Wireless/streaming video entertainment setup

C

CLKeenan

Banned
Jun 24, 2006
2,506
14
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Boston, MA
Hey gay webmasters- I'm guessing at least one of you have done this before. I'm looking to setup some sort of wireless video streaming network in my apartment.

I'd be downloading/storing videos from my computer in my office. I'd like the ability to watch them in my living room or bedroom. I have a wireless router (TL-WDR4300 - Welcome to TP-LINK) with 2 USB ports on it, a Roku 2 XS (Roku Box | Roku Streaming Player) and a Denon 1913 receiver ([ame=http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-1913-Networking-Receiver-Capability/dp/B007R8U5R6]Amazon.com: Denon AVR-1913 7.1 Channel 3D Pass Through and Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay and Powered Zone-2 Capability: Electronics[/ame]) to make this work.

I'll most likely be getting a new 42" TV for the bedroom. Any that are wifi compatible that can do what I want?
 


Go with a Smart TV as mentioned above. For other media such as movies that you download onto your hard drive, get an external hard drive and set up a media server connected to your router.

Go with XBMC

XBMC

You'll be able to stream anywhere in your home from your external HD.
 
Currently I use Plex installed on a old box in my office to serve all local content, and my rokus connect to that.
 
If you don't go with a smart tv, I still use a PS3 for movie streaming. I had to get an Airport Express though to up the streaming speeds to N, since the PS3 only has Wireless G. Edit: You need to use something like PS3 media server or TVersity to transcode the content for you.
 
studlee46 said:
If you don't go with a smart tv, I still use a PS3 for movie streaming. I had to get an Airport Express though to up the streaming speeds to N, since the PS3 only has Wireless G.
Click to expand...

Unless your overall internet speed is greater than 54mbps, it will not be any faster going with N over G. It's like having a lambo but not having any race fuel for it.
 
My setup which i LOVE is

Videos on PC
Air Video Server
Iphone with Air Video App
Airstream to Apple TV

works perfect.
 
Serviio is probably the lightest on-the-fly DLNA media server. It doesn't have tons of extraneous features, but it doesn't use a lot of memory.

PlayON is great for internet content. I use it to stream ESPN3 and all types of other internet content.
 
Just get an Apple TV. Probably of the cheapest and easiest solutions to go with.

Hook up the Apple TV to your TV, have iTunes open on your computer and then it can stream whatever is in your iTunes library. If you have an iPhone, iPad, or a mac you can Airplay whatever is on it to your TV.
 
jhoffy22 said:
Unless your overall internet speed is greater than 54mbps, it will not be any faster going with N over G. It's like having a lambo but not having any race fuel for it.
Click to expand...

I'm not a wireless expert, but internet speed has nothing to do with streaming content within your home. But me going from G to the Airport Express's N, took out all of the stuttering on high def movies...
 
Fatbat said:
All the "Smart" TVs have WIFI, media players, built in web browsers, and a variety of apps. I wouldn't look any further than Samsung TBH.
Click to expand...

This, I got a samsung led smart tv - and can set to stream via wifi from any connected device without having to attach any other device on it.
 
The easiest way is if your router has a built in DLNA server, which means you can drop your media files onto the attached Hard Drive (I use this [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Docking-Station-LucidPort/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1361481108&sr=8-14&keywords=Sata+Dock+to+USB]Amazon.com: Cable Matters USB 3.0/2.0 to SATA Hard Drive Docking Station (LucidPort USB 3.0 Chipset): Computers & Accessories[/ame]), or any external USB drive / NAS will do. Turns out that router has a DLNA server!

Now that you have DLNA you can pretty much connect to the media server with any device including Samsung Smart tv's where you can browse and search your movies.

Great results so far.
 
ONE BOX.

ONE SOLUTION.

THE ONLY WAY.

Get a WDTV Live Hub [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Media-Center-Full-HD/dp/B004GK0GKO"]WDTV Live Hub[/ame]. Seriously...

Stop messing around with a whole bunch of messy servers and clients and other nonsense. The WDTV live hub is made by Western Digital and has a 1 Terabyte drive built in.

It also has all the top apps like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Plex, etc. It's like a roku that is actually useful for something other than just streaming from the internet.

The reason I love it the most though is the built in media player can play damn near ANY file type you throw at it. .MKV .AVI. MP4 .MOV raw dvd rip files anything.

Why try to stream a multi-GB file over your network to a player when you can have it play right off the local device's hard drive? Kind of a no brainer tbh.
 
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