Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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I've asked my parents for a Media Player for Xmas but I've tried looking into them and to be honest, I have no idea what I'm looking for.
Basically I want to stream movies that I've downloaded from my computer onto my TV. I currently use my PS3 but a) it's very loud so can't really watch films at night due to needing sound so high to compensate and b) it's too long to go through everything setting it up.
I have the films on a HDD but I have 'My Documents' on there so it's not just one directory. I tried plugging the HDD into the USB option on my DVD Player but it wouldn't work.
So basically a Media Player seems the best option? But as I say I've no idea what's a good spec, good make etc
Can anyone give me some pointers or opinions on a better setup? My computer is also quite loud so would prefer that off but without having a HDD solely for Films I can't see how it would work.
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xa0s
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honestly dude, sell your PS3 and get a new one, they're soooo quiet now, i left mine on the other night and sleep like 3 ft away from it and didnt realise it was on in a silent room
u can use some software called PS3 Media Streamer that streams really easily, you can leave your external HDD plugged into ur PC and stream direct to the PS3. it is really quick to do, if its taking u a long time then its setup wrong
if you need any help lemme know
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Cavey
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Wdtv is usually recommended on here
Seperate box that you can connect a HDD to so that nothing else needs to be on.
Obviously a lot like Apple tv, which if jailbroken will do the job as well.
Both are around £80 I think. If its a Christmas present ask for a popcorn hour.
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Don't really want a new PS3 though? All I use my PS3 for is blu-rays & media streaming my games for it are well old now and nobody I know really plays PS3. I currently use PS3 Media Streamer but I have to turn windows firewall off for it to detect the PS3 amd that can sometimes take like 10mins to connect then like now I can't get the PS3 media streamer to detect my HDD, just want something alot simpler tbh.
I'll have a google for WDTV to see if I can find out some more details as that sounds fairly decent. I would definetly prefer to play straight off the HDD but would that not mean I need a dedicated HDD for films?
Sorry if I sound a bit 'nooby' but I don't have a clue about this to be honest
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willay
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
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something you can just buy/use - google Popcorn Hour . Bart on here has one and says they are cool. I'd have one if I had the spare cash to spunk something on
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Doug
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Registered: 8th Oct 03
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I have the WDTV Live and I like it
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Couple options;
Networked media tank - aka Popcorn Hour, WDTV or Apple TV, all have different models available, some allowing internal hard drive, all have USB and some (or all) have Ethernet (some WiFi or WiFi through dongle)
Or a "nettop" computer, Acer Revo being the only one I can think off off top of my head.
I've had both, Popcorn Hour and Revo, prefer the Revo because it's simply a computer running Windows, so I can setup everything on there (sabnzbd, JDownloader or simply use a web browser) to download and then transfer to a USB hard drive once the drive starts getting full.
Being a Windows machine, as long as there's a decoder, it'll play anything (which there is, be pretty pointless having a digital video file with no decoder!)
EDIT: You said you want to stream them from your computer but at the end said you'd prefer having the computer off because it's loud 
Get a 1TB external hard drive and plonk the films/tv on there and plug it into a NMT. Anything you download in the future you can just plug the drive into your pc, copy and then plug back into the NMT.
[Edited on 18-12-2011 by noshua]
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richardworrall
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Registered: 20th Sep 05
Location: Derby
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get one of these, dead easy to use, connect your hard drive, plays any media format through the HDMI port on your TV. Had mine a year and cant fault it.
http://www.ebuyer.com/274064-cyclone-micro-2-mkv-player-cyclone-micro-2-player
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xa0s
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quote:
Originally posted by Graham88
Don't really want a new PS3 though? All I use my PS3 for is blu-rays & media streaming my games for it are well old now and nobody I know really plays PS3. I currently use PS3 Media Streamer but I have to turn windows firewall off for it to detect the PS3 amd that can sometimes take like 10mins to connect then like now I can't get the PS3 media streamer to detect my HDD, just want something alot simpler tbh.
I'll have a google for WDTV to see if I can find out some more details as that sounds fairly decent. I would definetly prefer to play straight off the HDD but would that not mean I need a dedicated HDD for films?
Sorry if I sound a bit 'nooby' but I don't have a clue about this to be honest
leave windows firewall off, you're behind a router anyway
how about just running a lead from your PC straight to your tv so you just run the file on the PC, maximize it and done?
