Blueray player, Google Box , Roku, Apple TV, etc?
We now have a lot of brilliant people building clients for various boxes so I am wondering what is your favorite and why? I would like to move to Plex for every Tv in the house. Currently I just have my mini serving Plex for 1 device. I have no Blueray player yet so I have not started a Blueray collection. I mostly have dvd's that I have converted to mkv's and some tv shows but plan to start when the prices come down. Any favorites?
ATV2.
philip
BTW, why not convert your DVD's to mp4 files? That would make them more portable. I realize mkv is very flexible, but not everyone needs all that flexibility.
I havent tested all availiable options, but I have both an ATV2 and Plex for Samsung, and I prefer plex for Samsung. The atvs need for the server to re-encode, and its lack of 1080 is a big drawback for me though. If you can live with that, the atv2 is pretty good aswell.
Roku2 LT…i’m beginning to sound like a dead horse, and I don’t work for Roku…
Plex on the ATV2 does not require a re-encode in all cases. As long as the container has h.264 video then it just moves it to m4v. Mind you, I don't know what happens if you have a 1080p h.264 video. Does the Plex Media Server downgrade it to 720p or does the ATV2 decode it and output 720p?
philip
I know. Still, having to re-encode some, not supporting 1080, and relying on hacks (jailbreak) to work, makes this platform leave a lot to be desired imo. Aside from the atv2’s limitations, the app itself is good though.
I agree with these points though the 720p limitation doesn't personally bother me.
philip
please give me brief details about this… I want to know about it.
First Generation Apple TV with BCM70015 CrystalHD decoder installed running Crystalbuntu (ATV1-optimized version of Ubuntu Linux pre-loaded with CrystalHD drivers and XBMC). Add PleXBMC plugin to this setup and you will have a very snappy media server that can play anything that XBMC for Linux is capable of playing (including 1080p); no need for transcoding dragging down your Plex Media Server and limiting you to just one or two simultaneously active clients; an interface that is essentially identical to that of Plex (if you use Confluence.plexbmc skin); all of your Plex metadata and tags; and the ability to connect to ANY television (via HDMI, DVI with analog or optical digital audio, component, composite).
This link gives a good overview of the project, but I would not recommend installing the new OS to a USB drive as he has done. You will get much better performance by installing directly to the internal hard drive of the Apple TV:
http://ozymandyaz.blogspot.com/2011/06/from-htpc-to-apple-tv-one-mans-journey.html
Get Crystalbuntu here:
http://www.stmlabs.com/projects/crystalhd-for-appletv/
Get PleXBMC plug-in here:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/27270-plexbmc-client-for-xbmc/
The BCM70015 CrystalHD decoder card can be purchased from eBay for about $45 including shipping. A working AppleTV can be purchased for about $60 from eBay. I just bought a second one from eBay for $32 that was listed as being broken, but it only had a disk error (reformatting fixed it). You can sell the Airport card that you remove from the AppleTV in order to install the CrystalHD card, thus recouping some of your investment (If you MUST use wireless, you can use the USB port on the back of the AppleTV to install a dongle or use a wireless to ethernet bridge).
Thats cool if youre tech savy enough, and you dont mind bastardizing your hardware. Its a great proof of concept, or at least it was when scott davilla and hus crew came up with it. With all the cheap alternatives availiable, or soon to be availiable, its hardly a path id recomend anyone though.
Well, my friend has the ATV2 with plex on every TV in the house. My dad has the Roku2 XS with plex. After seeing these in action I can defiantly tell you my LG Smart TV is the most rock solid plex player available today. Since you probably dont need a new TV I think you should seriously consider the LG ST600 box. All the retailers have stopped carrying it because compared to a roku for non plex stuff its woefully short however I think if all you want is plex and maybe netflix or amazon video its the way to go.
http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=220307603&sellerid=30207532#cRevSec
I love the Samsung BD-D5300 Blu-Ray players with Plex. I have 3 throughout the house and they work better than the other Plex devices I’ve tried in the past including ATV2 & Roku.
