Hi again,

 

Been reading a lot of the posts regarding ROKU.  Most are very elaborate and lengthy.

 

I was wondering if I can get some insight into the best way to get ROKU and unRAID talking. 

 

Is it PLEX or is there something else?

 

Does something have to be put on the unRAID box if using PLEX or something else?

 

I'm very new and very confused right now...any input is welcomed!

 

Thanks,

Andy

I don't have a Roku at the moment, but based on the current state of Plex's Roku client (as well as the general quality and ease of use of Plex), that's probably your best bet.

 

To make the connection, so to speak, you will need to install the Plex Media Server (PMS) plugin for Unraid. You can get it here (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14803.0). PMS itself has a web interface that you use to add media libraries and manage the application and your libraries.

Add the Roksbox channel From here  this is a $15 license, but works great and has lots of options, along with an free evaluation period.  This will also require a web server installation to serve the files. And it requires that the webserver list the directories. For this, I use lighttpd installed from the unmenu package manager page. It will take a little effort to get everything setup, but works well once you get it going.  I'm streaming to 4 Roku's using this setup, one old original generation 1, one 2nd gen and two new Roku 2XS's.  They are a bit picky about encoding, MP4's or M4V's work well, Even with  SRT subtitles and Moviesheets.

If you can deal with the limited encoding supported by the ROKUs they work well.

Roksbox looks interesting, I would still say Plex, if for no other reason as it makes your 'workflow' a bit simpler.  Plex can handle all the Metadata functions as well, so as long as you have it monitoring a directory where your videos are getting dumped it can get the additional information for you at the same time.  Plex is also pretty generous with which formats you throw at it, it will be smart enough to determine what can be played natively (MP4) as opposed to what would need to be transcoded (MKV).  Additionally, with the cloud capabilities you can access/use your library from android/ios etc.

 

I will say to be careful with picking your 'client'.  I'm still a fan of Plex from a server side, but different 'clients' support different formats natively (e.g. WDTV can handle MKV etc natively) I started with a Roku for Plex, and I've since moved to an ATV2....once the ATV3 is JB that will probably be the ideal platform...also the OUYA that just finished on Kickstarter should be a good platform.  Best of luck!

Plex is the best option IMHO.  I have tried everything out there over the last 5 years and the combo of Unraid, Plex, and Roku is by far the best.  You can substitute a jailbroken Apple TV or other TV side box of your choice as well.

Yea...thinking I'm sticking with unRAID/Roku/Plex for now.  Sucks that I can't do ISO images, but hopefully that will come in the not-to-distant future.

 

It's gonna take me 37 years to load all of my DVDs to the server, so I can live without it for a while.

If I am understanding you correctly you do not have the plex server running on unraid yet, is tat correct? If so you need to set that up on your unraid box. This thread should help http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14803.0. If you do have it installed then more detail will need to be given concerning your problem.

burtjr,

 

Yes...as of now I have unRAID/Roku/Plex up and running.  It is working well.  My only remaining issue is that ISO will not play on Plex over then network.

 

Andy

Plex is the best option IMHO.  I have tried everything out there over the last 5 years and the combo of Unraid, Plex, and Roku is by far the best.  You can substitute a jailbroken Apple TV or other TV side box of your choice as well.

 

+1 to this. I've been using this combo for about a year (and Plex/Roku without unRaid for even longer) and this combo is just unbeatable IMHO.

im also using unraid, plex, and roku on 3 tvs!  had a popcorn hour for years, and worked okay, but plex has a far better interface and just has less glitches

 

 

Please note that you do not have to install the PMS plugin on unRAID to get Plex services.

 

You can install PMS on any other system on your network and then mounting the appropriate filesystems from UNRAID so that PMS has access.  If you just want to tinker, try a separate system for now.  The plugin gets a little more complicated when integrating it directly with unRAID.  It's that reason that I'm trying to break up things a little bit (I have new hardware running KVM with multiple VM's for the apps I want to run) rather than trying to make them all cooperate on unRAID.

 

So, there are options to try things out and you're not locked in to just using the unRAID plugin.

Another alternative is WD TV Live from Western Digital.  It will allow streaming from just about any network or local media and also includes a lot of the features the Roku has.  Not sure on price difference, but worth looking into if you don't want to buy or install extra apps to make your TV work with your media server.  I don't work for them, just own three of them.

FYI, this thread was dead a year ago. vincentkirkwoodnew and Noelaluck resurrected it with their first/only posts with spam to the same/reskinned video conversion software.

I have been using the WDTV Media Boxes since they were released, and as i transferred from stacks of portable usb hard drives, thru windows sharing via network share, up to unraid - the SMB feature has been the best for in home media streaming for the TVs, Plex/AirVideo Apps for the Ipad streaming. WDTV boxes also play .img/iso files as well directly thru Samba shares