Need a solution for streaming/backing up media
So I just bought a Panasonic Viera tc-p60st30 HDTV. So far so good mainly. Has some great internet features (Netflix/Hulu/Amazon instant video etc). It also has DLNA. I like this theory of this option but I am having a hard time getting it to recognize just about any of my video files.
Dell inspiron 17R windows 7 laptop. In the past I watched most of my downloaded video content right on the laptop. But now with the new TV I want to enjoy all of my videos on the 60 inch screen. This is essentially why I am no longer that thrilled with my laptop being tethered to the external HDD. It seems like a pain in the butt to dowloan movies and sunch on my laptop to the HDD and then figure out a way of getting them to the tv. I thought the DLNA might have some promise here but as I said I am having some issues with it being able to read the file formats.
I also have a XBOX 360. I used to play a lot of games but no more. Using it as a media extender for the videos hasn’t been that great of an experience. The interface is rather slow making finding things a chore. I am also not that in love with the controls i.e. fast forwarding etc. I miss being able to scrub to a particular point of a video rather easily like I could do on my laptop with windows media player/vlc/etc.
So here is some functionality I would like to achieve.
1) I want to be able to download torrents/videos on my laptop but then store them on an external HDD. Utorrent seems to have this functionalty built in. It seems you can put new downloads in a directory (one located on my laptops internal HDD) and then move completed downloads to a different directory (the external HDD I would like to be the eventual home of my videos).
2) I want to be able to watch the videos stored on the external HDD on my nice new HDTV. It seems my best option is to work with the DLNA server functionality that comes with the TV (although if I am missing better or easier ideas please don’t hesitate to suggest them). As I have said I have ran into issues with file formats. I was thinking of doing something like this, http://lifehacker.com/5866429/add-a...n-and-remote-downloading-to-utorrent-for-free (see the automatic video conversion section) to try and transcode the files after they have been downloaded in order to make them playable via the DLNA option on my HDTV.
3) Music wise I basically have around 170GB music library stored on my laptops internal HDD. I stream this to my stereo via itunes/airport express base station. Generally this works just fine. Sometimes I suffer from some buffering issues (is that the correct termonilogy??) where the music stops for a few seconds. Not sure what the culprit is. I assume it’s my network.
4) Assuming I can free my laptop from the external HDD I would like an automated back up solution that can be performed via my network (or a NAS to external HDD type of solution).
Ok so then my problem seems to be finding the right solution for storing my movies. I’ve thought about a NAS. There are sooo many friggin options though it makes me dizzy.
Something like http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002U42XD6/?tag=snbforums-20 seems like it might be overkill. Also it would be pretty pricey as I would need to buy an HDD on top of the NAS itself.
Then there is something like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GK0GKO/?tag=snbforums-20 which in theory seems great but some of the user reviews mention sluggish performance and a bad interface. If I am going to spend $200 I want it to perform well at what it does and I am not sure this will do what I require of it.
I just saw that this device came out too http://reviews.cnet.com/networking-...-35099306.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r which I actually bought on a whim yesterday but I am wondering if it right for what I am asking it to do. This product is actually what started me on this journey to find the perfect solution and I am just not convinced it will perform all that great and I am considering returning it.
I have also looked into http://reviews.cnet.com/audio-video...ptv2000-push2tv-hd/4505-14101_7-34467071.html My laptop is widi ready and the appealing thing here is that I think I would preserve the same playback functionality that windows media player has i.e. scrubbing
Perhaps instead of buying a streaming option a 15 ft HDMI cable would work better (and be significantly cheaper)? Would seem to be the most reliable choice too. This would also allow me to keep the aforementioned scrubbing features. I could care less about the cable going across my living room. But I would still need to address how to store my movies. I am leaning more towards this option but again I am still left with finding a storage solution for my movies.
One last thing I have considered is turning my old laptop into a media server. Its not that old but I am not really entirely sure how this would work. I have seen things like freenas that I ssume would make this work. The appeal here is I would not spend much money. I have a bunch of laptop HDD’s not being used that I could throw in a HDD enclosure to add storage. It is a dell e1505 with Intel core duo t2250 1.73 GHz, 2 GB RAM (maxed out) 300 GB internal HDD, 4 usb 2.0 ports
So all this research has brought me to an inability to make a decision lol. I am new to the idea of a NAS and so admittedly I could be missing a lot. Please provide any suggestions or ask any questions if you need some clarity.
