Seeking a Media Streamer.

[davuswho]

Ok, the time has come for me to stop burning dvd and cd's and just invest in a media streamer that will play all of my current media files. I have been looking at the Buffalo Technology Media Streamer as Well as the DLink DSM320.

I would like to know what you all think would be an ideal media streamer. One that will play various conversion of *.avi *.mpg *.vob

I am wanting to set this media streamer on top of my TV, connect it to my surround sound.. and be able to select files form my PC, Network, UPNP device.

What Media Streamer would you all recomend?

TIA,
Davus

[Adub]

I personally don't have a streaming device, but I have always heard good things about Slingbox. Other people who actually have a streamer setup should be able to help you further.

[SeeMoreDigital]

If you require a hardware device that supports playback of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP (Part-2), MPEG-4 AVC (Part-10), WMV9 and VC-1 then I suggest you wait a few months for products fitted with Sigma's SMP8634 chip-set to arrive.


Cheers

[davuswho]

I personally don't have a streaming device, but I have always heard good things about Slingbox. Other people who actually have a streamer setup should be able to help you further.

The Slingbox is for letting me use what it on my TV, and view it on my PC. The sling box is almost the opposite of what I'm wanting (based on the video presentation they give)

I'm wanting to take the files on my pc, fileserver, upnp devices and play them on my TV, via a wireless stream.

Or even a wired stream would be fine, I'm just wanting ONE BOX on my TV that will let me load ALL of my media from various sources I have around the house.

[davuswho]

If you require a hardware device that supports playback of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP (Part-2), MPEG-4 AVC (Part-10), WMV9 and VC-1 then I suggest you wait a few months for products fitted with Sigma's SMP8634 chip-set to arrive.


Cheers

I am not in a hurry, that is for sure. I want to make this one purchase and have it last me a while. I can wait if something better is coming out. Buffalo Technologies Link Theatre does everything I want, but it does not stream ALL media formats, nor does it allow fast forward, rewind of certain types of media files.

If you have any suggestions of current products I could take a look at while we wait for new technology.. that would be great. I'm willing to do some research, but I need product recomendations before I can do so.

[SeeMoreDigital]

If you have any suggestions of current products I could take a look at while we wait for new technology.. that would be great. I'm willing to do some research, but I need product recomendations before I can do so.The Link Theatre made its first appearance around 3 years ago and was originally fitted with Sigma's EM8620L chip-set. Which did not support MPEG-4 AVC or VC-1 and turned out to be quite limited in usable memory.

As with all electrical gadgets, the technology has moved on and many similar devices are now fitted with Sigma's EM8624L chip-set, which does support MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1 but is still pretty limited in usable memory - especially after support for the MKV container has been added.

Sigma's SMP8634 series chip-sets offer far greater usable memory and should finally give us greater device flexibility (features) and stability.

That said.... any device is only as good as its manufacturers willingness to support and upgrade it. And some manufacturers are more "pro-active" than others!


Cheers

[Doom9]

For a can do it all device, I'd look at the Tvix series, or the upcoming Popcorn Hour - they can handle pretty much anyhting you can throw at them.

I would stay as far away as possible from any devices that require proprietary streaming software - so e.g. the Slingbox which only works with its matching streaming server (you can install it on a variety of devices but that doesn't change the fact there are plug and play solutions out there).

I have a Zyxel DMA-1000 which is a cheap fan and HD less device but is fine for streaming MPEG4 ASP content (it should even handle HD resolutions but I have yet to try). Once devices like the Popcorn Hour become available, I'll see what kind of device I'll attach to the second TV.

[davuswho]

Doom9, thanks for the input! The TvixBox is an example of something I do NOT want. It merely stores data on it, and lets me use it to view on my TV. I already have PLENTY of media/data, and I dont want to have to move it around... just access it via one box through my TV/Tuner System. 20gigs of data is not bad for that device, I could always move my 750gb drive to it, however.. that would void the warranty. (I'll keep my eye out on this one)

The XyZel.. hrm Their homepage is not very descriptive..

