Media Players/NAS Setup

warrenaldo

I currently have a media drive (1TB) with lots of movies/photos etc on it. It works fine. But we have 2 TVs in the house that both want to look at it.

Option 1) Buy another Media Drive with better menus and the ability to catalouge and download cover art automatically
WD TV Live HUB
Iomega TV with Boxee

Option 2) Buy a Cheap NAS Drive. Ideally if one of my media Servers was a NAS it would be perfect. Then Stream Films to each TV with its own Media Player. This seems much more expensive.

Option 3) Buy a Cheap NAS, a few Android Sticks and run XBMC on them. Again expensive, but means I have XBMC on each TV which is great.

Option 1 is easy. Option 3 - im not sure if option 3 is even feasible. Ive not really done any streaming, and havent setup a NAS before, as outlined above my current setup is minimal.

Is there a better solution for me?

superleedsdub

Hi Warren,

What media drive do you currently use?
What Model TV`s are you using?

Do you have a wired network?

Most new media player`s have the ability to share content over a local network, alot of new TV`s have built in media players.

I could make some recommendations if I knew what you are currently using....

warrenaldo

I have an old Lacie Lacinema 1TB Media Player. With no networking capabilities. My TVs are all over 3 years old - no built in Media Player.

And i dont have a wired network, nor do I want one. I have a wireless router.

PogMoThoin

warrenaldo wrote: »

And i dont have a wired network, nor do I want one. I have a wireless router.

Madness, media streaming over wireless will always be hit or miss.

Although you may not think it, streaming is two way traffic, packets are sent in batches and must be acknowledged before more are sent (flow control and windowing). Wireless is half duplex (one way traffic), meaning your router will only talk to one device at a time, in one direction at a time. Then you have the fact that the speeds quoted for wireless are highly optimistic, they are only achievable in a lab situation and then only to a single device. Devices throughout your house or from your neighbours can cause interference, walls will block signal. A HD stream will max a wireless network and leave no room for other devices browsing, even with wireless "n".

Futureproof and run cables or use homeplugs to static devices and leave wireless for the devices that need mobility, laptops, smartphones etc. A cable does full duplex (two way traffic). Your network will work better this way.

At the very least you should try and get the media server wired to the router, that will free up your wifi router to be mostly sending data only - ie it will pretty much double the throughput compared to having both the server and client connected wirelessly.

For a small NAS like the WD Mybook World that's easy, just stick it beside the router.

A lot of it depends of course on what you are trying to stream. SD, 720p, 1080p? Full Bluray? etc What you're trying to stream will affect both your network setup and also what kind of media player you need.

Access

The lads are right...

At the very least, you should have any NAS wired to your wireless router, but then after that its whatever way you want.

Have a think about the likes of this NAS here

Or like I Kill You Scum! said above, the WD Mybook World is a good one too.

Then have your wireless media receivers connected to your tvs.

EDIT: also on a side note... your links for the two media players above are from pixmania... a lot of buyers in the bargain alerts and computers sections on boards would not be great fans of pixmania due mainly to them having sh1te customer service... which i can personally account for.

superleedsdub

I deffo agree with what has been stated regarding streaming over wireless, however, I can understand the desire not to go wired - it can be very tricky to chase wires around a home. But, if you can do it, i`d highly recommend a wired network.

I`ve listed below what I believe you would require:

1. A Media server

Options:
a) NAS
b) PC/Laptop/MAC etc running free media server software such as PS3 Media server, Plex, XBMC etc
c) A media player such as the WDTV live that will allow attached USB drives to be shared on your network*
d) a router with a USB port and connect an external hard drive to it - you can then share the contents of the drive over your network

2. Media Players/clients

Options
a) Devices such as the WDTV live, Boxee box - what the current best device is I wouldn`t know (i`m waiting for the apple TV3 to be jailbroken as i want to have a Plex client)*
b) A blu-ray player with a built in media player (great option as you can then use it for DVD/CD/BLU-ray) just make sure it can play the codec of the files you have stored (e.g. .mkv)*
c) PC/Laptop/MAC hooked up directly to the TV`s

3. Storage devices

A) External USB Drives - can be connected to media players...
b) Internal Hard drives (for NAS, WDTV live Hub, PC etc...)


* Some of these devices require a USB dongle for wireless, so bear that in mind before purchasing

There are literally hundreds of options available to you and I`m not aware of them all, but these would be what i`d consider/ or already have at home....

P.S. if anyone has any other tips alternatives for streaming on a home network, i`d love to know - might be worth started a new thread...:-)