What do I want? Popcorn!?

[ezman]

Hi I have the following requirements, is there a product that will tick the boxes.

• NAS capability (either on-board hdd or via usb)
• Remote Contol and GUI (must be usable without PC on)
• Easy for a non-techy to setup (no samba servers and the like!)
• Play all common video formats
• Play music (ipod format a definite bonus)
• Photo Slideshow capability

I imagine this would plug into my router and then I can drag and drop files as needed. How wrong am I?

Please help! Really stuck wondering what it is to research!

 

[Trollslayer]

I have a PCH A110 nad it is very good but as with any streamer it needs some admin.
Once set up it is family friendly though.

 

[ro53ben]

If you want a video player, buy one. The PCH and other NMT players are about as good as it gets....excellent value. I own the iStar Mini HD.

If you want a video player, but one.

Don't try and mix both. The best video players are crap for music. The best music players don't do video.

 

[Smurfin]

Easy for a non-techy to setup (no samba servers and the like!)

Forget almost everything out there then! Unfortunately, none of these devices are plug and play and take lots of time to setup and get working properly. I consider myself to be a "non techy" like you, but I've learnt so so much since I delved into streaming/NMTs...but it really has taken up countless hours and stretched my patience to the limit!

It's worth it though

 

[techno12]

My A100 was a doddle to set up - I don't stream content from my main PC though.

All I did was put a 500gb drive inside, and this drive is picked up by Vista no probs, so I've mapped it to Z: and I download straight onto that. Once done, I shove my PC into standby (since I started doing this I'm using 1/3 less electricity as it used to be on 24/7) and off I go..

It's plays everything I've tried, apart from an oddly encoded Samsung 'Demonstration of 1080p' mkv (it stutters after a while - the chipset doesn't support that particular flavour of mkv apparently - all the other 1080p stuff I've tried play flawlessly)

 

[foozoo]

Hi,

i have owned a A-100 for quite a while now and have to say i agree with Smurfin, these devices are not plug n play, mine become almost a full time hobby before i got it set up to be user friendly, i achieved this by installing a movie jukebox, since then its been a revelation.
Personally i use a 500Gb internal drive and a 750Gb usb drive, this suits my needs, i did try streaming but this proved too unreliable, i have dabbled with music but found it a little stressful, but i am going to try installing a music jukebox next this may improve things.


foozoo

 

[beecee]

Hi,

Personally i use a 500Gb internal drive

foozoo

what type of internal drive is it?
looking to add one to mine soon, to keep all the stuff i watch regular, and use my 1tb external as a floating drive between this and the WD...

 

[foozoo]

Hi BeeCee,

I use a hitachi deskstar that i took out of a Freecom Wlan mediaplayer, so far its been very reliable, hope this helps.

foozoo