The Popcorn hour however.. sounds like something that would do exactly what I want. Sit on my TV.. pull & play media from my PC, Network, etc. AS WELL AS but my storage drive of media devices in it. Hrm. I wonder if I put the HDD in the Popcorn, if I can drag and drop to it from my desktop PC. I'll have to wait for more info on it I guess.

While reading over some of these I found an interesting item, Perhaps you all might take a look at airlinktek.com And pass me some of your input on it?

[Doom9]

Didn't you perhaps misunderstand what a tvix box is good for? True it has space for a HD, but it works just fine without one (you might consider disconnecting the fan though) and it is by its very own nature a network media player first.. it just has an interface for a HD for those that don't have a NAS and don't want to have their PC running all the time.

After looking at datasheets, I actually did a little google searching on the box I was interested in, plus I read a review of my unit in c't. You can also visit mpcclub.com - they have a forum that deals primarily with network players.

Wouldn't a NAS be an option for you? You can map it as a drive on your PC or access it via UNC path from your windows explorer (thus drag & drop), and if you add other networked players at a later point, you won't run into any trouble unlike those network media players where the disk is built-in and which aren't supposed to stream out media from that disk to another device (possibly even from a competing manufacturer).

And the MG350HD sounds a bit like the Tvix HD M-4100SH.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Agreed....

I currently have 3No media streaming devices in different rooms of my home, all of which are connected (via wired ethernet) to a central "media files/ISP server".

Works great ;)

[davuswho]

[QUOTE=Doom9;1064200]Didn't you perhaps misunderstand what a tvix box is good for?

After looking at datasheets, I actually did a little google searching on the box I was interested in, plus I read a review of my unit in c't. You can also visit mpcclub.com - they have a forum that deals primarily with network players.

Wouldn't a NAS be an option for you? QUOTE]

The Tvix doesnt have an Ethernet or Wireless connectivity to stream the media from my pc to it. From what I read. It can only pull files from the pc via usb?

My problem: I have a terabyte of media files In my office. Way too many spindles laying around. So I would like something that will 1) play files off my pc on to my pc 2) allow me to use NAS at a later time 3) let me play what I have on these spindles. Since the distance between my PC and TV is huge, USB connection is not an option. However I do have ethernet from my PC/router to TV. With that being said, should I really hold out for the Popcorn, or go with the Dlink? Does the Zyxel you have do all of the above? minus being a dvd player?

EDIT: Money is an object. I'm looking for something under $300 . this will be the base of my new entertainment system

[Doom9]

I don't know where you got your information from but look at this (http://www.tvix.co.kr/Eng/products/4100sh.aspx)again..
note this quote:
TViX HD can be networked with a PC system using its built-in LAN port. You are able to navigate to a file in a PC on TVIX Boxs network and play the file from its original destination without having to first copy it onto the TVIX Box HD.

From a price point, there's no beating the popcourhour.. I guess I'll sign up at mpc and get the European model myself.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Doom9,

Do you happen to know what chip-set is inside your Zyxel DMA-1000?


Cheers

[Doom9]

No.. and unfortunately I don't have the print version of the appropriate c't anymore so I have to wait for the DVD that contains all the articles in early 2008.

I just noted that the Popcornhour you can get on mpcclub is the US model so I guess I'll wait for the actual European variety.

[weaver4]

Will the popcornhour play divx movies that were made in the Theater profile. Looks like a great box.

[davuswho]

Does the popcorn hour do everything that the " Netgear EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD" can do? I was doing so more research and found this device does everything I am looking for plus more.

[dburckh]

The popopcornhour uses the SigmaDesigns 8634. I believe the Netgear uses the SigmaDesigns 8622. So the popcorncornhour is bigger better faster. The only issues I've seen with the popcornhour is lack of support for newer audio codecs (DD+, DTS-HD) and they are still working the kinks out.

SeeMoreDigital & Doom9 I was saying how you guys are my heros because you have 9000+ posts (and for other reasons). She replied "Yeah, but are they married?" Well??? (Please say yes)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well I'm "happily" married - can't speak for the wife though :)

[twitch0]

I'm looking for a similar product, but one that can also simply stream the direct video output from your pc to the tv. Both the popcorn and tvix look like nice products, but it appears that neither can do this... If, for example, I wanted to view streaming video using sopcast or tvants on my tv, how could I do this?

