Need user-friendly front end to watch movies from server

[gdaymate]

Have been trying to find a way to watch movies from a server or NAS in 3 holiday cottages I'm building.

I've been talking to various system installers who all reckon that it is possible using Xbox front-ends, with MyMovies software on the server, though when I press them on this they say that it might not work all the time, and is unsupported!! It seems that even if the MyMovies software does find a way round this problem, Microsoft will probably just close the loophole in their system software, so it's an impossible battle to win.

Does anyone have any other suggestions, eg any other software or hardware that will work? I really don't want to have a Media Centre PC in each cottage, I just want to have a simple and user-friendly front-end.

Does the Sony PS3 suffer the same problem?
The Apple Tv looks interesting but under-powered. I may have to look at the Netgear EVA8000, but it's rumoured to not be too user friendly.
Many thanks

[ExtremePC]

Originally Posted by gdaymate

Have been trying to find a way to watch movies from a server or NAS in 3 holiday cottages I'm building.

I've been talking to various system installers who all reckon that it is possible using Xbox front-ends, with MyMovies software on the server, though when I press them on this they say that it might not work all the time, and is unsupported!! It seems that even if the MyMovies software does find a way round this problem, Microsoft will probably just close the loophole in their system software, so it's an impossible battle to win.

Does anyone have any other suggestions, eg any other software or hardware that will work? I really don't want to have a Media Centre PC in each cottage, I just want to have a simple and user-friendly front-end.

Does the Sony PS3 suffer the same problem?
The Apple Tv looks interesting but under-powered. I may have to look at the Netgear EVA8000, but it's rumoured to not be too user friendly.
Many thanks

The PS3 fits the bill perfectly, the server end just needs a piece of software called TVersity to "serve" up the files.

[gdaymate]

Thanks for the reply.
I've found out info on the Tversity product found that:

"Blu-ray / DVD streaming from a disc drive on the server is not supported. If you have ripped movies on the hard drive however then streaming of HD works, especially on Gigabit network. But it's not the same experience as playing a DVD, however, since you lose the menus and can't turn on/off subtitles and stuff like that."

So whilst it looks like a very good product it still can't stream movies off the server, which is the same limitation that MyMovies has. So I may be back to square one!

It looks like the only easy path is to have a media centre of some kind in the cottages, but again, I don't want some all-singing $2000-3000 device, I just want something that can handle movies off the server (preferably with the subtitles and menus, and preferably with a gigabit LAN card in it, rather than the 10/100 that just about every device has).

Am I asking too much?

[dgaust]

Backing up the blu-ray or hd-dvd to an ISO file, should then allow MyMovies to playback the iso provided the media server has daemon tools installed (also Cyberlink PlayDVD and AnyDVD HD).

The problem is backing up those discs to iso's as it ain't exactly legal.

Of course, this would require a fully blown media centre PC installed in each cottage although there is discussion on the tversity forums about possible iso support, but I don't know how far it has progressed.

[gdaymate]

This may be a stupid question, but why would you need a fully blown media PC in the cottages? Is this because an Xbox or PS3 doesn't have the bandwidth required to play large HD files? If the cottages only played normal SD DVD movies from the server, can the Xbox or PS3 handle this? If it can handle this, there is still the problem of having multiple cottages playing DVDs from the server simultaneously, which MyMovies doesn't appear to be able to do.

[gdaymate]

This is my summary of my research on this and related media players.

SPECIFICATIONS
==============
We're going to build 3 tourist cottages, and need help to select the best a/v system for them. We have a central location where a server could be located, which is about 30m from the furthest cottage, and intend to hardwire for Gigabit with 2 Cat6 cables to each cottage (one to the bedroom, one to the lounge). Movies will be ripped to the server's hard disk.

We need each cottage:
-in the lounge, to be able to select their own music and DVDs (including High Definition ones) without having to come and borrow CDs/DVDs, and to be able to access free-to-air TV (even if the server is down).
-to be able to easily use the system without needing a manual or one-hour training course.
-Preferably to have some sort of black box interface rather than have a full-blown PC in each cottage, as I don't have time to be a network manager/PC Support technician
-in the bedroom, to be able to access music files (and optionally Internet Radio) off the server, and to be able to plug in an IPod if desired.

It would be nice:
-to be able to access the Internet from the lounge or bedroom. We can't get cable or ADSL, so we'll have to have satellite or wireless at slow broadband speeds 512/256).
-to be able to access Austar pay TV.


CONCLUSIONS
===========
The Logitech Squeezebox unfortunately can't multi-task independently to multiple outlets, so isn't an option.
If I had a mediacentre PC in each cottage everything would be much easier (using software such as VideoLAN), but I want the technology as cheap and simple as possible in the cottages, so this isn't an option, unless there's a reasonably priced one that will stream rather than store movies, which has a gigabit (preferred) connection.

