is NOT common gear).
great question (Score:2)
I too was looking around at different solutions. I have Serviio working on an old XP box, but silly me I wanted to get moved to something a little more stable and permanent. A friend donated an XP Media Center PC that's a few years old, so I tried 2 or 3 different Linux media players, and all failed. XBMCbuntu looked like a great idea until I found out that it simply will NOT work on a machine using an ATI video card, which I have. Was excited to try LINHec, found out that it will only run on a machine
Samba (Score:3)
Just expose the directory as a "Windows Share" and any client on the network should be able to see it.
Plex on the back end XBMC on the front end(s) (Score:3)
Miro (Score:3)
Miro is a free Cross Platform media manager and has built-in library streaming and video converter. Just put in RSS feeds or have it monitor folders.
http://www.getmiro.com/ [getmiro.com]
Jriver? (Score:2)
XBMC is your only man ... (Score:3, Interesting)
XBMC (Score:2)
My media lives on a WD MyBook Live 3TB drive which is basically a Power PC Linux box and hard drive all in one. It comes with a single network connector. Plug it in, use it's web interface to configure a couple of things and you have a very elegant DLNA sever that will happily also serve up SAMBA as well. I SSHed into mine and added Transmission to it, so now it also downloads all my torrents for me.
For the front end I use a pair of boxes, one for my room, one for the lounge. My room runs off my main PC run
Synology (Score:4, Informative)
RPi with XBMC (Score:2)
I have a server in the basement with all the media files (DVDs and BluRays that I own) and I use XBMC on a few Raspberry Pi devices around the house to organize and play.
Get an android dongle (Score:2)
http://www.rikomagic.com/en/index.html [rikomagic.com]
Lots of options.
Basically, it attaches to your TV android port. You can run any media server like xbmc etc., or whatever.
You can go online, use an app to view videos, or simply use network file system.... Possibilities are endless
I'm doing well with Plex. (Score:2)
I recommend Plex (I know I know, I read the question)
I have an Ubuntu 12.04 box running that.
Don't generally have any problems with it.
I did have an MKV problem where some encoding option caused it to barf but that was with DLNA clients and the transcoder.
And it does have the advantage that you can get paid support for it at a very reasonable price.
The MKV files that are missing, are they missing on the PMS or just missing in the client?
And is the client DLNA or the native Plex client?
Also, if you have a Sa
MediaPortal (Score:2)
I mostly play downloaded video and while MediaPortal is aimed at the DVR crowd, I've found that it's been able to play most everything I download far more consistently than the competition. Also it doesn't try to index every media file you own (though the option is available) which in my experience causes many problems if you have a lot of files with inconsistent naming conventions. MediaPortal lets you simply browse your file system with a MCE Remote, select a file, and play it. It's 100% free and I'
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Twonky (Score:2)
Linkstation + uShare (Score:2)
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OpenELEC front end, SMB/CIFS/NFS server back-end (Score:2)
I have a set-up where all my media files are stored on a generic Linux file server running Samba for CIFS/SMB and exporting NFS shares. This can be any old box you have laying around, and yes, the Raspberry Pi can do this fine.
My televisions have small boxes mounted via VESA-mount adapters on the back of them. 2 are Raspberry Pis, 1 is a Zotac Z-Box [zotacusa.com]. Two are wired, one is wireless, all have power and HDMI cables. All run OpenELEC [openelec.tv] as a front end and I use Yatse [google.com] on my Android phone as a remote.
The downsides a
Serviio (Score:2)
I haven't look at the commercial products since I wanted to set up something free. However the free solutions *will* require quite an investment in time to learn how everything works and set up your device profiles.
I'm using Serviio on my CentOS box, it took me weeks to get the profiles for all my devices working properly, but now it transcodes on the fly to my Panasonic and Samsung BueRay players (if you don't have a smart TV, get a BlueRay player that supports DLNA, should be around $100), and it works w
Nope (Score:3)
Converted to MP4 (Score:2, Informative)
This probably won't help the OP, but my solution was to convert my MKV files to MP4 format. The reason for this was that I was putting them on an external hard drive to connect to my Roku box. Roku says it supports MKV but in practice I've found it doesn't really. MP4, on the other hand, works nicely.
Plex... pretty brain dead simple (Score:3)
To me I wanted a solution that "just worked" for everyone in the family. That included me not wanting to have to compile anything or modify scripts, and the interface had to look polished hence running VLC isn't a solution for me.
I've got a 2010 mac mini with an external nas hooked up to my TV. I've got over a hundred movies ripped and thousands of mp3s and a few dozen tv shows. I put them into to root folders "Movies", "music" and "TV Shows". I pick the right scanner for each (30 seconds worth of effort). If I wanted I could store the music in iTunes and plex can retrieve it from there.
As long as you've got the files named something useful (I use the movie's name and year of release in the filename rather than "ROTJ.mov"). Only issues are with titles that are a bit out there like concert DVDs, and for those very few I just manually correct it. (5 min of work).
The GUI for plex is optimized for a remote control If you've got the silver apple remote this is perfect (the old white plastic one didn't have enough buttons). Or just use the iphone/android app instead. I do have an IR keyboard if I need to do something on the mac.
