Quick and Dirty Networked Media Player - A Complete Disaster

[Jason Dunn]

Ever since I started using Snapstream's Beyond TV3, I've been looking for a way to get that video content up to my TV set. I've been looking at a few different commercial networked media players, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet (I've requested a few for review though). My wife Ashley wanted to watch a certain show, so I figured I'd give something a try: my laptop, a Fujitsu P5010D, has S-Video out on it, so I thought I'd try to connect it to the TV along with a minijack to stereo RCA outputs for audio.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/jury-rigged-mediaplayer.jpg" /><br /><br />When I hit the key combination on my laptop to enable the external video signal, it bluescreened. 8O Not an auspicious start! After recovering and a completely unhelpful error message about the problem because caused by an unknown device driver :roll: I tried it again. This time, it worked. I made the external display 800 x 600 in resolution, but as you can see from the photograph above there were black bars around the edge of the screen. I tried 640 x 480 but they didn't go away. I enabled Windows Media Player on the secondary monitor (the TV set) and put it into full screen mode. A few seconds after starting it the doorbell rang and I had to stop it - only to once again be frustrated by the unintuitive keyboard shortcuts for Windows Media Player. Control+P to play/pause? Why not something obvious like the space bar? And why don't the arrow keys jump the video forward and backward? I've been spoilt by Beyond TV3 and the FireFly remote - trying to control a video player with keyboard shortcuts is a ticket to misery.<br /><br />Eventually Ashley gave up and disconnected the laptop from the TV set and decided to watch the show on the laptop. That should have worked, right? Guess again. Even though the laptop was showing a full 54 Mbps connection over 802.11g, the 720 x 480 resolution, 4000 kbps MPEG2 videos were too much for the bandwidth and once every minute or so the unit would sputter and skip. It never stopped to buffer, which makes me think it might have also been an issue of processing power. The laptop on batteries defaults to 600 mhz, so it might not have had enough CPU firepower to chew through the video.<br /><br />And that was that - ultimately, this experiment reminded me of when I hooked up a computer to my TV set five years ago and tried a home-brewed media centre PC. It was noisy, dysfunctional, and cursed by software that wasn't meant to do what I was asking it to do. This experience was no different, and I'm once again looking for a stand-alone, networked media player (Ethernet wired preferred) with a remote control. Any suggestions?

[BuzzLightyear]

Not sure how people here feel about such things but I use a modded XBox with XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) - a little setup of the config xml file and I can see all my media spread around 2 PC's and 3 laptops.

I really cannot fault it - and I purchased it just for this media player functionality and I do get to play the odd game now and again.

My brother has a Kiss DP-508 DVD player that does all the usual Divx etc but also has a 80 GB hard disk and ethernet, which he has used for a while but still goes back to his XBox because of a far more satisfactory experience.

Buzz

[Jason Dunn]

Not sure how people here feel about such things but I use a modded XBox with XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) - a little setup of the config xml file and I can see all my media spread around 2 PC's and 3 laptops.

Tell me more about this - I was just telling someone the other day that Microsoft could, in one fell swoop, blow most of the network media players out of the water if they let the Xbox handle this type of task.

[crstbo623]

Jason:

I have been playing media off my computer and putting it up on my TV and stereo system for years, in the same manner (s-video --> RCA) for years.

Living in college dorm rooms for the last four years, I have not always been able to get access to the shows that I want to watch. So instead, I have downloaded Divx versions of the shows from Kazaa. For example, I have every episode of Star Trek TNG & DS9, Babylon 5, the West Wing, and Sex and the City ever produced. I also have many episodes of the Simpsons, and a few dozen movies. It is very simple to store them all on an external HD and wire the room the way I need it in September so that I can play a TV show or movie whenever I want.

Don't give up on your attempts. I had very few problems with drivers and have been watching my favorite shows ever since.

[Varrus]

I don't know about anyone else, but I found that SnapStream's latest Beyond TV works wonderfully well as a dedicated PVR. I repurposed my old desktop box (a Celeron 700 o/c'd to 900 Mhz) with 384 Megs of Ram and a 30 Gig HDD by adding Hauppauge's PVR-200 (250? I can't remember exactly - it came with a remote) MPEG-2 encoding PVR card, and a cheap Nvidia card with S-Video out.

This machine is underpowered for what I'm asking it to do, but with a bit of tweaking it works admirably well. When visiting family, we had to go without it for a short time, and did we ever miss it.

Considering the cost - an old PC, $300 for the two video cards necessary (in Canadian $'s) and a copy of Beyond TV, I couldn't be happier. No monthly fees, and since it's a fully functional Windows XP computer, friends can check email or look at our digital photos right in the living room, and if we forget to record a show, downloading a copy of it using BitTorrent is a breeze.

