I'm wondering if I'm going about this the wrong way and want to get things straightened out before I waste a bunch of time. I just started ripping my DVD collection and more recently, I'm working on the HD-DVD's. Once that is all done, I'll move onto my Bluray collection. I'm trying to nail down the logistics of everything so I don't make a costly mistake.
I have a 1TB NAS in RAID 1 where I store my media. I'm aware that won't be big enough once I'm done, but I don't mind upgrading. I really like the redundancy as opposed to a JBOD format, just in case something happens. I'm ripping the DVD's as MP4 and trying to keep the complete quality, but I'm not concerned about subtitles or special features. The HD-DVD's I'm still trying to figure out, but I want to keep the quaility as well and would really like the DTS-MA and TrueHD audio formats.
I picked up an AppleTV 2 and have been using the ATV2 preset, but I see that it downgrades everything to 720p because of the AppleTV's restrictions. I'm also noticing that I'm unable to maintain the DTS-MA or TrueHD. I'm afraid that in a couple years, I'm going to have to go back through all my HD-DVD's and Blurays when the AppleTV 3 (or whatever) supports 1080p and the lossless formats. I feel that would be a waste of time.
I guess what I'm getting at, is should I look at another device, such as a Popcorn Hour as opposed to the AppleTV? I know everyone is going to have a different opinion, but that's what I'm looking for at this point. I'm really not a fan of the HTPC's, so I've pretty much ruled that one out. I would say I'm just trying to future proof myself from spending hours and hours going through this again in a couple years.
AppleTV Substitute
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Re: AppleTV Substitute
Having "been there, done that" I can't recommend anything other than the Western Digital TV Live player right now. I have three of them (along with a "Plus" and a Hub unit) and while they have their issues they are far and away more problem free and cost effective than anything else (you can get a non-Plus unit, assuming Netflix isn't an issue for you, for less than $100).
I have my whole house networked and all my movies on a 6TB NAS (unlike you nearly all I have is blu-ray converted, so I need a lot more storage) and it works great. However, I will warn you that WD "likes" MKV as a container far better than it does MP4 (plus, of course, you can have DTS in such a container). We can watch any HD movie in any room (and at the same time) without any hassles at all. Life is good.
(Oh, and I'm an Apple TV convert -- anyone want to buy a first gen unit cheap?)
I have my whole house networked and all my movies on a 6TB NAS (unlike you nearly all I have is blu-ray converted, so I need a lot more storage) and it works great. However, I will warn you that WD "likes" MKV as a container far better than it does MP4 (plus, of course, you can have DTS in such a container). We can watch any HD movie in any room (and at the same time) without any hassles at all. Life is good.
(Oh, and I'm an Apple TV convert -- anyone want to buy a first gen unit cheap?)
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mike_smith
Re: AppleTV Substitute
I would tend to agree with mkelley.
I did have an atv original, but have since moved onto a popcorn hour a210 and a western tv live hub.
The Live Hub is definately the most user friendly of the two as it has a very clear and simple menu system and the wife and kids use it no problems. It has a really nice gui as well.
The a210 is slightly more technical but does handle its folder structure well with regards to labelling of tv shows (something the wdtv hub doesnt do at the moment)
All my containers are mkv and both systems handle this really well. I am struggling with subtitles on the wdtv but this is probably something that i'm not doing right (only had it for a week or so)
If I had to choose between the two i'd go for the wd tv live hub.
I did have an atv original, but have since moved onto a popcorn hour a210 and a western tv live hub.
The Live Hub is definately the most user friendly of the two as it has a very clear and simple menu system and the wife and kids use it no problems. It has a really nice gui as well.
The a210 is slightly more technical but does handle its folder structure well with regards to labelling of tv shows (something the wdtv hub doesnt do at the moment)
All my containers are mkv and both systems handle this really well. I am struggling with subtitles on the wdtv but this is probably something that i'm not doing right (only had it for a week or so)
If I had to choose between the two i'd go for the wd tv live hub.
