HTPC to Media Player - who's done it?

Columbo

Columbo

Columbo

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So I'm thinking of replacing my HTPC rig with a stand alone media streamer.

I'm currently using an AMD 4850e CPU, 785g chipset mobo, 4gb DDR2 ram all running under Windows 7 and I use XBMC to play all media from my NAS.

Now the Mrs (who is not technology minded at all.!) finds all this a bit daunting and as she is not PC literate at all I can kind of understand.

So my question is if I was to replace my current rig with a simpler / easier to use Media Streamer would I regret it?

All my films / TV are stored in either .avi, .mkv, .mt2s & ISO formats so would need something that would play those and it must have an ethernet socket for a wired network connection.

Any help appreciated.
 
Personally I've gone HTPC -> Media Player -> HTPC

The media players can be quite good but they don't have the flexibility in supported formats and features that a properly configured HTPC can have.

Have you considered tweaking your XMBC configuration to make things more understandable for her; although I don't see the media player interface being any easier than XMBC.
 
Don't do it.media players are rough I used to have a wd one and even modding it with movie sheets still made it awful compared to a htpc and more importantly xbmc.

Do you have xbmc? Even my mrs can use that and she hates computers.also are you using a keyboard and mouse to control it? As xbmc has mobile phone support built in which is 100% times better.
 
Apple TV 2 with XBMC installed.

ATV2 comes with a small, simple remote.

I personally find the iphone / android apps a pain in the backside as you can't just hand it to someone else and say "here, pause the movie" as they have to unlock, start the app (as it will have most likely not been the last thing you did on your phone) go to "controls" then press pause.

Not once have I found this a better solution than "pause" on the remote.

Also, a little trick I've done to simply XBMC for the gf is to ensure that ALL menus work vertically - rather than switching between a horizontal home menu, to vertical episode lists for example.
 
BOXEE BOX.

An idiot can use it and it plays basically everything, minimal setup and it will download all our cover art for you, hell you dont even need to organise your files, just point it at where they are stored and it groups and sorts them too.
 
iamtheoneneo said:
Do you have xbmc? Even my mrs can use that and she hates computers.also are you using a keyboard and mouse to control it? As xbmc has mobile phone support built in which is 100% times better.
Click to expand...

I'm using XBMC with the Official Microsoft Remote

memyselfandi said:
Have you considered tweaking your XMBC configuration to make things more understandable for her; although I don't see the media player interface being any easier than XMBC.
Click to expand...

I've got XBMC starting up automatically, the password is 1111 so she even use the remote to log-on and I'm using a skin that makes things very easy.

The issue is that sometimes things happen in Windows and she has no knowledge of how to sort it out, even a reboot is a massive challenge and I'm not there a lot of the time.

I was thinking that a media player should be as easy to use as On / Off and I've also had a play with my mates WDTV Live and was really impressed.

RoyMi6 said:
Apple TV 2 with XBMC installed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion but I could never let myself get ripped off by buying overpriced Apple products. :p
 
ManCuBuS said:
I've got XBMC starting up automatically, the password is 1111 so she even use the remote to log-on and I'm using a skin that makes things very easy.
Click to expand...
If you are using the machine as a dedicated HTPC then why have a log-on at all. Have it auto-login so it boots straight up in to XBMC.

I was thinking that a media player should be as easy to use as On / Off and I've also had a play with my mates WDTV Live and was really impressed.
Click to expand...
I have a WDTV Live ... don't get me wrong, it's a reasonable bit of kit but I wouldn't say that it is any easier to use than XMBC for someone who isn't particularly technical. If it detects there is a new firmware available then it will start in a menu asking if you want to upgrade and if it hits a media file it doesn't like then it can hang solid. You also have to navigate around what source type and what drive you want to access before finding your media ... no real "library" as such.
 
ManCuBuS said:
I've also had a play with my mates WDTV Live and was really impressed.
Click to expand...

ewww, no no no. wdtv live has loads of problems wrong with it. its an ok piece of kit at best but tbh your will send a lot the time trying to get it too actually find your files on a network (a known problem) then watching them

was very glad to see the back of mine.
 
ManCuBuS said:
Thanks for the suggestion but I could never let myself get ripped off by buying overpriced Apple products. :p
Click to expand...

~£75 WD TV Live with not that great an interface and sounds like it locks up every so often

£90 for an Apple TV 2 with XBMC installed and a pretty slick decent remote

~£300 for HTPC

If you think £90 is getting ripped off for a dedicated XBMC box then so be it.

In fact, I challenge you to find a better interface or build something similar for that cost as I've been looking for alternatives for ages and found nothing better. I'm genuinely interested as I was planning on buying another two; one for the bedroom and one for the cinema.

Roy

EDIT:: Should point out that the XBMC install that you get for the ATV2 comes with every codec under the sun (not found a single thing it couldn't play) and the only time I've had it crash was when I was messing about with heavy duty skins.

Saying that I am currently having issues with HD stuff having the odd stutter (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18280870). Still working to iron that out but think it could be network related.

Plus, I'm not pro Apple in any way - just if they make something good and affordable I'm all for it. I think the ATV2 is the one product that does.
 
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iamtheoneneo said:
ewww, no no no. wdtv live has loads of problems wrong with it. its an ok piece of kit at best but tbh your will send a lot the time trying to get it too actually find your files on a network (a known problem) then watching them

was very glad to see the back of mine.
Click to expand...

Finding files on the network was one problem that I never saw with mine, that problem was specific to several firm ware versions.
 
That is the core DTS, doesn't go into specifics about the Master Audio - I guess my lazy bum will have to do a google :)
 
I run an acer revo with xbmc live on it, it is as close to an appliance like setup I could get.

I control it with the xbmc ipad and iphone app, and I can easily let me girlfriend browse the films and tv shows avaliable, and select what to watch.
 
popcorn hour with yamj running is extremely simple, my wife gets on very well with it, boot the unit it auto loads the movie wall then just scroll through and hit play all streamed from nas and home server even full blu ray rips
 
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