Plus, the transcoding features allow the machine to re-encode shows into Windows Media format, which drastically reduces the file sizes without any perceivable decrease in quality. I can get an hour of video onto a regular 650 Meg CD, no problem. The added benefit is that any computer on our wireless network can watch the shows, and with the transcoding, there is no bandwidth limitation as you cited above, Jason. I regularly plug my laptop into the TV in the bedroom and watch recorded shows there, just by sharing my folder of recordings on my home network, and firing up Windows Media Player. I agree that it's not all that intuitive, and it's sure be nice to have a remote control in the bedroom, but that's a small quibble.

Beyond TV works great for me. (and no, I didn't get paid to say that... maybe I should see if I can work for them! haha)

[BuzzLightyear]

Not sure how people here feel about such things but I use a modded XBox with XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) - a little setup of the config xml file and I can see all my media spread around 2 PC's and 3 laptops.

Tell me more about this - I was just telling someone the other day that Microsoft could, in one fell swoop, blow most of the network media players out of the water if they let the Xbox handle this type of task.

Jason - basically a chipped XBox runs a different dashboard to allow you to install different apps, including http://www.xboxmediacenter.de/ - at first look it seems complicated but you basically download the media app and ftp it to your XBox (which is plugged into your network) - oh the new dashboards generally have ftp servers built in - the media centre plays everything even .rm files and looks just like Windows Media Centre.

It really is the best Media Centre out there because the software is still being improved and developed - oh and yes it works with the XBox remote control.

Pop to http://www.xbox-scene.com/ for loads of info.

My chipped XBox set me back £55 more than the standard price, you can even get places that will chip the XBox you already own, or you can do it yourself.


Hope this helps - if you need any further details just shout.

Buzz

[Jason Dunn]

I don't know about anyone else, but I found that SnapStream's latest Beyond TV works wonderfully well as a dedicated PVR.

That's exactly what I use downstairs to record the shows, but I'm reluctant to go that route upstairs as well by adding another computer. All the hard work is being done downstairs, so all I really need upstairs is a viewer...

[Jason Dunn]

My chipped XBox set me back £55 more than the standard price, you can even get places that will chip the XBox you already own, or you can do it yourself.

Ok, I've been looking around at these sites, and I have one question: which mod chip do I want? I see a lot of different options so I'm a bit confused. :-) Will any of them allow me to run the media center dashboard?

[Felix Torres]

Can you wait a month?
The Microsoft Media extender kit is due to be announced on Oct 14 or thereabouts if the rumors are true.
It should do what you need without having to modify your XBOX hatdware.
So will the third party media center extenders, plus the MSN TV2 box (due this week).

The XBOX kit at under $100 might be the best bet.
I'm going to look at it as soon as its released so I'll only have one box plugged into the TV instead of three now...

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah, good point - I'll wait and see what happens. :-)

[BuzzLightyear]

I agree with Felix, probably best to wait to see what MME kit is all about - but to answer your question Jason, as far as I know, and I'm no authority here, any of the modifications which allow you to run a new dashboard, which is all of them I think, would then allow you to install XBMC as the dashboard.

Buzz

P.S I'm using the XECUTER mod with an Evolution X dashboard.

Doesn't the MME kit require you to have a Media Centre PC though ?

[oopl]

In researching to build a HTPC, I went with the Xbox and have never looked back. It has been great! I would say go ahead with the mod as the Microsoft released product will never support as many codecs as XBMC (http://xboxmediacenter.de/info_project.htm#point_release) does. (pretty much everything) With scripts, I can stream trailers from trailers.apple.com and listen to Shoutcast webcasts and more! It's fantastic!
XBMC also can access network shares and recent versions have added support for Itunes as well.

An xbox with XBMC is everything that you could want in a HTPC/networked media player.

Here's a good article from Tom's Hardware entitled Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center (http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20040511/index.html)

[Felix Torres]

Doesn't the MME kit require you to have a Media Centre PC though ?

Unclear at this point...
The MS party line in January was that the Media Extenders, hardware and software, would be only for Media Center PCs and new products.
A couple of months ago, word came out that the back-end software would install as a server on *any* version of XP and it would also support a lot of pre-existing networked media players out there.

Whether the final product does or not remains to be seen, but the success of the standalone hardware extenders hinges on people being able to use *existing* PCs, no?

Now, MS for some obscure reason might choose to limit the XBOX kit to MCE PCs, but again, it makes more sense to allow the broadest range of server into the game. As is, we'll know for sure in 2-3 weeks...