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Spyderturbo007
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:09 pm
Re: AppleTV Substitute
Excellent. I was looking at the specs for the Live Hub and it looks pretty nice. I see that it does support .iso files without menu support, but I can't find anything about it having the ability to pass TrueHD or DTS-HD. Will it support those formats? Do you use .iso files, or just stick with the MKV container?
Also, what NAS are you running mkelley? Does the Live Hub connect using uPnP or some other protocol? I currently have a Synology DS 209 which seems to support almost everything.
So if I went with the Live Hub, are you able to add cover art and chapters like I am able to do with the AppleTV using Subler? Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I'm going to take a serious look at this device.
Also, what NAS are you running mkelley? Does the Live Hub connect using uPnP or some other protocol? I currently have a Synology DS 209 which seems to support almost everything.
So if I went with the Live Hub, are you able to add cover art and chapters like I am able to do with the AppleTV using Subler? Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I'm going to take a serious look at this device.
Re: AppleTV Substitute
Sure, pm me.mkelley wrote:(Oh, and I'm an Apple TV convert -- anyone want to buy a first gen unit cheap?)
Re: AppleTV Substitute
The WDTV can't do HD audio -- at the moment there is some question as to whether this will be addressed in the future. If it's important to you you can hedge your bets and include the audio (it will play the AC3 or DTS core so you still get great surround sound). I've gotten to the point where I just use DTS and AC3 and don't worry about it (heck, I play MP3 files and these are a LOT more compressed and sound great to my old ears).
You can use ISO but I use Handbrake and convert all to MKV -- but I also have nearly all of my stuff in blu-ray (and thus ISO ain't an option). For what little DVDs I have I sometimes just rip the whole disc (the WDTV will play that as well, including menus).
I'm using the D-Link 343 NAS, with three 2TB drives inside (I will add a third when I need the space). But I also have a 341 unit with 2 2TB drives inside for my television shows. Both units work superbly. The Hub will connect to it like any other net storage device (the Hub can connect to your computer as well -- anything you can share on the network you can use).
The Hub will allow you to add cover art, but if by "chapters" you mean art for individual chapters then the answer is no (it does support chapters in both DVDs as well as MKV files). To be honest, none of the WDTV units are as sophisticated in their ability to handle such things as more expensive units, but they do a very good job for the price and as long as you can see cover art and descriptions I'm not sure how much more you really need. You can also create your own "desktops" or schemes with the Hub (in that regard it's much more advanced than the Live units, although I still prefer my Live for ease of use).
And dynaflash, I'll PM you although I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with the hassle of trying to sell and ship something right now. But it has literally been gathering dust for about six months now, unplugged next to my WDTV.
You can use ISO but I use Handbrake and convert all to MKV -- but I also have nearly all of my stuff in blu-ray (and thus ISO ain't an option). For what little DVDs I have I sometimes just rip the whole disc (the WDTV will play that as well, including menus).
I'm using the D-Link 343 NAS, with three 2TB drives inside (I will add a third when I need the space). But I also have a 341 unit with 2 2TB drives inside for my television shows. Both units work superbly. The Hub will connect to it like any other net storage device (the Hub can connect to your computer as well -- anything you can share on the network you can use).
The Hub will allow you to add cover art, but if by "chapters" you mean art for individual chapters then the answer is no (it does support chapters in both DVDs as well as MKV files). To be honest, none of the WDTV units are as sophisticated in their ability to handle such things as more expensive units, but they do a very good job for the price and as long as you can see cover art and descriptions I'm not sure how much more you really need. You can also create your own "desktops" or schemes with the Hub (in that regard it's much more advanced than the Live units, although I still prefer my Live for ease of use).
And dynaflash, I'll PM you although I'm not sure I'm up to dealing with the hassle of trying to sell and ship something right now. But it has literally been gathering dust for about six months now, unplugged next to my WDTV.
Re: AppleTV Substitute
I was also in the "been here - done that" club with the apple tv. So disappointing that it only supports 720p.
