Child Friendly Media Streamer?

dbargna

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I currently have an xbox with xbmc which is passed its usefulness, but the interface is great and my daughter can navigate to the movies and play her favourites. We can also lock Mum and Dad's films which stop the little ones watching things they arent ready for yet.

I'm thinking of buying an NMT (bit pricey though) and want to know if the interface is easy for them to use, does it have nice big thumb nails and the ability to lock folders? Can it also cope with the high bitrate that our camcorder seems to generate?

thanks
d
 
If your into xbmc, i'd suggest appleTV with xbmc installed (google atv-win - assuming you're on windows). The Interface is almost identical, but with the added bonus of been able to play 720p AVC files at 5mbps in an mp4 container flawlessly - looks great too!!!

Hope this helps
 
If your into xbmc, i'd suggest appleTV with xbmc installed (google atv-win - assuming you're on windows). The Interface is almost identical, but with the added bonus of been able to play 720p AVC files at 5mbps in an mp4 container flawlessly - looks great too!!!

Hope this helps

Similar price to the NMT and that will play 1080p AVC @ 35Mbps

With a little work you could implement YAMJ which has cover art.

You can also do a TVID trick that allow you to limit pages, by using a secret key press combination (admittedly it's ugly).
 
to make it simple u would probably want to get something by one of the larger companies.

have a look at the wdtv/seagate theater/eva9150 and the new lacie model.
 
appleTV with XBMC, mac mini with XBMC (benefit of being a 'proper' computer too so you can browse the web or do email etc)

I have a mini running plex which is fantastic but is missing parental controls. They'll come soon enough but XBMC has them I think.


Personally for me the interface is important enough to spend a little more on it. Loved XBMC on the old Xbox and nothing comes close IMO
 
thanks for the feedback guys. I think an NMT may play back the home movies I have better than the ATV. They seem to be pretty high bitrate and I'm not sure if ATV can handle it. While I really like XBMC, I think the latest builds are not as good as earlier builds and they seem to have lost focus - or the project is just too big to be controlled well. - but its still a damn fine effort for a free piece of software.
 
I was tempted by the popcorn hour but I listen alot of music and i wanted a box that did a good job of everything i.e gapless music playback etc. I'm not that bothered about HD, just a good picture (my LCD's only 26"). I too had an xbox with xbmc installed (loved it) but wanted to move on to AVC video. I am now in the process of ripping all my dvd's to AVC mp4 for apple TV. The picture quality's fab for what I want and the file size is comparatively small (<2gb)!!! I've found myself not using xbmc as much as i thought but I have it installed for watching my old xvid dvdrips converted from my own collection over my network (NSLU2 openslugged + 1TB external hard drive with mt-daapd (itunes server), smb, twonky media server). Now all I have to do is to figure out how to be able to use mp4 video with mt-daapd and i'm sorted.

If your just after video though then the popcorn hour's probably the best option. Failing that you could build your own custom HTPC and install XBMC for linux on it ( I believe there's an XBMC Live CD/USB stick version).
 
the guys at work swear by the ATVs so I might check have alook (and they are cheaper than popcorn hour), we really want movies and photos and not so much music... I dont really want a htpc under the tv, as a decent case and power supply work out quite expensive.

do you know what bitrate atv supports?
 
ATV supposedly supports 5mbps, as referenced by apple.com, how ever in my own experince it's actually moer like 7mbps vbr, which is still very good!!!
 
mac mini + plex.

nicer (IMO) than XBMC, directly integrates to your itunes and iphoto libraries, will play back itunes DRMed music if you have any, and the 2.0GHz mini should play back anything you throw at it.

worth taking a look at I think. Small form factor, very quiet, works with harmony remote/apple remote
 
thats sounds great. just spoken to some colleagues again and they all swear by their ATVs (all without mods)...just need to see if I can pick one up for a reasonable price or swap it for some goodies.
 

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