I want to go digital, what are my options

Slinkie · 12 Jul 2013 at 13:09

Hi all,

I am increasingly buying and renting my films online. To do this I buy it on my laptop and plug my laptop into the tv via hdmi, it's not ideal.

I think I want to get something that I can just rent/ by films directly rather than having to plug my laptop into the tv. I usually rent or buy from the google store but do occasionally use itunes too.

I also have a large collection of blurays. I am thinking about ripping these to a digital format and save to an external drive to, if possible, plug into the device used to rent/ buy films.

What are my options, I know of apple tv and wd live but want to know what else is out there. I am not really interested in HTPC, I feel the standalone systems are better value for money.

Thanks

Weazle · 12 Jul 2013 at 13:20

Psycho Sonny · 12 Jul 2013 at 13:43

Weazle said:
PS3?

he said

"I usually rent or buy from the google store"

therefore i imagine a ouya console running xbmc would be suitable if the ouya has access to the google movies and not just apps.

otherwise get a nexus 10/nexus 7 and hook that up to the tv.

or just buy a htpc? that would do everything and a lot lot more.

Glaucus · 12 Jul 2013 at 14:04

Windows box. NUC or one of the small atom based boxes, depending how much processing power you need.

Or ditch iTunes and go all google, in which case asus Cube or 1001 similar devices.

Weazle · 12 Jul 2013 at 16:17

Psycho Sonny said:
"I usually rent or buy from the google store"

Point taken but .... my suggestion can be valid if OP isn't too bothered about Google store.

The PS3 can be a viable media centre as it satisfies most of his requirements barring Google store which are dependent on the DLNA feature of Android phones/tablets:
- Plays blu ray discs
- Netflix on the PS3 covers tv/movie rentals and streaming.
- Plays movies/music off USB flash/hard drives (iTunes movies will need to be converted)
- Can stream movies/music off a PC using Windows Media server feature of Media Player on the same network.
- Can stream from Android device provided phone/tablet has DLNA (

)

I don't even own a PS3

Slinkie · 12 Jul 2013 at 20:26

The PS3 does seem like a good option and I don't have to use google play if it's easier.

The one thing that puts me off that is that it is almost EOL and so I'd prefer a PS4 instead.

I thought maybe a standalone specialist player must be better. I'll look into Pi's now.

EDIT: If I bought a film on Google play can I transfer it to a HDD and watch it through PS3, Pi etc?

Psycho Sonny · 13 Jul 2013 at 00:29

you can watch them through youtube i believe but not amazing quality.

i wouldnt be buying any movies from such a service as you do not know what will happen in the future, and you could end up losing or having to re-buy them all, i would rather have hard copies thats if buying movies is your thing.

sky+ hd box has on demand so you can download tv shows whenever you want as well as movies if you have the movies package, you can also rent movies off that also.

why dont you just use xbmc and a server which has movie files stored on it (which you either rip yourself or use somebody elses rip's)?

that way it is future proof. the ps3 is a crappy media player imo.