Streaming box

murphm45

Hi,



First off apologies if this has been asked before but I can’t find anything on the search. Also it’s a pretty basic question but if someone could help me I’d be really grateful.



I have a hard drive with films and televisions programs (in a mix of avi, mp4 and mkv formats) on it that I had hooked up to my PC but I recently got a new router and found that I could plug it in (i.e. the router has a USB slot) and effectively create a network drive out of it. The “plan” with this is to allow the other computer, tablets etc. on the network access to these files too (which has worked as expected) but I also want to be able to watch them from the “main” telly in the house. Given this I was looking to get some sort of steaming box but I’m trying to get something relatively simple to use (I’m not particularly adverse to a bit of complexity but I know my parents would be and they’d be the primary users) but it does need to have wifi. The problem is I’m far from an expert in this and the more I look into it the sorer my head gets as there’s a dizzying array of them out there, many of them with far too many features relative to what I want (net connectability, web access, Netflix, catch up services etc.). A lot of the ones that seems suitable, along with having too many other features tha could cause problems they seem extortionately expensive and since I bought a first gen WDTV a couple of years ago that doesn’t get much use (WD stopped supporting it and I’ve tried to use rooters for this but they don’t really work properly) I’m reluctant to spend a fortune. I’d also like to get something that’s likely to be supported as new video files might become common and I don’t want to have to get a new box when/if they do.



Saying that my research has lead me to the Now TV box. It’s relatively cheap and it appears the plex player can be added relatively easily (i.e. you need some computer literacy but not a higher degree in programming!). Assuming adding the player is only mildly inconvenient would this be suitable (i.e. would it play all the file formats have and be easy for a techno-phob to use once the )? If it’s not suitable, is there anything anyone could recommend?



Thanks

degsie

NowTV is a great option especially with RarFlix(plex) loaded. Just remember that with plex you need to have a plex server running (on a seperate pc/nas) in order for it to operate. Personally I use a WDTV Live Streaming stb, and haven't found a file format yet it cant handle.

murphm45

Thanks degsie. Are you saying that plex won;t just pick up the network drive as it sits and play the videos (sorry I appreciate it's probably really obvious but as i said a bit of a novice in these matters)

Can i ask where you got your WDTV? I'm livid i can't get my old/antiquated version to work with the network but i agree that there's very little it can't handle! I'm tempted to buy a new version of it (my old one is still going strong) but it just feels like such a waste!

Thanks