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I couldn't find anything better: http://elan.plexapp.com/2012/03/29/this-aint-your-grandfathers-dlna/

And unfortunately in that article I guess they're right :(

Each device implements DLNA in it's own way. Each DLNA tries to solve problems in the best way they can.

The best solutions I've seen is a: computer playing movies (VLC plays everything). Plex app + plex server in your NAS/PC.

Have you actually used DLNA? I personally think it stinks. For a way to get a list of files it is pretty good. For any sort of meta data, thumbs, run time, etc it blows.

yeah, I'd been searching for a decent remote control keyboard for my XBMC (formerly MythTV) box for a while (tried a few 2.4GHz and Bluetooth devices), and never found any I liked (nor do I find the XBMC interface very usable). Then I found out about DLNA and MediaHouse on Android, and now I keep all of our media on the NAS in the basement and the XBMC box is set to receive DLNA and we just use whichever android device is around for a much better remote experience.

I agree, though, there's not much metadata on it (just ID3 AFAIK).

You might be interested in Plex.

AFAIK, though, they only have native clients developed for LG and Samsung smart TV's right now, but if you have either of those, it's simply da bomb. If you have a Roku box, you can install the client on there too, and it's *much* better than the stock interface. They have Android and iPhone apps available in the respective stores, and it (the android one at least) works well for me, with full metadata support. They also have a decent Windows client, and yes, they provide a DLNA server for 'other' access (although I haven't tried it, so don't know how well it works). Basically our Samsung SmartTV interface is either a Plex or Netflix selection point: we simply have no use for any other of their 'Smart' apps (well, other than YouTube occasionally...)

The one thing that they just can't seem to get right is music and playlists. You can browse your collection by any metadata you like (year, genre, etc.), but there is no way to create or even use pre-created playlists in Plex. It's a damn shame, but as I said, for video at least it's quite excellent :) It seems to have no trouble with even odd, older video types from a decade ago, since we were browsing some old home videos on it last night...and seeing family photos on the big screen is a nice touch, although there are a dozen other ways to do that nowadays :)

Perhaps you can show me where the "optional" part is so i can turn it off?

I don't have an AppleTV, but surely you're familiar with search engines that allow you to find stuff.

I think you are thinking of something like this: http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/29970-disable-automatic-updates/

No, no I'm not. It clearly states that "The problem is that "trigger happy" kids are updating and leaving me with a new jailbreaking", so he ultimately wanting to put a stop to manual updating, which you would know if you bothered to actually read the first post of the link you posted.

Perhaps you can show me where the "optional" part is so i can turn it off?

I think you are thinking of something like this:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/29970-disable-automatic-updates/

where you edit the hosts file to prevent it?

Are you sure this "optional" when the only way to disable it is via a hosts file?

Plex.

Of course, you'll have to find a way to format-shift your content to a non-DRM-riddled version, so it's shareable...and good luck finding a legal way to do that (see section on Fair Use), even though it is technically legal for you to do so...

IMO, sharing media via Plex is no different than lending s DVD or a CD to a friend, since they don't have a local copy, it's all being streamed from your server. AFAIK, sharing purchased physical media with friends and family isn't illegal...yet.

Plex can run on several brands of NAS.

Either that or use Roxsbox on Roku and serve it from your NAS using http.

My NAS can do both and I stream local content on Roku all the time.

Clearly you haven't tried out Plex yet. The Roku is absolutely fantastic for playing back local content.

Agreed - I start the external drive, open Plex on my Mac Pro, set TV input to ROKU and I have tons of movies and TV series that play perfectly. Not to mention the Plex client app on my iPad. It's amazing! The grid display with show summaries is great. I can't imagine anything easier.

Clearly you haven't tried out Plex yet. The Roku is absolutely fantastic for playing back local content.

It's a little bit more of a setup, but you can do most of this with downloaded / ripped shows as well. There are some clients (such as Plex - http://www.plexapp.com/) which allow you to most of the same functionality. You can pause shows and resume them on a different machine, or with the option of restarting. It does not have the nice feature of moving from one TV show to the next like Netflix does, but it does separate into categories (TV Shows and Movies) and can be searched for by genres, etc. The biggest advantage Netflix has over any sort of home media is the amount of media it has which can easily surpass the amount stored at home in HD and secondly, the redundancy of the servers so that you have minimal amount of outages.

