rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Ten years ago I recorded tons of movies off DirecTV onto three Tivos that I had upgraded with larger HDs. Two years ago I went to Dish Network and used their DVR with a 1TB external USB drive. I've filled up that thing and I realize that it is not a very good way to store your movies (cancel Dish and you lose years worth of work and your entire catalog).

I currently have an XBox1 hooked up to my main TV and I can view AVI movies off my network. It works fine BUT the XBox1 is not HiDef. I'm not sure that is a huge concern for me right now but I figure that I would get some ideas from you guys. I do have five XBox360s laying around but I don't have a good place to put them on my main TV without burning them up (not much air flow).

I have seen an external HD with the software on it to view movies (just hook it up to your TV and copy stuff to it over the network) and I think it was around $200 for a 1 or 2 TB and a remote control. It would have probably been HiDef but I am not sure.

Anyway, the XBox1 works fine for me but I was wondering if there were any other cheap/free solutions. I have LAN access to my TV and would rather store movies on the network vs having some huge box sitting by my TV (not an option).

Bryce

iTrader: (24)

Why do you have 5 360's laying around?

Besides doing a full HTPC build, you could buy an Acer Aspire Revo, which is a whole lot smaller than your typical HTPC. It's wholly capable of HD playback, and a fully functioning PC.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I really need to sell them. I only have one 360 hooked up right now. The only thing it has been used for in the past year was the week that I played Halo Reach.

Not really looking for a new PC (or at least something that won't fit in my hand).

Bryce

iTrader: (24)

Screen-look heaven!

I just noticed that the Boxee Box comes out in 2 days. It's built for network streaming, and should be pretty awesome.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038JE07O

You can download the software to your PC to see if it is to your liking too.
http://www.boxee.tv/


There are some other new options as of late, but I've consumed too much alcohol to find them.

fmowry

iTrader: (8)

I have the non-Live version of this that I use to just throw downloaded movies on a thumb drive and play on my big screen and it works great.

Not free, but not expensive or obtrusive:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita.../dp/B002KKFP9Y

y8s

iTrader: (8)

boxee/boxeebox?

jbresee

I really want to like the GoogleTV solution. The idea of an open app approach to TV is appealing, but everything I read about it's current state has me waiting for rev 2.0.

jasonb

i had same problem (except my old tivo is having hd problems so i've yet to pull my stuff off). media consolidation is king.


what i did is put all of my movies, music (flac ftw), tivo .ty files, racing videos, home videos, etc onto a linux 3u rack mount server in my garage. i then stream the movies/music to ps3 over gigabit via this http://ps3mediaserver.org. ps3 has tos link connection to my receiver for audio and hdmi to tv (my tv does not have gigabit)

goods:
o playing flac's, mp3's, etc wroks good.
o video output is 1080p regardless of input quality
o playing video which ps3 natively supports works good
o playing video which ps3 does not natively support works ok. you lose ability to fast forward and rewind. (i'm running an old version, so this may be fixed now)
o any video which mplayer can play works.
o you can use youtube-dl to download youtube videos to play on your big screen. i rock tsb's videos on the 55"
o i run a linux bittorrent client, so i can download straight to the media server. 1 copy for bt and watching ftw.
o the ps3 dvd remote control works good
o since your media is on a linux box, you should be obsolete h/w proof. you just rsync them to the new machine when you replace current.
o all of the noise from the hard drives is contained in the garage.
o iirc ps3mediaserver supports ps3, xbox, and gigabit capable tv's. see http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=15. i dont' have any experience with anything besides ps3 as renderer.
o ps3mediaserver supports windows, mac, and linux.

bads:
(note that all of these are ps3 specific, if you are using a different renderer (xbox, tv, etc), these may not apply)
o ps3 is made by sony
o ps3 is deliberately crippled because sony doesn't know if they are a movie company or an electronics company. so they do both shittily.
o unless your linux server is pretty buff avc encoded videos which are not supported natively by ps3 may not play smoothly. (this is because the linux box decodes avc and encodes to mpeg2 for the ps3)
o if the video is not supported by ps3 natively, then you lose rewind and fast forward. you can jump to arbitrary places within the video, its just slow.


what tv do u have? ps3mediaserver may support it so you could do same thing (it would be free to try it out).

jasonb

do you have a tivo series 1? if you do i have a network card for it u can borrow to copy files from it. it might be easier to just put he drives in a pc though, so you can copy everything off at spindle speed instead of 10mbit.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

The Xbox360 is my idea of the perfect media playout device. Hi-def video (HDMI or component), S/PDIF audio, a truly excellent remote, relatively quiet fans, a good user interface, and seamless integration to any PC running XP or better.

And I'm told that it also plays videogames.

Splitime

iTrader: (24)

PS3 is better IMO. Mainly due to the 0 cost internet access. No XBOX live requirements for Netflix people and whatnot. Also Blu-Ray drive by default.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

You might want to make a copy of your Tivo HD. I've found that this will solve a lot of Tivo problems. When I was big into the Tivos I made regular backups and swapped out the drives each time (got tired of losing my movies).

I don't have a PS3 so I am out of luck with that method...

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

Yes, I have 4 of them. I'm pretty much scrapping everything on the Tivos. Getting ready to list my 1000 GB Tivo Series 2 (with 350 movies on it) on ebay this week. I sold my last one (500GB with 300 movies) for $325 or so. Not bad for old junk that is just laying around.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

The last time I messed around with it I found that it had a few problems. It has been a while ago but I seem to remember that it did not support all the formats that the XBox1 did. Anyway, no real way to get one on my main TV so the point is moot. I might play with it a bit though since I have one hooked to my gaming TV in the FROG. I'll have to check it out again...

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Could be, it's just that both Rob & I already have 360s. I don't use Netflix or any of the pay services, just use it to play back video that I've downloaded. Couldn't care less about Bluray or any other physical media.

rmcelwee

iTrader: (1)

+1 on all of that. I just want to watch a movie that has been DL'd. Honestly, the only problems I have had with the XBox1 are:

1) A few times the video has been choppy. It may be the $7.50 Chinese LAN hub I bought off Ebay that I have sitting by the TV, it could be I am maxing out the XBox1, or it could be that my network (Server) was just slow at that time. Not sure.

2) Lack of HD. Probably a non-issue right now since I'm not really sure I have any HD videos. I normally get movies that are around 800MB in size. I'm really in it for the content, not the quality.

Joseph B

I download movies off of the piratebay and stream them on my ps3. Works flawlessly, but my dvd collection isn\'t increasing any longer.

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

I use a DNS-323 with 2xTB drives in it. I use the built in bit torrent client to get content and then I stream it to my laptop and my ps3. For the most part this works flawlessly. I'm very impressed by both devices.

I know this doesn't help, but I feel I must show my PS3 lovin'

jayc72

iTrader: (14)

The other option is a DNLA capable Blu-Ray player.