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General Advise for streaming
Hi there,
I have recently purchased a ReadyNAS duo to store all my music and films on. At the moment I use a squeezebox to stream the music and i have a few questions about streaming my movies
Unfortunatly my Sony TV doesnt support playback of AVI files despite the fact it can see the NAS drive which is extreamly annoying, so i have ben looking at streaming the films to my tv in another way.
I have successully used my xbox 360 for a couple of films, but that doesnt seem to play all avi's (perhaps theres differnt codecs or summit?) or MKV files - plus I was hoping not to have the xbox sitting on whilst watching a film.
My real question is this...
Are there any aditional pieces of software that can sit on the NAS and be "the middle man" between it and the TV to save me switching any aditional things on? Abit like the squeezecentre, but for movie files??? I have read about XBMC and Twonky, but not really sure they do what I want.
The other option I know of is to buy a media streaming device, but since that will cost more £££££ its something i would like to avoid if possible.
Hopefully this isnt a totally stupid question, any advise is much appriciated.
I have recently purchased a ReadyNAS duo to store all my music and films on. At the moment I use a squeezebox to stream the music and i have a few questions about streaming my movies
Unfortunatly my Sony TV doesnt support playback of AVI files despite the fact it can see the NAS drive which is extreamly annoying, so i have ben looking at streaming the films to my tv in another way.
I have successully used my xbox 360 for a couple of films, but that doesnt seem to play all avi's (perhaps theres differnt codecs or summit?) or MKV files - plus I was hoping not to have the xbox sitting on whilst watching a film.
My real question is this...
Are there any aditional pieces of software that can sit on the NAS and be "the middle man" between it and the TV to save me switching any aditional things on? Abit like the squeezecentre, but for movie files??? I have read about XBMC and Twonky, but not really sure they do what I want.
The other option I know of is to buy a media streaming device, but since that will cost more £££££ its something i would like to avoid if possible.
Hopefully this isnt a totally stupid question, any advise is much appriciated.
3 Replies
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- personally i use this -http://www.ebuyer.com/product/247811
(Emprex ME1-V2) - yes it is another device sitting between your Readynas & TV.
(does not play mkv's though) but my collection are normally full rips of my dvds, tried a few avi's to cut down on size of the storage & it handles these ok. It can also cope with iso format!
it's stable when using the ethernet connection to my readynas.
you will need to purchase a component cable if you want a decent picture (but a couple of pounds on ebay and you have high def, not true 1080p but as my collection is mainly my dvd's - it makes no difference to me)
there are other streamers out there but it ticks the boxes for my requirements.
Also - if your not after high def, an original xbox with xbmc are uncomplicated.
i've tried other devices but have not been entirely satisfied, for example i tried sumvision cyclone2, via hdmi cable but was frustrated with the lack of iso support and having to pick individual vob files. My tv does dlna but struggles with dvd rips. - I don't believe the duo has the horsepower to support transcoding. For that you really would need something like the NVX, ultra, etc. The only alternatives that I know of would require you to use a PC to do the transcoding. TVersity is one alternative that should work. Not really what you asked for though. Your only convenient alternative I'm afraid is to go with a box like the WD Live and Roku boxes.
Alan - I know its 3 years too late, but on the off chance it ever helps anyone else - I ended up buying an Acer Revo RL100 which I then put XBMC and flirc on and that works like a charm to get films onto my TV, no sure you can even buy the RL100 anymore but if you ever see one cheap it has been fantastic for me (silent, quick, looks nice, includes a 3D blue ray player)
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