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Well thanks for your references to the cheap, elegant, well-documented and functional solutions that already exist. I find those really helpful.
Oh wait, I don't because they don't exist.
AC Troll.
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Well thanks for your references to the cheap, elegant, well-documented and functional solutions that already exist. I find those really helpful.
Oh wait, I don't because they don't exist.
Really? Funny. I thought that the WDTV Live! I bought was pretty cheap, all things considered. It does exactly what he wants (to replace the Netgear box he currently has), and it can play off network-mounted file shares, meaning that he doesn't actually have to install any packages on his Mint box at all, just tell it to share the folder in question by Samba.
Unless you think that setting up a Samba share is an unsolved problem?
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" Cheap, elegant, well-documented and functional"
pick only 2 from that list though.
you seem to not understand how things really work out there. You can not have all 4, it does not exist.
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I'll bite. I'll even be so kind as to preface this with I am simply a user of this product. Shillflame me all you want ...
My brother got me a Chromecast for Xmas. It's a pretty sweet gift for a brother because he knows I wouldn't buy one for myself, and yet they're only $35.
I tried it out, and was initially pretty disappointed. Being locked in to only being able to cast Chrome tabbed content felt like a gross artificial limitation. I figured it was just the was it was gonna be.
I found some workarounds by
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I've seen several comments for Plex and XMBC, both of which don't require one to "break out a circuit board and build their own solution." In the case of Plex, you don't have to 'break out a keyboard every time they want to watch a movie," either. In the case of Android, WP8, and IOS there are apps that can be downloaded that will act as a remote for the Plex Home Theater (which would be installed on a PC connected to your TV). Not everyone may want to sit down and use their phone/tablet to start a movie
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I was using my smartphone as a mythtv controller years ago.
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Hm....
I must be doing something wrong. I use Yatse in tablet mode to control my media on xbmc, and i would never ever use a different interface again. Just the sliders for volume and time position and the browsing of the library are enough to never look back to remotes, pads or keyboards again (for me).
Also, the GF LOVES it as a second screen device when watching movies.
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It's interesting that you're so negative toward Plex and XBMC. My brother and a friend of his use XBMC with zero issues (even their wives, who aren't terribly computer literate, have no problems using it), and they've not run into any media it won't play. I have similar experience with Plex (and have been trying to get them to convert).
In my case, I've only thrown .mkv files at Plex, since that's the container all the pirates seem to use for movies (I have no idea why, and I've not bothered to look into i
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I've only thrown .mkv files at Plex, since that's the container all the pirates seem to use for movies (I have no idea why, and I've not bothered to look into it).
It's because MKV isn't proprietary, is in active development, and was designed from the ground up to be able to contain completely arbitrary data, so even an "unsupported" format can be stored inside it as just a binary blob.
Add in the fact that it has direct support for nearly every codec in use today, plus the tools that can understand those formats enough to extract every bit of metadata along with the content, and you have the only reasonable container for movies.
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I can't speak for PLEX, but I rarely see significant problems on the forums related to simple setup, and they have a huge user base.
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It's also a little fickle with things like the UI being smooth, oh and indexing all the media into the library. the media library database will outgrow the XBMC card in short order.
I have 3 of them in the house, I will be replacing them with real XBMC pc's shortly due to how fickle they are.
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Is the performance of the UI as smooth when you use "heavy" skins? Aeon MQ5 for instance, filled with HD background slideshows, movie metadata and so on... Just curious, as i am always interested in lowering my energy footprint....
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Yes, and it'd *only* cost !$600! if you buy a new one...
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But yeah, that does require going the 'used' route.
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I wouldn't suggest ps3mediaserver for one reason -- the various .nzb sites I use are filled with comments of ps3mediaserver users having one problem or another with playback of the .mkv's they're downloading...
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Maybe try the DLNA server in DivX 10, if you can run on OS X or WIndows.. DivX know a little bit about MKV.
Re:Raspberry PI (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone has a new hammer and every problem is looking like nail...
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Someone has a new hammer and every problem is looking like nail...
Come on, it's 2014: media streaming is not a "problem" anymore.
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No kidding. Set up a file server with NFS and use an Intel NUC [intel.com] at the TV installed with xbmc (and/or mythtv.) Intel themselves has instructions for setting up their NUC with xbmc using Linux Mint. The newer NUCs even have an IR receiver built in so all you need is a MCE remote (or a Harmony) and you're set.
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In fairness, I use a Raspberry Pi myself however I use it as an XBMC machine plugged into my TV, rather than the media server. I let it access the files directly, via an NFS share and it works incredibly well. It can also use SMB if you're a windows user (and in fact, I'm running a Windows server, but since it has NFS support and that has a lower overhead, that's what I use), as well as various other protocols - and there's a plex plugin for it.
The OP isn't prepared to put some arbitrary hours in to getting
Re:Raspberry PI (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, very helpful. Use a computer. I bet he never thought of that.
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...Until you add up the energy costs for a few years of running a desktop computer vs. a Pi...
... which is irrelevant since he'd still be running the old hardware anyway, but now with a Raspberry on top of it.
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There is nothing you cant play on it.
Cassette tapes?
Re: (Score:2)
Plex Media Server for the backend and Roku 3 players.