[jparker36]

I'll start by saying that I know I could probably search and eventually find all the answers I'm looking for. I in fact will be searching as well as posting this, but in the past few hours I haven't been able to answer all my questions, so I'm posting this too. With that you of the way....


I currently have a 2013 mac mini dedicated to running plex media sever. BD and DVD are ripped using makemkv and handbrake onto external HDD connected to the mini. Use plex apps on phone/ipad and plexconnect to appletvs throughout the house.


Everything works wonderfully and I'm quite happy with the current setup with one glaring exception - in my theater, I'm not happy with having basic dolby digital via plex and plexconnect. I want DTS HD-MA and TrueHD, and I'd even like if I could use uncompressed versions of the BDs. Also, being beholden to plexconnect's backdoor hackery of the appletv makes things a bit finnicky (every time we lose power, I have to manually reset everything). This means my wife doesn't use it because it's too confusing.


So my ideal solution *seems* to be the Dune HD Smart H1, as it could play either the iso or the mkv from the bluray disc off a NAS (which I also have), bitstream the HD audio, etc. But what I can not find, is what does the Dune interface look like? Is it graphical similar to Plex, or is there a way to make it graphical? I'd ideally like to have a nice GUI similar to plex so we could easily navigate movies by cover art.


Is dune the best solution, or is there another simple way to get the HD audio via a streamer/network player? Simplicity of USE is the key - complex initial setup is fine with me if necessary to put together the right tools. But complex setup probably means complex maintenance, which I also want to avoid.


Any helpful suggestions?


Edit: 3D is not a priority at all.

 

[jparker36]

Looks like I'll try a few different things out.... I've ordered a mede8er to see how well that will perform, and if that doesn't meet requirements I'll build a haswell NUC and put OpenELEC on it, control using plex apps on our ipads.

 

[jparker36]

Mede8er came in, and is immediately being returned. The UI is horrid for my needs, and the media organizational setup also doesn't work. It seems that a device like a NUC with plex on it is the only real solution.

 

[Brajesh]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jparker36  /t/1524391/help-in-streamer-selection#post_24544498


Mede8er came in, and is immediately being returned. The UI is horrid for my needs, and the media organizational setup also doesn't work. It seems that a device like a NUC with plex on it is the only real solution.

Um, M8R is one of the best media players out there for your local 2D and 3D movies and TV shows. I have Intel NUC as well, also great with OpenELEC, but no full 3D support.


Re: M8R UI, see here. Quite nice I'd say.

 

[Brajesh]

Just saw you don't care about 3D, in which case, yes, go NUC.

 

[jparker36]

Maybe I'm just not setting it up correctly, but the mede8er us doesn't let me just pick from my movies like plex does. My wife is not going to dig through folder structures. I've seen adding items to favorites, but really compared to plex the ui is IMO ages behind. Why do you say a nuc won't have 3d support? Everything I've seen is plex has full 3d capability?

 

[djc11369]

Yes, you're not setting it up correctly. You need to set up a favorite to your share(s) and then it's two button presses to get to your movie wall(s).

 

[GusGus748s]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jparker36  /t/1524391/help-in-streamer-selection#post_24546740


Maybe I'm just not setting it up correctly, but the mede8er us doesn't let me just pick from my movies like plex does. My wife is not going to dig through folder structures. I've seen adding items to favorites, but really compared to plex the ui is IMO ages behind. Why do you say a nuc won't have 3d support? Everything I've seen is plex has full 3d capability?

There is some work involved to set up the jukebox correctly for the Mede8er. Can you just set the sound under the Plex settings to be passthrough? I use Plex as well, but only to stream to my kids iPads. I never really used it for my HT set up.

 

[jparker36]

Plex will passthrough truehd and dts-hd ma to devices which can play them (NUC, Dune, PCH), and it will downmix the audio to DD/2ch for devices which cannot (Apple devices). The biggest thing for me is the jukebox view of plex combined with their scrubber is the best thing I've ever seen for video distribution outside of Kaleidescape, and maybe its still better UI. Plus, we can use iphones or ipads to control the NUC or any other plex devices in the house, so very simple and elegant control UI vs the mede8er. I get that it is ideal for many people, but for my uses, Plex + NUC is the best path.