Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Dec 30, 2013 8:40 am Hi all, In the near future I am planning to buy home theatre equipment and also purchase a couple of smart TVs (most likely Samsung) throughout the house. In the HT I'll have a projector set up & I will most likely have a local media player (eg: WDTV live) plugged into my amplifier, so streaming won't be an issue as this device will do my 1080p transcoding for me (lost anybody yet?) . For the 2 TVs, I want to have a central media server capable of doing the transcoding for me, so that I can stream directly to the TV without the need of a media player. Or from what I have researched in regards to the Samsung smart TVs with the Plex app installed, the Plex app can do the transcoding. My query is, if I want the sound to go through my amplifier rather than the TV sound, how does that work? I have a basic understanding in that if my amplifier has the feature 'arc return' which mine does, it will pass the audio back through the amplifier. 'Internal tuner and streaming will send up to Dolby Digital 5.1 through HDMI ARC' according to Samsung F8000 specs. Can anyone confirm this set up will work please? Any suggestions on the media server (ie: off the shelf versus DIY build) would be great. Forgot to mention this is a new home build pre-wired with cat 6 throughout. My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 2Dec 30, 2013 9:41 am Arc should work if you have a amplifier for each tv as there is only one ARC per amp. I am looking at some cheap xbmc players online at the moment that can sit behind the tv and stream via a xbmc server. Re: Query regarding streaming media 3Dec 30, 2013 9:54 am Thanks Tim, yes I'll have an amplifier to the lounge TV but not to the bedroom (obviously!). To the bedroom I will just play it via the TV sound and with Plex. I didn't really want to have local media players attached to each TV as it defeats the purpose of wiring the house with ethernet (and is also one more device I need to fit somewhere). My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 4Dec 30, 2013 10:15 am Tim_Inspired Arc should work if you have a amplifier for each tv as there is only one ARC per amp. I am looking at some cheap xbmc players online at the moment that can sit behind the tv and stream via a xbmc server. I'm interested in what you identify for the xbmc players. I'm currently running a MythTv setup that is in dire need of an update. This is running on an Xtreamer box ( currently used as frontend ) and I am using two hdhomerun twin tuners. Once my build is finished, I will put the above gear under my stairs. I am then looking for a good box to use as front ends in my living room and home theatre. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Query regarding streaming media 5Dec 30, 2013 10:18 am I will be buying a quad core android mini box the size of an Apple TV box which has 100mb Ethernet and wifi with hdmi and toslink output and also a usb stick size one which is a dual core with only wifi. For sub $100 each they are worth a try for xbmc clients. Re: Query regarding streaming media 7Dec 30, 2013 10:27 am Tim_Inspired I will be buying a quad core android mini box the size of an Apple TV box which has 100mb Ethernet and wifi with hdmi and toslink output and also a usb stick size one which is a dual core with only wifi. For sub $100 each they are worth a try for xbmc clients. Nice! Will need to do some research on getting unbuntu and mythtv running on these. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Query regarding streaming media 8Dec 30, 2013 12:19 pm Hey cinder Here's what I have - I have an Apple Mac mini running Plex Media Server located in my comms room and a NAS in the same place that stores all my media. You can get Plex media server plug ins for some NAS's but a NAS tends to be too underpowered to do any decent transcoding (a tv would face the same issue with transcoding). If you run Plex media server then any device that can run a Plex app can be served your media (smart tv's, smart phones, tablets, etc). It's the Plex media server that does all the transcoding, the apps just access the content. You can run Plex media server on just about any PC or OS - I do it on a Mac mini because it is small, runs headless well, draws low power and is on 24x7. I run all my media this way - serves the tv upstairs, and the home theatre room (I choose to run an Apple TV 3 in there which accesses Plex via Plex Connect), and my kids iPads etc. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Query regarding streaming media 9Dec 30, 2013 12:32 pm Well Bluesuede I should have known to just ask you Thanks. Have you got it successfully working with an amplifier in the way I mentioned in my OP? (ie: via ARC return) My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 10Dec 30, 2013 12:48 pm I have a media PC set up under my living room TV, just running win 8 with about 6TB of media in a mixture of files, this acts as a server to my other devices, the smart tv's (Sony) I have won't decode MKV and many other file types yet so I use the PC to run the TV downstairs and plug my laptop in via HDMI to our upstairs TV and stream over the (wired) network from the media box downstairs.
