voldak Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I currently have two WDTV Live Plus players that are causing issues. The players seem to freeze all of the time during video playback from my unRAID server. I'm running a gigabit network. I've even had issues playing videos from 7200rpm drives (instead of my 5400 rpm WD EARS). I've been reading online more and more and i've seen that others have had issues with streaming video on the WDTV Live Plus. Do you guys have any recommendations for hardware based players (not HTPCs)? Quote Link to comment
dalben Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I have 2 pivos xios units running XBMC. I'm pretty happy with them but come upgrade time I'll be looking at the intel NUC devices. The extra power and features of a proper PC is worth it IMHO especially as they get smaller and quieter. Quote Link to comment
bonienl Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I use Dune HD players. More expensive but worth the money, works flawless with unRAID. Quote Link to comment
mrow Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 My vote for a non-HTPC would be for a Raspberry Pi setup. You can get kits on Amazon that include everything you need including a USB Wifi dongle for about $60 bucks. You load OpenELEC on the included SD card and plug it in and you're good to go. If you've ever been interested in Plex, there's also RasPlex so you can have a single library on your server and use Plex for the playback. http://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Complete-Starter-Kit-Model/dp/B00GGM0Y66/ Quote Link to comment
voldak Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 My vote for a non-HTPC would be for a Raspberry Pi setup. You can get kits on Amazon that include everything you need including a USB Wifi dongle for about $60 bucks. You load OpenELEC on the included SD card and plug it in and you're good to go. If you've ever been interested in Plex, there's also RasPlex so you can have a single library on your server and use Plex for the playback. http://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Complete-Starter-Kit-Model/dp/B00GGM0Y66/ I actually have 2 Raspberry Pi's currently (not in use), but they didn't work out. The RPi couldn't play my video codec that I used on 80% of my rips. I appreciate the ideas guys. I'm hoping for something that is on the cheap side, so I definitely appreciate this info! Quote Link to comment
mrow Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I actually have 2 Raspberry Pi's currently (not in use), but they didn't work out. The RPi couldn't play my video codec that I used on 80% of my rips. I appreciate the ideas guys. I'm hoping for something that is on the cheap side, so I definitely appreciate this info! Which codec were you using? I'm guessing Xvid. Have you considered just batch reenecoding them to x264/aac with something like handbrake? I realize it'll probably take a while but since you already have the RPis it wouldn't require you to purchase any new hardware and your library will now be on a modern codec that anything will be able to play back going forward as opposed to a dead end codec that less and less hardware will support in the future. Additionally it'll also save you a bit of space since x264/aac is more efficient at the same level of quality. Quote Link to comment
unevent Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Try upgrading to the latest generation WDTV Live SMP. I use three and no issues. I mostly stream mkv DVD/Blu-Ray rips through hardwire and I stream full bit rate Blu-Ray with them. One of the three is not hardwired and only get buffering on the high bit rate Blu-Rays when the kids are on the tablets or the microwave is on (that room is above the kitchen). Quote Link to comment
voldak Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 A majority of mine are now x264 (probably over the last 2 years), but I still have a lot of old xvid videos. I'll have to hook back up the RPi and test it out again. The problem I have had in the past with batch encoding is that I have different bit rates and qualities for a lot of my videos. If there was a way for the re-encoding to match the quality of the source it would be great. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
bkastner Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I've played with several media players in the last few months, with mixed success. Raspberry Pi - I was not happy with the performance, and ended up shelving this. By the time you buy the pi, an enclosure, the SD card, a usb3 stick, a flirc ir receiver and a remote (I had the cheap apple one) you are around $100, for which you can buy better solutions. I never tried this with Plex (which I will get around to eventually), but for XBMC it just wasn't responsive enough for me (though it did pretty good with 1080p media most of the time). This was wired to a gigabit network - I never tried wireless. Pivos Xios - for roughly the same price as the full blown Pi I found this a better solution, though the remote is cheap ass crap. Overall it's reasonably snappy, and played 1080p no problem. I ended up shelving this as well, but will revisit for Plex. If you want a cheap ~$100 solution this is a pretty good option - especially if you can ditch the remote and use a universal one like a Harmony. Boxee Box - I've had several of these running in the house over the years. Even though they are discontinued, you can often pick up refurb for ~$100. The Boxee menus are slow, but it will play just about anything you can throw at it. I ended up jailbreaking it and am running XBMC on it. It works pretty well, though it's an alpha of XBMC 13 (your only option) and you sometimes need to reboot it 2-3 times to start up properly. Intel NUC - I have one of the Celeron models, which I have loaded with OpenELEC XBMC. This is a pricy solution (around $400 not including