Media Player recommendation for Living Room


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A little background.

 

Currently have my Boxee Box wirelessly connected to my Synology DS213 NAS.  All my movies (MKV files) are on there.  I bought and tried the Roku 3, but due to my NAS not having the processor to transcribe the files, the roku 3 didn't work as advertised.  So I returned it.  Any suggestions out there for a replacement?  I've put the XMBC hack onto my boxee, but unfortunately it doesn't support DTS-HD yet.

 

My biggest factors that I need is, wireless, and able to stream my MKV blurays without the need for plex/transcribing.

 

 

Thanks

 

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Do you not have a PS3, Xbox or Xbox One, you can stream your files from the Synology using any of those devices, or even a Standard Samsung Bluray player that has network capability.

 

I think your main issue might be that they are all MKV files. So you are limiting your options there.

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So far i've been in love with my Fire TV with XBMC side loaded onto it. It's too bad XBMC doesn't support that. Maybe it does in the new version?

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Do you not have a PS3, Xbox or Xbox One, you can stream your files from the Synology using any of those devices, or even a Standard Samsung Bluray player that has network capability.

 

I think your main issue might be that they are all MKV files. So you are limiting your options there.

 

This requires transcoding, which the ARM based nas don't have the power to do.

 

I tried all the media players and if you want all the support, buy a used laptop. Should find a no-name with HDMI out and a celeron processor for a couple hundred bucks. Has full fledged web browser, runs emulators perfectly, and offers all audio decoding/transcoding power you'd need. Install plex on it and those rokus magically become very useful. Its your absolute best bet if you can stand the space and a bit of legwork. Otherwise spend a couple hundred of a few different STBs and still struggle to play what you want or convert everything to your STBs approved format. If you're really lucky you'l find a cheap used mac mini. Best performance to size ratio out there.

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Are you refering to DTS-HD playback with XBMC being the issue? I ask because I pass-through to my receiver DTS-HD / DTS-HD 5.1 MA without issue on Gotham 13.1 on Windows. It's only availible using WASAPI for output device though.

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Ill look into a mac mini.  It would need wifi to stream/access my Synology NAS.

 

I've also been looking at The Little Black Box ( http://thelittleblackbox.com/ )  and the Mede8er http://www.mede8er.eu/en/index.php?d=800x3d )


Are you refering to DTS-HD playback with XBMC being the issue? I ask because I pass-through to my receiver DTS-HD / DTS-HD 5.1 MA without issue on Gotham 13.1 on Windows. It's only availible using WASAPI for output device though.

Yes, thats what I'm refering too.  But the XBMC port to Boxee Box does not support it.

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I just bought an Intel NUC as a media player, you can add bits and pieces as you need

They have older Core duo, I3 and I5 versions

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I just bought an Intel NUC as a media player, you can add bits and pieces as you need

They have older Core duo, I3 and I5 versions

 

Interesting. Where did you order it from?  I see one on Amazon.com, but you can't configure it.  I see it doesn't come with wireless.  I probably only need an i3 also.

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Interesting. Where did you order it from?  I see one on Amazon.com, but you can't configure it.  I see it doesn't come with wireless.  I probably only need an i3 also.

 

I bought it from Amazon, you can't configure them perse, but you can but the bits and pieces you need extra

It's small and very quiet

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My mate just bought one of those HP mini servers, popped a small half height graphics card with HDMI in, a few disks, and he can play everything under the sun. 

 

Might have to invest in one of these when it's time to upgrade my current setup.

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I've also been looking at Fire TV, and put XBMC on it and give that a try.  Trying to figure out if it will access/play my files on my Synology NAS without transcodeing or not.

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