Advice on HTPC / streaming device / nettop

[iEverything]

Hi,

Hopefully someone out there had the same requirements as me and managed to find a solution....

I have a Apple eco household with a Mac Pro, iPad 2, 2 iPod touches and 2 Iphone 4's which all need to have video streamed to them @ some point.

My current setup is a PS3 connected via HDMI to a Samsung LCD where .avi's and other formats are played to the TV and the major mission of having to try get media copied locally to all the other devices when is needed.

After extensive research it looks like my best option is a HTPC type device, we have 2 laptops (Mac Pro / Win 7) @ home which are not always on, so dont want to use them as a media server, I also really dont have the space to have a server / desktop running in a corner. So I am looking for a compact device which also has bluray (to replace the PS3 since we only use it for blu rays and a media server locally to the TV) which can just slot into my existing LCD type unit

the other prob is trying to find kit like this locally which is difficult....

Best bet so far is the Asus EeeBox EB1012P Desktop Computer but it has no blu ray, if the ASRock CORE 100HT-BD was avialble locally and a reasonable price it seems like the ideal solution.

So in summary looking for a OS based media server which will stream via WiFi n to the IOS device and connect to my LCD via HDMI, have a HDD and a Blu ray player

Any other suggestions?

Thanks
Russ

 

[morkhans]

Keep the PS3 for Bluray
Get at http://www.hpshop.co.za/p-7357-hp-proliant-microserver-633724-421.aspx
and install http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/

Not sure about streaming to your iOS devices from PMS but you can read up a bit on that.

 

[g300]

My preference is to centralise everything and share from there. So I'd suggest you consider building a little server, with at least a Core i5 processor, loads of memory and loads of storage. Once this appliance is on your network, every device accesses it from there.

There's an app called PlugPlayer, that can pull media from a DLNA server, which is what morkhans recommended with the PS3 Media Server. I'm running a similar setup, will try and attach an image

EDIT: I don't seem to be able to upload a diagram of my setup, but basically have my home PC (Core2Duo 1.86GHz, 3GB mem, 3.5TB storage) connected to my ADSL router via CAT5e cable, PS3 is connected to the router in the same fashion and all other devices connect wirelessly and can access files from the home PC