remote), but it's a full blown PC so you have a ton of options. It's definitely the best of the above solutions, but you are paying a premium for it, which gets cost prohibitive if you have 3-4 TVs you want to setup. Personally I am looking at leveraging virtualization to stand-up 2 XBMCbuntu clients for 2 TVs in the house that are less than 50 feet from my server rack as I can just run HDMI to them with USB over Ethernet for the IR controller. I've had mixed success at the moment (have the GPU working, but not USB), but I hope to have this manage 2 TVs in the end. I then plan on the NUC on the 3rd TV and possibly eventually the 4th, though I will likely use the broken Boxee with XBMC on it for the near future. Everything I own is in MKV format (with the exception of a few TV episodes), which work flawlessly, and my whole house is wired with gigabit so I can't speak to wireless performance, though I would personally try and avoid this wherever possible anyways. Honestly, without going the NUC/full PC route I don't think there is a stellar solution for $100-$150. There are some good solutions, but you are compromising in one area or another. On the upside, HTPCs seem to be on the rise and as we get newer generations of the different players I am hoping there will be a solid $100 solution that does everything we want. Quote Link to comment
theone Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I personally go with PopcornHour media players. Very similar to dune but a bit cheaper. Quote Link to comment
bkastner Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 I personally go with PopcornHour media players. Very similar to dune but a bit cheaper. it doesn't look like XBMC will run on PCH, which for me would be a deal breaker. I don't want yet another media player interface - I want something I can run universally throughout the house. But that is just me. Quote Link to comment
mrow Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 ... You can get the barebones Celeron NUC for $145 bucks on Newegg. All you need to buy is a $20 SO-DIMM of RAM and a USB stick for it to boot OpenELEC or the Plex version of OpenELEC. So for $170-$175 you could have a fully capable set up. If you go the eBay route for can find the Celeron NUC for even cheaper, and often times brand new. I see some of them going for $125 new on eBay. A majority of mine are now x264 (probably over the last 2 years), but I still have a lot of old xvid videos. I'll have to hook back up the RPi and test it out again. The problem I have had in the past with batch encoding is that I have different bit rates and qualities for a lot of my videos. If there was a way for the re-encoding to match the quality of the source it would be great. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I'm not aware of any batching tools that can determine the quality of the source file to set the output quality. However, if you know which files are which quality you could always batch them by quality so you could batch the poor quality videos at a lower quality output and the better quality videos at a better quality output setting and so on. Quote Link to comment
bkastner Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 ... You can get the barebones Celeron NUC for $145 bucks on Newegg. All you need to buy is a $20 SO-DIMM of RAM and a USB stick for it to boot OpenELEC or the Plex version of OpenELEC. So for $170-$175 you could have a fully capable set up. If you go the eBay route for can find the Celeron NUC for even cheaper, and often times brand new. I see some of them going for $125 new on eBay. Good point, and something I may consider for my remaining TV. I do like having a full-blown mini-pc, but it's really overkill for this, and your solution would likely make a lot more sense. Quote Link to comment
jumperalex Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Roku hands down for good thin clients for Plex, Netflix, Pandora, Crackle, Amazon, etc. I used to have a Boxee Box but it just became too problematic with reboots and lack of support. My two RasPi's just never seemed to like any of the 720p scene releases running XBMC. But i never tried RasPlex since I finally settled on using the Roku's which are able to play all scene releases without transcoding and most full-rate BD rips except for anything much about 35mbps at which point of course it handles transcodes just fine. PS I also really like the wireless headset built into the remote. Or should I say, the SO really appreciates it Quote Link to comment
mrow Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 ... You can get the barebones Celeron NUC for $145 bucks on Newegg. All you need to buy is a $20 SO-DIMM of RAM and a USB stick for it to boot OpenELEC or the Plex version of OpenELEC. So for $170-$175 you could have a fully capable set up. If you go the eBay route for can find the Celeron NUC for even cheaper, and often times brand new. I see some of them going for $125 new on eBay. Good point, and something I may consider for my remaining TV. I do like having a full-blown mini-pc, but it's really overkill for this, and your solution would likely make a lot more sense. Getting a cheap mini PCIe SSD and throwing it in there would would give you the ability to use it as a full blow PC. You can get a 16GB or 24GB mini PCIe SSD for $20 to $30 bucks. You couldn't really use Windows on it but that is more than enough disk space for Ubuntu and well more than a handful of applications. Quote Link to comment
