[Dave Rowe]


Hello,

 

I'm glad I found these forums and hope I can get some help and not sound to silly in asking 

 

For years I have solely used my PS3 for streaming movies/audio that I have stored on my file server (running windows home server 11) located on my network.  Rarely an issue other than the cinema audio block on a few movies here and there.  I also could not view any .MKV files while using the PS3 as my media player.  I recently got a PS4 and smart TV and since the PS4 doesn't stream content yet, I'm using my TV as my media player.  I like it, works great, but I'm having issues with some files not being recognized.  Once again, no .MKV files ever show up.  I'll create a folder, drop an .MKV file in it and the folder won't even show up in the list on my TV.  So I started to research into converting them to .MP4 ... did that, but nothing.  I converted a whole season of Game of Thrones to .MP4 and only one episode actually showed up in the list on my TV. Frustrated once again and getting to the point of just giving up on ever being able to stream an .MKV file.

 

I've tried different media servers (servillo, Plex, etc) and I always have this .MKV issue.  Is there like a king of all kings type set up for streaming movies/music to a smart tv ?  I have no problem changing/editing my set up just so it works.  I really don't want to convert every .MKV file that I ever get so best care scenerio is being able to stream the .MKV file type.  


Any help, ideas, suggestions, or shots of tequila to help take the frustrations away will be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[GusGus748s]

I would suggest buying a dedicated media player since your TV or PS3 / PS4 isn't the best for this. The top 3 media players Mede8er, Dune, Popcorn Hour (PCH), and the least expensive media player WDTV Live.

 

[Dave Rowe]


Thanks for the reply!

 

I tried to look a few up and I don't understand one thing.  Are they all in one systems or just players ?  I really don't want to have an all in one system out by my TV set up.  I love having everything on my server.  I just want the best way to access anything I put on there.  

 

[GusGus748s]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Rowe  /t/1520081/being-able-to-see-all-my-files#post_24416096


Thanks for the reply!


I tried to look a few up and I don't understand one thing.  Are they all in one systems or just players ?  I really don't want to have an all in one system out by my TV set up.  I love having everything on my server.  I just want the best way to access anything I put on there.  

A media player is like a bluray / dvd player with the difference that the media player doesn't use physical disks. You give the media player a path to were your media is located so it can play the media. You can have a NAS / Server or some media players offer the option to have an internal hard drive.

 

[tdallen]

I have the same dilemma. I have a smart TV, but exactly how smart is it? Seems there are some inherent limitations that I'm not sure I want to live with. It would be nice have my media server serve up everything in format my smart TV likes, but it adds a lot of flexibility to your setup to introduce a media player. Some blu-ray players are a bit smarter than your TV, especially the Oppo's which may qualify as a full fledged media play in addition to being a blu-ray player. Then you have the dedicated devices recommended on this thread... decisions, decisions - I'm not sure which way I'm going to go yet.

 

[Dave Rowe]


Thanks for the support guys.  I don't know yet either.  I hate adding another remote too.  I bought the sammy smart TV (love it) so I went and got the sammy sound bar which sounded good and what says will "link" to my TV.  I assumed this meant that one remote would be able to control the other ... nope.  Extremely disappointing that I need to have 3 remotes laying around.  Direct TV, TV, and Sound bar.  I might have to start researching a solid universal that will do everything

 

[tdallen]

See the remote forum here on AVS, I think they have us covered (still researching that, too).

 

[Matt L]

You've come across the rub, smart Tv's aren't all that 'smart". Get a good basic full featured media player like the WD SMP, they can be had for $59 on ebay and it will play whatever you throw at it. Alternately you could spend hours beating your head against the wall trying to get your smart TV to maybe play a file. My rule of thumb: Buy a display to WATCH content on, Buy an AVR to listen and switch, buy a Media streamer to play content from the net and your computer and buy a Blu Ray pllayer to watch BD disks. Don’t count on any feature other than an items basic purpose - at some point you will be disappointed.

 

[Dave Rowe]


I think that's great advice.  Thank you.  I"ve already beaten my head against the wall enough .. .so sick of it.  I'll deal with the added remote I think and get a full featured media player.  Thanks again guys for all the advice.