Home cinema/streaming/nas/ etc etc

[dajonic]

Is anyone into their home cinema on here and have any suggestions for simplifying and decluttering kit which leaves a simple solution for watching blurays, tv, and music around the house aswell as using the main tv as an access point for internet based viewing. I'm having trouble with different files playing or not playing on my tv from different laptops and hard drives, plus just too much kit. Apologies for the next bit i'm not an apple fan boy so we're talking pc or other based suggestions. There's just so many options and out there i'm suffering from a bit of information overload. From my point of view i'd narrowed it down to nuc or similar pc that could be attached to the back of the tv wifi'd to a nas and then some sort of powerline kit to get it round the house.

What kit and or suggestions are you all using?? All answers welcomed 

[RetroRaz]

i use a ZyXel NSA 320.

Its a really good peice of kit. got 2 hard drives in there (3tb each) so when you put things onto one hard drive, it mirrors it to the other.

Its got really fast read and write speeds, connected it to a 5 port gigabit switch which is also connected to my main virgin media wireless router, another wireless access point for the ground floor and also my Samsung Smart Tv is linked to the switch too.

My TV plays nearly every format, AVI, MPEG, MP4, MKV, VOB.

All my PCS, laptops and smart phones pick up the nas drive too and plays all the files which I choose to share.

It also has an Itunes Server built in, so you can pick up the songs from your nas drive directly to Itunes.

AND if you know how to port forward, you can access your nas drive from anywhere in the world.

Theres loads you can do with it including Torrent downloads, dropbox, youtube uploads etc. However I havent tried those functions yet.

I hope that helps mate

[edd666999]

I have a hp n40l connected to my av receiver + projector.

That holds all media plus give me a pc to browse and such.


I have plex installed on the n40l.

All my tvs have a roku device attached with plex.

All connected with powerline adapters.

You can get away with wifi streaming providing its all 720p and below. And you have a decent router

My router is a asus ac wifi router.

If all your content is 720p you can buy a now tv box (£10) from sky and side load plex onto it. Thats a awesome cheaper way to do it.

[dajonic]

Ok good start keep it coming, thanks guys! The ZyXel is along the lines of a synolgy nas that I'm looking at for the storage problem, but I don't know what a plex is?? Sorry. I take it for the full fat 1080p wifi is a no go and you'd need to be wired in for that? I'd also like to connect everything through the av amp which I think mine is capable of doing. Is there any recommended software you're using for getting your media around the house or are you using the windows media player or a stand alone software? I've looked at Dune products to take care of the movies, Olive products to take care of the tunes but I really want something which would roll everything into the one box. More suggestions please  
Scrap the question over plex...found it, hmmm interesting.

[Duv]

I use a qnap ts412. That sorts all my bluray/tv episodes/music out for me. (Sickbeard/couch potato/headphone) then connected to that an asrock ion running openelec. Can't fault the setup at all :-)

[Scottymon]

I've got a HP N40L too, wicked little boxes these, wack your preferred OS on to it, acts perfectly for backup and data streaming; enabling the TV to essentailly read/stream all formats - it sits in the  garage next to the Router (Asus RT-AC66U) controlled via integrated Wireless keyboard and mouse.  Very easy setup, easy to use, and hasn't failed me yet... but worth upgrading the RAM at some point if your hammering it.

[edd666999]

I've got a HP N40L too, wicked little boxes these, wack your preferred OS on to it, acts perfectly for backup and data streaming; enabling the TV to essentailly read/stream all formats - it sits in the  garage next to the Router (Asus RT-AC66U) controlled via integrated Wireless keyboard and mouse.  Very easy setup, easy to use, and hasn't failed me yet... but worth upgrading the RAM at some point if your hammering it.

Have a look at freenas if you don't connect it to a tv.