Media Center/Streamer

[Jolon]

So I am building a new house and currently have it wired so that all components run out of the mechanical room and everything for music and television is run via IR controllers throughout the house. My question is in regards to playing downloaded movies through the aformentioned system. Do I need a media center like an x-box where all my movies are stored or is there a way to play movies directly from my computer. I have an imac and looked at apple tv however it only runs 2 codecs and the resolution available is garbage. So is there a really good solution for running movies right off my comp or do I need to buy some kind of unit to house the files and if so which is best ie. ps3/x-box etc. Keep in mind I have 2 1080 tv's so Im looking for high quality picture.

[Brad_Zakreski]

From what I heard XBox is the way to go because of the wireless controllers which can reach between TV's.

[Johnny Thrust]

Only thing about that is your very limited to what types of files your able to play because of the limited functionality of the Xbox.

You wouldn't be able to play ogm, mkv don't think xvid works either. That's the problem with all these devices out in the world the support for every codec just isn't feasible.


In my opinion it’s probably better to have an extra computer capable of playing back whatever you want beside your TV, go vga/hdmi out.


Also using a good media player such as Winamp for audio and Media Player Classic/mplayer or VLC for video, I prefer Mplayer the GUI is just what it is and all it needs to be.

Say finding a specific song takes a second if you use the search feature "J" key in Winamp.

[scottcarson]

I agree with John,

I don't know much about the controllers, but I can say that in this application a second PC is definitely better. I used to say, if you want games then get an XBox/Wii/PS. In any other situation but this, I would still say that. However, when you're talking about ALL types of media, the second you get beyond one function (i.e. gaming) the consoles just don't cut it.*

-S.
* Disclaimer: I know that some consoles will do DVD/BluRay but let's ignore that for now ;-)

[Marshal Finch]

You could use on of the old school x-boxes and mod them and put xbox media center on them. They will play most files and it is far superior to the new x-box media center released by windows.

[Jolon]

Ya the file type thing has always been an issue but I someone told me about something called popcorn I believe which will play every file type available.

[Johnny Thrust]

Popcorn Hour A-100 Network Media Tank Review: http://www.digitalreviews.net/reviews/video/popcorn-hour-a-100-network-media-tank-review.html

Looks like this baby supports a wide arrange of files more so than most devices out there. Just glancing at the specs briefly I noticed it doesn't support .ogm unless I missed it. Either or regardless of this that but the amount of various codecs supported is still pretty impressive.

This toy might be worth a try.


Still it's my personal preference to do things with a PC and a TV as mentioned earlier. Mainly cause this is how i've always done things... works so why bother changing things up. That and i'm just a cheap ass who would rather use resources I have then buy a little box of sorts to play files for me.

But even still after reading about the popcorn hour media tank this little box seems like it could be useful especially for high resolution/hd video if it provides flawless hd playback it could be very useful. For some 1080p video running it through my computer can be some what laggy at times so having a small media box could prove useful for this reason.

Plus the price for this device isn't to bad.

There's a list of pros and cons on the review site.

[Cipbal]

i read somewhere that u can intergrate the media center into virutaly any version of windows. What mce is a program on top of xp pro. does any one know how to do that? sry if off topic