Video streamers - recommendations?

Well Gary, here it is then.

Mac Mini.
XBMC

streaming by FTP/SMB/UPNP

Assuming you name your files right you will get downloaded full artwork and info on each film/music/tvshows

Plays just about anything, MKVs, AVIS, RARs even.

Will do your pictures as well.

Check out aeon stark on youtube for example screen shots. Its fully skinable and there are some serious skins out there.

I love it. But there is a bit of set up involved.

Finally its compatible with logitech remote controls, so basically takes over the IR on the mini and allows full control.

Here are some screen shots from my set up, theme is a dark one but there are all sorts. A harmony 1000 controls it, so scroll left right to pick a film and press ok to run. There are a host of on screen displays can be pulled up to adjust video and audio, lip sync etc.

As long as you name the file sensibly then info and art on the film will be pulled from IMDB. TV shows are handled by the tvdatabase as well so all you shows are in season and episode order also with info and artworks.

XBMC is available for mac, appletv, pc, and linux. As well as Xbox. I mentioned the mini because they are still th best form factor vs power.

Garyi, what do you recommend for ripping the DVDs? Thanks.

I use macs, and for macs, RipIt will get the DVD onto the drive and DVD2One will make it smaller if you need.

Whole process per DVD takes about 20 mins. If I get a batch of dvds say from a bootie then I utilise all the macs int he house so I can get four dvds done in 20 mins

You can also try Plex as an alternative to XBMC, this will stream from NAS box.

For ripping I use Mactheripper which seems to work fine as well.

Graham

Mac the ripper is OK, but needs user knowledge and is slow. try RipIT.

Looks like I have to get a Mac then - are there any worthy PC contenders?

I cannot help with PC versions, but make sure its minimum core 2 duo, with at least 2gigs of ram. It seems to use more of the processor than the graphics chip.

As its happy streaming from a nas or other computer harddrive space need not be an issue. It just comes down to the volume of the computer then I suppose.

The mac has digital out which goes straight into a NVI for glorious 5.1 surround sound. So I would say make sure the PC has it.

Finally did I mention it has an iPlayer plugin, I am watching fatty stein in the east right now.

Many thanks Gary, I've only just seen your reply.

I hadn't considered streaming via a computer and was thinking along the lines of an alternative for the NVA8000, but you've certainly prompted me to look into it.

I've never used a mac, would it be easy to set up?

Gary

Gary

A few questions:-

We use RipIt4me to rip our DVDs and this produces a number of files for each DVD which appear to be .VOB,.IFO & .BUP file types - no idea what this means, but will it work with the mac mini/XBMC?

Given that we have over 150 DVDs ripped this way, I don't really want to start having to re-do them.

Presumably, you use the TV as your monitor and a wireless or USB keyboard? How do you control things on a day to day basis? I see you can use a remote, but how does it all work? Say I just wanted to come home and sit down and watch a DVD, would I need to have the keyboard attached? Sorry, I'm just trying to get my head around what's involved, having never seen one in use.

Will the mac mini work with our NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Plus) bearing in mind this is already on the network and used in conjuction with our Linn DS and several PCs etc. I presume it would, as it's just a network connected storage divice.

Thanks

Gary S

Hi Gary.

The ripit4me sounds like its doing 'straight rips' i.e. removing copy protection and placing a Video TS folder on your harddrive. This is fine XBMC plays these no problem and has suitable on screen display to go into menus etc.

I use the TV as the display yes. I actually have the mac mini hooked up to it twice. In this way I can have XBMC on all the time full screen as in the screen shots above, and I also have acess via VNC to 'behind' it on the other input which allows me to use the mini in other ways such as having itunes open and a torrent client etc. XBMC won't hog the computer so it can be used for other things.

If I want to use it I have a harmony, I simply press the 'Watch XBMC' option, and the tv turns to the right channel. XBMC is usually always running for me but can be launched by a button on the remote, then its just a case of using the arrow keys etc to navigate the interface. There is no need at any stage for a keyboard as it has an on screen one if needed, that being said for initial set up it can help.

The mac will see the nas as just that, nases work on the internet protocal so really an computer on the network should be able to see and use it, if you have it set that way. My movie and tv show collection sits on a Drobo NAS and is streamed via SMB over the network.

I won't lie to you, XBMC takes a bit of setting up, your films for instance need to have sensible names. If they are video ts folders then they need to be in their own folders and that folder needs to be names 'Aliens' or 'Edward Scissor hands' or what ever. This enables the 'scraper' to get your movie info from the web.

TV shows need to be in their own season folders, and each show needs to have its season number and episode number in the title. (If you have ever torrented you may have wondered why all TV shows on the sites have these weird numbers in!)

Its a labour of love INITIALLY after that you can play and let it do its thing.

There are other options as well, should you not get on with it. Apple of course comes with FrontRow which will happily play video ts folders, and there is also PLEX which is an OSX only offshoot of XBMC.

There is also BOXEE.

Plenty of great options and as I say not restricted to macs, PCs have even more options, meedios and the likes.

Thanks Gary

Our DVDs are set up in ts folders as you describe, so that's a relief.

I think we may well give this a go. I'll keep you posted.

Gary S

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
Mac the ripper is OK, but needs user knowledge and is slow. try RipIT.

Thanks Garyi, you are quite right it is a lot easier to use... downloaded demo copy last night.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary S.:

Presumably, you use the TV as your monitor and a wireless or USB keyboard? How do you control things on a day to day basis? I see you can use a remote, but how does it all work? Say I just wanted to come home and sit down and watch a DVD, would I need to have the keyboard attached? Sorry, I'm just trying to get my head around what's involved, having never seen one in use.

Will the mac mini work with our NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Plus) bearing in mind this is already on the network and used in conjuction with our Linn DS and several PCs etc. I presume it would, as it's just a network connected storage divice.

Thanks

Gary S

Gary
I have a mac mini and an imac which access a readynas duo which work fine. Streams music to my Naimuniti and video to the mac mini.
I use the mac mini with TV as monitor and just drag out the wireless keyboard / mouse when I need to work on the mini. I use Plex media server on the mini and control it with Harmony one remote... which also controls the naimuniti with mini connected to it with optical cable.

Graham