At the time - I was ripping all of my movies to m4v containers with handbrake and storing them on a 6 gb Windows Home Server (where I could also install itunes and have it running 24x7 without having the need to run itunes on my personal computer).
I tried the popcorn hour c-200 and was very disappointed. The unit was only out of the box for 15 minutes before I found out it didn't support the multiple AAC/AC3 architecture (http://networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=29926). It sort of felt like I was raped after I ended up sending the unit back and being stuck with out of pocket expenses of around $150 for a 300 dollar product. I've heard they have since built in support for this architecture.
Since then, I've moved to an acer aspire revo 3610 which I've installed Ubuntu 10.10 and xbmc. Works great - no stutter or problems sharing files from my WHS. Setting up Ubuntu and XBMC Darma was a challenge - but all's working now.
At the time - I was ripping all of my movies to m4v containers with handbrake and storing them on a 6 gb Windows Home Server (where I could also install itunes and have it running 24x7 without having the need to run itunes on my personal computer).
I tried the popcorn hour c-200 and was very disappointed. The unit was only out of the box for 15 minutes before I found out it didn't support the multiple AAC/AC3 architecture (http://networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=29926). It sort of felt like I was raped after I ended up sending the unit back and being stuck with out of pocket expenses of around $150 for a 300 dollar product. I've heard they have since built in support for this architecture.
Since then, I've moved to an acer aspire revo 3610 which I've installed Ubuntu 10.10 and xbmc. Works great - no stutter or problems sharing files from my WHS. Setting up Ubuntu and XBMC Darma was a challenge - but all's working now.
Re: AppleTV Substitute
My current workflow is EyeTV->HB->ATV1 (40GB). We generally 'tape' more than we consume, so over the past few years we've accumulated some 900 hours backlog. (That's okay -- that much disk storage is more aesthetically pleasing to look at than the equivalent piles of physical media!) And the 40GB ATV1 is perfect in that (1) it's set to only show synced content and (2) we just use iTunes smart playlists to feed in the next unwatched programme in each of several criteria.
The only downside is the 720p restriction, so this thread has piqued my curiosity -- as and when I upgrade my EyeTV tuner to HD, will any of these other devices replicate the sweet simplicity (and related Spousal Approval Factor) of my current setup?
Cheers in advance, Chris
The only downside is the 720p restriction, so this thread has piqued my curiosity -- as and when I upgrade my EyeTV tuner to HD, will any of these other devices replicate the sweet simplicity (and related Spousal Approval Factor) of my current setup?
Cheers in advance, Chris
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phoenixdown
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 3:47 pm
Re: AppleTV Substitute
Wondering about this myself... I have a 1st gen ATV and I would like something that supports the meta data in an mp4 or mkv file as well as any subtitles I add. Thinking the next gen of google tv might be the ticket.
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Spyderturbo007
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:09 pm
Re: AppleTV Substitute
Wow, thanks for all the excellent, detailed responses everyone. Unfortunately, I went to return my AppleTV over the weekend and it looks like I went over my 30 day return period, so it seems as though I'm stuck with it for now. 
I was talking to my wife and she said that if I can get rid of the 400+ DVD's sitting in the living room, she'll be happy. I'll sit on the Blurays and HD-DVD's for now and deal with them later. As long as I get a good rip of the DVD's, the AppleTV isn't going to be holding me back at the moment. I'll re-evaluate the situation once I secure some larger hard drives for my DS-209 and get all these DVD's done.
But regardless, thanks for all the awesome responses.
I was talking to my wife and she said that if I can get rid of the 400+ DVD's sitting in the living room, she'll be happy. I'll sit on the Blurays and HD-DVD's for now and deal with them later. As long as I get a good rip of the DVD's, the AppleTV isn't going to be holding me back at the moment. I'll re-evaluate the situation once I secure some larger hard drives for my DS-209 and get all these DVD's done.
But regardless, thanks for all the awesome responses.