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859 Posts
WOW! Seems like alot has evolved since I looked at Media servers a year or two ago.
So here is where I am at. I have alot of devices with some overlap in the Home Theater area. Pretty much everything I have is pretty high end so I am not looking for the cheap way out.
So here is what I have
1) Plasma, (built in Netflix streaming, HDMI inputs for video only)
2) HTPC, (used for videos only, typically sit with a laptop while viewing TV).
3) Sonos, used for FLAC files
4) NAS, used to store music, vids etc
5) Oppo BD-83 used for Blue Rays only, bitstream , optical out
7) Rotel amp and preamp, no HDMI inputs, optical/coax digital inputs
The goal is to have a simple, all in one media server to eliminate the HTPC for vid files and photo viewing and quite possibly the Oppo if the audio and video quality is truly there. I have tons of family photos which we'd like to view on this device. So a device that favors a nice GUI for photos would be a plus. Vid files, obviously the media server biggest plus. Music, I'd still use the Sonos. An occasional web surf on this device would be nice. Netflix, I assume this is standard on most?
I was leaning toward a Dune years back as they seemed to be the most hi-end. Any other suggestions as to what would fit the bill for me? I thought I read Dunes weren't favorable for photos, why?
As my Rotel doesn't support DTS HD and the other latest fromats, it's not that important. It certainly would be nice to be somewhat future proof though.
Any help would be great. I'd certainly prefer to avoid alot of tweaking out of the box. Simple user interfaces or easy to install / configure GUI's would be nice. BTW, how do you surf without a keyboard on these devices? is there a way to hook one up?
So here is where I am at. I have alot of devices with some overlap in the Home Theater area. Pretty much everything I have is pretty high end so I am not looking for the cheap way out.
So here is what I have
1) Plasma, (built in Netflix streaming, HDMI inputs for video only)
2) HTPC, (used for videos only, typically sit with a laptop while viewing TV).
3) Sonos, used for FLAC files
4) NAS, used to store music, vids etc
5) Oppo BD-83 used for Blue Rays only, bitstream , optical out
7) Rotel amp and preamp, no HDMI inputs, optical/coax digital inputs
The goal is to have a simple, all in one media server to eliminate the HTPC for vid files and photo viewing and quite possibly the Oppo if the audio and video quality is truly there. I have tons of family photos which we'd like to view on this device. So a device that favors a nice GUI for photos would be a plus. Vid files, obviously the media server biggest plus. Music, I'd still use the Sonos. An occasional web surf on this device would be nice. Netflix, I assume this is standard on most?
I was leaning toward a Dune years back as they seemed to be the most hi-end. Any other suggestions as to what would fit the bill for me? I thought I read Dunes weren't favorable for photos, why?
As my Rotel doesn't support DTS HD and the other latest fromats, it's not that important. It certainly would be nice to be somewhat future proof though.
Any help would be great. I'd certainly prefer to avoid alot of tweaking out of the box. Simple user interfaces or easy to install / configure GUI's would be nice. BTW, how do you surf without a keyboard on these devices? is there a way to hook one up?