So I just bought a Panasonic Viera tc-p60st30 HDTV. So far so good mainly. Has some great internet features (Netflix/Hulu/Amazon instant video etc). It also has DLNA. I like this theory of this option but I am having a hard time getting it to recognize just about any of my video files.
Dell inspiron 17R windows 7 laptop. In the past I watched most of my downloaded video content right on the laptop. But now with the new TV I want to enjoy all of my videos on the 60 inch screen. This is essentially why I am no longer that thrilled with my laptop being tethered to the external HDD. It seems like a pain in the butt to dowloan movies and sunch on my laptop to the HDD and then figure out a way of getting them to the tv. I thought the DLNA might have some promise here but as I said I am having some issues with it being able to read the file formats.
I also have a XBOX 360. I used to play a lot of games but no more. Using it as a media extender for the videos hasn’t been that great of an experience. The interface is rather slow making finding things a chore. I am also not that in love with the controls i.e. fast forwarding etc. I miss being able to scrub to a particular point of a video rather easily like I could do on my laptop with windows media player/vlc/etc.
So here is some functionality I would like to achieve.
1) I want to be able to download torrents/videos on my laptop but then store them on an external HDD. Utorrent seems to have this functionalty built in. It seems you can put new downloads in a directory (one located on my laptops internal HDD) and then move completed downloads to a different directory (the external HDD I would like to be the eventual home of my videos).
2) I want to be able to watch the videos stored on the external HDD on my nice new HDTV. It seems my best option is to work with the DLNA server functionality that comes with the TV (although if I am missing better or easier ideas please don’t hesitate to suggest them). As I have said I have ran into issues with file formats. I was thinking of doing something like this, http://lifehacker.com/5866429/add-a...n-and-remote-downloading-to-utorrent-for-free (see the automatic video conversion section) to try and transcode the files after they have been downloaded in order to make them playable via the DLNA option on my HDTV.
3) Music wise I basically have around 170GB music library stored on my laptops internal HDD. I stream this to my stereo via itunes/airport express base station. Generally this works just fine. Sometimes I suffer from some buffering issues (is that the correct termonilogy??) where the music stops for a few seconds. Not sure what the culprit is. I assume it’s my network.
4) Assuming I can free my laptop from the external HDD I would like an automated back up solution that can be performed via my network (or a NAS to external HDD type of solution).
Ok so then my problem seems to be finding the right solution for storing my movies. I’ve thought about a NAS. There are sooo many friggin options though it makes me dizzy.
Something like http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002U42XD6/?tag=snbforums-20 seems like it might be overkill. Also it would be pretty pricey as I would need to buy an HDD on top of the NAS itself.
Then there is something like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GK0GKO/?tag=snbforums-20 which in theory seems great but some of the user reviews mention sluggish performance and a bad interface. If I am going to spend $200 I want it to perform well at what it does and I am not sure this will do what I require of it.
I just saw that this device came out too http://reviews.cnet.com/networking-...-35099306.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1r which I actually bought on a whim yesterday but I am wondering if it right for what I am asking it to do. This product is actually what started me on this journey to find the perfect solution and I am just not convinced it will perform all that great and I am considering returning it.
I have also looked into http://reviews.cnet.com/audio-video...ptv2000-push2tv-hd/4505-14101_7-34467071.html My laptop is widi ready and the appealing thing here is that I think I would preserve the same playback functionality that windows media player has i.e. scrubbing
Perhaps instead of buying a streaming option a 15 ft HDMI cable would work better (and be significantly cheaper)? Would seem to be the most reliable choice too. This would also allow me to keep the aforementioned scrubbing features. I could care less about the cable going across my living room. But I would still need to address how to store my movies. I am leaning more towards this option but again I am still left with finding a storage solution for my movies.
One last thing I have considered is turning my old laptop into a media server. Its not that old but I am not really entirely sure how this would work. I have seen things like freenas that I ssume would make this work. The appeal here is I would not spend much money. I have a bunch of laptop HDD’s not being used that I could throw in a HDD enclosure to add storage. It is a dell e1505 with Intel core duo t2250 1.73 GHz, 2 GB RAM (maxed out) 300 GB internal HDD, 4 usb 2.0 ports
So all this research has brought me to an inability to make a decision lol. I am new to the idea of a NAS and so admittedly I could be missing a lot. Please provide any suggestions or ask any questions if you need some clarity.