I have been thinking of buying a Roku 2 XS or the one just below it. Basically, it would be for Netflix and Plex. I can't seem to get a feeling on whether or not Plex works properly on the Roku. 720p is fine for me. What doesn't work? Is the client an official Roku one now? Does it do Direct Play/Stream? When I read the Roku thread I just get a feeling that it doesn't work, but information is very scattered so I could be very wrong. Is it on par with say the ATV2 or Mini or Samsung client?
Thanks,
philip
I own ATV1 + CrystalHD - ATV2 - Samsung TV D series 6 w/ PLEX
I love as well the Samsung APP but at the moment IMHO it cannot be considered the best choice because:
No music support
No multi audio tracks support
No subtitles support.
For the rest is an amazing solution.
IMHO ATV with PlexBMC is the way to go at the moment.
The ST600 from LG has Plex, but it does not yet work properly. The ST600 will play all kinds of files via cifs or dlna. With Media Link on a TV that I just bought (LG LW5600) everything plays great. I sold off most of my media players after that ( including a pch-c200, atv2, atv1 w chd running xbmc - very nice by the way, seagate freeagent plus). The TV has basically replaced all of them. I did keep the st600 and an atv2 for other sets. The ATV2 to me is really nice for Plex. You do have to jailbreak it which is a nuisance but AirPlay has made that unnecessary. The 720p restriction on output is unacceptable to some. The Samsung Blu-ray approach is fine if you need a physical disk player. If you are getting away from that then it makes little sense.
If LG would fix Plex on the ST600 that would be the best choice. With the 901 bets it almost works. I don’t know why Media Link (Plex) works so well on the TV and not the st600.
Anyway, just thought a bit of a warning regarding the LG ST600 was warranted.
philip
The Roku LT works perfect for me, and it was dirt cheap. Easy to set up and Plex is available for free in the Roku Channel Store. Roku offers some good free channels, and it’s an easy way to stream media from your PC.
I’ve have atv1 (crystalHD), atv2 and samsung tv’s and bluray, mac mini, tried and returned ST600 and Roku
Order of merit (top best imho)
Mac mini (expensive)
Samsung Client (although out of date now it does the job) you’ll be old and grey before Samsung decide to release the approved latest client in their store)
atv1
atv2
Roku
ST600
I’ve been looking into a small linux box that can do full hd etc, but still looking. Not sure if the linux client is up to scratch yet (time permitting)
I believe Plex would get more followers if they sorted a cheap client.
In the uk the Roku that is of any use is £100 which is just a joke for the little functionality it has in the uk.
I have tried it on the Mac Mini, a Roku a long time ago, the apple tv a while ago, a pc, google tv, and a Samsung tv.
Honestly if you want the best experience a Mac Mini is really worth it. I love it as a client and I am actually buying a new one soon to replace my old one (its going on 4 years now and is just getting tired). I really can’t stress how much in my opinion the mac mini is better then anything else.
But its price is a killer so other options.
The Roku when I used it was still super early and everything needed to be transcoded and it didn’t support multichannel audio, if these things are fixed its probably not to bad, but I find the interface sluggish which bothers me allot.
The Samsung Client was not bad. If you just care about movies and tv shows I think its very very good, but make sure you get one the blue ray players that the developer recommends, others will run it very sluggishly. I also personally think that even on my new plasma screen it ran very sluggishly, not the developers fault just lots to load.
A pc with a decent processor or video card will do a great job honestly, you might want to look into that, a mid level core 2 duo will work and i bet you could get something in the $200-250 range that would satisfy your needs. (My vote for best solution)
Finally the google tv is the only client that is not running on a mac mini in my house. It works fairly well actually, the interface is a little sluggish but honestly it works well and it doesn’t really require any transcoding. Its biggest issue is audio drift on occasion. If you get the sony box it comes with a decent blue ray player and supports DTS and AC3. If you get the logitech box it supports ac3 just fine but not dts but the new server will transcode the audio for you, personally for me thats a deal breaker because 60% of my library is DTS.
Hope this helped a little.
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