How do YOU play films on your TV?

madtoady

madtoady

madtoady

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Joined
11 Feb 2006
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Location
Kent
I'm new to the home cinema scene. I've recently bought my first AVR, 5.1 speaker setup and a new TV. I both buy DVDs and download my films, before now I've stored my films on an external HDD. I would then plugg that into my old TV and watch the films from that. Any films that wasn't supported by my TV I would try to download again.

I've been looking into the multiple ways people play their films onto their TV, be it a dedicated media PC to a media player device. I just want to know how the members of this forum play films on their TV and to find out a better way to do it myself. I'm considering buying a WD TV Media Player and eventually a NAS drive to store my films.
 
Combination:
- PlayTV via the PS3 for normal TV. Doesn't get used much nowadays
- Pioneer BD player for BDs/DVDs
- Roku2 for streaming from Netflix and my PC
All connected via HDMI to my AV system
 
Main room has a PC running plex. Bedrooms have Samsung Smart TVs running the Plex app.
 
Nuc with kodi (openepec) serving media from my NAS. The nuc has a pulseeight cec adapter and my reciever supports cec so everything is controlled by my TV remote

The NAS runs central kodi database, so I can pause and resume on alternate devices.

Supports HD audio and 24p.

I also use chromecasts for some streaming uses as they are just simple and also support cec.
 
I've tried loads of ways in the past but have settled on two now.

1. I have my media stored on NAS drives. I have a small Brix PC on 24/7 that runs Plex Server. I then have Now TV boxes and Amazon Fire Sticks that use their respective Plex clients to play this media (native on the Amazon sticks and side loaded on the Now TV).

2. For streaming services I use the Amazon sticks exclusively for Netflix, Prime and TVMC

I think if I were to start afresh I'd probably just stick to the Fire TV sticks. Cheap enough and does everything in one box. I could eliminate the Brix in theory and play the NAS media straight via TVMC (A Kodi derivative). But since the Brix has other "server" duties meaning its on anyway I like the Plex ecosystem.

Having said that, I'm not a demanding media consumer in respect of outputting to an amp or wanting 3D etc. so my simple needs may not match yours.
 
I have a PS4 and use Plex installed on my NAS/Server connected to my router via powerline.

I also have a WD Live TV box for a second TV also connetced via powerline.

Wifi is dire for streaming
 
i just have my pc and tv plugged into my router and use serviio to play movies etc on the tv.

i don't know if its the best way but its the only way i know to do it!
 
madtoady said:
I have my main PC in my spare room and both my main TV and bedroom TV are Samsung smart TVs. Is Plex able to stream full HD movies over wireless without hickups?
Click to expand...


Well, I use powerline adapters, not wireless. But when streaming Plex to my laptop over wireless I've had no issues with 1080p content.
 
Plex server in the loft. Roku 2 in the Living Room, Samsung TV with Plex App in the bedroom.
 
HP micro server with OpenMediaVault s a NAS and then Amazon Fires running Kodi. I looked at plex but didn't think the sever was going to be up to encoding on the fly and also found the free vs paid parts rather unclear.
 
Sony bluray player for rentals and the odd occasionally purchase.

Amazon fire TV box with Netflix for everything else.

I can not go all digital yet and I don't want to.
 
Plex server on main pc , samsung tv with plex app in main room and nowtv box in bedroom with plex app on .
Never had any issues with buffering , maybe worth checking app settings if you do .
 
Blurays or Amazon Fire TV mostly. I backup my movies to a RPi running Kodi but I'm running out of storage on that and haven't had the time to come up with a suitable alternative. I suspect I will have to buy a NAS...

EDIT: I want to buy some storage on Google Drive and integrate that but I presume uploading movies (even ones you own) is frowned upon..
 
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I have a micro server running Plex and storing TV and mostly lossless Blu Ray rips.

I have a full gigabit hard wired network to :

1 A PC connected to my cinema system running Kodi (no transcoding allowed on this one).

2 An Nvidia Shield is connected to the 4k Living room TV running Kodi again.

3 I have 2 Amazon Fire TVs (one old one new) on the last 2 TVs in the house.

Plex is only used for low bit rate TV , I use Kodi for anything decent.

I dropped Sky and now use Now TV sports passes for occasional football matches and I pay for both Netflix and Amazon Prime.

(all 4 of my TVs have "smart" functions of one sort or another, not one of them is even half as good as A fire TV, Nvidia Shield or a PC as a media device)
 
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