Netgear EVA8000
===============
Could use this in the lounge, but it uses folders to display items, which probably isn't as user-friendly as the AppleTV Frontrow interface. It's still a young product, which can occaisionally crash. One advantage is that it can run off a NAS rather than a full-blown server. Apparently there's a known bug with playing 1080p files, so it can only do 720P at the moment. Also, I belive digital tuner cards are not supported at the moment, so live TV isn't an option. It's also difficult to find a shop that stocks this device in SE Queensland, so I have had no opportunities to play with it.

XBox/PS3
========
It can play ripped movies if you use software such as MyMovies or TVersity. There is a known bug/limitation of MyMovies that means that you can't successfully play ripped movies from more than one client Xbox simultaneously (some claim it can, others
say it can't). TVersity can't stream movies, but it is able to play ripped movies from multiple clients simultaneously, however it's not the same experience as playing a DVD, because you lose the menus and can't turn on/off subtitles and stuff like that. Both Tversity and MyMovies require a server to run on. For MyMovies to play DVDs the server would need daemon tools installed (and possibly software such as Cyberlink PlayDVD). Whilst many users have cautioned against Xbox, one suggested getting an old Xbox (the first version) and modding it by putting XBMC on it. Overall the PS3 seems to be the more 'liked' product with the least problems, and it supports wireless as well. To mod your PS3 to enable it to stream AVI, MPEG, OGG etc without any conversion I have been told that you can use a program called PIMPStreamer.

AppleTV
=======
Easy to use, but it only plays video at 720P. Requires iTunes on server (won't work off a NAS). Hopefully a rumoured new version will fix this, and if this does happen, then this would appear to be the best device for what I want.
I have been told that wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide is the website to checkout if you want to hack your ATV to enable Internet radio, play different formats and other useful things.

Current proposed setup
======================
Lounge: 1080P TV, wired Gigabit connection from server to AppleTV if new model comes out, otherwise PS3.
Bedroom: Wired Gigabit connection from server to Pinnacle Soundbridge M1001 for playing music from server and Internet radio. A small amp such as Super T-Amp (or Gen2 T-Amp) and ceiling speakers, or DVox combined amp+speakers.
I considered the Denon S52 Internet radio and networked music player, which has good functional specs, but is a bit too 'brickish' for a bedroom. I also considered the Sonos CR100 and ZP100, but it is just too expensive.

I welcome any comments....

[andrewpc]

Have a look at the range of Beyonwiz players. They are networked media players with PVR capability. Reviews seem to be quite good, and it also seems they are adding future file formats, fixing bugs quite often....


Andrew

[gdaymate]

Thanks for that. It's a very interesting looking device, but I was really looking for something simpler and more user-friendly (also I don't really need the PVR capabilities).

[dgaust]

For what you want, i'd maybe look at the Linux port of the xbox mediacentre. Again, this means full PCs hidden in each cottage, but they'll play anything you can throw at it and be reasonably good looking and simple to use.

The boxes will also need less power than a vista box, so you could get away with some cheap hardware.

But I think you'll find there are plenty of legal issues you'll have to sort out when providing these capabilities on a commercial basis.

[BILBOBoggles]

Here is another alternative that might be worth considering. It does require a little bit of configuration etc.

I have a central file server where all of my recordings are located. I have two Media viewers located both on a cabled connection and a wireless connection. I use a Open Source software called GEEXBOX. (www.geexbox.org).

The specs of the front ends are

1 - Dell optiplex GX110 Small form factor Pentium 3 866mhz
2 - ATI Radeon PCI 9250 (Or basically any cheap PCI video card)
3 - 256M RAM
4 - Hard disk has been "REMOVED"
5 - Boots from the CDROM.

GeexBox is a truly amazing linux distribution. It's a complete media front end in under 16Megabytes. You can set it up in many ways - I simply burn the image to a CD and use that. There is no hard disk to be corrupted. No hard disk noise. The Optiplex's are very quiet and cool running. Geexbox supports a number of remote controls, and once configured with the remote - is really a plug and play device. It just boots up to a menu - and automatically connects to your file server. You then navigate through your server directory tree and select the file you want. The absolute best thing is that the menu is nearly instant in response. I hated every application I've tried where the menu took a few seconds to respond.

It is capable of HDTV 1080p etc but my hardware does not support it - I only use it to watch 720p material.

Total Cost for my front end was $35 for video card. $.50 for the CD. The hardware was obtained from a dumpster dive. Ive got two of these boxes running and they have been great for the last 18 months. My 3 year old can drive it, and so can my wife ;-)