That is my experience as well with streaming. Video has glitches. The only way I know if to play recorded HD is to use tsremux which creates the correct folder structure and burn it to disk with nero. This works perfectly and is very quick (no video conversion) but not nearly as convenient obviously as playing file over a lan like the roku does (and perfectly). I think the PS3 will get there, but just not yet.

Darin

CaminoFrancisco wrote:

Rumor (well more than that actually) has it the next release has spicific PS3 UPNP support.

I see a bare NV+ a 4 Hitachi 500GB drives via newegg, for just under $1300 shipped. Seems like a lot of money, but buying a 2TB NV+ already populated and setup as a single big X-RAID is a couple hundred more.

Anyone who has an NV+ care to comment on the "value" of upgrading the RAM from the stock 256MB to the max 1GB?

AmazinglySmooth wrote:

Has anyone tried XBMC?

My HD1000 died a few weeks ago, joining the ranks of many others here. After several days of mourning, I began looking for another streaming media player. After ignoring the XBMC posts on AVSForum.com for a few days, I clicked on the post of someone showing pix of XBMC, and I was intrigued. I had an XBox gathering dust, since my kids have moved on to a 360, and so it was a pretty cheap proposition to get going.

Two days later I had a fully functioning XBMC and I am truly astounded at how well it works, how professional the UI is, and how stable it is.

It plays ripped DVDs better than my HD1000 ever did, with full menu support, chapter skip, etc. It plays my DTS version of the Eagles "flower Freezes Over' DVD, which I could never get to play on the HD1000 with mplay or anything else.

It's music library feature is well done, and will scan all music and categorize by genre, artist, etc. Again, much better than the HD1000 did.

It is also extendable with 'scripts', so new features can be added. There are many scripts that access online video content, like YouTube.

All-in-all, I was very skeptical going into it, and now I am hooked.

It's primary drawback is that it's not fast enough to play true HD content, but I never did much HD with it anyway. I mostly play ripped DVDs (my own only!), ripped CDs and photos from my camera. Since it does all of those better than the HD1000 did, it's fine for me.

The other drawback is that it takes a bit of a 'techie' mindset to get going. You have to be comfortable taking a few steps to 'softmod' your XBox, and FTP the XBMC software onto your modded XBox. You might need to play around with some XML files to update some settings. All stuff most of us with an HD1000 have already been doing.

If you don't already have an IR receiver for the XBox, you need to buy one of those. It's one drawback is that Microsoft provided an 'off' IR code, but no 'on' IR code. So if you are brave enough to do a little soldering, you can pickup a hardware mod that will give you a remote 'on' function so you can fully integrate it into a universal remote.

I'll still miss the HD1000, as it was my first true media player, and it served me well for many years.

Glen

glenwill wrote:

8<snip>8
It's primary drawback is that it's not fast enough to play true HD content, but I never did much HD with it anyway. 8<snip>8
Glen

Ouch, not being able to do HD would be a non-starter for me. That was the thing I used my PhotoBridge for the most. Streaming HD recordings off my HTPC. They were gorgeous on the PB!!

Sadly my PB has also joined the ranks of the dead. I'm not sure mine is a simple fix though since it ceased to function right after a thunderstorm that blipped my power several times. (yes it was on a surge/apc) No lights, no network activity lights.

So I too have been looking/waiting for SOMETHING to come along that can at least do as much as the PB. As of yet, nothing, nada, nil. Man did Roku drop the ball on this one. A market they have 100% of and they did NOTHING, NADA, NIL, to promote/support the PB. <sigh>

Pyramid Audio has an excellent repair tech who knows how to repair the PB1000 quickly and expertly. Until the next generation PB1000 replacement appears on the scene, I think it is the way to go.

http://www.pyramid-audio.com/

dgburns wrote:

CaminoFrancisco wrote:

Rumor (well more than that actually) has it the next release has spicific PS3 UPNP support.

I see a bare NV+ a 4 Hitachi 500GB drives via newegg, for just under $1300 shipped. Seems like a lot of money, but buying a 2TB NV+ already populated and setup as a single big X-RAID is a couple hundred more.

Anyone who has an NV+ care to comment on the "value" of upgrading the RAM from the stock 256MB to the max 1GB?

I too would be interristed in hearing of any imporvements this upgrade would make. I have never had cause to want for more memory in any of my ReadyNAS boxes, but maybe I don't know what I am missing!

Camino

Quoting myself teehee!

dgburns wrote:

I see a bare NV+ a 4 Hitachi 500GB drives via newegg, for just under $1300 shipped. Seems like a lot of money, but buying a 2TB NV+ already populated and setup as a single big X-RAID is a couple hundred more.

Man, I have a hard time plunking down this kind of cash. I could buy the 4 drives for $400, add a SATA RAID-5 card to one of my Linux boxes, and have in essence the same thing for half the price. Other than the "cool" factor of saying I have a NAS...

