Help Me Spec Out A Set Top Box For Internet Media Streaming

[Phog Allen]

Good evening chaps. I am seriously considering assembling a set top box type of pc for Internet media streaming. Before we get to specifics about what I need it to do lets be clear about what I do not need it to do. First would be Pc gaming. I just don't do it. Honestly, no Pc gaming at all. I bring it up because I realise this is where things get dodgy with graphics rendering ability. Netflix. I can do this through the pc, bluray, or the PS3. More on the PSux3 later. So a Windows OS would not be a flat out necessity.

Alright, what do I want it to do? Well bacck to the PSux3. As a game machine it is fine. As a media device I find quirky to put it politely. The Netflix app has gotten to the point it is very frustrating. It hangs constantly whilst searching the categories or cue. Then it jumps two or more selections at a time. Annoying is an understatement. The new YouTube app is better than before but hangs and buffers constantly. I have Googled both issues and find the common with no real solution. I have a great Internet connection so it is not the issue. In addition to any locally stored media files I want to be able to grab things like Hulu(not Hulu+) and ESPN3(ESPNGO?). I have uverse so ESPN is supported. Right now I am accessing it through PlayonTv which is Windows only. So will something like XBMC pull this off? I know of all set top appliances only xbox360 has an actual ESPN3 app. I am unclear as to whether XBMC will open a browser and go to sites like Hulu or SciFi Rewind and access their web content. Does it need add ons for each specific site? XBMC is attractive since it can be installed with a minimal Linux OS to start like an appliance.

If I have to go with Windows plus XBMC can Windows be configured to some sort of minimilist start up to simplify and speed things up?

Hardware. What I really want is a box with a motherboard, processor, memory, and really nothing else. With today's integrated boards handling full hd graphics it could keep the machine simple and low cost. In fact, if I could configure it with an external power brick to keep case size and heat concerns to a minimum that would be great. I know a Roku box is tempting but it does not support ESPN or the free Hulu and I will not pay for Hulu+ again. So give me your ideas.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Phog Allen]

Hey gents. I saw some articles about jailbtoken AplleTv boxes loaded up with XBMC. What do think? Sounds like a workable hardware solution.

Cheers, Todd

Edited: I wanted to add a link to this BOX since it seems a possible perfect hardware solution for XBMC. It runs Android 4.2 but you can install a Linux distro on a micro SD card, insert it, and hold the power button down for a few seconds and voila, it boots to Linux. The minimal Ubuntu/XBMC package available at XBMC would be a natural fit. Reports seem positive.

Cheers, Todd

 

[ImaRobot]

Check out the site lifehacker.com, they have some articles and links to building your own set top box or home media pc. I personally bought the Song NSZ-G7Z for its remote hoping that tinkerers would jail break it. I run plex on my set top box, which is similar to XBMC. It works well for me, bought I don't believe I can get sports live.

 

[bakerbarber]

Try an Android on a stick.

Imito MX1 from Amazon is good. Be careful which seller you choose. Geekbuying supports it with software updates.

I've had one for a couple months and it's been perfect for me. I have a pretty large media collection and only a WD media player ever came close to a PC in my home theater. The problem with a PC is nose. If you build one with enough guts to play an MKV file it will either overheat and hang, or the fan will drive you crazy. A PC is overkill for media streaming.

The WD HD Live player is great. I considered the model with 1TB drive, but it's limited as a media player.

The Android sticks have come a long way in the past six months. I've been watching for reviews on some of the quad core models. You have to be picky when you buy one. They're not a huge gamble though. For $70 or $80 you can get an Imito MX1 with a bluetooth flymouse.

There is one call Tronsmart Prometheus. It's not quite ready according to the reviews I've seen in English so far. It has the specs and is being updated with proper software. The hardware acceleration is the key. There are fixes for these things already out for the Imito MX1, but it's small and has limited connections. No power button or ethernet. The Prometheus has all the inputs and outputs you could need, but it's got some ground to make up to get to 1080 resolution and fluid playback..

Having gone through the same process of searching for the right piece of hardware to stream Netflix and watch movies from my NAS, the Android stick has made me very happy. Not completely satisfied, but happy. I'm sure in another 6 months or a year they will be well above the bar in so far as being able to do anything I'd want a PC to do.

