[davdev]

MY HTPC is really starting to give me a headache and I am looking to simplify but I can't seem to find anything that does 100% of what I need. I am looking for some help.


I currently use Win 7 and Mediabrowser to access files that are stored on several drives across a network. I love the Mediabrowser interface, but I am getting sick of some of the hardware issues that can come with HTPC's. I don't do any live TV recording.


Basically, this is what I need, and I need the device to do all of these. Can anyone recomend anything:


1) Needs to have a great GUI. I have checked YAMJ a little bit, and could probably live with that, however, I need the ability to have seperate libraries for Movies and TV rips. I do not want my movies to be intermingled with my TV rips if possible. I am not sure if YAMJ can do that. I am also not sure if it can recognize seperate shares.


2) Needs to support all file types. Currently I have a mixture of 1080p and 720p MKV, DVD Folders, AVI, XVID/DIVX and Blu-Ray (folder format and ISO). My MKV's also have a mix of DD, DTS and FLAC (converted from TRUHD and DTS-MA. All of these formats need to be able to be played back, I am not re-ripping my collection. The only flexibility I have is if the player can handle 1080p MKV with FLAC, I only have a couple of straight BD rips, so I can redo those, I am not redoing the MKV's I already have or the DVD rips.


3) These files are spread out among multiple drives on a couple PC's. however, the library must be able to group them all together into one view. The only seperation I want is TV/MOVIE as mentioned above. They must also be all playable across my wired network. Wireless is not needed.


Can anyone give me any recomendations? I thought the Popcorn hour would do it all, but then I read it won't do DTS in an MKV format, so that killed it for me. I also have read about it having problems with 1080p over a network share.

 

[aiden_is]

You're going to get Dune responses if you want it to work. PCH / HDX BD-1 responses if you are willing to wait for fixes. Realtek players if you want cheap and no HD audio bitstreaming. That's a nutshell. Now the fans and haters of each type will speak, and you'll need to wade through that. gl

 

[davdev]



Quote:
Originally Posted by aiden_is /forum/post/18141807


You're going to get Dune responses if you want it to work. PCH / HDX BD-1 responses if you are willing to wait for fixes. Realtek players if you want cheap and no HD audio bitstreaming. That's a nutshell. Now the fans and haters of each type will speak, and you'll need to wade through that. gl

Price isn't too much a concern, sub $500 should be fine. I will look at Dune, haven't checked that one yet.


I am not buying anything that is buggier than my current HTPC. I have no problem waiting, but I have no intention of buying something that doesn't work, in the hope that someday it will.

 

[davdev]

Just looked at Dune, it appears it doesn't group all shares into one library. That kills it.


Do any of these tanks allow you have multiple shares show in one library, or are they all based on folder navigation?

 

[Shai-Tan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by davdev /forum/post/18141755


1) Needs to have a great GUI. I have checked YAMJ a little bit, and could probably live with that, however, I need the ability to have seperate libraries for Movies and TV rips. I do not want my movies to be intermingled with my TV rips if possible. I am not sure if YAMJ can do that. I am also not sure if it can recognize seperate shares.

yes, just have two different yamj, run one for tv, run one for movies. The downside of yamj of course is that it requires updating when files are added although there are dynamic versions that run on the PCH instead of a PC that I have never tried. The maintenance of the jukebox isn't a big deal for me as I'm downloading a bunch of files at the same time, renaming them, then I run yamj after all that (it could also be run on a timer I guess)

Quote:
2) Needs to support all file types. Currently I have a mixture of 1080p and 720p MKV, DVD Folders, AVI, XVID/DIVX and Blu-Ray (folder format and ISO). My MKV's also have a mix of DD, DTS and FLAC (converted from TRUHD and DTS-MA. All of these formats need to be able to be played back, I am not re-ripping my collection. The only flexibility I have is if the player can handle 1080p MKV with FLAC, I only have a couple of straight BD rips, so I can redo those, I am not redoing the MKV's I already have or the DVD rips.

