Home entertainment setup advice

undesign said:
Thanks bro, let me know how it goes.
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Well, so far it's been a nightmare.

First of all without a "dumb" remote it's pretty hard jumping to a touch screen remote on first start.
Secondly, the "AllShare" samsung software, sucks - It's really not elegant at all (PC Software is really a browser based frontend, which is slow, clunky, and feature limited - on the TV itself all files are dumped into a single folder - no sub folders or nothing!)

I'm still trying to figure out how the hell you use the "Windows Media Player" way, let me know if you figure it out

As for now, I'm going the plex route.... temporarily. i'll let you know how that went by tomorrow.

I think I'm gonna custom build a HTPC soon though, that's the only way to get a dream setup going (Like DJ has, just not with a Pi hehe)
 
DJ... said:
I just installed a Raspberry Pi in one if my bedrooms with openelec and it's great. Even runs the Ace skin fine. Struggles a bit with Aeon Nox skin but plays everything I've thrown at it. Posters can be slow to load on infrequent occasion.

My setup at home has my microserver running Windows 7 in the lounge and everything else connects to it. It is completely silent and hardly an eyesore at all...
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Currently running 3 Pi's running openElec and working like a charm. Server is an old workstation running Ubuntu 12.04 with 13Tb and the network is 1Gb/s

Also installed mySQL for library syncing. For remotes, using iPhone / iPad apps.
 
@undesign: Use Plex man, you don't need anything else.

It streams very well even over wifi, only having a slight hiccup every now and again when trying to stream very large MKVs.
I'm going to run some CAT5e soon which should fix that very nicely.

When you install the Plex server you will also see everything mirrored in your SmartHub, with all the directories and everything.
Don't install the SamsungLink software, it's a waste of time.

So yeah, you shouldn't need to buy anything really, just plug in your Lan Cable. Plex is pretty great.

a Dedicated, Powerfull, XBMC Player is probably still the best solution though... Plex still doesn't have everything XBMC has... but it works.
 
Keeper said:
@undesign: Use Plex man, you don't need anything else.

It streams very well even over wifi, only having a slight hiccup every now and again when trying to stream very large MKVs.
I'm going to run some CAT5e soon which should fix that very nicely.

When you install the Plex server you will also see everything mirrored in your SmartHub, with all the directories and everything.
Don't install the SamsungLink software, it's a waste of time.

So yeah, you shouldn't need to buy anything really, just plug in your Lan Cable. Plex is pretty great.

a Dedicated, Powerfull, XBMC Player is probably still the best solution though... Plex still doesn't have everything XBMC has... but it works.
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Thanks Keeper, will give Plex a try. Hoping to get my tv this afternoon.

Had an epiphany though, what about my current ultrabook as dedicated XBMC player -

Intel i5 2467m Processor 1.6GHz
4GB DDR3 RAM
128GB SSD
13.3-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics 3000
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
HDMI output

http://www.cnet.com/laptops/samsung-series-5-ultra/4505-3121_7-35164132.html

I have been itching for a MacBook Pro for some time, maybe the moment has arrived...
 
Haven't unboxed the new TV yet...'cos I got stuck on this little gem...

photo.JPG

Runs XBMC, have managed to pick up Windows server, lots of fun playing around with it. Installed in braairoom on "dumb" flatscreen. So far I've tested a Muse consert in 720P - no problem.

Going to tackle the new Sammy soon. :D
 
Dude, I just figured everything out!

Just enable "Local Transcoding" in Plex and it will work *flawlessly* thru Wifi - even 30GB 1080P 3D MKV Blurays.
No need to buy anything or even need a LAN Cable! :D

Also, Plex will work with 3D MKV's fine, just make sure the filename has "Half-SBS" in it
(I didn't initially, which is why I was having problems)
 
I told you so, Plex Media Server is all kinds of awesome and you can install the client on a ton of devices.
 
I had a serious issue with Plex. Installed it with a 2TB hard drive on a Mac, but Mac wouldn't let me write to the drive because it was formatted wrong. So I had to add another drive with new stuff. That's not a problem. The problem was adding the new drive to Plex server resulted in there being two separate TV shows and movies menu items in all of the clients, each with their own data from their respective hard drives. Couldn't figure out a solution so left it altogether and returned to xbmc. I've installed watchdog on my xbmc so the library auto updates as soon as I add anything to it. And Trakt which keeps my watched tags synchronized across all of the xbmc boxes in the house as well as having its own awesome benefits re: ratings and connecting with Android apps. They all stream via Wi-Fi as well without a hitch, so I've still not been able to figure out the benefit to Plex in these respects. Is there something that I'm still missing about Plex that makes it great?
 