[weaver4]

My popcorn hour will stream the file from my pc to the TV. You have to set your pc up so that the folders that have your video's in them are shared; but then it works fine.

It will not do streaming from my pc's monitor to the PC if that is what you meant. If you have a 1280x1024 by 32bit 60hz monitor that is 2Gbps unless you want to do some sort of compression. I guess you could use a cheap linux box and do remote desktop, but that is not really good enough for video.

[Doom9]

Maybe IPTV will be added one day.. for now there are just too many different incompatible mechanisms. It already takes quite a bit of resources to support the most commonly used file formats - but such devices have all that is necessary to support streaming (many do audio streaming in fact).. it's more a matter of having some established protocols (e.g. like Shoutcast for a huge amount of online radio stations).

I figure media streamers like the Popcornhour or Tvix products are really driven by customer demand (I'm sure the MPAA is already secretly plotting for legislation to mandate DRM on such devices.. those pesky customers streaming video and audio to anyplace they want in their home.. that's piracy!!!), so if the demand to support video streaming comes, the products will come too.


For now.. a dreambox and running vlc with realtime transcoding on your PC will allow you to stream content streamed to your PC to your TV.

And no, I'm still available (although I figure a technical board isn't the proper place to look for a female partner so I guess I should hang out here less;) So now, don't tell your wife about this thread..

[twitch0]

Hi Doom9, "For now.. a dreambox and running vlc with realtime transcoding on your PC will allow you to stream content streamed to your PC to your TV". This sounds like a possibility for me to achieve what I want, for now anyway..how exactly do you perform realtime transcoding with VLC? Many thanks, twitch0

[sillKotscha]

what about this one... With Built-in Torrent Client (http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2008/01/mvix-mx780hd-media-center-with-builtin-torrent-client.php) :)

[hankyknot]

I have just bought a Zio eUreka 350HD media server. This box houses a hard drive of whatever size you want which can stream pictures, movies, music or whatever you want.

It plugs into your TV AND connects via RJ45 cable or wireless to your LAN. It comes with a remote to control media playback on your TV and the software to make the drive accessible to the PCs on your LAN. It will also access and play media from shared drives and folders on your LAN.

The TV playback is great even when you're dumping vast amounts of data off your PC drives onto the drive in the device.

My network PC's can browse the eUreka's drive with ease and you can even set access to read only or read/write depending on the PC on your network. You may just want the kid to view files without having the ability to add or more importantly delete any.

QUESTION

One issue I do have and I have this with any shared video files on my network so I know its not a eUreka problem is what software to use to view shared video files. Regular DVD player software or media center, vlc etc produce playback that is too jumpy to be workable. Is there a specific application anyone would recommend for watching movies stored on drives other than the one in the local machine?

[goofa]

My opinion stay well clear of the eva8000 i have been there and just took it back to pc world and got my £250 back, this box was the buggiest piece of crap i have ever own even with the later beta fimwares.

The guy who stole orion's belt in men in black had less bugs.

[weaver4]

After a month with my popcorn hour I only have a few trivial complaints.

> I think it takes too long to scroll from page to page; like 2.5 seconds when you press the page down button. (This happens when you movies are on a remote server, not the local hard drive).

> Sometimes I the screen will go Black when I press the return button, don't know why, but it appears to happen if the unit can no longer reach the server for some reason, plus it can happen for other reasons. I have to reset the unit.

> Remote is weak, you must have pointed directly at the unit for it to work. If you are off by 10 degrees it will not see the remote. Works better with a universal remote.

> If you install a Hard Drive in the unit, the unit gets hot. It gets really hot with an old segate drive. Users of the unit says it runs cool with the new Samsung Spinpoint drives.

You can see these are pretty trivial problems.

Network Media Tank is very responsive to customers and seem to fix everything very quickly.

Picture quality is great. I love the navigation while the movie has started playing you can hit a 3 button and the movie will go to the 30% mark. Or you can press the right or left D-Control button and it will skip or backup 30 seconds of the movie.

The box has a Sigma Designs SMP8635 (right SMD?) so it can decode about anything, without any of that Transcoding-on-the-fly stuff.