I don't think PCH supports FLAC (as in decode it). Well the old ones in MKV anyway. I don't have one of the newer more expensive PCH. That one might. There are always tradeoffs in any player.


-HTPC have maximum compatibility but there's annoyance involved in configuring color/video calibration, more general maintenance, doesn't just work right out of the box, more expensive especially if you want quiet (I keep mine in a closet in a different room and run hdmi/usb through the wall otherwise the sound is an annoyance)


-PCH plays most file types, is low maintenance, subtitle support is decent, has the yamj jukebox (good but not dynamic or as feature filled as XBMC), scaler in it is pretty good for the cost, however ffw/rw isn't good and at least on the old PCH it can get out of sync in MKV sometimes when skipping around.


-PS3 works right out of the box, has by far the best ffw/rw, however it only supports subtitles in divx (avi need to be converted to it with aviaddxsub) doesn't natively support subtitles in MKV, needs ps3 media server to stream mkv unless mkv2vob is used first to remux, the video scaling is quite bad particularly for SD video (even 720p video looks a bit fuzzy in 1080p, I usually force 720p when watching 720p video), requires a upnp media server to browse and select files although you could browse yamj with the web browser if you wanted (no playing of files through the web browser obviously)

Quote:
3) These files are spread out among multiple drives on a couple PC's. however, the library must be able to group them all together into one view. The only seperation I want is TV/MOVIE as mentioned above. They must also be all playable across my wired network. Wireless is not needed.

I remember there were some problems with playing from multiple shares via yamj but I think there was a solution. I don't know if that even affects the newer player. My TV and movies are all in the same NAS so I never ran into that (files are on different drives but I just symbolic link in linux to put them on the same SMB share)

Quote:
Can anyone give me any recomendations? I thought the Popcorn hour would do it all, but then I read it won't do DTS in an MKV format, so that killed it for me. I also have read about it having problems with 1080p over a network share.

eh, I play 1080p fine over the network. I think that might have been a bug with the newer player that is probably fixed by now although it depends on the bit rate of your video. It's possible some people are having trouble with straight blu-ray rips. as for no DTS in MKV I don't think this is true. I view mkv with DTS in it. It might be with a specific type of file, no idea where you got that info. The oldest A-100 can't decode DTS but it can definitely pass through to a receiver. I'm pretty sure the A-110 and that newer one can decode it.


I have an HTPC on the tv here which I'm sitting on right now but I use it for games and web browsing mostly. I use the PCH for most video, PS3 for some 720p and 1080p (the ones that don't have subtitles)

 

[kneedragger]



Quote:
Originally Posted by davdev /forum/post/18141755


1) Needs to have a great GUI. I have checked YAMJ a little bit, and could probably live with that, however, I need the ability to have seperate libraries for Movies and TV rips. I do not want my movies to be intermingled with my TV rips if possible. I am not sure if YAMJ can do that. I am also not sure if it can recognize seperate shares.



3) These files are spread out among multiple drives on a couple PC's. however, the library must be able to group them all together into one view. The only seperation I want is TV/MOVIE as mentioned above. They must also be all playable across my wired network. Wireless is not needed.

These are huge for me right now. I have a PCH A-100 and love it, but I want separate videos, movies and tv all in one location.


I'm waiting other devices to come out before I do anything. XBMC still looks like the one to get though..

 

[Shai-Tan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by kneedragger /forum/post/18144748


These are huge for me right now. I have a PCH A-100 and love it, but I want separate videos, movies and tv all in one location.


I'm waiting other devices to come out before I do anything. XBMC still looks like the one to get though..

So run two different yamj with different library.xml files (and skin if you want)? XBMC isn't that different in that regard, it's just dynamically updated and the TV and Movies are separated into Movies and TV Shows areas by default.

 

[davdev]

Thanks for all the help guys. I think for now I will stick with my HTPC. I will keep reviewing these content streamers though. I figure if there is no one device that will do it all, I might as well stick with what I already got.