Which Media Centre?

swilso on 12/12/2014 - 14:05

Hi.

I'm after a media centre suggestion as a gift for a friend.

The criteria: must be able to play/stream videos from their PC and NAS; avi, MP4 and mkv.
The device must have wifi (router is too far away)
User friendly

I personally have a raspberry Pi but I know it isn't the most user friendly of the devices for a novice user. I had two media centers in mind; a chromecast or a Kaiser Baas (http://www.harveynorman.com.au/kaiser-baas-smart-media-playe…)

I'd like to hear what people have and if they think it would suit for this person. I dont know how the chromecast works; they don't own an android device only iphone & iPad so didn't know if the chromecast is capable of streaming content from a PC or NAS?

Thanks in advance :)

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • ProjectZero on 12/12/2014 - 14:16
    +1

    Yeah I would say chromecast, you just need to install a server onto the PC and NAS.

    A good one would be PLEX which I am quite happy with atm.

    Basic steps would be

    1) Install PLEX server to PC and NAS.

    2) Pay for PLEX app, and link the ipad/iphone to the chromecast (I remember seeing it somewhere)

    3) Enjoy!

    • swilso on 12/12/2014 - 14:43

      Thanks, might give this a go. Only thing I noticed was that the NAS is a medion (aldi brand) running twonky. Hopefully it will be compatible with chromecast using dlna? or I'll see how plex might load up on it.

      • ProjectZero on 12/12/2014 - 15:26

        I'm no expert so I can't help you regarding the NAS, but PLEX on a PC is quite easy.

      • ESEMCE on 12/12/2014 - 15:33

        Yeah, pretty sure twonky does DLNA

  • p1 ama on 12/12/2014 - 14:31

    Chromecast isn't really a media centre, it a handy little thing though.

    If you're after a real media centre, there was a great deal on this morning that you might want to jump onto before it runs out. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174367

    It works out to be around $200 or something. You can install Windows on that or a specialised media centre OS and you'll be flying along. You can get it to do anything you want including being able to stream and play videos from a NAS.

    My issue with Chromecast is that it uses WiFi. I know WiFi is great for a single HD stream, but the problem is that WiFi shares bandwidth, so when you have a couple of downloads going, and like two streams (which can happen in a large family), they can sometimes get choppy especially if reception isn't great to start off with. The benefit of Gigabit is that each link from the node to the switch gets access to the full Gigabit bandwidth, so you'd be needing to run a lot of streams to saturate the link from the NAS to the switch.

    • swilso on 12/12/2014 - 14:39

      Thanks. Unfortunately it must be wifi. They're renting + grandkids at times so can't have cables running through house.

      • p1 ama on 12/12/2014 - 14:50

        You're welcome, but definitely check out that Zotac box I linked you to, it'd be an amazing media centre, but a Chromecast is definitely more convenient and easier to use.

  • ESEMCE on 12/12/2014 - 15:13

    If they're an Apple household, why not Apple TV?
    On sale at HN $83
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174278

    • swilso on 12/12/2014 - 15:41

      Because it's not so easy on the appleTV 3 to play other avi, MP4 or mkv files that are not associated with the iTunes account.

      • ESEMCE on 12/12/2014 - 15:42

        Plex.. easy fixed.

        • ProjectZero on 12/12/2014 - 15:56

          If you were to use Plex, then CC would be better as it would be cheaper

        • ESEMCE on 12/12/2014 - 16:07

          @ProjectZero:
          But then there's the comfort factor of iOS owners staying in the iOS ecosystem.

        • ProjectZero on 12/12/2014 - 16:10

          @scubacoles:

          I suppose if people can justify the minor difference in price.

        • ESEMCE on 12/12/2014 - 16:23
          +2

          @ProjectZero:
          They're iOS users.. of course they can justify the price… :-)

  • raytriplej on 12/12/2014 - 15:36

    Or even consider a pair of those ethernet over powerline adapters.

  • grb1234 on 13/12/2014 - 09:48

    http://getvero.tv

    Just plug it in and go, couldn't be easier. Supports pretty much everything out of the box and guaranteed updates for 3 years.

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