DJ... said:
I had a serious issue with Plex. Installed it with a 2TB hard drive on a Mac, but Mac wouldn't let me write to the drive because it was formatted wrong. So I had to add another drive with new stuff. That's not a problem. The problem was adding the new drive to Plex server resulted in there being two separate TV shows and movies menu items in all of the clients, each with their own data from their respective hard drives. Couldn't figure out a solution so left it altogether and returned to xbmc. I've installed watchdog on my xbmc so the library auto updates as soon as I add anything to it. And Trakt which keeps my watched tags synchronized across all of the xbmc boxes in the house as well as having its own awesome benefits re: ratings and connecting with Android apps. They all stream via Wi-Fi as well without a hitch, so I've still not been able to figure out the benefit to Plex in these respects. Is there something that I'm still missing about Plex that makes it great?
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You just edit the sections. You can add multiple folders to each section:

Screenshot%202013-12-09%2020.32.41.png


EDIT: Plex also has a Trakt plugin, don't really use it any more though as it doesn't actually have much purpose.
 
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I didn't find that anywhere, and I searched high and low. Perhaps I set it up wrong from the outset. Who knows. All I do know is that setting up a media server hasn't made sense to me yet, as the PC it sits on is already a server. The clients just need to be able to connect to the data. With windows this is simple.

Re: Trakt. What I love is that SeriesGuide uses your Trakt account to update its own database so no setting up or updating. It just works. And the watched tags on xbmc are synced of course. I'm waiting for a Trakt torrent app that automates downloads. I currently use RSS downloaded to automate it which takes a little setting up. And yes, I know about sickbeard and couchpotato but I just cannot get them working. Tried 3 times now and I'm gatvol of it... :D
 
I have the Mygica ATV520 enjoy TV device. It says it runs at 1080p, but I have also heard it downscales to 720. it runs xbmc fine, most of the things I watch are 720p, so I cannot really confirm about the 1080. All in all, I am rather happy with it though.
 
DJ... said:
I didn't find that anywhere, and I searched high and low. Perhaps I set it up wrong from the outset. Who knows. All I do know is that setting up a media server hasn't made sense to me yet, as the PC it sits on is already a server. The clients just need to be able to connect to the data. With windows this is simple.

Re: Trakt. What I love is that SeriesGuide uses your Trakt account to update its own database so no setting up or updating. It just works. And the watched tags on xbmc are synced of course. I'm waiting for a Trakt torrent app that automates downloads. I currently use RSS downloaded to automate it which takes a little setting up. And yes, I know about sickbeard and couchpotato but I just cannot get them working. Tried 3 times now and I'm gatvol of it... :D
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The Plex server setup is a bit of a pain, but once it's up and running you just forget about it.

Where Plex excels is its ability to run on a multitude of devices, I run it on my iPad, S2 and Roku 3 and I can stream my content directly from my server when I'm out (this on it's own is awesome).
 
Lord Nikon6 said:
I have the Mygica ATV520 enjoy TV device. It says it runs at 1080p, but I have also heard it downscales to 720. it runs xbmc fine, most of the things I watch are 720p, so I cannot really confirm about the 1080. All in all, I am rather happy with it though.
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Could you say how you've connected that to the media source: cable or wi-fi? I ask because on wi-fi in the base OS I can connect to a SMB share that I *know* I can get to but when we went into xbmc, no dice. So, before I go running long cables unnecessarily I want to find out if (how much) I'm being stupid here... :erm:
 
bdt said:
Could you say how you've connected that to the media source: cable or wi-fi? I ask because on wi-fi in the base OS I can connect to a SMB share that I *know* I can get to but when we went into xbmc, no dice. So, before I go running long cables unnecessarily I want to find out if (how much) I'm being stupid here... :erm:
Click to expand...

I have it connected with wifi. I did have to tweak the shares to get them to pick up properly in xbmc.
 
bdt said:
Ah ha, an excellent start to saving me from having to run (in-roof) wiring all over the place! ...now, for the unenlightened (starting with me), could you expand on that please?
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Sorry, the reason I did not expand initially was because I forgot what needed to be done. I will however get back to you shortly. Are you sharing on linux or on Windows?
 
As far as I can remember with windows sharing, it was pretty much all mentioned here on the wiki:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=SMB/Windows

I think the important bit is not setting the shares up under homegroup, and that you need to use the everyone user. That is how I got mine to work.

In xbmc you might need to add a new media location to pick it up.

If you are having trouble and have done this, please let me know, with as much details as possible and I will be glad to try and assist.
 
Oh FFS nothing is ever easy... :mad:

So I bought a 32Gb microSD to copy a few music videos for another 720p tv and the Android ATV120 stick. They're all >4Gb 1080p material and won't copy to the SD card (FAT32 limitation). How do I decrease size and down convert to 720p? Handbrake doesn't have a target size option anymore.
 
undesign said:
Oh FFS nothing is ever easy... :mad:

So I bought a 32Gb microSD to copy a few music videos for another 720p tv and the Android ATV120 stick. They're all >4Gb 1080p material and won't copy to the SD card (FAT32 limitation). How do I decrease size and down convert to 720p? Handbrake doesn't have a target size option anymore.
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Convert the card to NTFS first and see if the Android stick reads it.
 
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