Recommend me a local streaming/Netflix/xbmc solution
- Thread starter Quaid
- Start date
I'll second (or eighth) Plex. I have PMS running on an old headless desktop. NAS for storage. I have plex clients on laptop/tablet/phone, and with the dedicated server I can transcode as necessary for whatever device I'm on. I don't use my TV much, but I have HDMI output for my phone when I do, and it's a cinch. It's so convenient it feels like cheating.
darkmiasma
Trakanon Raider
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Plex for me too ...
The way I have things setup at home is like this:
PLEX Server/Storage:
- Thecus N5550 NAS (8TB of Storage)
- PLEX Server (i5-laptop) - real low power so running 24/7 is no problem.
My PLEX Clients:
- AppleTV3 (Master bedroom) (42" 1080p)
- Roku3 (Living room 55" LED 1080p)
- GF iPad 2
- my iPad 3
- GF iPhone 5s
- my Droid Razr MAXX
I also have 3 other friends running it on their phones/ipads/roku3s.
Edit: the UI on the Roku3 for Plex is disgusting, but it's fast as hell, so its worth the tradeoff.
The way I have things setup at home is like this:
PLEX Server/Storage:
- Thecus N5550 NAS (8TB of Storage)
- PLEX Server (i5-laptop) - real low power so running 24/7 is no problem.
My PLEX Clients:
- AppleTV3 (Master bedroom) (42" 1080p)
- Roku3 (Living room 55" LED 1080p)
- GF iPad 2
- my iPad 3
- GF iPhone 5s
- my Droid Razr MAXX
I also have 3 other friends running it on their phones/ipads/roku3s.
Edit: the UI on the Roku3 for Plex is disgusting, but it's fast as hell, so its worth the tradeoff.
Centralized server with low cost clients that have zero setup or complications.
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The setup involved with my Boxee Box was to find my shared folder on my computer and add it to the "My Sources". And it cost $180. Seems pretty easy and cheap to me.
BTW, Plex's scraper got some of my shows wrong. It translated some of the American Pie movies into "American Heritage Series" and Chopped is one long 8 hour episode. That's too much Ted Allen for me.
BTW, Plex's scraper got some of my shows wrong. It translated some of the American Pie movies into "American Heritage Series" and Chopped is one long 8 hour episode. That's too much Ted Allen for me.
Right your boxee is one device playing local files.
Plex is streaming to almost any device you can think of.
It got some of your shows wrong probably cause your file names are shitty and still have scene tags on them
My folders are the cleanest thing n the world and no scraper makes any errors with it.
Plex is streaming to almost any device you can think of.
It got some of your shows wrong probably cause your file names are shitty and still have scene tags on them
My folders are the cleanest thing n the world and no scraper makes any errors with it.
darkmiasma
Trakanon Raider
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Just to further this: some devices won't actually play the files, even though they are powerful enough. iPhones and iPads can't play MKV files natively, and (I believe) prefer to have their audio in AAC/AC3 format - so the PLEX server will actually do all the transcoding work itself and then just stream the iPad, etc an MP4 stream with the video/audio it can playback.
Its also incredibly convenient for moving across multiple devices. For example, if you start watching a movie on one device (say your iPad while you're taking a shit) and then decide to go watch it on the big screen downstairs, you can just click on the movie from that device (say a Roku) and it'll resume exactly where you left off from with the iPad.
It'll also track watched status, so you know where you left off in a season of a show, and you can have multiple users (each with their own profiles and watch status) so that if I watched a TV Series like Breaking Bad it'll show as watched for me, but if my GF who never saw it decides to see what isn't watched it'll show up, and when she watchs it, it'll track exactly where she is per episode.
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Eh, I guess I'll revisit Plex when I have multiple TVs, whenever that is. Still dubious.Right your boxee is one device playing local files.
Plex is streaming to almost any device you can think of.
It got some of your shows wrong probably cause your file names are shitty and still have scene tags on them
My folders are the cleanest thing n the world and no scraper makes any errors with it.