I don't work for the company.

Specs here: http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

[SeeMoreDigital]

The box has a Sigma Designs SMP8635 (right SMD?) so it can decode about anything, without any of that Transcoding-on-the-fly stuff.Yep... That's right (SMP8634/35).

It's currently Sigma's strongest chip-set. Offering plenty of on-board memory and features :)

[Micha369]

Hello folks,

(I'm sure the MPAA is already secretly plotting for legislation to mandate DRM on such devices.. those pesky customers streaming video and audio to anyplace they want in their home.. that's piracy!!!)

Could anyone tell me what this abbreviation "DRM" stands for?

thanks!

Micha

[pirecrompir]

Could anyone tell me what this abbreviation "DRM" stands for?



Digital Rights Management

[davuswho]

Thanks for all the input, I've finally managed to save up the cash for a media streamer. Is the popcorn hour still a great bang for the buck and features? OR... Is there a more affordable option/streamer with the same or better options? Or even something in the same price range.

I'm not the most up to date on technologies, but I know a lot of you are constanstly keeping up on it. I just want to make sure I'm not gonna be kicking myself in the tush later in the next month or two.. or even in 6months when I run across that "new codec" or new "media format" and my "new" streamer wont play it. LOL

Ive seen a lot of new products coming out, but I want to make sure the popcorn is still the product out there for me with my needs of streaming media from my pc, file server, nas and portable hard drives to my TV to watch.

[Doom9]

At this point, NMT based players (so the Popcorhour and the Istar models) are still your best bet. DViCOs M-6500A also plays in the same league but that's about it. At this point it's really about the chip that's inside the player.. players based on the latest Sigma chipsets might still have some isssues to be ironed out, but feature wise they are superior to the rest. Only if you pick up a player where the manufacturer stops making firmware updates, or when an even better generation of chipset comes out, do you have to worry about having an obsolete player, and at the prices of the Popcornhour or the Istar, it's not like it's going to bankrupt you to get another one (just move the old one over to a secondary TV).


I have finally tried out my Popcornhour, and I have a little question for weaver4: How do you play a DVD backup from an ISO file from a NAS (using UPnP.. but if I can figure out how to use nfs from the popcornhour I already have it turned on on the NAS)? I have no built-in HD, and when I access the directory where the ISO file lies, the player doesn't show me the ISO file.

[SeeMoreDigital]

How do you play a DVD backup from an ISO file from a NAS (using UPnP.. I suspect your UPnP media serving software does not fully support .ISO file playback... As far as I know, none do!

[weaver4]

I have finally tried out my Popcornhour, and I have a little question for weaver4: How do you play a DVD backup from an ISO file from a NAS (using UPnP.. but if I can figure out how to use nfs from the popcornhour I already have it turned on on the NAS)? I have no built-in HD, and when I access the directory where the ISO file lies, the player doesn't show me the ISO file.

I convert all my content to DivX or H264 before I play them on my popcornhour. So I am afraid I can not help you.

[BoMbY]

I recently bought the KiSS 1600 HD Media Player (http://www-uk.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=UK%2FLayout&cid=1172713255586&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=5558660635B01), which works good so far.

I use the 100 mbit/s port and the Scart LD output at this time, so i cannot say how it would be with the HD connectors or the WLAN streaming.

There are several free streaming servers with some nice features (freekiss (http://freekiss.sourceforge.net/), kissdx (http://kissdx.vidartysse.net/)) available if you do not want to use the bundled software. And as far as i know it should also work with UPnP-AV servers (but i cannot confirm this, because i do not own such a device).

The playback of xvid and divx avi-files is really great so far, and also H.264 content works great. The current firmware doesn't support mkv-files, but if you convert them to a Transport Stream via tsMuxeR (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=134104) they also play very good.

The player is a good DVD player, and with kissdx it's possible to stream DVD images over the network (without DVD menu support).

It also got a lot of output connectors (HDMI 1.2 with HDCP, SCART-RGB, Composite Video, S-Video, Component Video, Analog Stereo, Optical Audio, Coaxial Audio, S/PDIF).

Many people are not really pleased with this player (maybe google will tell you more), but i think you cannot get any better one at this time.