bkastner Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 ... You can get the barebones Celeron NUC for $145 bucks on Newegg. All you need to buy is a $20 SO-DIMM of RAM and a USB stick for it to boot OpenELEC or the Plex version of OpenELEC. So for $170-$175 you could have a fully capable set up. If you go the eBay route for can find the Celeron NUC for even cheaper, and often times brand new. I see some of them going for $125 new on eBay. Good point, and something I may consider for my remaining TV. I do like having a full-blown mini-pc, but it's really overkill for this, and your solution would likely make a lot more sense. Getting a cheap mini PCIe SSD and throwing it in there would would give you the ability to use it as a full blow PC. You can get a 16GB or 24GB mini PCIe SSD for $20 to $30 bucks. You couldn't really use Windows on it but that is more than enough disk space for Ubuntu and well more than a handful of applications. If I was to go that route again I'd rather do it up right so I have options for the future. I'd rather get the 128GB card (or at leasat 64GB) so I can install whatever I want on it, but you are right - you don't need to go all out. The one I purchased was mostly a test case (like the Pivos and Pi) just to see what they could do when maxed out. I am sure each of the solutions I purchased (other than the Pivos) could be had for less, but it's nice to have a properly fleshed out solution to see how it compares. Quote Link to comment
voldak Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies so far. I'm really weighing the option of going towards a Celeron NUC. I'm really only needing to be able to stream video from unRAID. We don't do much streaming from online sources due to bandwidth caps from my ISP. I like the fact that the WDTV Live Plus is a simple list for movies. I would love to look at something that could display movie posters or covers for movies so my kids (even the ones that can't read yet) know exactly what they are going to be watching. Quote Link to comment
theone Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies so far. I'm really weighing the option of going towards a Celeron NUC. I'm really only needing to be able to stream video from unRAID. We don't do much streaming from online sources due to bandwidth caps from my ISP. I like the fact that the WDTV Live Plus is a simple list for movies. I would love to look at something that could display movie posters or covers for movies so my kids (even the ones that can't read yet) know exactly what they are going to be watching. The POPCORNHOURs have a built in Jukebox (NMJ) have a look at it: Quote Link to comment
voldak Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies so far. I'm really weighing the option of going towards a Celeron NUC. I'm really only needing to be able to stream video from unRAID. We don't do much streaming from online sources due to bandwidth caps from my ISP. I like the fact that the WDTV Live Plus is a simple list for movies. I would love to look at something that could display movie posters or covers for movies so my kids (even the ones that can't read yet) know exactly what they are going to be watching. The POPCORNHOURs have a built in Jukebox (NMJ) have a look at it: I just installed YAMJ. Does the PopcornHour work with that or does it only have it's built-in Jukebox? Quote Link to comment
theone Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 I just installed YAMJ. Does the PopcornHour work with that or does it only have it's built-in Jukebox? It can work with both. The NMJ is built in so it can be run from the media player itself with no need for PC application to build the jukebox. Quote Link to comment
mrow Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Thanks for all of the replies so far. I'm really weighing the option of going towards a Celeron NUC. I'm really only needing to be able to stream video from unRAID. We don't do much streaming from online sources due to bandwidth caps from my ISP. I like the fact that the WDTV Live Plus is a simple list for movies. I would love to look at something that could display movie posters or covers for movies so my kids (even the ones that can't read yet) know exactly what they are going to be watching. The NUC, as opposed to the Popcorn Hour, gives you the option of running either Plex or XBMC and all the skins it supports so you can choose an interface you think would work best for your kids or whatever. The PCH will leave you stuck just what that device supports. For the price I really don't see the upside to the PCH besides the initial setup being slightly easier. Quote Link to comment
dalben Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 The beauty of the NUC is that being a proper PC, you can launch a full featured browser and stream from siters that may not have a plugin associated with the media player of your choice. I resisted for a while, owning PCH, DUNEs, Pivos. Finally went HTPC in the main room and I'm a convert. When the Pivos units start to struggle I'll be going NUC, or something similar, that allows me to expand and use it for thigs I haven't thought of yet. Already the wife has asked if the Pivos in the bedroom can display the IP camera SW so she can look around if she hears a bump in the night. I'm using that request as the crack in her "no more uneccesary tech spending" mandate to purchase a NUC. Quote Link to comment
ironicbadger Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Watch out for fan noise on a NUC. My i5 one isn't exactly "silent". Its wonderful in every other way though. Sent from my S4 via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
StevenD Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Watch out for fan noise on a NUC. My i5 one isn't exactly "silent". Sent from my S4 via Tapatalk I have an i3 version in my bedroom and that tiny fan kicks in a lot. Quote Link to comment
ironicbadger Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Watch out for fan noise on a NUC. My i5 one isn't exactly "silent". Sent from my S4 via Tapatalk I have an i3 version in my bedroom and that tiny fan kicks in a lot. Going to Mount mine to the underside of my desk to see if that helps any. Sent from my S4 via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
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