New Streamer to Replace my PS3?

easyrider · 29 Aug 2010 at 11:43

OK the PS3 is very good but transcoding using MKV2VOB is getting tiresome and PS3 media server is buggy and slow.

So I'm looking for the best network streamer out that will work alongside my 8TB share on my windows home server for my cinema room.

Not interested in local storage or BD disk playback as I have my PS3 for that.

I want a unit that will Bitstream True HD and master audio and will support streaming of subtitles within MKV containers etc...

Whats the best unit out? Ideally I would like to run some kind of JUKE BOX on it...(one of the flaws of the PS3) having to scroll through hundreds of movies to get to the one I want is lame...So i would like to search by Genre,Actor etc...

HTPC is out of the question. I don't have the time or the inclination to have another PC in the house.

Any advice would be appreciated. As I have been using my PS3 I am out of touch with the current GEN of streamers out there.

Is the POPCORN HOUR C200 the daddy?

Many Thanks

Virdi · 29 Aug 2010 at 15:17

I'm pretty certain the Popcorn is the best device.

My friend has the A200 and it does pretty much everything

...But there is also a Network streaming version of the WD TV

ntemples1 · 29 Aug 2010 at 15:41

actually i had popcorn products up until the a200, it just has loads of bugs, one of them being bad networking (even though it states gigabit), in the end I sold it and bought the Acer revo and installed xbmc live on it, and it's brilliant, it plays anything and has much better support for scraping imbd for synopsis of movies ect. Popcorn hour support is very slow too..

Virdi · 29 Aug 2010 at 19:46

ntemples1 said:
actually i had popcorn products up until the a200, it just has loads of bugs, one of them being bad networking (even though it states gigabit), in the end I sold it and bought the Acer revo and installed xbmc live on it, and it's brilliant, it plays anything and has much better support for scraping imbd for synopsis of movies ect. Popcorn hour support is very slow too..

So what were the problems?

Streaming slow? or dropping connection etc..?

Thanks

ntemples1 · 29 Aug 2010 at 19:51

Virdi said:
So what were the problems?

Streaming slow? or dropping connection etc..?

Thanks

yes it wouldn't stream properly over a wired connection, also it only recognises certain routers and there's no rhyme or reason to it, so upon wake up of the unit it would get assigned an IP address. Also the unit I had was not very quiet at all (compared to the silent a-110 i Had before).

If you look on their forums it's inundated with people having issues and then promises of a firmware fix coming soom but they release a new firmware (sometimes takes 4-5 months) and then break certain things with the new firmware.

When I tried the Revo on a whim, got it up and running in a few hours (and I am a linuxe noob) and it's been working perfectly ever since!!

Matrix · 29 Aug 2010 at 21:26

I was looking at the popcorn C200 but the xtreamer Pro looks very good it will pass through DTS-Hd etc and it looks simple to add 2 x2TB of drives not sure if it's any interest to you ?

http://forum.xtreamer.net/

easyrider · 29 Aug 2010 at 21:59

There are so many out there its a minefield.

That Xtreamer looks interesting...But development and firmware support is a tad iffy after a quick google.

jellybeard999 · 29 Aug 2010 at 22:47

In my opinion, the HTPC you ditched is your best option.

easyrider · 29 Aug 2010 at 22:52

jellybeard999 said:
In my opinion, the HTPC you ditched is your best option.

I CBA with it.

The hassle I had with setting it up did my head in.

I just want a simple solution that just works.

Matrix · 29 Aug 2010 at 22:56

easyrider said:
There are so many out there its a minefield.

That Xtreamer looks interesting...But development and firmware support is a tad iffy after a quick google.

It does seem a lot of issue have been fixed now the main issue seemed to be HD audio as people were hoping the Xtreamer pro would decode the audio for them . But if you have a amp that can do this then there's no issue really.

It plays Blu Ray M2TS files also it's handy that it has a built in jukebox there are a couple of sellers on the bay from Germany and USA .

Virdi · 30 Aug 2010 at 06:05

ntemples1 said:
yes it wouldn't stream properly over a wired connection, also it only recognises certain routers and there's no rhyme or reason to it, so upon wake up of the unit it would get assigned an IP address. Also the unit I had was not very quiet at all (compared to the silent a-110 i Had before).

If you look on their forums it's inundated with people having issues and then promises of a firmware fix coming soom but they release a new firmware (sometimes takes 4-5 months) and then break certain things with the new firmware.

When I tried the Revo on a whim, got it up and running in a few hours (and I am a linuxe noob) and it's been working perfectly ever since!!

Thanks

So you're running an Acer Revo with Linux? and then XBMC Media Centre?

Can XBMC play DVD ISO image files? and does it support DVD Menu's etc.?

Thanks

Holwill · 30 Aug 2010 at 09:49

I have a Popcorn A110 and a ACRyan Playon HD mini and find the the play just that bit more responsive and has played all my files unlike the A110 which has stumbled on a few MKV's. It also does not lock up, which can not be said of the A110. Best of all the unit is small enough and light enough to velcro to the back of the Tv.

wellibob · 30 Aug 2010 at 10:27

I have a Cyclone mkv mark 2, a play on mini, and a HTPC. Only the HTPC plays everything flawless. As for the media streamers, all ive seen have annoying bugs or glitches with certain types of files and audio. Now and again i have to re-encode somethink so the media streamers can play them.

easyrider · 30 Aug 2010 at 10:39

My needs are simple.

A low power silent streamer that plays everything and a JUKE BOX interface. for sorting stuff.

I had a play with YAMJ designed for the AC Ryan MINI last night just to see how much of a faff it was creating the Movie JUKE BOX....I have to say it was so easy and worked really well.

I may buy the AC Ryan now as the price for what it does looks like a no brainer...Here is the JUKE BOX I created just by pointing the program to my WHS share. It got every single one right including my TV shows

It plays MKV natively and seems to meet all my needs. As I say I don't need local storage or a BD drive.

Matrix · 30 Aug 2010 at 10:50

Does the AC Ryan play Blu Ray files and bitstream DTS-HD audio so my amp can decode it?

Also i take it you can install hard drives in them?

Not seen anything on these myself.

easyrider · 30 Aug 2010 at 12:08

Matrix said:
Does the AC Ryan play Blu Ray files and bitstream DTS-HD audio so my amp can decode it?

Also i take it you can install hard drives in them?

Not seen anything on these myself.

Yes

You can install HDD's but not in the MINI version

Matrix · 30 Aug 2010 at 12:58

Thanks Easyrider this might be a option I'll go for or the Extreamer Pro.

Was YAMJ easy enough to set up then?

easyrider · 30 Aug 2010 at 13:53

Matrix said:
Was YAMJ easy enough to set up then?

Yes, although I don't have it running on the Playon Yet as I don't have one yet.

Anyway I have just ordered the A.C.Ryan ACR-PV73200 Playon!HD Mini HDMI 1080P H.264/MKV, MPEG, WMV9, Xvid, AVC, .ISO Network Player for under £80 shipped so I will tell you soon when I have it installed.

wellibob · 30 Aug 2010 at 13:54

good choice, enjoy

Matrix · 30 Aug 2010 at 14:03

easyrider said:
Yes, although I don't have it running on the Playon Yet as I don't have one yet.

Anyway I have just ordered the A.C.Ryan ACR-PV73200 Playon!HD Mini HDMI 1080P H.264/MKV, MPEG, WMV9, Xvid, AVC, .ISO Network Player for under £80 shipped so I will tell you soon when I have it installed.

Ok thanks i look forward to hearing from you and your review of the system.