Network media server for next gen consoles and home theater

[executioner]

Now that we have this home theater section thought we could discuss a little about media sharing in our home networks with the current generation of consoles that were developed with a lot of consideration into that capability.

Most of you like me probably have absurdly large collections of media be it music, photos and movies in dvd, blueray or just files on your pc, legally owned or not.

Been delaying buying a PS3 but the time is probably very near for me to own one, and been wondering about media sharing on my network. My setup around the house is very functional but sometimes don't wanna take the time to burn a disc or transfer a file to a usb device.

Right now my PC is were most of my media is stored and shared. On the bedroom have an oXBOX with XBMC reading files from networkd shares on the PC or the option of using the PS2 (SMS) and Wii (MPCE), but lately been trying to not leave the computer on 24/7 because of energy comsuption and noise from fans. That makes it awkward if I already turned it off and want to watch something. Most of the time I just copy files to a usb stick or burn a dvd.

More than 50% of my videos are in mkv format and probably more in the future and neither my current PC or the oxbox can't cope anymore. PC will get a well deserved upgrade and the old dvd player on the living room will be switched to a media player with network capability. Something like the WD TV live which would also be easily take to any room or anywhere you go.

From what I've read PS3 and 360 consoles need videos to be streamed via a dlna device and they don't read the files directly from a share network location as my oxbox with XBMC is perfectly capable of doing. Considering that a NAS would be the best investment as some have extra features like print server, web server for remote access and torrent downloading (btw I'm suggesting NAS vs building a server from old pc parts because of ease of use and the space required for one). Since my budget for the NAS is around $200 maybe considering the Iomega home media drive or a WD my book world edition (read it could be modded to improve its functionality).

Considering PS3 or 360 don't have mkv compatibility the most important quesiton is will I be able to stream mkv files to the PS3 or 360 from the NAS?

Feel free to share some of your experience with these setups for your home theater and next gen consoles.

[supericeboy]

At this point the PS3 won't stream MKV files.

I use mkv2vob to convert them. http://www.mkv2vob.com/

It has the option of only converting the movie without re-encoding it. This is extremely fast. And you don't lose any video quality.

It also has the ability to re-encode but I never use that feature as the PS3 support most video codecs. Just Sony doesn't like the MKV container for some reason.

[CRTGAMER]

A relative of mine had his video networked from PC to XBox360. Every so often the video would pause for a bit, very irritating. Does the 360 have Windoze built in?

Here is another option If you don't want to leave PC on while watching that video. You also avoid all that video stutter from the Network/Game Console transfer.

Some of the newer DVD players have USB or Memory card slot.

Transfer Video MPEG's to portable Hard Drive or a Large Memory Stick/Memory Card.

View video through DVD player USB/Memory slot.

[executioner]

Some of the newer DVD players have USB or Memory card slot.

Transfer Video MPEG's to portable Hard Drive or a Large Memory Stick/Memory Card.

View video through DVD player USB/Memory slot.

Yes, its probably rare to see a new DVD player without a usb slot, it does work great for divx movies. They usually read subtitles file very easily also.

[Hatta]

Why not get a cheap Atom PC? With hardware assisted decoding it should be plenty powerful and not use much power at all. Less than your TV for sure.

[Marspants]

I recently started Streaming files with PS3 Media Server and it's been working pretty good so far.

I was having some trouble with wireless so I switched to Wired and now I can watch all my stuff perfectly. I don't know much about technical details but I'm pretty sure you can stream MKV's fine, that's what majority of my media is in.

[supericeboy]

I recently started Streaming files with PS3 Media Server and it's been working pretty good so far.

I was having some trouble with wireless so I switched to Wired and now I can watch all my stuff perfectly. I don't know much about technical details but I'm pretty sure you can stream MKV's fine, that's what majority of my media is in.

Yeah basically PS3 Media Server will transcode them on the fly to PS3.

[Jayson]

Yeah basically PS3 Media Server will transcode them on the fly to PS3.

It will need a newish CPU for the transcoding of HD stuff though to get better than 1x playback w/o buffering it for a while. It completely negates his purpose of not having to leave the PC on too.

You can use the MKV2vob program posted earlier in the thread and convert the files where the PS3 will read them natively either streamed over the network (again leaving the PC on to do this) or stored on an external FAT32 drive connected directly to the pS3. This is what I did prior to PS3 media server being released.

If they are non-DTS audio mkv's then it will simply be a remux of the file and the conversion shouldn't take too long.

[fastbilly1]

Ive been doing this for some time and have come to a simple conclusion.
1. If you have to tinker with things – buy a C7, atom, or geode motherboard and build yourself a fileserver.
2. If you just want plug and play with limited options – buy a Dlink DNS-323 or a Drobo, throw in harddrives, and let it go free.

I currently have both going (I have an atom based server testing out an old hub and I have 323 running on my main network with 1.3 terrabytes on it – needs an upgrade, itll get it in March). And they pull roughly the same amount of power ~30 watts. The atom has more hands on maintenance, while the 323 just needs to be rebooted every couple of weeks (I could hack it and throw tomato on it but it works well enough for me). The only downside to using an atom is that unless you get the board with a PCI-Express slot, you are limited to three harddrives, so itll be rough to get your raid on. Oh I should mention that apart from first boot, they both run almost silent.

I just got a geode board a couple days ago, at full capacity the entire board is pulling 3 watts. BUT geodes typically do not have SATAII ports, mine has an IDE slot aswell as its compact flash slot. However my geode is going into an arcade cabinet since it runs off of a 4 pin from another computers motherboard. Its complicated but Ill explain it in another topic very soon.

Two friends have drobos and love them, but I cannot justify the price. They pull slightly more than the others.

I must apologize that I do not know how to interface this with the PS3, I use an old shuttle and soon an Ion for my HTPC - the shuttle just cant cut it with new hd.

[executioner]

Ive been doing this for some time and have come to a simple conclusion.
1. If you have to tinker with things – buy a C7, atom, or geode motherboard and build yourself a fileserver.
2. If you just want plug and play with limited options – buy a Dlink DNS-323 or a Drobo, throw in harddrives, and let it go free.

So far thats basically the best way to narrow it, seeing that the entry level nas which are external drive limit you if you plan on getting more harddrive space. Either way seems like $300 would about what you would need for either a small atom pc or a small 2bay nas and harddrive.

The atom has more hands on maintenance, while the 323 just needs to be rebooted every couple of weeks

No maintenance for me then, the less I have to do the better. I'm still learning about RAID and such but I do love to thinker with things.

I must apologize that I do not know how to interface this with the PS3, I use an old shuttle and soon an Ion for my HTPC - the shuttle just cant cut it with new hd.

The PS3 can read media off any DLNA / UPNP media server device, so if the NAS or PC is running something like this should work.

And another thing transcoding videos is annoying for me, actually hate it since I have to do it to watch stuff on my psp, so best option is to buy the right hardware and not have to worry about it anymore.