Video streaming to TV suggestions?

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  • #2154
    wwarren
    Participant

    I’m using Firefly to stream audio to Roku Soundbridge players for audio playback, and have ReplayTV for TV. Now I’d like to start ripping my DVDs and find a menu-based playback solution for them too. Any suggestions for what hardware I should consider for streaming ripped DVD video to a TV? I considered AppleTV, but I don’t think it can access external drives. I’m also thinking about the Xbox XBMC media center hack.

    #15972
    fizze
    Participant

    XBMC is nice, but consinder the server software too.
    I’ve got a Pinnacle Showcenter 200, which is quite nice.
    It works together well with Wizd or Swisscenter, which are capable of DVD-Menus too.

    Agreed, I’ve never tried that, but there seems to be quite a userbase.

    Being based in Europe though, the hardware choices are a lot slimmer.

    #15973
    S80_UK
    Participant

    Some of the Mediagate boxes look interesting, MG-350HD and MG-350SHD. The MG-350SHD seems to be available via a Spanish importer and is not generally yet available in the US. Since it includes HDMI output I am thinking about that as an option to replace my Photobridge at some point. Also Mvix have some nice looking products – example MX-760HD. These and the Mediagate can use an optional internal hard disk or stream from the network.

    Archos have just launched their TV+ which looks very capable, but the published specs are a bit lacking in details – probably worth waiting for a while.

    I was also looking at the Pinnacle Showcenter 200, but got the impression (maybe wrongly?) that it needed the PC application to be usable. For reasons that I can’t understand, Pinnacle don’t allow people that don’t have the product to access the user manual from their web site (a good way to limit sales… πŸ‘Ώ ).

    Then there are the Ziova players (http://www.ziova.com) – they have just announced a new device, the CS-615, but it’s not yet available.

    So there’s plenty to look at, but I don’t think I make any recommendations from this selection at this point in time.

    Les.

    #15974
    fizze
    Participant

    @S80_UK wrote:

    I was also looking at the Pinnacle Showcenter 200, but got the impression (maybe wrongly?) that it needed the PC application to be usable. For reasons that I can’t understand, Pinnacle don’t allow people that don’t have the product to access the user manual from their web site (a good way to limit sales… πŸ‘Ώ ).

    Actually you don’t need that PC application. And its horrible, too.
    It bogs down even a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM.

    I mainly use Wizd as a server which is running happily on the same NSLU2 as firefly. At the same time, and it’s easily powerful enough to even stream HD content wirelessly to the Showcenter.

    The showcenter lacks a HDMI out, and its not capable of H.264 AVC nor those ever so popular .mkv containers. It’s ok for me, but as usual, having a device which just plays everything would be nice.

    0.02Γ’β€šΒ¬

    #15975
    rpedde
    Participant

    @fizze wrote:

    @S80_UK wrote:

    I was also looking at the Pinnacle Showcenter 200, but got the impression (maybe wrongly?) that it needed the PC application to be usable. For reasons that I can’t understand, Pinnacle don’t allow people that don’t have the product to access the user manual from their web site (a good way to limit sales… πŸ‘Ώ ).

    Actually you don’t need that PC application. And its horrible, too.
    It bogs down even a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM.

    I mainly use Wizd as a server which is running happily on the same NSLU2 as firefly. At the same time, and it’s easily powerful enough to even stream HD content wirelessly to the Showcenter.

    The showcenter lacks a HDMI out, and its not capable of H.264 AVC nor those ever so popular .mkv containers. It’s ok for me, but as usual, having a device which just plays everything would be nice.

    0.02Γ’β€šΒ¬

    No hdmi. πŸ™

    Anyone know anything that will decode hd content and has hdmi? That would be the winner in my book. I’ve got a virtual graveyard of stuff that’s *almost* not crappy.

    #15976
    fizze
    Participant

    None thats actually really decent yet.
    But as soon as I got such a device, I’ll let you know Ron. πŸ™‚

    Currently those new Ziona devices look pretty promising.

    #15977
    S80_UK
    Participant

    @rpedde wrote:

    No hdmi. πŸ™

    Anyone know anything that will decode hd content and has hdmi? That would be the winner in my book. I’ve got a virtual graveyard of stuff that’s *almost* not crappy.

    My current preference would be the Ziova CS-510 – it ticks all the boxes for me, but they are expensive and hard to get. So right now, I am hoping that this will come good – http://www.airlinktek.com/english/product.php?prod=mg350shd – Mediagate seem to do quite well in the US market, although they are one step behind their Korean developers in terms of products. That one does have HDMI. Available today in the US is the MG350 has DVI-D which can be directly connected to HDMI – http://www.mediagateusa.com/html/mg350.html – but I wonder whether this may fall into that “*almost* not crappy” category (it certainly won’t win any prizes for good looks).

    Both of these are based on existing technology which is now pretty well sorted (same chip as Ziova CS-505/CS-510). The next gen chips from Sigma Designs are making their way into new products around now, and may be better for true HD, but history suggests it will take 6-12 months before the firmware is adequately bug free and stable.

    The biggest problem that I see is that the customer needs vary quite widely. Some folks (like me) just want to watch their ripped DVDs. Good picture, AC3/DTS pass through and correct subtitle handling are important to me. Others want DivX in various flavours. Others want local recording or linkage to PC based recording. Others want an audio player that happens to be able to do video. Then there’s photos, and so on. And don’t get me started on server support – that’s a mess too. The manufacturers struggle to cover this spread, and end up doing most things badly, IMHO.

    #15978
    fizze
    Participant

    Yeah, but I’d wait for the Ziona-615 thingy. That supposedly has support for WMV9-HD and even mkv containers out of the box.

    That would be really nice. And, speaking of support: I’d rather a box is truly open such as the NSLU2 or at least is able to talk to open servers like the Showcenter 200.

    Its rather cheap, but at least it doesn’t upsample on it’s digital outputs 😈 πŸ˜‰ Of course no pun intended. πŸ™„

    #15979
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Just started reading this thread as I have the same interest. In addition to the devices already listed, has anyone had experience with the Netgear EVA8000? Seems to handle a wide range of formats and has HDMI. Had read that there were stability issues early on, but apparently there was a significant firmware update recently. Wondering how it compares to others.

    Bob

    #15980
    fizze
    Participant

    The EVA8000 only serves from UPnP. And thats inferior, as far as I am concerned.
    Thats a bit I really like about the Showcenter 200. It can serve from UPnP, but from other web-like services as well. You don’t want to show off your nice HDTV in your livingroom and then have some ugly GUI to browse your content? At least I, don’t.

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 36 total)
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