TV with media playing capabilities.

[bubbaQ]

I am looking at adding a couple of TVs to the downstairs, and would like to get ones with built-in media playing capabilities so I don't have to also get a PCH or Dune (and have to deal with a second remote) for each one.

 

Anyone have personal experience with any of TV's with such features?  Most seem to use DLNA, but are there any that wills see unRAID shares (i.e. Samba or NFS)?

[Ford Prefect]

+1

 

I will certainly follow this thread.

 

Just in case such a thing has not been invented yet, my 2 cents for a workaround:

 

As for the requirement to use the original remote with your HTPC, I use this: http://www.pulse-eight.com/store/products/104-usb-hdmi-cec-adapter.aspx

AFAIK it works with a Raspberyy PI, too.

 

For connecting your TV to your NAS, I tried this http://hsti.com/products/wirelessmediastick ...performance was not impressive...looking for a wired version 

Maybe a "reverse" USB NAS" exists?

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[StevenD]

I dont believe any of the TVs will access a share.  Im pretty sure you are going to need Plex or something.  I use Plex and two of my TVs in guest bedrooms have Roku's on them. They work very well.

[MyKroFt]

I got one of these coming:  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rikomagic-MK802-II-Mini-Android-4-0-PC-Android-TV-Box-A10-Cortex-A8-1GB-RAM/658117615.html

 

and will be running XBMC Android version.  Just plug it into a HDMI port, plug in usb power, wireless config and your ready to go....

 

 

Myk

 

[Ice_Black]

You should check mede8er, they are fantastic!

 

http://www.mede8er.com/

[bubbaQ]

Just in case such a thing has not been invented yet,

 

They have... there are a number of TV's that have embedded media players, such as many of the Panasonic Viera line (e.g., Panasonic TC-L42E50 SMART VIERA).  They are not necessarily as robust in the formats they support as a standalone player, but I will ensure all the media is in compatible formats so that is not an issue.

 

I know of a jillion ways to do it with another box.....  that's not what I need for this situation.

 

I was looking for someone with hand-on experience with the DLNA (uPnP) enabled TV's.

[Ford Prefect]

I know of a jillion ways to do it with another box.....  that's not what I need for this situation.

Yes, that's what I understood...it wasn't my intention to hijack that thread and movinbg away from that.

 

I was looking for someone with hand-on experience with the DLNA (uPnP) enabled TV's.

 

wait...DLNA is what you wanted?  ...this is different from the TV using a SMB client  ..this is streaming via HTTP at the end.

DLNA is - compared to using SMB - a real PITA...I own a PANA Viera and tried hard to get it to run via DLNA...tried several DLNA servers but none was really convincing.

The best one, with an almost good profile supporting the PANA is serviio: http://www.serviio.org/  I believe there is a thread in this forum somewhere already.

 

DLNA immplementation ssems to come in a lot of varieties...you need to find a TV set that supports the most convenient codec and container format via DLNA.

What I learned is, that most TVs seem to refuse to support popular containers, like mkv and codecs originally used in Bluray/DVD masters, like VC-1

This is not a limitation of the embedded media player as often these are supported when playing from a USB device attached...it is simply ignorance of the manufacturers to deliver a complete solution.

 

At the end, I simply gave up and moved to the alternate setup.

[bubbaQ]

wait...DLNA is what you wanted?  ...this is different from the TV using a SMB client

 

Not necessarily.  I already have HTTP streaming running on my unRAID server and it will support DLNA.  I'm currently using PCH and Dune players over HTTP (my code is a heavily customized version based loosly on the framework in OpenShowCenter).  But for a couple of things, I like having the ability to go to a share.

 

I was looking for 2 things:  hand-on experience with DLNA, in addition to any input if someone has seen any TVs that, in addition to DLNA, also do SMB/NFS.

[Brian B.]

Another possibility: Roku squeezed all their functionality into an HDMI stick that works with some newer tvs. Uses the TV's remote too.

 

http://www.roku.com/streamingstick

[switchman]

My tv does DNLA.  It was an earliy generation and is a PITA.  Before I got a Pivos XIOS DS to run XBMC I used my Blueray player which does support playing of of an unraid SMB share.  Problem was it could not play all of the containers.  I think you are going to be hardpressed to find a TV that can do what you want. It will be expensive if you do.

[aptalca]

there are several different options.

 

One option is to use plex. Install Plex media server on unraid, a bunch of new smart TVs have plex clients, or can do dlna (pms supports it). Plex does transcoding so it will play whatever you throw at it.

 

Or get a dumb TV and add a roku (~$40). plex channel on the roku is free

 

or get a dumb tv and add a google tv or android box (~$80-$120). they can do dlna, xbmc (pivos does xbmc with hw acceleration in both android and linux) or plex (plex client for android is not free)

 

I don't think a smart tv with smb capability would be a good option. Chances are, the TVs would only be able to play certain codecs and rips and would be incompatible with some or most of your media. Plex does transcoding so if the client does not support the media, plex will automatically convert it to a format that the client can play.

