Stream to TV

Hey all!

Been a week or two as I was on vacation and searching for an apartment. I need your technical expertise for a home project if you please. I do not intend on purchasing Cable TV for this new apartment and instead plan on going internet only. I will have a desktop that acts as a meda server for HD video (avi, mkv, etc) and 3 TV sets. I would like to have the ability to view the likes of Amazon PRIME, Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, etc on these devices and would also like to stream from my video server. Does anyone know of a WD TV or Roku like box that could facilitate my needs? Please note that I have merely listed two I have seen but have not done deep research on them.

Also, can anyone suggest a wireless router that could support Blu-Ray streaming? While I will attempt to wire everything I can, sometimes it is impossible. I am thinking AC might be needed, but not all of my devices have AC.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments

Qord

I use a Roku for this, coupled with the PlayOn channel (channel on Roku, server component on PC) or simply MyMedia.py scripts streaming to Roku from PC. You could also use Plex to to send to the Roku, but I haven't played with it. I use the PlayOn channel/app for Youtube, Hulu free, my own media collection that lives on the computer, and a handful of cable channel plugins. Everything else (Amazon, Netflix, etc.) I do right on the Roku.

I believe you can also use both of those (Plex and PlayOn) on an Xbox 360, so that's another option.

About7Narwhal

Awesome, does the Roku do the video rendering on PlayOn or does the server? If you don't know don't worry, not a huge deal.

Qord

I believe the PC does all the heavy lifting there.

JasonIT

+1 for Roku plus PlayOn channel. You can also take the Roku on vacation with you and access your home video server.

J

crrussell3

XBMC would work except for the multiple tv part. Which for that you could do with an hdmi source selector.

Haswell

I've been using a Roku box and Plex Server running on my desktop for about year, and it's fantastic.

cyberguypr

I recently got a Roku 3 for the TV in my garage and have been impressed with the little bugger. Can't go wrong with it.

Priston

For wireless routers I have a Cisco EA4500 and EA6500 the EA4500 is awesome, I haven't gotten around to installing the EA6500 though.

WafflesAndRootbeer

Smart TVs have all that stuff built-in as do Blu-Ray players.

datgirl

crrussell3 wrote: »

XBMC would work except for the multiple tv part. Which for that you could do with an hdmi source selector.

While I don't stream much blue-ray, I swear by XBMC and VLC for just about all my media needs. As to a suggested wireless router, I get the sense that the Amped wireless routers should meet the OPs bandwidth demands

About7Narwhal

Haswell wrote: »

I've been using a Roku box and Plex Server running on my desktop for about year, and it's fantastic.

I have played with Plex for about a week now (don't have a roku yet) but the stream to Tablet and other such features make this a win for me. I appreciate the suggestion.

blargoe

I do Roku and a Sony BluRay player, which both work great with PlayOn.

About7Narwhal

On a similar note, can anyone suggest a smart tv? I love YouTube and use Amazon Prime. Can anyone vouch for samsung, lg, or any of the other options out there?

Priston

Have you seen the new Chromecast?

DevilWAH

Priston wrote: »

Have you seen the new Chromecast?

I was checking and this does seem have upnp which is quite cool, so I might well pick one up and hope they add more apps to it later.

tpatt100

I have two Apple TVs for our two televisions but I wanted to try a Chromecast in the name of "science" lol. I just don't have any more HDMI ports on my receiver....

jibbajabba

tpatt100 wrote: »

I have two Apple TVs for our two televisions but I wanted to try a Chromecast in the name of "science" lol. I just don't have any more HDMI ports on my receiver....

Plug it into your TV directly ?

blargoe

I've been skeptical of the idea of having everything bundled into a Smart TV thus far. I can get a TV with similar specs without the "Smart" internet features for much less, and just get a Roku or Apple TV or whatever, cheaper. Also, in a couple of years when some other Internet TV app becomes the "next big thing", I can just chuck the $50 Roku box and get a different one.

tpatt100

jibbajabba wrote: »

Plug it into your TV directly ?

I could I just need to figure out the audio part since all my sound goes through my receiver to the surround speakers.

I might just use it upstairs in the computer room where I have a port and use the TV speakers.

tpatt100

blargoe wrote: »

I've been skeptical of the idea of having everything bundled into a Smart TV thus far. I can get a TV with similar specs without the "Smart" internet features for much less, and just get a Roku or Apple TV or whatever, cheaper. Also, in a couple of years when some other Internet TV app becomes the "next big thing", I can just chuck the $50 Roku box and get a different one.

Yeah I don't even think manufacturers try very hard to update the apps either. I haven't plugged my Panasonic plasma into my network to see if there are updates.

About7Narwhal

I have ordered the ChromeCast, did it on release.. and Amazon assures me it will come... eventually.

horusthesun

I have three apple TVs and a mac mini acting as a iTunes "server" I also use air mirror (from my iPad )to throw my train signal training to the tv

About7Narwhal

Do you guys suggest using an internal raid for streaming or do you think high end HD (biggest single file I have is 14 gigs - 50 minutes) would be more limited by the wireless than by drive speed?

Sorry if I am all over the place with these questions, but there is a lot of good, hard earned experience to be had here. Taking the opportunity to learn all I can before blowing money on things I don't need for my project.

RockinRobin

I use Twonky to stream from my droid tablet to the Roku box. The only snap-in worth using for me is YouTube, which is worth it's weight in gold. It great.

Qord

I do have a raid array set up, but it was "because I can" and not because it's needed. I have had no problems with streaming local files at all, even before I was using my current pc. Where I run into problems is videos stored on sites like putlocker, those seem to give me problems with buffering.

About7Narwhal

Qord,

Nothing bothers me more than "Buffering..." when watching a video, especially when it is locally stored. Now my understanding of PLEX is that it will transcode if the device does not support the video format, which is great news. I will use my gaming rig to perform the transcoding and internal storage will house the media. My CPU will get the transcoding job done without issues and I figure a Gig RJ-45 to the router should get the job done as well, but I wasn't sure if drive spin would be a factor or not.

tpatt100

I have a "media" server upstairs that serves other stuff like iPad printing service and a couple of other things. I have iTunes running as a service with a third party program and it hosts my iTunes video/music library to our iPads and two Apple TVs via wifi and power over ethernet. I don't have raid but never had buffering issues even to the POE connected devices like Apple TV downstairs. The Apple TV usually has the whole movie/episode cached by the time I am even a couple of minutes into a movie.

networkjutsu

Last week, I finally dedicated a time to set up my VM Plex media server. Now, I stream using PS3 or HTPC. Thinking about getting Roku but what's stopping me is the need to upgrade my AV receiver.