[telemachus]

Many people are not really pleased with this player (maybe google will tell you more), but i think you cannot get any better one at this time.

hi there
it looks like it upsamples to 720p, not the full 1080 which the popcorn and some others do.

Mark.

[davuswho]

I suspect your UPnP media serving software does not fully support .ISO file playback... As far as I know, none do!

What are some good media streamer software that is compatible with the above mentioned streamers? Anything other than MyiHome ? Something that will not interfere with my gaming on my main pc, yet still let me stream to TV for company while I'm playing my online games

[SeeMoreDigital]

What are some good media streamer software that is compatible with the above mentioned streamers?Look for devices that offer SMB connectivity, as it's capable of fully supporting DVD.ISO/IFO playback.

[Doom9]

I did manage to get ISO playback to work.. it requires SMB or even better, NFS. So if you're in the market for a NAS, make sure it does NFS as SMB seems to max out with high def files.

[SeeMoreDigital]

... make sure it does NFS as SMB seems to max out with high def files.That's been my experience too.....

In my tests the SMB connection maxes out at around 15Mbps (although Ziova did manage to squeeze 19Mbps from it at one time). So it's good enough for DVD.ISO files and some MPEG-2 HDTV in .TS sources.


Cheers

[smok3]

so i gather this popcorn thingy is only one model now? (are s-video and composite outputs pal or ntsc or both?)

[pirecrompir]

so i gather this popcorn thingy is only one model now? (are s-video and composite outputs pal or ntsc or both?)

Besides the Popcorn Hour there's also the Istar MiniHD player, based on the same Sigma chip and on the same firmware, but with several (hardware) differences. I think the best page for all info concerning media streamers is www.mpcclub.com, including reviews of both the aforementioned players. Check it out!

Cheers!

[SeeMoreDigital]

so i gather this popcorn thingy is only one model now? (are s-video and composite outputs pal or ntsc or both?)They can output NTSC and PAL "interlaced" video (as can Scart).

[smok3]

nice, however the eu prices are not that good (basically x2 if you compare to dollar price)

[pirecrompir]

nice, however the eu prices are not that good (basically x2 if you compare to dollar price)

I agree. I'm in the process of buying the Istar Mini player myself at the moment. The price is 188$, plus 50$ shipping costs to the EU, plus customs fees plus VAT; it all should come to around 200-250€ because the dollar is so cheap compared to the euro currently (and for some time to come probably). It is IMO a fair price considering the capabilities of the player and the extras you get with the bundle (HDMI, optical audio, eSATA->SATA cables etc.); but you should decide that for yourself.

Cheers!

[smok3]

very tempting both they are, questions (popcorn and/or istar):
a. can i expect unicode soft subtitles hell? (srt, sub..?)
b. can soft subs be scaled as user pleases?
:thanks:

[pirecrompir]

very tempting both they are, questions (popcorn and/or istar):
a. can i expect unicode soft subtitles hell? (srt, sub..?)
b. can soft subs be scaled as user pleases?
:thanks:

I think those questions better be asked at the www.mpcclub.com forums, where users of those two players can answer. Also read the reviews there. AFAIK soft subtitles work well apart from some minor problems, which should be solved with newer firmwares. I don't know what exactly you mean by scaling.

Cheers

[SeeMoreDigital]

Personally, I recommend people head over to the AVS forum for information: -

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=922900

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=975530

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=968070

[pirecrompir]

Personally, I recommend people head over to the AVS forum for information: -

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=922900

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=975530

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=968070

At least for Istar, there is no comparison between avs and mpcclub forums. There is a special subforum at mpcclub dedicated to Istar with 30+ posts per day, whereas there is one thread on Istar at avs with 50 posts in the last 2.5 months, one of the last posts saying:
"MPC hosts the "official" ISTAR support forums :-)".

For Popcorn the official forum is at: http://www.networkedmediatank.com/

Posts at both mpcclub and networkedmediatank.com outnumber the posts on popcorn and istar at avs by a factor of at least 50.

Everyone will of course decide for themselves, I just couldn't help myself answering because for obvious reasons the recommendation seemed a little bit funny ;-).

Cheers and good luck with whichever forum you choose :-)!