[sub_tex]

Gateway sells a "Connected DVD Player" that hooks up to your network and plays videos/photos/music via 802.11g or wired network.

Having a bunch of TV shows recorded on the computer from Sage TV, and streaming over the air to the TV works without a hitch.

Just got mine recently. About $90 shipped.

[wilkinsjme]

Jason
I haven't hooked my computer up to my TV yet. But many people that have use powerstrip to tweak their output to match their tv.
http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

Also Jason I believe that hacking the Xbox means no more Xbox live with that Xbox. MS will ban the xbox. Although I think their are now some switchable mods available where you can switch the mod on and off.

[Jason Dunn]

Also Jason I believe that hacking the Xbox means no more Xbox live with that Xbox. MS will ban the xbox. Although I think their are now some switchable mods available where you can switch the mod on and off.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about that since I let my Xbox live subscription lapse - I just wasn't using it. I do multiplayer on my computer. :-)

[BuzzLightyear]

Also Jason I believe that hacking the Xbox means no more Xbox live with that Xbox. MS will ban the xbox. Although I think their are now some switchable mods available where you can switch the mod on and off.

Just to clear up, this isnt strictly true because most mods allow you to switch itself on or off so you can continue XBox live - you just have to be careful not to try Live with the mod switched on :wink:

Buzz

[ale_ers]

Can you wait a month?
The Microsoft Media extender kit is due to be announced on Oct 14 or thereabouts if the rumors are true.

I am very interested in these, but know very little about them. My biggest question is this: Do they offer a wired connection?

I worry that a wireless connection would have the same problems that Jason had, and I would rather run the cables to ensure a steady picture.

[pocketpcthemes.com]

Jason - if you want the easiest way to get video, audio, photos to your TV in a different room, checkout the Play@TV device at http://www.leadman.com. I use it to serve media to my basement home theatre from my media PC upstairs in my office. I have Snapstream running upstairs, recording scheduled programs and can sit in the basement and watch any of them at any time on the big screen using a very intuitive remote. I use it in a wired network (even though I have 802.11g - why use wireless when you have wired?) and it works flawlessly. One feature that I really like about it is that it allows me to actually browse my file system from the remote/TV in the basement (I don't have to use their file management software to build playlists since I already organize my media logically in folders). You can use their software, though, to make playlists, parental controls, etc. I am currently working at converting all of my kids' DVDs to MPEG-2 so they can watch any movie instantly, without fumbling for the DVD. That's the other good thing about this device - it plays the highest # of file formats that I've seen (unprotected of course). Lastly, I tried the Gateway Connected DVD this week because it was real cheap and included the DVD built in - hated the speed and design of the menu/navigation system after using the Play@TV device for a year. Got an RMA for it within 4 hours of receiving.

I found Play@TV to be way easier and cheaper than a HTPC. Its quiet and fits nice in a cabinet, too. Give it a try - I think you'll like it.

[Jason Dunn]

Jason - if you want the easiest way to get video, audio, photos to your TV in a different room, checkout the Play@TV device at http://www.leadman.com.

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll look into it...

[hang5lngbd]

All the current mod chips for the XBOX work the same. They will all allow you to load the XBMC (xbox media center) as well as allowing to copy your xbox games.

I use the Alladin because it's the cheapest.

I love my xbox with XBMC. I can't remember the last time that I used my xbox to play a game.

Oh, and with a mod chip and a new dashboard (that's what XBMC is) you can download emulators for older game systems. So I have all the old NES games loaded on my xbox and I just choose to run my NES emulator through my xbox and I'm good to go playing NES with my xbox controller.

[mashtim]

At the risk of getting flamed, I gotta ask:
Does anyone know of a similar solution that uses a PS2 instead of the XBox?

I'm also running Beyond TV on a pc downstairs and would love to combine a gaming console and media streamer into one unit and have only that and my receiver sitting on the shelf.

[Felix Torres]

At the risk of getting flamed, I gotta ask:
Does anyone know of a similar solution that uses a PS2 instead of the XBox?

I'm also running Beyond TV on a pc downstairs and would love to combine a gaming console and media streamer into one unit and have only that and my receiver sitting on the shelf.

No need to fear flames; this isn't USENET and most folks here are polite enough.

The product you want is called Gameshark Media Player from Mad Catz.
Its been around about a year:

http://www.madcatz.com/MadCatz/product_details.jsp?product_id=8234

http://www.amug.org/amug-web/html/amug/reviews/articles/gameshark/

It seems limited to MP3 on the audio side, though; no AAC or WMA support provided.
But the price is good and the server app can be on a Mac or Linux box...

Happy hunting.