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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord
I was considering picking up the WD Live box as well. I bought this: http://amzn.to/ZyfOq1 but didn't like the UI and overall clunkiness so I'm returning it. The WD Live looks good but I wanted to ask the opinion of the great Goon horde!

What I'll be using it for:

Mostly watching .MKV videos from my 3tb external HD
Would stream to it from my PC if it did not have to convert (I have a PS3 but it seems like the process of converting the MKV to something the PS3 can view makes it very chunky for 720/1080p video).
Would like to use it to watch Amazon Prime but it wouldn't be a deal breaker if I couldn't since I currently don't use it.

Does anyone have suggestions?

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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

Dogen posted:

Is your computer slow or network bandwidth not the greatest? Have you tried all the various (ps3mediaserver, plex, serviio) programs for this?

I'm not an expert on all things set top box, but I don't think many (any?) of them can play .mkv without a computer to do the heavy lifting.

I have a great computer and my computer is wired into my router which is wired to my PS3. Still lots of buffering when playing hd content.

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

Dogen posted:

If that's true then it's probably something in the configuration of whatever transcoding program you're using. I'm streaming 1080p over moca (100mbish) from my 2500k powered desktop and it has no hiccups. Currently using plex but I've used serviio and ps3mediaserver in the past.

Huh... that'd be nice! I'll give that a try! I've only ever tried ps3mediaserver. I can use Plex with my PS3?

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

Dogen posted:

Yes. My only issue with it currently is that I can't pause and resume when transcoding. Some people have been able to make it work with some fiddling. Also, no 5.1 passthrough. Other than that, works great.

I'll give it a try when I get home and report back. Thanks for the suggestion. I had almost gotten to the point of buying a new TV since a media player/streamer in my price range was $150 and I've got a $150 Costco gift card!

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

the nicker posted:

Plex isn't free, and it's more because of the principle: why should I have to buy an app to transcode and stream file types that the box can play natively? Just because it can't see a network share? That's such a trivial thing to include, I don't understand why it's left out. Also these media server apps are never perfect, there's always something that doesn't work well in my experience.

Sorry for the derail.

I set Plex up last night and didn't have any issues after is synched up my library and I restarted it. My PS3 saw it immediately and played in wonderful quality. When you say Plex isn't free do you mean the phone apps? You don't actually need to use the phone apps for it to work!

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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

Dogen posted:

I think you have to buy the app on the roku, which is what he was talking about. PS3 just sees it as a DLNA server.

Ah... well in that case I'm sorry!

Thanks again for the suggestion. Definitely saved me $150~!

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