Recommend me a local streaming/Netflix/xbmc solution

Quaid

Quaid

Trump's Staff
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Hey guys,

Looking for a nice home solution for streaming my media from my desktop PC to my bedroom/living room. Used a boxee for a while and was reasonably happy with it... The thing is just so slow and unreliable. Just bought a Roku 3 and hate it in comparison. Gonna return it tomorrow.

Anyway, looking for a solution online has proven quite difficult. There are a massive amount of products these days. Any help would be appreciated.

My needs:

Wife needs to be able to use it comfortably.
Access to streaming movie repositories (used Navi-X on boxee. So good)
Plays Netflix.
Local media streaming.
Would love access to any live TV channels I could get. Does XBMC provide this?

I'm open to any solution really as long as it fits the above criteria. Would a Wii U, PS4, XBone, or OUYA fit these criteria? Probably not im guessing... But that would be ideal.

Thanks!
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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How about a cheap tablet using Plex? I had been considering getting some sort of streaming box for my bedroom TV, but now that I discovered Plex I just use my Nexus 10 when I want to watch something on it. I don't however watch a lot of TV, so that might not be as convenient as a permanent solution.
 
Quaid

Quaid

Trump's Staff
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8,265
I tried to install plex last night when I unboxed my Roku 3 and I'm having huge issues with it... Way too annoying.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Really? I couldn't get it working on my actual NAS because it was too old and the Atom CPU couldn't transcode, but once I installed it on my HTPC it's worked flawlessly on my Nexus 4, Nexus 10, and girlfriend's iPad. It's pretty awesome.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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I found Plex to be very easy to use, convenient and fairly idiot proof. What issues are you having? Seems like if you got that working with your Roku 3 it should do everything you want it to short of the live television. Otherwise I don't know what to suggest to you other than a full-blown HTPC.

XBMC can access your live television, but you'll need a cable card in your HTPC to do that.

*edit- Also, if you are having issues setting up Plex I am betting you will have issues setting up XBMC as well, Plex is based off of XBMC.
 
Quaid

Quaid

Trump's Staff
11,859
8,265
I'm at work now but when I get home I'll post the issue with plex. I'm decent with computer stuff and rarely encounter issues I can't solve so this was disheartening. Computer was built in 2011 so it's certainly not old. It was an issue at install.
 
Void

Void

BAU BAU
<Gold Donor>
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I just recently installed PLEX on my HTPC, and then the XBMC add-on for it as well. Wasn't much at all complicated about it, so something must be whack that you aren't noticing.
 
C

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
You probly have some issues on your network, and with your wireless enviroment.

Have a 1080p Roku, and Plex works flawlessly right out of the box.


BTW does anyone have a list of people sharing there media servers?
 
A

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
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Deathwing_sl said:
Those of you with a roku/plex...superior to Boxee Box?
Click to expand...
I would say yes but we have already established I was not a fan of the Boxee to begin with.

The thing about Plex and a Roku is that it is so simple.

1.) Install Plex Media Server on PC
2.) Tell it what your TV folder is and what your Movie folder is
3.) Let it work for a couple minutes
4.) Type Plex into Roku and install the channel
5.) Open the Plex channel and it will automatically start working with your media server on the same network

It is really that simple. Sharing with a friend is almost as simple. You need to sign in with accounts to do that but as long as you have some bandwidth it's no problem.

You can take your Roku to anybody else's house and stream all of your shows from your house as long as you have even a slightly decent upload and a slightly non terrible PC to transcode it.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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What about from a performance standpoint? I guess this would depend more on the Roku3, and I have no idea what internals are in there. Boxee does a decent job but I get hangups, glitches, and reboots from time to time. The remote has started to shit itself too.

Boxee's support for this platform is basically dead, especially since Samsung essentially bought them out. Wouldn't mind picking up a Roku 3 if it meant better longevity.
 
C

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
The Roku works without any hiccups even with the most demanding files.
Your biggest hurdle is going to be your wireless enviroment at home, and if you take it to someone elses house your upload speed from your ISP.

Plex is an amazing piece of software tho. One thing I love is its ability to take all 4 major cloud services, and manage them so you are not maxing any of them out. You can also set up rules etc.

Such as upload Game of thrones season 1 to the cloud while im sleeping, then delete them after I watch a video etc
There is tons of options tho.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Picked up a Roku3 yesterday. Played around with it a bit last night, seems to work pretty well with Plex overall. I can't get it to play nice with my Nexus 4 or 10, though. When I choose a file on either and tell it to play on the Roku3 (the Plex app on the phone/tablet does "see" the Roku), nothing actually happens on the Roku. But the Nexus 4/10 can tell each other to play things and they work fine.

Anyone have any quick/easy solutions? I tried a bit of Googling last night, but I was having trouble phrasing the search terms well to actually find a solution.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Yeah, I'm finding it's kind of mediocre so far. I haven't had much luck getting the problem I mentioned above fixed. And I've also found that the Roku is having a hard time with some of my movie files. I haven't tested many yet, but Pacific Rim, This Is The End, and a couple others all fail to load/play. TV shows have been fine. I dunno if it's the file size, codecs, or what.
 
C

Column_sl

shitlord
9,833
7
I've thrown everything at the Roku with no problems. Pretty sure Eomer has a badly setup network environment.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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It could well be the wireless, I spose. But I doubt it, as I can watch the same files on my Nexus 4 and 10 just fine (wi-fi or wireless). My place has zero walls to interfere with wi-fi, it's literally one big open room and the Roku is about 30-40 feet from the router. I haven't done a whole lot of troubleshooting as yet though, so maybe it's something simple that I'm missing.

And like I said, I can't get either of my Nexus devices while using the Plex app to play on my Roku. But it works fine if I tell my Nexus 4 to play a video on my 10, or vice versa.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
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If I remember right, with Plex it is about what file types your computer can play, not what file types the Roku can play. Do you have a streaming service like Netflix and/or Amazon Prime? If so, are you getting HD streams from those services on your Roku? Sounds like a network issue to me as well, especially if you can get videos to play fine on your phone and tablet...
 
Eomer

Eomer

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Yes, Plex, transcodes things so that it should play on any device if you have the bandwidth. No, I don't have any streaming services at the moment. The Roku played an episode of Planet Earth fine, and that was a 1080p Bluray rip as far as I recall. But like I said, I haven't done a lot of testing as yet to see what works and what doesn't work in terms of files, codecs, containers etc.
 
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