Check out Freaktab.com and Geekbuying.com to read what others have experienced. Beware of knock offs. These things all come from China, so I recommend buying through Amazon from a reputable seller who drop ships.

I'm watching a 4gb bluray movie from an external hard drive over my wifi on my android stick on my LCD TV.
No problems. I can pause it to browse the web, read email, switch to Netflix, browse eBay, check the weather, fiddle with google earth, and go right back to watching a video while my podcasts are downloading.

I can access my whole network from the Android stick. I cannot access the stick from the network though. With a little USB hub I can throw any file at it. I can plug in a mouse and keyboard, or use an app of my phone as the remote.

I'm telling myself every day to resist the urge to buy the latest model until the quad core models are supported better. I've heard great things about the hockey puck shaped Android boxes. They all seem to be on Android 4.0 and I am being picky about getting at least 4.2 (Jellybean) so my other devises all sync.

Did I mention sync? Google plus and Chrome all sync seamlessly.

There is a guy on eBay building HTPC (home theater pc) into NES shells. Those look pretty sweet. I bet they still make too much noise though.

Good luck, and let me know what you decide on. Some guy on youtube named Rivers reviews most of the Android sticks. His videos are a wealth of knowledge!!

 

[Phog Allen]

Thank you both very kindly for the responses. A wealth of information. Online streaming has come a long way. When I first started looking at it a few years ago all anyone was interested talking to me about was Slingbox. They couldn't understand that I was trying to get away from a cable or satellite bill, not sling it across the net somewhere. I admit it is a nice product for those who want to use it but it should not surprise anyone that the first thing Dish did when they bought Sling was discontinue the Slingcatcher. The piece that was good for receiving streams. I think Android is the likely the way to go for set top devices and once the hardware accelaration is set you will have full on HD graphics and complete customisation of your watching experience. I still think eventually you will be able to subscribe channel by channel with a corresponding app or add on to the device. I will certainly check those links.

Cheers, Todd

 

[Phog Allen]

Bakerbarber I went to geekbuying and looked at the mx1. A couple of questions. I see it has a usb port but how does it get network and make connection to your telly? Sorry to be so dumb about it but I am a bit unclear about connections.

Cheers, Todd

 

[bakerbarber]

TV out is a male HDMI and they include a short extender.

It has Wi-Fi built in

You can use a USB to Ethernet adapter also.

Browse YouTube. Pictures and video explains it better.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0hyY6_9SPTo

 

[xillion]

My buddy uses this box. It runs android and it has all the apps you are looking for.
He uses it with the Plex app to stream his collection of 1080p movies, MKV container.
It works great for him and his wife, they have had no issues with the box.
I store my movies and shows on a network drive and use my Mac, with Plex,
to do my streaming.

 

[Phog Allen]

Thank you bakerbarber. I will check out that video.

Chris, that is one amazing piece of equipment. Two issues come up for me immediately First, it is a Sony. That is enough to make me VERY hesitant. For some reason Sony seems to think they have to do every bloody thing their own way which usually means reinventing the wheel. It is why I am hesitant to buy anything Sony for streaming use. After the debacle that is my $400 PS3 I am understandably a bit shy. Second, see number one!

I will say the reviews on Amazon seem very positive. And the remote + keypad built in makes it very attractive. Has your friend mentioned any quirkiness with the apps or random oddities like the queue jumping I mentioned in the initial post? That box is extremely enticing and I am seriously considering it despite my hesitations. Thank you for sharing. I had not heard of it.

Cheers ,Todd

 

[xillion]

I tried it last time I was at his house and there were no issues with streaming both 720p and 1080p movies from his network drive using the Plex app. His wife uses both Netflix and Amazon Prime and she says they both work great for her. I haven't tried them myself.

The remote is pretty nice. With the built in keypad and touchpad I was able to browse with ease.

I understand your hesitation with buying another Sony product after your bad experiences with your PS3, but if you buy from Amazon they do have a great return policy if you don't like it. Also, if you have a Fry's in your area they also stock them. Best Buy carries them online but I'm not sure if they have it in stores.

The Vizio Co-Star is another Google TV/streaming box. I have no experience with it but check out the links below for more info.

http://store.vizio.com/costar.html

http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-Co-Star...&qid=1362789823&sr=8-1&keywords=vizio+co-star

 

[bakerbarber]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct-znpFYTJ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I might buy this one.