I also have an android HDMI dongle I can use to stream media from the network with a wireless N connection, seems to work reasonably well, just not quite the same quality as playing off a PC....good enough for childrens programming though!! I am toying with the idea of installing my media box to a remote location when we finish our build and use a DVI over Ethernet adaptor (we use them at work for our quality control systems and they seem to work really well) and USB over ethernet extenders for wireless mouse & keyboard. Transferring the audio to my receiver over that distance I haven't figured out as yet...it will be a longer run than I would like. Re: Query regarding streaming media 11Dec 30, 2013 12:51 pm cinder Well Bluesuede I should have known to just ask you Thanks. Have you got it successfully working with an amplifier in the way I mentioned in my OP? (ie: via ARC return) I don't have it configured that way, but it's pretty straightforward if your amp supports it. As I like to be able to access iTunes content as well as downloaded media, I have an Apple TV in both locations, and have an amp in both locations (my old home theatre gear is with the TV upstairs, and the fancy new setup is in the theatre room). So the way I have it configured, I stream all NAS stored media via the ATVs using Plex, which are connected to the amps in both locations and the TV is connected to receive HDMI only (as is the projector in the theatre room). Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Query regarding streaming media 12Dec 30, 2013 12:54 pm Hi HeathWilD, thanks for the description, these kinds of setups seem pretty common these days. Yeah I agree with the wireless, I don't want to rely on that for HD streaming which is why I cabled with cat 6. My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 13Dec 30, 2013 12:56 pm Bluesuede cinder Well Bluesuede I should have known to just ask you Thanks. Have you got it successfully working with an amplifier in the way I mentioned in my OP? (ie: via ARC return) I don't have it configured that way, but it's pretty straightforward if your amp supports it. As I like to be able to access iTunes content as well as downloaded media, I have an Apple TV in both locations, and have an amp in both locations (my old home theatre gear is with the TV upstairs, and the fancy new setup is in the theatre room). So the way I have it configured, I stream all NAS stored media via the ATVs using Plex, which are connected to the amps in both locations and the TV is connected to receive HDMI only (as is the projector in the theatre room). Yeah. It remains to be seen whether I can achieve what I want, probably won't know til I actually buy everything. Fortunately since media players are pretty cheap, if I do have to fork out for a couple it won't break the bank. I'm going to look into Roku for Netflix and the like. My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 14Jan 08, 2014 9:20 pm Personally I'm using a Synology 1513+ NAS to stream media to my LG TV; the LG seems to pick up the built-in media server on the Synology pretty well, so don't need anything else. I'm currently only using 2 of the 4 Gigabit ethernet port in Link Aggregation mode (my Smart Switch supports LAG as well, up to 4 ports too), so a decent bandwidth, as it also streams to my Sonos and acts as a file server. Re: Query regarding streaming media 15Jan 08, 2014 9:40 pm Yeah that's what I am wondering PHL, the Samsung I am planning on buying may be able to do the transcoding with the Plex app installed on it. I'm planning on building (or rather getting built) a DIY media server, and I'm choosing a motherboard with 2 gigabit LAN ports, and I will also be getting my hands on a switch that's capable of the Link Aggregation you're talking about. Very timely post as I only researched this today I absolutely have no idea whether I will max 1GB connection with my streaming let alone 2, but anyway! My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Query regarding streaming media 16Jan 09, 2014 6:47 am No cinder - the Plex app for the Samsung doesn't transcode, it just streams media from Plex Media Server which you will have to set up on a PC somewhere as I described above. Plex Media Server does the transcoding, not the tv. The Samsung TVs will also detect and play any DNLA media server like PHL would be using on his NAS but the interface is woeful. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Query regarding streaming media 17Jan 09, 2014 7:09 am Ok Bluesuede thanks for confirming. That's cool, I want an excuse to build a media PC! My Hamptons build (completed): viewtopic.php?f=31&t=63370 Moved in Wednesday 11th Dec 2013 Front landscaping completed June 2016 Re: Query regarding streaming media 18Jan 09, 2014 7:53 am Tim_Inspired I will be buying a quad core android mini box the size of an Apple TV box which has 100mb Ethernet and wifi with hdmi and toslink output and also a usb stick size one which is a dual core with only wifi. For sub $100 each they are worth a try for xbmc clients. for android try air streamer to find the files on your network, VLC and MX player will do the transcoding of pretty much all file types. no need to run xbmc server, just browse folders in the network. not as pretty an interface as xbmc, but works well, especially on a wired network. Re: Query regarding streaming media 19Jan 09, 2014 8:28 pm Considering I do home automation I am looking for a xbmc design due to the RTI interface I use having a xbmc driver. This way all of the clients house controls are on the iPad as well as a nice cover art layout of the movies as with xbmc. Simply choose the tv and the movie and wha la. Re: Query regarding streaming media 20Jan 09, 2014 8:40 pm Bluesuede The Samsung TVs will also detect and play any DNLA media server like PHL would be using on his NAS but the interface is woeful. The interface isn't as pretty as XBMC, but it's functional, in that I can easily find my media, streaming is smooth, and you can FF. Doesn't look up cover art if you don't already have it, but that's fine by me. i would not be signing anything on the day read your contract about when builder submits final invoice generally, have to meet builder within 7 days of receiving final… 1 4747 Hi All, Recently we have signed a contract with Burbank and we are not aware that they have just DORSET, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, KENT, PILBARA and REDGUM bricks from PGH are… 0 3164 Thank you @. Tried to play with the facade models but the exact colour is not matching up. 2 3273 |