MKV Streamer of choice?

cw84

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Hi all...

Given the current line-up of media streamers out there in the US, which streamer would you consider for MKV (H.264/X.264) video and FLAC audio streaming?

I figure the majority of my videos have DTS 5.1 audio but I do know that a few have AC3 audio. I am kinda looking for the "Cadillac" of these devices - something that if I spend a little extra up front it will do what I need for a long way off.

All my media is streamed from a Server 2008 R2 machine over an SMB share. I also like the ability to have some forms of web-connectivity for simple browsing, though not a make or break necessity.

Anything you guys can recommend that will take care of the job?
 
Boxee Box if you want quick fast access to NAS shares and a usable web browser (bookmarks, Flash/HTML5 video, plus keyboard/mouse support), there is some pics of the update UI coming in the next firmware update on the Boxee blog, the web browser has now been added to the home screen instead of being an "app".
 
I've used Boxee software on my laptop and I've noticed some staggering and artifacting on MKV high-bit rate playback.

My laptop is quite a bit more powerful than what a boxee box would be... it's hard not to worry that I would encounter the same result from a dedicated box with less juice. Is this something you've experienced?
 
I've used Boxee software on my laptop and I've noticed some staggering and artifacting on MKV high-bit rate playback.

My laptop is quite a bit more powerful than what a boxee box would be... it's hard not to worry that I would encounter the same result from a dedicated box with less juice. Is this something you've experienced?

Don't forget that the Boxee Box or any media streaming device were designed to do exactly that, unlike a PC which can be missing codecs and /or have codec conflicts, apart from eveything else that goes on in the background.

I personally would recommend the Dune HD players for MKV, DVD ISO, BD ISO and so on playback, as my experience with either of my 2 players has been absolutely flawless. That said they're not exactly profficient when it comes to online contents, so if you're lookingfor that you will have to look into the Popcorn Hour, Mede8er, WD TV Live ranges, if the Boxee Box doesn't ring your bells, but it's hard to beat for online stuff.
 
Boxee Box can handle up to 110Mbps bitrate H.264 so yeah shouldn't be a problem, was probably something to do with the PC system. Although it is a lowly Atom CPU inside the CE4100 chipset it does have a powerful hardware decoder present for MPEG2/VC-1/H.264 video formats.

Some of the other players on the market have web browsers but they tend to be not very good, the second best web browser player on the market is the Tvix Xroid A1 which uses a heavily modified version of Google Android so it has the Android web browser (no Flash support) as it's disposal.

Third best would be the Logitech Revue GoogleTV however these are not very good media players in the first place.

Fourth place are pretty much all the others, these have web browsers in them but there arent as well developed or supported as the above ones.
 
I've used Boxee software on my laptop and I've noticed some staggering and artifacting on MKV high-bit rate playback.

Ahhh, I having similar problems. I'm running a WDLive player via a HP Microserver with WHS and with Blu rays i'm getting the same effect. DVD's are fine.

What gives?
 
So if I were to base my decision off the best ability to stream the media that I have, and not whether I have web-connectivity for browsing and such, what would be the recommendation? Still Boxee Box or do other players have a wider range of play-ability?

I can always use the multitude of other devices I have laying around to surf the internet...
 
So if I were to base my decision off the best ability to stream the media that I have, and not whether I have web-connectivity for browsing and such, what would be the recommendation? Still Boxee Box or do other players have a wider range of play-ability?

I can always use the multitude of other devices I have laying around to surf the internet...

I would recommend the HD Dune players very, very highly. :thumbsup:
 
Where can you buy them in the US? I tried looking for the Prime 3.0 but was unsuccessful in finding a trustworthy site that offered them. Same for many of their current line.
 
Where can you buy them in the US? I tried looking for the Prime 3.0 but was unsuccessful in finding a trustworthy site that offered them. Same for many of their current line.

You could try contacting them via their official US Website: HDI USA - Contact HDI Sales
 
Well, I went out and bought a Boxee Box per some recommendations here and all I have to say is :thumbsdow

Unless you are ready for headaches and tweaking to get the thing working (but with slight buffering/studdering issues or audio drop-outs) I would suggest you stay clear from them. I am posting on their community forum here trying to get some help to resolve the issue, though at this point I am strongly considering taking it back to the store for a full refund.

I would like to try a Dune, but I am attempting to be cautious about the next product I invest into....

Can anyone tell me if there is a specific player that WILL stream high bit-rate 1080p MKV (H.264/X.264) video and AC3, DTS 5.1, and FLAC audio from a SMB share on Server 2008 R2 media server over a 10/100 network OR a decent Wireless-N network?

Thanks guys.
 
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Well, I went out and bought a Boxee Box per some recommendations here and all I have to say is :thumbsdow

Unless you are ready for headaches and tweaking to get the thing working (but with slight buffering/studdering issues or audio drop-outs) I would suggest you stay clear from them. I am posting on their community forum here trying to get some help to resolve the issue, though at this point I am strongly considering taking it back to the store for a full refund.

I would like to try a Dune, but I am attempting to be cautious about the next product I invest into....

Can anyone tell me if there is a specific player that WILL stream high bit-rate 1080p MKV (H.264/X.264) video and AC3, DTS 5.1, and FLAC audio from a SMB share on Server 2008 R2 media server over a 10/100 network OR a decent Wireless-N network?

Thanks guys.

The Dunes or Popcorn Hours as first choice, although you'll have to fork out extra for WiFi on those.
 
Well, I went out and bought a Boxee Box per some recommendations here and all I have to say is :thumbsdow

Unless you are ready for headaches and tweaking to get the thing working (but with slight buffering/studdering issues or audio drop-outs) I would suggest you stay clear from them. I am posting on their community forum here trying to get some help to resolve the issue, though at this point I am strongly considering taking it back to the store for a full refund.

I would like to try a Dune, but I am attempting to be cautious about the next product I invest into....

Can anyone tell me if there is a specific player that WILL stream high bit-rate 1080p MKV (H.264/X.264) video and AC3, DTS 5.1, and FLAC audio from a SMB share on Server 2008 R2 media server over a 10/100 network OR a decent Wireless-N network?

Thanks guys.

Dune I would guess.

Odd though I stream high bitrate Blu-ray VC-1/MPEG/H.264 in MKV with Flac 5.1/7.1 to my Boxee Box and it's flawless though I'm using a high speed QNAP NAS and ethernet network not a WHS server.

You do not want to use wireless with Boxee, should have mentioned that.

If you can (not sure if possible) install the Boxee Media Manager on the WHS and add the shares into the BMM software, then in add source browse the BMM listings, this might help resolve the buffering issues.

Also do a firmware restore and unplug the Boxee Box power cable after the restore is complete (Boxee will auto reboot, just unplug after it does this), this is important as part of Boxee is always on and unknown gremlins are sort of attributed to this, doing a full power cycle can sometimes clear these out.
 

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