Google TV is not Android on TV. That Sony may be a great media player, but it's trimmed down.
It's different.

 

[Phog Allen]

Thanks Chris. I am probably too hard on the PS3 but the two at a time jumping in the queue and the hang times are getting ridiculous. And they bragged about it being the best device for this use. I think the worst part is there seems to be little a man can do to clean up or optimise the system. I have Googled this quite a bit and troubleshooting the core system or the apps is nonexistent as far as I can tell. I know it was not originally designed as a pure streanig device but online services of some sort wasalways in the mix. Oh well. The nature of electronic beasties. Something always comes along that is better and cheaper.

Cheers, Todd

 

[xillion]

I've never tried netflix on my PS3, but getting it to play HD movie files has always been a pain for me. I grew tired of constantly having to transcode formats for the files to work on the PS3. I switched to Plex and my Mac an I've never looked back.

The Sony and Vizio boxes both use the Google Play store for apps. Whenever an updated version of an app is available it can be downloaded with ease.

Baker, how is Google TV not Android? Both boxes are running Honeycomb, 3.2. It may not be the most recent Android OS but at the core it is still Android. Also, both boxes use the Google Play store for apps and Chrome as their browser. How are the Android on TV sticks different? I haven't done any research on them so I honestly don't know.

 

[Phog Allen]

Chris and bakerbarber, sorry to keep upping the post count in my own thread but I am really taken with both the Sony and Pivos Xios boxes. I too don't really understand what the difference between GoogleTv and a Android box like Xios is. I am guessing Sony writes the apps like Netflix for the NSZ-GS7 like they do for the PS3. If so I am less than excited. If it is coming from the Google Pay store direct then I am more hopeful. The Xios is no where near as feature laden as the Sony box when it comes to interfacing with the unit as evidenced by the remote. However the Xios is not locked down in any way. You can stream about any file to it natively and for good measure you can load a xbmc distro on a sd card and boot directly into that world class media center. Like Chris I have issues with the PS3 and file compatibility. I even downloaded a programme that would convert our camcorders vids into PS3 specific compatible files. Guess what? It choked on them. The Samsung natively saves to mp4/aac files which play fine...on just about anything else. I am pretty sure one of these boxes is in my future. I just need to make a choice.

Cheers, Todd

 

[xillion]

Since the Sony runs Android and is using the Google Play store for apps they are the same apps that your would be downloading for any other Android device. The PS3 Netflix app is not the same as the Android Netflix app, PS3 uses very different hardware, Cell processor.

The apps in the Google Play store are all written by their respective developers. The Android Netflix app is created by Netflix. Now there may be specific versions of certain apps tailored for specific devices, but the Play store knows what device you are using and it will download the appropriate version for your device.

I found this post on the Plex forum that may help a bit.

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...ooking-cheap-android-tv-will-plex-work-on-it/

 

[Phog Allen]

Chris, more great stuff. Certainly sounds like a thorough investigation of the Xios DX is in order before any money is laid down. Right now it looks like for a stock, out of the box interface GoogleTv may be the right way to go. In honestly the Xios more interested me for the ability to run XBMC on it. You can essentially dual boot the unit from Android or XBMC direct. Thanks again for the great information.

Cheers, Todd

 

[xillion]

Booting straight into XBMC is a plus. XBMC is the original from which Plex, Boxee, and others forked from, it's a great software.

 

[Proinsias]

The Raspberry Pi might be worth a look. It runs xmbc, streams 1080p video and has an analogue out for an amp. XBMC does have apps for Hulu & ESPN but I've not tried them. I'm running mine with ArchARM linux as a media server atm but there's no flash support. I use the Pi for streaming media on the home network and turn to my xbox360 with a keyboard for youtube, netflix and whatnot. It might not cover all your needs but it is a cheap as chips credit card sized computer that runs off usb power, handles hdmi and lends itself to customisation & optimization.

 

[xillion]

Good call on the Raspberry Pi, the hardware is certainly capable. I was looking into them the other day but I couldn't find any in stock at reasonable prices in the US.

Here is an article on turning an Raspberry Pi into an xbmc media center.

http://lifehacker.com/5929913/build-a-xbmc-media-center-with-a-35-raspberry-pi

 

[Proinsias]

If you click through the buying links on the top right of the RaspberryPi.org site you should be able to get them at the listed price, but there's often a waiting list of a few weeks.