Streamer .wtv over wired network

AMc

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I've read around here but not found a good answer...

I have a Windows Media Center PC (W7) recording .wtv files from Freeview and eventually HD when we get it.
It also has an 80GB library of MP3 and another 20GB of JPG.
The house is fully wired with cat6 quality cable and sockets.

I have an xbox 360 in use as an MCE extender which is working fine connected to an old Sony CRT in the lounge.

I'd previously tested the PS3 in there too which worked using the MCE DNLA server.

In the bedroom I have an LG 1080p TV (no networking).
We'd occasionally like to watch recorded TV there too but another 360 seems like overkill as well as being louder than I'd like.

iPlayer etc. would be a bonus but the main thing is .wtv playback.

I'd really prefer not to transcode as I'm not sure I have the horsepower on the HTPC to do it live and I wouldn't want to transcode everything on the off chance we decide to watch it in bed.

Is there a small, cheap, silent, streamer that can playback .wtv from the DNLA server on the MCE PC?

Thanks for looking!
 
Not that I'm aware of.

WTV is a propitiatory Microsoft format, some of it has been reverse engineered by ffmpeg open source codec team and Boxee have implemented that experimental support, basic files will play for the most part but other functions like rewind or pause don't as it's a work in progress.

Boxee Box is around £180, the ATV2 around £100 hacked to run XBMC will see WTV files but cannot play them, I don't think XBMC have yet implemented the wtv support from ffmpeg.

The only way your getting those files to play on a cheap player is by using that transcoding server most likely. Alternatively switch software you use to record files like GB-PVR so it is outputted in a different format to wtv. Lastly you might find one of the old v2 media center extenders that might work but not all of them could handle wtv support, Microsoft only ever bothered keeping the 360 in sync.
 
From what I've read on The Green Button etc. is that when MS moved to .wtv they orphaned all the media centre extenders except the xbox 360.
The PS3 does play back but ffwd, rwd etc. aren't functional to say the least IIRC you can get 1.5x ffwd with sound and you can get it to index the file into thumbnails and skip to those.

Changing the recording interface isn't really an option - I'm still weaning the family off our beloved Tivo
I was hoping for something a little less expensive than a full blown games console but I guess MS have a vested interest in keeping a closed eco system.

I guess the only other option is an HDMI over cat extender - but they're almost as expensive as an xbox :)

Thanks for confirming my suspicions!
 
Asus WiCast can send wireless HDMI output from PC to TV but is about the same price as a 360 although no noise at all from this option, however you'd need something to control it remotely and of course the PC would need to be on.
 
Thanks for that but the 10m range isn't enough - I have cat6e wiring in place anyway so I was thinking more like this
£60 device that uses 2 ethernet connections and sends IR back.
--|AV18497|HDMI OVER CAT5 WITH IR EXTENDER | CPC

Still seems like a clunky solution and my previous experience of linking the PC through the amp to the TV (fights over resolution, refresh and overscan) make me wary of sticking another device in the HDMI chain :)

Looks like it's either a 360 or wait for the industry to catch up. As we seldom watch TV in the bedroom anyway I'll probably hang on for a while. Cheers!
 
I haven't tested this out myself but someone over on XBMC forums says latest nightly build of XBMC plays wtv files okay.

If you have a small sample file you can provide I can check it out on my ATV2.
 

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