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ajscorsa
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Registered: 30th Apr 02
Location: Perceton, North Ayrshire
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quote:
Originally posted by xa0s
quote:
Originally posted by Graham88
Don't really want a new PS3 though? All I use my PS3 for is blu-rays & media streaming my games for it are well old now and nobody I know really plays PS3. I currently use PS3 Media Streamer but I have to turn windows firewall off for it to detect the PS3 amd that can sometimes take like 10mins to connect then like now I can't get the PS3 media streamer to detect my HDD, just want something alot simpler tbh.
I'll have a google for WDTV to see if I can find out some more details as that sounds fairly decent. I would definetly prefer to play straight off the HDD but would that not mean I need a dedicated HDD for films?
Sorry if I sound a bit 'nooby' but I don't have a clue about this to be honest
leave windows firewall off, you're behind a router anyway
how about just running a lead from your PC straight to your tv so you just run the file on the PC, maximize it and done?
this is what I do, you can customise windows media player to have dvd covers and infor on films and movie posters an shit too
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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quote:
Originally posted by Doug
I have the WDTV Live and I like it
http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=330
This is looking like a winner to me at the moment. I just love the interface of it and it looks perfect for what I need.
So just incase I'm being stupid here, it will be plugged into my TV & Ethernet cable (although it uses wireless so might not need too). So it will stream through the Network and play on the TV. If I want to cut the PC out I can plug my HDD straight into it and play off there. Despite having lots of other files on there, I will either be able to go through the files to select films or it will detect the pictures & videos and seperate them?
Plus it can stream 1080p which is good for the HD films I've downloaded.
It looks like most of these things all do the same thing anyway. That Popcorn Hour looks decent aswell.
There just seems to be so many different versions of WDTV though But this is it isn't it?
http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdeu/en_GB/pd/ThemeID.22586100/productID.241877700/parid.13831900/catid.13834700/categoryID.57155000
Wish I was more technical minded 
[Edited on 19-12-2011 by Graham88]
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xa0s
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depending on the bitrate its unlikely ur'll be able to stream 1080p
i tried on wireless but it stutters, tried cabled and it stutters, in the end i had to re-wire all my shit in cat-6 (1000mb/s) instead of 100mb/s (cat-5)
worth case is ur'll need to buy a cat6 network switch and some cat 6 cable for ur pc and streamer to plug into tho
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Toby
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Registered: 29th Nov 05
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There is a WDTV and a WDTV Live. there are older version of the regular WDTV. the only differance is the ethernet connection and the streaming abilities.
I would go for a PCH if you can afford it just for the use of HTML 'jukeboxes' such as YAMJ.
In terms of streaming i think you may struggle if your looking at streaming with 'standard' equipment over a wireless connection. It would be cheaper to get some sort of storasge i.e. a portable hard drive or a decent usb stick
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Seriously struggling to keep up with this jargon that's being used 
On the WD website I can only see WDTV Live or WDTV Live Hub, the Hub might be handy if I was to move out and then could watch whatever I wanted on different TV's, but for now it's not really needed...
If I've been streaming fine from my PC to my PS3, would that maybe suggest it should be ok? Or is it completely different?
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Toby
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Registered: 29th Nov 05
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that would suggest the films in question are of a low enough bitrate to stream over the nework and it should be ok
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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That sounds good to me, think WDTV is the way forwards then, cheers guys
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Right I got the WDTV Streaming Media Player for Xmas and I love it so far.
Just in a dilemma as what the best way to hook up the Media is. Originally I had My Documents on the Hard Drive but I've now just got my Videos (150gb worth) on there.
You can hook it up locally, which means unplugging the HDD from my computer and plugging it into the Media Player, it starts loading the files up straight away so for night time this is great as I can turn my PC off and the room is silent.
But I don't want to do that everytime tbh as it's a bit of messing about. So I was trying to select Network share, but the video section takes me to C:\Users\Graham\Videos but it needs to go too J:\ and the Videos are all in the top directory. Is there anyway I can set this up?
On the 'Files' section of WDTV I select Network Share it just comes up saying there's no media in the current folder. But I can't find out what folder it's trying to access? If it could access My Documents then it would be perfect.
Anyone computer literate got any ideas?
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3787/~/how-to-share-a-folder-in-windows-that-can-be-viewed-with-the-wd-tv-live,-live
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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When it loads the screen it has screenshots but once it finishes loading it dissapears and it doesn't actually tell me what to do
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Graham88
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Registered: 16th Apr 07
Location: South East Kent Drives: E46 M3
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Got the link to work, but that wasn't what I was asking. The directory that WDTV is going to is different to what I want to go too, I just want to change that so if anything it probably needs a setting changed on the WDTV but I don't know where.
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