The only big up side to a NAS is the power consumption and the form factor.
If you don't mind those, a good old Linux PC is way cheaper.Also, mini-itx are getting cheap and provide way more horsepower to play with than a NAS.

I myself run cheapo nslu2 and been more than happy with them. Will not pay more for such a device.
Patrick S.

So having gone down the Linux AND windows RAID paths in the not too distant past. Let me save you some real pain.
I know you weren't thinking about it, but just in case - don't go the windows route. Unless you have a lot more money than that ReadyNAS costs to get a real RAID solution for windows. You are seriously asking for failure.

The Linux route is a good option IF you are a completely anal type and document EVERYTHING in your mix. Please remember if the HD you run you OS on dies you have to rebuild it and make it right prior to reactivatin your RAID array - something most do not take into account. Finally, because you have to KNOW which drive is which, it is an absolute MUST to label them - physically. I thought I would remember the order, sure seemed like an intuative way to do things when I set it up, but when a drive failed, I had no way to really know for sure I was exchanging the wrong one. BTW, if the bad drive is only *intermitantly* bad and you replace the wrong drive, guess what - you loose everything.

Yes, I am just that dumb. Over-confidence was my failing - several times over.

After three failures I bought my first NAS box. Since then, I have had a drive fail and I was absolutly positive which one it was and I recovered perfectly.

Unless you really have your ducks in a row. Buy a NAS.

Camino

CaminoFrancisco wrote:

After three failures I bought my first NAS box.

I design command systems for certain military undersea vessels, so I have quite a bit of experience with RAID's, primarily external SCSI and FCAL. I understand the complexity and the documentation importance!

That said, a ReadyNAS >IS< (from all I've found) a 4 drive enclosure with motherboard running a custom Linux and custom RAID software.

My concept is as Patrick hinted at. A small footprint machine, probably with one of those IDE DOM's for a boot drive and then 4 drives with a Promise hardware RAID 5 card. Hmm, I've seen Linux distro's that'll boot and run from a USB memory stick, and I have a spare Asus MB with GigE and a 2.4GHz Celeron and 512MB of RAM...

Of course, none of that really matters RIGHT NOW as the new baby has me too tired to do much of any of this...

dgburns wrote:

My concept is as Patrick hinted at. A small footprint machine, probably with one of those IDE DOM's for a boot drive and then 4 drives with a Promise hardware RAID 5 card. Hmm, I've seen Linux distro's that'll boot and run from a USB memory stick, and I have a spare Asus MB with GigE and a 2.4GHz Celeron and 512MB of RAM...

I wanted to try a similar route, but lack of time and Linux know-how got in the way. So I currently have a Via Epia m/b running Win2K. It's stable and easy for me to administer while still being relatively low power and quiet. And I can run other things from time to time as needed (I also run four instances of Firefly for the Soundbridges). I have separate hard drives for video and audio storage, so they are spun-down when not needed. Power draw when idle is about 30W max. Not NSLU2 figures, but pretty good. Works well with the Photobridge too of course.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/26/linksys-shows-off-two-new-media-center-extenders/
Two new Linksys products that may help.
Unfortunately the URL for more info seems borkened...

Look like updated Kiss players which MPC are not too fond of.

We should look out for the new EM8634 from Sigma that should start appearing in some device should yield good/better results.

I only wish a company would do like Roku did and put out a player with decent capabilities and an API to code to.

Patrick S.

i'm curious as to why only so few people have hooked up an actual computer to the tv and stereo system and bypass the various dedicated media players on the market now. this is the most efficient way to future-proof yourself in terms of equipment. an actual computer can play so many more formats (via software, of course) than any dedicated media player out so far. you also have options as far as software is concerned and not stuck to those that only work on limited cpu power and limited memory.

rem wrote:

i'm curious as to why only so few people have hooked up an actual computer to the tv and stereo system and bypass the various dedicated media players on the market now. this is the most efficient way to future-proof yourself in terms of equipment. an actual computer can play so many more formats (via software, of course) than any dedicated media player out so far. you also have options as far as software is concerned and not stuck to those that only work on limited cpu power and limited memory.

For me, the WAF is the biggest reason. Also, even though a HTPC (or even just a PC for that matter) may be 'better', it's not as stream lined IMHO. I have a PC hooked up to my Samy DLP right now. I even have the Gyration mouse and keyboard too, but its combersome and I perfer the HD1000's UI. You can get a HD1000 for $199 from Roku and a PC that will look as good as that is not as affordable I don't think? Just the software/OS for the PC is over $100, then you have to address the video and then the sound. A sound blaster card can take care of the sound, but I dont' kow what card you woudl need for the PC, perahs an ATI all-in-wonder?

The HD1000 has a bitch'n scaler and the formfactor is great. One major plus is that the card reader is right there for everyone to see and use and the HD1000 will mount it and lauch all on its own. I know windows can do this too, but not as slick IMHO.

Anyway, this is just my 2-cents worth and your mileage may vary, Matt