HD mkv streaming to another room?

[Nish]

Hi All,

I have a media centre setup in the living room. Acer Revo unit outputing via hdmi and optical.

What would be the best way to get movies/programs streamed to my bedroom? (Plasma screen)

Mainly we are talking about mkv's (up to 1080p) and the usual mix of DivX/Avi's stored on USB drives.

Some sort of wireless option?

[.:ian:.]

http://support.wdc.com/product/kb.asp?fid=wdfWDTV_...
or a popcornhour A110/A200 will all connect to a windows/samba/nfs share on the revo box and stream the video over the network. Wireless should be ok for 720p or lower, it may not be for 1080p.

I have no idea if the WDTVs are any good, but they are at least half the price of the PCHs, and promise most of the key features.
I can recommend the PCHs though..

[Nish]

That actually looks like it will do the job!

The PCH does seem better, but i only want it for streaming capability really. Bulk of the viewing is on the main setup, this is just for the odd late night when i cant get to sleep.

Thanks for the help

[Pipster1969]

I use a PS3 and ps3 media server, never failed to stream anything over my gigabit network.

[Nish]

PS3 won't do MKV's though will it?

[T84]

PS3 Media Server transcodes MKV to a format that the PS3 can decode.

[Nish]

Ah ok.

Things have moved on a bit since I last looked.

I bought a 360 unfortunately so the option is out, plus minimal hardware replication is ideal so the WD box seems the way forward.

[Pipster1969]

I was surprised by the PS3 as well, it does it well as well.

[Bullett]

The 360 will connect to a DLNA server and stream from a remote source, don't know what formats are supported though.

[Funk]

My XBox360 works with PS3 Media Server too, oddly enough.. It will chew up your CPU though, make sure it's beefy and hard-wire if you can - wi-fi may not have sufficient bandwidth to cope. Quality is stunning though.

[Nish]

With these media server options I would need some sort of computer setup in the bedroom right?

The advantage I can see with the WD box is it is just that, a box. Purely streaming from my main media centre source and outputting to screen.

I really don't need anymore laptops/desktops/ipads etc in the place!

[Bullett]

No, you run the media server on the Acer Revo (is this running windows media server already?) it will run in the background.
Any dlna server app will work (PS3 media server, Twonky, tversity etc) you then just need a dlna client (PS3, xbox, PCH etc).

Connect the client to the upstairs TV and it connects to the server app running on the Revo.

Use this as a client http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-1080p-HDP-R1-Internet...

Edited by Bullett on Friday 1st October 13:27

[Nish]

I see what you're getting at Bullett, but as I have the Revo unit already surely I am doing the same thing by adding the WD box?

Just avoiding any TVersity type requirement in the process?

[Bullett]

The WD box still needs a source of data.
If your HDD with the films on are on the REVO then you need to access that to get to the data. As far as I could tell the WD needs a directly attached HDD and is not DLNA so it can't stream over the net.

What OS and apps are you using on the REVO? Windows media server?

[Bullett]

I stand corrected, some of the WD boxes will access remote network drives (via Ethernet).

[Nish]

Revo unit is using Windows 7 Media Center, might change to Media Portal at some point.

But yes, the ethernet WD box should just be able to access the USB drives hanging off the Revo if I share them from what I've read

[Bullett]

Ok, media centre is a DLNA server so any dlna client will attach without issue and the interface should be a lot more inviting and easy to use than a mapped drive.