Which Device

nicknack35 · 18 Jun 2015 at 19:59

Hey All. Just wondering what everybody is using as there media centre. As some of you might know by some of my posts in using the WDLIVE TV as my media centre but looking to change. I play a lot of big 1080p mkv files. And seen advantages and disadvantages with other devices and the Raspberry PI2 looks to be best around at the moment from reviews on here and other forums. I was looking at a decent NUC for around £300 im lost on this kind of thing and any help would be very much appreciated thanks

Deep · 18 Jun 2015 at 20:03

How do you play the files, USB, streaming?

nicknack35 · 18 Jun 2015 at 20:15

Mainly usb From my External HD But looking to stream also

nicknack35 · 19 Jun 2015 at 17:48

Anybody LOL?

rob77 · 19 Jun 2015 at 18:51

nicknack35 said:
Hey All. Just wondering what everybody is using as there media centre. As some of you might know by some of my posts in using the WDLIVE TV as my media centre but looking to change. I play a lot of big 1080p mkv files. And seen advantages and disadvantages with other devices and the Raspberry PI2 looks to be best around at the moment from reviews on here and other forums. I was looking at a decent NUC for around £300 im lost on this kind of thing and any help would be very much appreciated thanks

A raspberry pi 2 or nuc will play high bitrate 1080p mkv's very well. I now run openelec beta on both these devices. What I would suggest though is to have them wired rather than wireless. I have the raspberry pi upstairs connected wireless to the router downstairs and it works okay most of the time but struggles on some of my larger 13GB+ mkv's especially during action scenes. I'm actually planning on running a ethernet cable upstairs at some point. I did try powerline adaptors but found them poor and the connection kept dropping. Probably to do with the wiring in the house.

StevenG · 19 Jun 2015 at 19:16

I use an i3 NUC for my media centre as I found it has more flexibility with higher bitrate files and makes navigation quicker than a PI setup.

nicknack35 · 19 Jun 2015 at 19:47

Thanks for the replies chaps.How much was your NUC StevenG if you don't mind me asking

StevenG · 19 Jun 2015 at 19:56

nicknack35 said:
Thanks for the replies chaps.How much was your NUC StevenG if you don't mind me asking

I think I paid about £280 with a 30gb SSD and 4GB ram. I got the version with the IR receiver.

nicknack35 · 19 Jun 2015 at 20:01

You get it from overclockers. I think the NUC is looking more tempting

StevenG · 20 Jun 2015 at 07:57

nicknack35 said:
You get it from overclockers. I think the NUC is looking more tempting

I think it worked out cheaper elsewhere at the time. Not sure what it's like at the moment.

Amp34 · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:28

I use an Amazon fire (box) with Kode/XBMC sideloaded and it plays all my media fine, including large MKV files. Thought it would be less tricky than a raspberry Pi.

easyrider · 20 Jun 2015 at 09:50

Chromecast plugged into my onkyo 876 and use the plex app on my phone or iPad...it's brilliant !!!!

I stream from a HP microserver based in the garage out of site and out of mind.

UKDTweak · 22 Jun 2015 at 08:01

I have replaced my WD TV Live with an Amlogic S802 base M8 running an OpenElec rom with Kodi 14.1, plays everything I throw at it perfectly.
In my bedroom I have an Amazon Fire TV with Kodi 14.2 side loaded and its connected to my 2.4ghz wifi and again, it plays everything, both are connected to my NAS and both have IPTV Stalker and IVue TV guide up and running well.

Though the AFTV needed some tweaks to play everything smoothly when it was connected to my Amp via HDMI, its been spot on connected directly to my TV.