Network Storage and Media Tanks etc???

[mahking51]

Hi Guys,
This is all making pretty dismal reading
Tom, thanks so much for being the guinea piggy here with the Xtreamer kit, sorry its not working out.
I have not had much time recently to do much with my stuff but I do find that if I reboot my system the Buffalo drive does not show up in My Computer as online until I double click the crossed out icon when it all works fine???? Will chime back in later when I have more to report.
SimonB I would be really interested to know the best way to get one of my DVD to the NAS for the best possible playback, if all this works out eventually and I need more space I'll just get another/bigger Buffalo unit.
Cheers,
Martin

 

[wizer]

Martin, probably the best paid software is AnyDVD. Tho you can do it without spending money with free apps. I'm not up on what's current, but it tends to be a lengthier, more complicated process.

 

[jlawrence]

for dvd's - unless they're protected - then i just copy the vob files onto the nas and play them directly within xbmc. if protected then you need to strip off the protection before playing them.

 

[SimonB]

Hi Martin, likewise I'm not up to date with current tools/software. There is one particular free app that I use but it is relatively old and I have had issues with several DVDs.

I'm new here and I'm not familiar with forum policy on discussions of this type of thing so I don't want to say too much. I will gladly pass on my thoughts offline if you want to PM me your email address.

 

[wizer]

I'm new here and I'm not familiar with forum policy on discussions of this type of thing so I don't want to say too much. I will gladly pass on my thoughts offline if you want to PM me your email address.

probably best

 

[mahking51]

JL,
xmbc???
Any chance of an abc for idiots on how to get a DVD onto the NAS?
Cheers,
Martin

 

[mahking51]

Tom,
I have a paid copy of AnyDVD but have not used it yet.
Martin

 

[wizer]

very easy to use Martin.

 

[misterfish]

On offer from tomorrow. Worth a punt? It can't be much worse than this one and it's £50 cheaper.

This may be of interest as it gives more technical info about the offering.

http://www.iboum.com/pr/med85015.php

Misterfish

 

[wizer]

Well I went along to Aldi this morning to invest in one of these units. When we got there I couldn't find them anywhere. Just as I was about to leave I decided there's no harm in asking. Low and behold the cashier was literally sitting on a box of them! Impulse got the better of me and I walked out with two of them! One for upstairs and one for down

Initial reactions are positive. It's very small, about 1/4 of the size of my Sky box, but feels like a solid bit of kit. I don't have network near to any of my TVs so am using a USB HDD for now. In time I will buy some homeplugs to solve that issue. I loaded it up with a selection of music, films and recorded tv shows. The menu screens are much nicer than the Xtreamer. Navigating through the menus is faster than the Xtreamer but browsing the HDD itself is still a bit slow. I'll have to test the network to see if that's quicker. The OSD design is similar to the Xtreamer, in that you browse the file system as opposed to genre, etc. In movie mode it displays a 5 second preview of the movie, although it's the first 5 seconds, so a bit useless tbh. It doesn't play ISO files, which is a shame. But it did play AVI's and raw ripped dvds. The quality of the video playback look pretty good to me, but I''m no video buff. It's smooth with no quality loss to my eyes.
It has a card reader on the front. I put my 4gb SD card from my D50 and it displayed my photos fine. The slideshow has some optional wipe effects and also the 'Ken Burns' effect, which is nice. You can also play music while looking at photos. The manual is pretty good, obviously translated, but still well written and useful.

Overall I'm quite impressed. It has less features than the Xtreamer but is a more polished product. They've taken more time getting it right. For £60 I think it's an absolute bargain. If you want one of these, I suggest you hurry up as they tend not to hang around in these types of shops.

(no connection to Aldi) :roll:

 

[wizer]

seems like no one was interested, but I did a video of the menu screens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHihS9CJcwI

If you want a budget option and you're not too fussed about absolute high end quality, then this is a good option. I'm perfectly happy with it (and it's rare for me to say something like that).

Be quick, they sell out fast in these types of shops.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Looks good, will send SWMBO off to pick one up. For that price it's worth a punt for the bedroom like you say.

Cheers Tom

 

[jlawrence]

I went in this morning to pick one up - they still have them in around here. Typically though I'd forgotten to actually take my wallet with me .

 

[TrimTheKing]

Missus picked one up for me this afternoon. Thought it was a joke when I took it out of the box when I got home from work

It's not much bigger than a large matchbox Not tested it yet, but I am working on some video encoding stuff in work at the moment so am going to take it in with me tomorrow to have a play around and see how it compares to commercial media streamers and IPTV boxes...and if it's dung I'll give it me mam!

 

[wizer]

Very interested to know what you think of it Mark. I ordered some homeplugs tonight, so I can test the network capability of it soon.