You go through the trouble of sanitizing filenames you just downloaded? I don't think you can do that while the torrent is still being shared.
If you have one media device there is no reason for Plex. You are 100% right. If you have two tablets, 4 laptops, 2 phones, 4 ipads, and two rokus that can access all the media? Worth it. If you have plenty of bandwidth and have friends that want to share your media or you want to access it on the road? Also extremely worth it.
Yeah I don't do torrents like that, I seedbox them and then FTP them to my box so not affected it but yes I sanitize every folder and every file.
This is an example of what my folders look like. Some of it I do by hand some of it I have automated. The TV shows are 100% automated via sickbeard.
The movies I dump into that folder as just the movie file inside it's folder and then every so often I run Ember Media Manager to generate the rest of the stuff. Plex generates all of it's thumbnails and fanart in it's own database I just put the files in there later on for XBMC when I have to do big rebuilds even though it will do it all by itself anyways. Plus when I share all my files with someone on an external my stuff is impressive.
D:\
-----> incomplete (this folder is for temporary stuff)
-----> complete
---------> TV
------------> Archer (2009)
---------------> Season 01
------------------> Archer (2009) - 1x01 - Mole Hunt.mp4
---------------> Season 02
---------------> Season 03
---------------> Season 04
---------------> fanart.jpg
---------------> folder.jpg
---------> Movies
------------> Avengers, The (2012)
---------------> Avengers, The (2012).mkv
---------------> Avengers, The (2012)-fanart.jpg
---------------> Avengers, The (2012)-poster.jpg
---------------> Avengers, The (2012).tbn
ToeMissile
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Eomer
Trakanon Raider
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Plex on the Roku started working fine for no real reason that I can see, I didn't change anything. Both in terms of being able to use my phone or tablet to play things on the Roku, and in terms of the Roku playing movie files. It still seems to take a very long time to start streaming movies, though, and still fails occasionally. Only on the Roku, it's fine on an iPad, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10.
The ipad etc can direct stream with no transcoding and I don't think the roku can is that issue.
Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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What reliability issues are you having with your Boxee? Maybe things changed with stock release, but I long since updated my Boxee with new firmware from Boxee Hacks and have 0 problems. Remote was going out on me as well, but I replaced the battery and all is well again. Love my Boxee!
When we get another TV, currently only 1 in the house, over Black Friday, we'll be getting a Roku with it and will be running Plex.
BOXEE+HACKS
And I've added my sources, but I don't use Movies, Shows, etc, as I got annoyed at how long it was taking to load all the art. I just go to Files, and navigate to my shared hard drive that has all my stuff.
I do run a Plex server though, for friends to be able to stream my stuff when they want, and so I can stream my stuff to other devices, but I rarely do this.
When we get another TV, currently only 1 in the house, over Black Friday, we'll be getting a Roku with it and will be running Plex.
BOXEE+HACKS
And I've added my sources, but I don't use Movies, Shows, etc, as I got annoyed at how long it was taking to load all the art. I just go to Files, and navigate to my shared hard drive that has all my stuff.
I do run a Plex server though, for friends to be able to stream my stuff when they want, and so I can stream my stuff to other devices, but I rarely do this.
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If you're asking me, Crone, I think that's been resolved. Remote battery was indeed dying, it was just manifesting in the weirdest way. I would think it would just stop working, not register one button press as multiple.
Boxee itself got a factory reset and an install of the BOXEE+HACKS. Not sure if the hacks helps, but it seems to be working fine now. I also took the time to comb through the settings again. Since I don't use the Movies/Shows/etc like you mentioned(for the same reason), I turned off periodic source scanning. I know where my files are, I'll go get them, thank you. Rebuffering hasn't happened since then.
Boxee itself got a factory reset and an install of the BOXEE+HACKS. Not sure if the hacks helps, but it seems to be working fine now. I also took the time to comb through the settings again. Since I don't use the Movies/Shows/etc like you mentioned(for the same reason), I turned off periodic source scanning. I know where my files are, I'll go get them, thank you. Rebuffering hasn't happened since then.