Hi everybody,

I was wondering if any of you has any experience or information on how to integrate a Network Media Player (NMP) using centrally stored Video information.

I currently have a 500GB Lacie Multimedia Harddisk but the interface is too "computer like", all with little folders.

I know of Kaleidascape but too expensive. Therefore my idea is to rip my existing DVD collection (+-200 dvd's) once and store there on Network Accesible Storage (NAS-disk) together with other Dvix & Xvid movies and tv-shows.

At each tv I would need a NMP to acces this information. Prefarably with a user friendly Graphic Interface (GI) (see also attachment for an overview and view of pretty looking GI's.

What do you recommend in terms of hardware ?

* Pop Corn Hour ?

* QNAP NMP1000?

* DVICO 6xxx?

* Apple Mac Mini

* Apple TV with the Atv- flash software

Of course this hardware piece should be hidden out of sight and therefore PUC-controllable (Beo5)

What kind of software do you recommend ?

*Tvixie

* Atv flash

* other ?

Does anyone have any experience and how easy and userfriendly is this software for not to experienced person? One finds lots of view on the internet on pretty GI but how easy is it really ? and how timeconsuming ?

As attachment you will find the setup in which this should be integrated, I had (also based on the stringent advice of my B&O dealer) put Cat5e cables in place to each tv-set.  Do they know more about a possible B&O video library ???

Many thanks for the advice, looking forward to getting our new project going (all cables are in place including the Lutron graphic eye).

Hi,

Anyone an idea ?

Does anyone has experience with this brand:

http://www.passivetechnologies.com/index.html

I think nobody responded because we discussed this to death.

I have an Apple TV with Boxee.tv, movies on a NAS and a BV8 that allows Beo 4 control through STB.

Thanks I'll search the forum again

Hi,

Just like you I wanted to get rid of most of the 'computer like' interface in a media center.
In your case I suggest an apple tv for each tv where you want to play content. Works flawless when all hooked up to a nas with ethernet.

however personally I run Plex on a mac mini in the main tv watching area and apple tv's in the link rooms.
I learned that each system will require some degree of work to first set it up properly and then to maintain its library. 

You can personalize Plex to a high degree if you want. There are also some excellent other skins available for it (check out Aeon or Alaska).
Closest thing I found to get a more 'visual' interface to my (and especially my wifes) liking.
Plex automatically finds the new items (movies or shows etc) that I put on the network. However, and this is a rule concerning all media center systems, there are a few rules regarding creating, naming and placing the files and folders correctly which will help automate the process.

The Apple TV I think is most commonly used even though one can argue about its qualities. Mini Mac is in my opinion a good idea if you can work out the connection to the TV.

I don't recall anybody using a windows media center with Beo4. Popcorn hour yes, TVix, yes.

I know some don't like boxee but I just need it to play my movies from the NAS and it just does that without much hickup and I could find use for my ATV box that I never really used. I haven't tried the latest beta yet,I am still on some alpha version from June last year. Never change a running system I guess.

What I like about the ATV most is, that It runs boxee and while that is up and running I can still play music with the underlying apple TV software using my Ipod touch remote. I recently discovered this, that with the Ipod Touch remote I can leave boxee always on, no logging in and out.

So I just wired a cinch lead to my BC2 AUX on top of the HDMI connection to the TV.

Yes the ATV is underpowered, but for Itunes like movies and music together with boxee and a NAS I consider it a very decent solution.

Thanks guys !

In my case it would be only for Video Content as music will be handled by the BM5/BS5.

When I opt for Apple TV/Mac Mini, Does this imply that I have to convert everything to I-tunes compatible coding ? Or does the hacked version reads all codecs?

Connection of the MacMini apparently is solved through a KanexLive-cable.

The hardware part I mainly get, It is the software part (as one stated, the naming, beta's, upgrades which make you start all over again) which scares me. Especially if the wife will have to use it.

flx:

Thanks guys !

In my case it would be only for Video Content as music will be handled by the BM5/BS5.

When I opt for Apple TV/Mac Mini, Does this imply that I have to convert everything to I-tunes compatible coding ? Or does the hacked version reads all codecs?

Connection of the MacMini apparently is solved through a KanexLive-cable.

The hardware part I mainly get, It is the software part (as one stated, the naming, beta's, upgrades which make you start all over again) which scares me. Especially if the wife will have to use it.

The atv flash includes VLC support and you can install the same on the mac mini. VLC is a free piece of software that allows your computer and apple tv to play way more types of video files than the apple tv regularly can. You will not need to convert everything to Itunes compatible.

Both boxee (if you want all the social cr*p) or Plex are automatically updating and do not involve starting over again. My wife loves Plex and now will not use anything else .....

Naming files is important on ANY system, as the computer basically cannot distinguish between a tv show, movie or any other type of video.
Therefore it's important to create main folders titled  tv-shows, movies, videos, etc. with each movie or tv show etc in its own sub folders.

For tv shows you should make sub folders per season and title each episode with the correct season and episode number in the name. Plex is smart enough to take it from there and to automatically find the correct episode info online.      

Ok, getting clearer.  The naming part would be no extra issue as I'm doing the same on Lacie currently.

But on the Plex application:

So my apple TV I will run both ATV flash and Plex ? 

Or does Plex runs on the NAS and the Apple TV (with atv flash) looks for the files on the NAS ?

flx:

Ok, getting clearer.  The naming part would be no extra issue as I'm doing the same on Lacie currently.

But on the Plex application:

So my apple TV I will run both ATV flash and Plex ? 

Or does Plex runs on the NAS and the Apple TV (with atv flash) looks for the files on the NAS ?

ATV flash is needed for many reason (codecs, web etc...)

Plex runs only on OSX snow leopard. ATV is OSX tiger based. So, no, the ATV is no longer capable of running the latest version of Plex

However you can still download previous versions that still run on tiger (check the Plexapp.com website for that)
Boxee however is still included on the ATV flash and again is still an older version.

I just use the frontow with the sapphire plugin (included in ATV flash) for my Apple TV's as they are to be considered linkroom only.
I suggest you weigh the option on where the atv and where a mac mini would be appropriate budgetwise.  

Another option would be to go with a full Pc-based systems either with windows mediacenter or other software and use thinclient systems (like acer aspire revo) for the linkrooms.