Home Network Advice Needed

[ScottulusMaximus]

So I'm expecting delivery of my TP-Link Archer D7 today to replace my POS Mweb Billion and need some advice, setup as follows:

Desktop PC(wired)
Laptop(wireless)
Phone(wireless)
Mygica DroidTV(wireless)

Now I need to be able to watch HD movies/series FLAWLESSLY(is the entire point of the router upgrade) on the DroidTV and on the desktop PC off of an external HDD.

Where should I connect the external?

Desktop(USB3), will be easiest as I download and sort through this.
Router(USB2), I can set up the SAMBA server no prob(I think).
DroidTV(USB2), this I have no idea how to access and edit the files from my PC.
Laptop(USB2), I see no advantage to this but who knows.

 

[stepper]

External to Desktop (with desktop running Plex Media Server or Kodi). Then install relevant 'media player' on clients.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

External to Desktop (with desktop running Plex Media Server or Kodi). Then install relevant 'media player' on clients.

That's what I'm doing currently, using Kodi on the Droid and I'm old fashioned and use VLC on the desktop. I tried Kodi on the PC but it's not really designed for multitasking and didn't minimize nicely and get out of my way, not a fan of "immersive" media players on a multi-function desktop. Sharing to Droid via SMB

Is plex better in this regard? Can I minimize it to tray and only bring it up when I want to watch a video? Also does it decode the video at source(desktop PC) or client(DroidTV) because I'd much rather decode at client and not eat my network.

 

[stepper]

That's what I'm doing currently, using Kodi on the Droid and I'm old fashioned and use VLC on the desktop. I tried Kodi on the PC but it's not really designed for multitasking and didn't minimize nicely and get out of my way, not a fan of "immersive" media players on a multi-function desktop. Sharing to Droid via SMB

Is plex better in this regard? Can I minimize it to tray and only bring it up when I want to watch a video? Also does it decode the video at source(desktop PC) or client(DroidTV) because I'd much rather decode at client and not eat my network.

Yes Plex might be 'better' in this regard. Just install PlexMediaServer on the desktop...it runs in the background and you can manage and play media in the browser.

If you use Kodi on Droid then you can install PLEXBMC add-on and a relevant skin like Amber and use plex with the look and feel of Kodi.

 

[SauRoNZA]

That's what I'm doing currently, using Kodi on the Droid and I'm old fashioned and use VLC on the desktop. I tried Kodi on the PC but it's not really designed for multitasking and didn't minimize nicely and get out of my way, not a fan of "immersive" media players on a multi-function desktop. Sharing to Droid via SMB

Is plex better in this regard? Can I minimize it to tray and only bring it up when I want to watch a video? Also does it decode the video at source(desktop PC) or client(DroidTV) because I'd much rather decode at client and not eat my network.

Plex is broken up into two components.

Plex Media Server just runs in the background and you can access it via DLNA from any device that supports that or us Plex Apps on various clients. It's completely free for PC/Mac use but the Apps cost a few dollars on Windows Mobile/iOS and Android.

If you get a Plex Pass then you get the apps free on Android and Playstation & Xbox (can only use those right now with a Pass). If you want to go that route I would recommend seeing it as a "device" cost and getting the lifetime membership for what seems like a lot of rands at $149.99.

Like Stepper said you can access Plex via XBMC if you really want to go that route, but it works better natively.


As for the decoding...your statement about rather decoding at client doesn't make sense....as that will eat your network more. Plex does transcoding for clients that don't support Direct Play such as iPads in some cases where the codec might not be natively supported. This all happens server side so your client get an appropriate stream that is transcoded BEFORE hitting your network.

XBMC eats your network (and battery on end devices) because it does it all client side.

*****

Just FYI...Plex is based on XBMC's stable builds and is therefore a "commercial" version of the same subsystem. It's not as customizable as XBMC but it's all centrally managed and therefore you don't need to configure each client.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Ok, right, learning, got it, I think...

I think plex is a future project, it's not really useful for me right now. I only have one device(the droidTV) I watch on and I know I'm going to do all this setup and still use VLC on the desktop because the plex player will annoy me

So let's leave plex for now but thank you.

Now back to my OP, where's the best/most efficient/network friendly place to have the HDD plugged in.

 

[Necropolis]

Shouldn't really make a difference.

Is this all wireless or is there any network cabling involved?

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Desktop is wired...

But gonna have to put this on hold Takealot just delivered the wrong ****ing router

 

[SirFooK'nG]

TBH ... For HD Movies that are larger than 4 or 5gb, I would never use wireless to stream. But thats my opinion... maybe you have 300N and it works well. Personally I have wired Gigabit network throughout my home... Only use wireless for phones & tablets...