[mbryanr]

I don't know of any TVs that allow SMB or NFS shares. I have a Panasonic TC-P50ST50 with DLNA - and never used it.

 

But SamyGO custom firmware allows smb/nfs/ftp with some Samsung TV models

 

http://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5/Mounting_an_CIFS/SAMBA_share_on_a_USB_device_to_bypass_DLNA

[sacretagent]

if you have plex on your media server then you can install plex on LG and Samsung SMART tv's

 

i am looking into that option for a bedroom tv

going to be fun to ask that to the thai sales people in the local mall

[switchman]

I still suggest picking up a Pivos XIOS DS, installing Linux XBMC on it.  You can run either SMB or NFS shares.  I currently run NFS but have used the SMB sahres on my server.  It plays anything I throw at it.  It does not rely on you server to to the transcoding.  The DS does hardware decoding.

 

If you go this route make sure you get the M3 hardware.  It is a little faster, but has 1GB of memory vs 512MB on the M1 hardware.

 

You can read more about it here.

http://www.pivosforums.com/viewforum.php?f=25

[mrow]

I still suggest picking up a Pivos XIOS DS, installing Linux XBMC on it.  You can run either SMB or NFS shares.  I currently run NFS but have used the SMB sahres on my server.  It plays anything I throw at it.  It does not rely on you server to to the transcoding.  The DS does hardware decoding.

 

If you go this route make sure you get the M3 hardware.  It is a little faster, but has 1GB of memory vs 512MB on the M1 hardware.

 

You can read more about it here.

http://www.pivosforums.com/viewforum.php?f=25

 

The reviews on that thing seem pretty mixed. And if you have to modify it to get it to work, why wouldn't you just get a Apple TV gen 2 and jailbreak it? It's cheaper and with that you can run Plex as well as XBMC on it.

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[mrow]

IMO, an ATV2 is bottom of the barrel in terms of !/$:

1) Expensive (~$175)

2) 720p

3) h.264 only

4) Relies on Plex, requiring a powerful back-end and reducing image quality

5) Requires jailbreaking

6) Media player must share meager resources with iOS

 

A Raspberry Pi on the other hand...

 

Basically everything you just listed there is completely wrong.

 

1. $99 new, $85 factory refurbished from Apple (basically new)

2. is 1080p, not 720p

3. H.264 only when using the built in player. Plex and XBMC play back any format they play back on any other system.

4. You can install Plex or XBMC or both. When using Plex you can choose the option of direct streaming, meaning the video and audio are not touched.

5. Jailbreaking it takes literally 5 minutes.

6. the version of iOS it's running is stripped down requiring very little system resources. Never had any issues running Plex or XBMC on it.

[aptalca]

IMO, an ATV2 is bottom of the barrel in terms of !/$:

1) Expensive (~$175)

2) 720p

3) h.264 only

4) Relies on Plex, requiring a powerful back-end and reducing image quality

5) Requires jailbreaking

6) Media player must share meager resources with iOS

 

A Raspberry Pi on the other hand...

 

Basically everything you just listed there is completely wrong.

 

1. $99 new, $85 factory refurbished from Apple (basically new)

2. is 1080p, not 720p

3. H.264 only when using the built in player. Plex and XBMC play back any format they play back on any other system.

4. You can install Plex or XBMC or both. When using Plex you can choose the option of direct streaming, meaning the video and audio are not touched.

5. Jailbreaking it takes literally 5 minutes.

6. the version of iOS it's running is stripped down requiring very little system resources. Never had any issues running Plex or XBMC on it.

 

Well, there is some miscommunication. What PobjoySpecial wrote is for the most part accurate (except for 3 and 4), because he is talking about the atv2

 

4 is wrong because xbmc can be installed with jailbreak, so you don't have to rely on plex and transcoding. 3 I believe is partially right. Now don't quote me on this but I heard atv2 does hardware acceleration for h264, but uses software decode for mpeg2 ??

 

Now mrow is talking about the atv3, for which there is no public jailbreak yet. I heard they released a closed beta for a tethered version and that the final untethered would be released soon. I think then the atv3 might be a pretty decent option.

 

mrow, are you using a jailbroken atv3? What is your experience?

[mrow]

IMO, an ATV2 is bottom of the barrel in terms of !/$:

1) Expensive (~$175)

2) 720p

3) h.264 only

4) Relies on Plex, requiring a powerful back-end and reducing image quality

5) Requires jailbreaking

6) Media player must share meager resources with iOS

 

A Raspberry Pi on the other hand...

 

Basically everything you just listed there is completely wrong.

 

1. $99 new, $85 factory refurbished from Apple (basically new)

2. is 1080p, not 720p

3. H.264 only when using the built in player. Plex and XBMC play back any format they play back on any other system.

4. You can install Plex or XBMC or both. When using Plex you can choose the option of direct streaming, meaning the video and audio are not touched.

5. Jailbreaking it takes literally 5 minutes.

6. the version of iOS it's running is stripped down requiring very little system resources. Never had any issues running Plex or XBMC on it.

