Beck38
09-30-2015, 09:18 PM
Once again, I'm kinda 'in the market' for a decent streaming box; there are lots of players in this market now, but the main one I've been watching for a while has gone backwards in what it does (WDTV), by dropping Netflix in their newest box (although they have gotten their wifi up to snuff and other things are still good, like direct SMB support and such.
So I'm in the market for something to be the 'netflixable' replacement for my collection of PCH (Popcorn Hour) boxes that I've been using for years to stream my NAS media around the home. Yes, I have several Bluray players (Sony, Samsung) that do netflix, but I'm searching for something that does all the popular streaming services (pay and free), maybe has the ability to 'plug up' (wireless or otherwise) a qwerty keyboard, and maybe have some path to SMB connectivity without having to run a (to me) silly DNLA server 24/7. I've just got too much on my NAS array's to spend the next couple months setting up DNLA even if I did it on like, a Rasberry Pi or some other micro-computer.
There seem to be (trolling Amazon) lots of streaming boxes out there that are a bit 'off-brand' that do SMB but how much of the pay and/or free services is a good question, but if someone out there has experience already with one I'd take a look, so speak up please.
Must have: Netflix and other pay services
Must have: dual-band AC WPA2 Wifi and wired ethernet
Must have: smb direct support
Nice to have: Keyboard support of some kind
The Roku boxes (the series 4 is just about to come out but the 3 looks really good EXCEPT no smb streaming support) are at the top of my list but I'd really like easy local streaming if at ALL possible.
Ideas, questions?
Here's a wiki on some of those out there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_media_players
but it doesn't list a lot of the 'off-brand' players.
When one has 8 (EIGHT) Set-top boxes already in my living-room 'stack' so anything I add is going to have to do more than just 'one' thing.
Additional:
For those who might think that either Roksbox or Plex is a potential 'work around' with the Roku players, they kinda are, EXCEPT that only the small(er) NAS boxes support either of them (most seem to do Plex), and NONE of the large scale units (>8 drives or thereabout) that utilize top tier (and multiple) CPU's. So that route doesn't work for those of us with large scale systems.
So I'm in the market for something to be the 'netflixable' replacement for my collection of PCH (Popcorn Hour) boxes that I've been using for years to stream my NAS media around the home. Yes, I have several Bluray players (Sony, Samsung) that do netflix, but I'm searching for something that does all the popular streaming services (pay and free), maybe has the ability to 'plug up' (wireless or otherwise) a qwerty keyboard, and maybe have some path to SMB connectivity without having to run a (to me) silly DNLA server 24/7. I've just got too much on my NAS array's to spend the next couple months setting up DNLA even if I did it on like, a Rasberry Pi or some other micro-computer.
There seem to be (trolling Amazon) lots of streaming boxes out there that are a bit 'off-brand' that do SMB but how much of the pay and/or free services is a good question, but if someone out there has experience already with one I'd take a look, so speak up please.
Must have: Netflix and other pay services
Must have: dual-band AC WPA2 Wifi and wired ethernet
Must have: smb direct support
Nice to have: Keyboard support of some kind
The Roku boxes (the series 4 is just about to come out but the 3 looks really good EXCEPT no smb streaming support) are at the top of my list but I'd really like easy local streaming if at ALL possible.
Ideas, questions?
Here's a wiki on some of those out there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_media_players
but it doesn't list a lot of the 'off-brand' players.
When one has 8 (EIGHT) Set-top boxes already in my living-room 'stack' so anything I add is going to have to do more than just 'one' thing.
Additional:
For those who might think that either Roksbox or Plex is a potential 'work around' with the Roku players, they kinda are, EXCEPT that only the small(er) NAS boxes support either of them (most seem to do Plex), and NONE of the large scale units (>8 drives or thereabout) that utilize top tier (and multiple) CPU's. So that route doesn't work for those of us with large scale systems.