 

[AfricanTech]

Ok, right, learning, got it, I think...

I think plex is a future project, it's not really useful for me right now. I only have one device(the droidTV) I watch on and I know I'm going to do all this setup and still use VLC on the desktop because the plex player will annoy me

So let's leave plex for now but thank you.

Now back to my OP, where's the best/most efficient/network friendly place to have the HDD plugged in.

It's worth using Plex Server.

The player WILL annoy you - I still use VLC on the desktop (and connected laptops) but the server component is great.

 

[AfricanTech]

Ok, right, learning, got it, I think...

I think plex is a future project, it's not really useful for me right now. I only have one device(the droidTV) I watch on and I know I'm going to do all this setup and still use VLC on the desktop because the plex player will annoy me

So let's leave plex for now but thank you.

Now back to my OP, where's the best/most efficient/network friendly place to have the HDD plugged in.

I would say the PC (or another machine that isn't used for anything else) - routers (and I don't know about the one you're buying) aren't really designed (in spite of what they say) to act as file servers.

Btw, PlexServer (free) really does make your life easier than browsing network shares

 

[AfricanTech]

TBH ... For HD Movies that are larger than 4 or 5gb, I would never use wireless to stream. But thats my opinion... maybe you have 300N and it works well. Personally I have wired Gigabit network throughout my home... Only use wireless for phones & tablets...

Agree. I find that even 2.5 gig is pushing it on my wireless network (Ubiquiti's plugged into a Mikrotik)

 

[SauRoNZA]

TBH ... For HD Movies that are larger than 4 or 5gb, I would never use wireless to stream. But thats my opinion... maybe you have 300N and it works well. Personally I have wired Gigabit network throughout my home... Only use wireless for phones & tablets...

Enter Plex.

I stream 15Gb files over wireless (2.4ghz 150mb) with no drama at all.

My server is wired via Gigabit to the router though so it's not all wireless.

Wireless to my TV, iPads, Playstation, Xbox etc.

 

[AfricanTech]

Enter Plex.

I stream 15Gb files over wireless (2.4ghz 150mb) with no drama at all.

My server is wired via Gigabit to the router though so it's not all wireless.

Wireless to my TV, iPads, Playstation, Xbox etc.

Hmm, then maybe it's specific files or the device is just too far.

A movie that streams perfectly (via Plex) to the Roku, breaks up when played on the PS3 (PS3 much further from the WAP) than the Roku

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Ok so since Takealot has now screwed up my evenings entertainment of router setup guess I'll follow advice, I shall be doing this:

HDD connected to PC via USB3
Plex server on PC
PleXBMC on Droid(not paying)

Any hints?

 

[SauRoNZA]

Hmm, then maybe it's specific files or the device is just too far.

A movie that streams perfectly (via Plex) to the Roku, breaks up when played on the PS3 (PS3 much further from the WAP) than the Roku

PS3 via DLNA or the Plex App?

Remember there is no transcoding on DLNA (as far as I am aware).

 

[Necropolis]

The ps3 is a horrible media player - which is probably where your issues came from...

 

[AfricanTech]

PS3 via DLNA or the Plex App?

Remember there is no transcoding on DLNA (as far as I am aware).

DLNA I think using the PlexServer as the source

(I go to the Video section and it searches for "servers" on the network, picks up on Plex and then it's click click click from there) - definitely not using the Plex app - maybe I should look into that (except it's not a big issue since none of the kids stuff (98% of the viewing on that TV) is in HD anyway).

The ps3 is a horrible media player - which is probably where your issues came from...

Not in my experience - it's brilliant - one of the best I've used - I love that "square" gives you these little time sliced preview boxes that you can use to scroll to where you want to be in the movie

 

[Necropolis]

Not in my experience - it's brilliant - one of the best I've used - I love that "square" gives you these little time sliced preview boxes that you can use to scroll to where you want to be in the movie

I tried streaming to mine from a plex server and the experience wasn't great.

Playing content and browsing through the library was awesome - but if I paused anything I couldn't resume it and had to skip through whatever I was watching at 2x speed (which was the max I could use) - so I gave up and got a micro server and installed XBMC.

Another big drawback for me is that fact that the PS3 will only read FAT32 drives.

 

[Hemps]

My current setup is DroidTV (4TB usb external) running Ember-Kodi with upnp enabled its then connected to router/adsl.

Kodi installed on MacBook and Dell laptop.
I can view and watch anything thats on that 4TB HDD connected to the droidtv, I just add the upnp source.

The droidtv can access anything on the other laptops running Kodi with upnp enabled.

Kids can open xbmc commander on iPads and start a stream of their shows.

I have a 4TB MyCloud but stopped using it when load shedding started.

Weekend ill be setting up 2x wifi routers as repeaters.