 

Well, there is some miscommunication. What PobjoySpecial wrote is for the most part accurate (except for 3 and 4), because he is talking about the atv2

 

4 is wrong because xbmc can be installed with jailbreak, so you don't have to rely on plex and transcoding. 3 I believe is partially right. Now don't quote me on this but I heard atv2 does hardware acceleration for h264, but uses software decode for mpeg2 ??

 

Now mrow is talking about the atv3, for which there is no public jailbreak yet. I heard they released a closed beta for a tethered version and that the final untethered would be released soon. I think then the atv3 might be a pretty decent option.

 

mrow, are you using a jailbroken atv3? What is your experience?

 

I guess that's where the confusion is. Apple TV 2 is going to higher prices used since it's no longer sold.

 

On another note, I have an Apple TV I keep unjailbroken. I'll sell it to someone for $99 shipped and buy the atv3 if anyone wants it.

 

EDIT: I see them going used on eBay for $50 bucks. I guess if you want a brand new one it may be more but these little things last forever. At that price shipped this is the best option in my opinion.

[switchman]

The reviews on that thing seem pretty mixed. And if you have to modify it to get it to work, why wouldn't you just get a Apple TV gen 2 and jailbreak it? It's cheaper and with that you can run Plex as well as XBMC on it.

 

I have one and it works fine.  The firmware is still in beta though and will only get better.  I only use it as a streamer from my unraid server though.

 

The only mod you have to make is:

1 - Load the Linux XBMC image.  It comes with android on it.

2 - Plug a uSD card in it.  This way you do not exceed the built in flash capacity

3 - Move the XBMC user data directory from the built in flash to to the uSD card and set a symbolic link to the new location.  The entire procedure to this point takes~10 minutes.

4 - Boot it up and set paths to your media within XBMC and import your library.  This takes the longest amount of time.  Depending on you library size and connectivity method, it can take hours to scrape your library.

5 - No jail breaks required.  You have root access to it.

6 - As far as price, I paid $115 USD shipped for mine but have seen it for as low as $99 USD on Newegg.  I purchased a 32GB Class 10 uSD for $25 locally at Frys.  I didn't really need 32G, but went with it any way.  16Gb would have been more than enough.  A 16GB class 10 uSD card pops up at Frys for ~$10-$12 a lot.

 

For me it was exactly what I wanted which is an appliance running XBMC without the expense of another small form factor PC.

 

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[mrow]

The reviews on that thing seem pretty mixed. And if you have to modify it to get it to work, why wouldn't you just get a Apple TV gen 2 and jailbreak it? It's cheaper and with that you can run Plex as well as XBMC on it.

 

I have one and it works fine.  The firmware is still in beta though and will only get better.  I only use it as a streamer from my unraid server though.

 

The only mod you have to make is:

1 - Load the Linux XBMC image.  It comes with android on it.

2 - Plug a uSD card in it.  This way you do not exceed the built in flash capacity

3 - Move the XBMC user data directory from the built in flash to to the uSD card and set a symbolic link to the new location.  The entire procedure to this point takes~10 minutes.

4 - Boot it up and set paths to your media within XBMC and import your library.  This takes the longest amount of time.  Depending on you library size and connectivity method, it can take hours to scrape your library.

5 - No jail breaks required.  You have root access to it.

6 - As far as price, I paid $115 USD shipped for mine but have seen it for as low as $99 USD on Newegg.  I purchased a 32GB Class 10 uSD for $25 locally at Frys.  I didn't really need 32G, but went with it any way.  16Gb would have been more than enough.  A 16GB class 10 uSD card pops up at Frys for ~$10-$12 a lot.

 

For me it was exactly what I wanted which is an appliance running XBMC without the expense of another small form factor PC.

 

My point was that with an Apple TV you don't have to do half of that stuff or buy anything else like a flash memory to use it. No loading another OS or creating symlinks to library locations on other media, etc. Jailbreak and install XBMC and/or Plex. That's it. It takes 10 minutes to do those two things.If you're using Plex, which means no waiting for library scraping, you can go from taking it out of the box to watching media in 15 minutes.

 

And while the Pi may be a bit cheaper you get less powerful hardware. The ATV2 hardware specs are better than Pivos as well. And once the ATV3 jailbreak is released the hardware in it blows those other two away.

 

And like pobjoy mentioned you get the added benefit of the integration of paid services like Netflix, Hulu, all the sports leagues and iTunes content. Not to mention being able to AirPlay lots of other things to it from your phone, laptop or computer. For the ~$55 bucks you can pick up an ATV2 at now I don't see how there is a comparison.

[JonathanM]

For the ~$55 bucks you can pick up an ATV2 at now I don't see how there is a comparison.

Could you post a link with that price? My google-fu sucks, I can't find any nearly that cheap.

[mrow]

For the ~$55 bucks you can pick up an ATV2 at now I don't see how there is a comparison.

Could you post a link with that price? My google-fu sucks, I can't find any nearly that cheap.

 

Just do a search on eBay. That's where I found them.