[ncage]

Guys I'm looking for a replacement for my windows media center. I think the roku box does most of the things I use my windows media center for. It does :


Netflix, hulu, amazon vod, ufc fights, pandora, Ect....


And unlike a lot of the media streamers right now they don't seem to be fighting with media companies right now and you have to worry about them being blocked.


There is one major thing missing though. I use my WMC primarily to stream videos off my home network that can be in a variety of formats: mkv,avi,h.264,ect... So a variety of codec support is important to me. Hopefully if there is an option they keep up with with the latest codecs. The device should preferably have 1080p support though I suppose 720p would be ok. Wireless is not important because I have a switch in my family room.


I just dont like my WMC that much. Having to boot up a pc and the interface is kind of clunky. I'd prefer a much smaller device. I have powerdvd on it now but I prefer to use my stand alone blu-ray player


Maybe if there was something that didn't do networking would be ok but I'd much prefer networking of course. I just dont want to go back to the day of having to convert every video I download. In a perfect world there would be one device but I know I'll probably hav to get the roku and something else. Any help would be appreciated

 

[ncage]

wow not even one reply....i didn't think it would be that difficult of a question.

 

[fshagan]

I haven't seen anything that does both local streaming of your own media, includes a browser for surfing the net, and includes the pay or free Internet streaming from Pandora, Netflix, Hulu+, etc. So, at least for now, you are pretty much stuck with having an HTPC set up with Boxxee, XBMC or MediaPortal for the local and web stuff, and then something like a ROKU for the pay and free Internet streaming.


There is no perfect solution without at least two boxes, at least that I have seen. There's a lot of promise out there, like Google TV, but they all fall short. People are working on "local media" channels for ROKU, but it remains necessary to convert to a format ROKU will accept.

 

[ncage]



Quote:
Originally Posted by fshagan /forum/post/19595876


I haven't seen anything that does both local streaming of your own media, includes a browser for surfing the net, and includes the pay or free Internet streaming from Pandora, Netflix, Hulu+, etc. So, at least for now, you are pretty much stuck with having an HTPC set up with Boxxee, XBMC or MediaPortal for the local and web stuff, and then something like a ROKU for the pay and free Internet streaming.


There is no perfect solution without at least two boxes, at least that I have seen. There's a lot of promise out there, like Google TV, but they all fall short. People are working on "local media" channels for ROKU, but it remains necessary to convert to a format ROKU will accept.

Ok but how about a Boxxee + Roku. Would that be a good solution? Roku for internet streaming stuff and boxxee for local streaming? That would be ok with me if i can get rid of my HTPC.

 

[onlysublime]

I don't get why you want to get rid of your HTPC. You can install Boxee, XBMC, MediaPortal, GB-PVR, BeyondTV, MythTV, etc. on it and replace your WMC.


You want to dump your HTPC to get a weak Atom-powered Boxee... And on top of that, you want to add the Roku.


Seems like a waste of money to just become "new."

 

[jvarisco]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ncage /forum/post/19594117


Guys I'm looking for a replacement for my windows media center. I think the roku box does most of the things I use my windows media center for. It does :


Netflix, hulu, amazon vod, ufc fights, pandora, Ect....


And unlike a lot of the media streamers right now they don't seem to be fighting with media companies right now and you have to worry about them being blocked.


There is one major thing missing though. I use my WMC primarily to stream videos off my home network that can be in a variety of formats: mkv,avi,h.264,ect... So a variety of codec support is important to me. Hopefully if there is an option they keep up with with the latest codecs. The device should preferably have 1080p support though I suppose 720p would be ok. Wireless is not important because I have a switch in my family room.


I just dont like my WMC that much. Having to boot up a pc and the interface is kind of clunky. I'd prefer a much smaller device. I have powerdvd on it now but I prefer to use my stand alone blu-ray player


Maybe if there was something that didn't do networking would be ok but I'd much prefer networking of course. I just dont want to go back to the day of having to convert every video I download. In a perfect world there would be one device but I know I'll probably hav to get the roku and something else. Any help would be appreciated

It sounds like you want a box that does *everything*, which means either an HTPC or maybe 2+ network streaming devices. I don't know of any media streamer that does a full suite of 'net streaming sites and gracefully handles all sorts of ripped media. All the network streamers have *something* missing. Boxee might be able to but that's relying on something to happen in the future and hoping the media companies don't continue to give boxee the finger and block content.


If you're willing to do 2 devices then you can probably eliminate the PC - hell, you can get a ~$100 Bluray players with most of the streaming sites you want. But at that point your cost is almost the same as having a media PC...

 

[ncage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvarisco It sounds like you want a box that does *everything*, which means either an HTPC or maybe 2+ network streaming devices. I don't know of any media streamer that does a full suite of 'net streaming sites and gracefully handles all sorts of ripped media. All the network streamers have *something* missing. Boxee might be able to but that's relying on something to happen in the future and hoping the media companies don't continue to give boxee the finger and block content. If you're willing to do 2 devices then you can probably eliminate the PC - hell, you can get a ~$100 Bluray players with most of the streaming sites you want. But at that point your cost is almost the same as having a media PC...

Thanks for the reply. 2 media streamers would be ok. I was thinking Boxxee (streaming local content) + Roku (streaming online). Its ok to have two devices. I just want to get ride of my honking pc in the family room. Sometimes unitaskers are better than an all-in-one. I want something QUIET, does its job well, low power consumption, small, actually looks like piece of home theater equipment, doesn't take 10 minutes to start to be ready when its powered down, doesn't have flaky little annoying issues. All of the things WMC are not good at .

 

[MightyGeekMan]

I think it really depends on what you want vs. how much you're willing to spend. I've got an HTPC from Maingear running in my living room home theater and it does everything I need, but it costs a pretty penny. Of course, it plays everything I throw at it both online and locally on my network. Then there's an XBox which can play a lot of local content (in supported formats, of course) as well as Netflix and some other streaming services (with a Gold account, of course). Then again, two streamer boxes can also do the trick and would cost less than, or nearly the same as, the XBox option.


Personally, I feel the boxes will get better and better at accessing all media content (local and internet), but right now the Boxee Box might be all you really need as long as you're willing to use it in conjunction with your current WMC for a little while until they get the Netflix and Hulu contracts finalized. There's no need to buy two boxes when the one you have works well enough for streaming online and a Boxee Box will do a lot of the online stuff (with the most important coming very soon) and all the local stuff, too.

 

[jvarisco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncage Thanks for the reply. 2 media streamers would be ok. I was thinking Boxxee (streaming local content) + Roku (streaming online). Its ok to have two devices. I just want to get ride of my honking pc in the family room. Sometimes unitaskers are better than an all-in-one. I want something QUIET, does its job well, low power consumption, small, actually looks like piece of home theater equipment, doesn't take 10 minutes to start to be ready when its powered down, doesn't have flaky little annoying issues. All of the things WMC are not good at .

It's understandable, I have a HTPC as well I'm hoping to replace for much the same reasons.


Before you do though, keep in mind that something like the new AMD zacate platform may answer some of your issues with HPTCs - it will probably be mini-itx sized (so you could get a smaller, more HT-case), and will have an 18w thermal profile. Setting up sleep modes on the machine should help the startup time as well. Installing the Boxee beta would then give you a pretty good platform.


Just keep in mind right now all of the devices available have flaws with local ripped media playback - Boxee is pretty bad at the moment, and even the "best" available right now like the Dunes have some issues as well. IF boxee gets their act together it's very possible that's all you'd need.