Best Media System

fitzie79

Hi,
I am looking to purchase a new media system to upgrade what I currently have. I would ideally like a system that will play a wide variety of formats, can operate as a NAS so that I can access all my pictures from one central location of my PC's and possibly also be able to access the internet (stuff like youtube, rte player etc). I also have a Logitech Squeezebox radio with the Squeezebox server running on my netbook. If i could transfer tge squeezebox server to the media center that would be ideal.

I have been looking at the WD Live TV Hub and AC Ryan PlayOn HD. Which of these would you recommend or are there other alternatives out there?

gingernut79

I'm considering options between apple tv with NAS possibly with those ethernet powerline plugs, or wd live tv hub, so I'd be interested to hear peoples opinions on your thread also.

Carter P Fly

Depends on your budget and if you are looking to build something yourself or are looking for an out of the box solution.

Also depends if you want TV and PVR functionality in your setup.

fitzie79

budget would be up to €200. I don't need PVR/TV functionality in the system.

banquo

I recommend a Boxee. Had one two months now and it's just brilliant.

Voodu Child

For €225 I know of a nettop, 1080p capable, Win7, wifi bgn, wireless keyboard/mouse, 500GB HDD.

Throw XBMC on it and you've a great media player. You can watch rte player in a web browser (and also theres a guy made a plugin for XBMC).

Its more expensive than some of other the solutions mentioned, but also more flexible and a lot more bang-per-buck imo. Obviously with the flexibility it's also going to have more setup and fiddling than a standalone box but nothing that should discourage you.

akaSol

fitzie79 wrote: »

Hi,
I am looking to purchase a new media system to upgrade what I currently have. I would ideally like a system that will play a wide variety of formats, can operate as a NAS so that I can access all my pictures from one central location of my PC's and possibly also be able to access the internet (stuff like youtube, rte player etc). I also have a Logitech Squeezebox radio with the Squeezebox server running on my netbook. If i could transfer tge squeezebox server to the media center that would be ideal.

I have been looking at the WD Live TV Hub and AC Ryan PlayOn HD. Which of these would you recommend or are there other alternatives out there?

To run Squeezbox server , you require a "ReadyNAS" ( QNAP Turbo NAS, Synology Disk Station, NETGEAR ReadyNAS, Buffalo Linkstation, Linksys NSLU2, THECUS N5200 & N7700, Xtreamer eTRAYz )

In your case the Xtreamer series might be a go to? However you my still need a front face e.g an ATV2

Sol

BionicRasher

Voodu Child wrote: »

For €225 I know of a nettop, 1080p capable, Win7, wifi bgn, wireless keyboard/mouse, 500GB HDD.

Throw XBMC on it and you've a great media player. You can watch rte player in a web browser (and also theres a guy made a plugin for XBMC).

Its more expensive than some of other the solutions mentioned, but also more flexible and a lot more bang-per-buck imo. Obviously with the flexibility it's also going to have more setup and fiddling than a standalone box but nothing that should discourage you.

Would totally agree - I got one of these bad boys :Phttp://www.asus.com/Eee/EeeBox_PC/EeeBox_PC_EB1501P/ and to be honest its the best gadget I have ever got.
Plugs in to the 42 inch via HDMI and I have Boxee installed and also it has Windows media centre. It plays everything and also has a disk drive if I were to ever get a DVD but I dont as I can stream from both the net and my 2TB storage attached to my network. Also has the advantage of being a full PC to do any 'normal PC stuff' on.
If you were adventurous you could install XBMC and remove the windows install and use that on another PC but TBH its just great as it is
I got it for approx €255 delivered from Amazon a while back but if you shop around you might get a good deal
I had a dedicated media player and the interface and overall experience was poor but this thing is way better and I am planing to add a few basic media players / streamers to the bedrooms around the house and have this as my hub

digitaldr

+1 for nettop and xbmc - I've got an acer revo dual booting windows and xbmc live. If you go for a dedicated player you're guaranteed to come across files that it can't handle. Would recommend you give xbmc a spin on your existing computer.

PogMoThoin

digitaldr wrote: »

+1 for nettop and xbmc I've got an acer revo dual booting windows and xbmc live. If you go for a dedicated player you're guaranteed to come across files that it can't handle. Would recommend you give xbmc a spin on your existing computer.

The Boxee Box plays everything, it's based on xbmc code