I agree. I set up a HTPC on an old mac mini running Plex, for just that reason, Plex seemed to be the best HTPC app out there and was free, so I picked a platform that would allow me to run it.

I could have run it in a VM, on linux, but then I'm wasting hardware resources on a system that I want to be lower power and quiet. I personally like the fact that my wife can hit the power button, and 15seconds later be watching a movie.

Dump the religion out the window and use the tool that works for you, if you want to cram XBMC on OS/2, go right ahead. Besides, I think some people just want to say they use linux to impress others. Why do you think half the posts around here start with "I use Linux at..." or "I've been a linux user for X years..."

There's a description here of how someone did this with Plex, basically you create a second library consisting of all kids' movies and make it a separate share. The kids' logins only get them access to those movies. You have a different library with all the movies. (You could even put the really adults-only content in yet another library, should you choose.)

You could do something similar with different shares on a NAS. I've got a Synology and the DS Video app is quite handy for iPads, etc., so I'd probably leave the kids' movies there and put the inappropriate stuff in folders I would access directly.

Plex - http://www.plexapp.com/ ($free$)

I reused an old Acer w/ an amd 4050E and 4GB ram. Installed a simple Newegg/Rosewill SATA card and added 2 WD green drives. I then stream all of my audio/video/photos to everything (android phone/tablets, tv via roku, itunes music, xbox, etc). I use standard windows file sharing along with FreeFileSync (http://alternativeto.net/software/freefilesync/) to use the server as a backup for everything else in the house.

A lot of people are talking about NAS devices and so on, but they all come back to "filesharing" as the software portion of their solution.

I use Plex to serve out media and love it. Transcodes a Blue-Ray rip to my iPad. I hit pause and bring the movie up on my television and start where I left off. You can run the server on a Windows machine, a Mac, or even some NAS devices.

I can be on the road and bring up any movie I have.

Client-wise they have iOS, OS X, Windows, and Android.

I have to think that while something like Plex would be better for a lot of people, XBMC still gets used on name recognition alone. If you have more than one device that you watch media on (TVs, Roku, tablets, phones, whatever) why wouldn't you want a central server managing the library, downloading metadata, saving watched flags, holding resume times, and serving up video to the devices? I turned a friend on to Plex from XBMC and he's amazed at how often he stops watching in one room and resumes in another. I love it too. I can't count the times that I've started watching something on the iPad in the kitchen while cleaning up and then going into the bedroom to finish on the TV. That's a way bigger feature to me than getting "the real deal" running everywhere I need it.

The people above wanting this for Google TV...check out Plex, it may be exactly what you're looking for.

Sorry to not gush for XBMC, I know it's the best solution for many people and I truly appreciate the heritage and the fact that it's the foundation for Plex, but until they have a centralized server (if ever), I can't even consider it for myself. And no I'm not going to jump through hoops to get it.

Plex transcodes and the resulting video looks pretty terrible. XBMC plays video natively.

I have to think that while something like Plex would be better for a lot of people, XBMC still gets used on name recognition alone. If you have more than one device that you watch media on (TVs, Roku, tablets, phones, whatever) why wouldn't you want a central server managing the library, downloading metadata, saving watched flags, holding resume times, and serving up video to the devices? I turned a friend on to Plex from XBMC and he's amazed at how often he stops watching in one room and resumes in another. I love it too. I can't count the times that I've started watching something on the iPad in the kitchen while cleaning up and then going into the bedroom to finish on the TV. That's a way bigger feature to me than getting "the real deal" running everywhere I need it.

The people above wanting this for Google TV...check out Plex, it may be exactly what you're looking for.

Sorry to not gush for XBMC, I know it's the best solution for many people and I truly appreciate the heritage and the fact that it's the foundation for Plex, but until they have a centralized server (if ever), I can't even consider it for myself. And no I'm not going to jump through hoops to get it.

I would have agreed with all the flamebait posts, except that the Plex Media Center team, which makes an otherwise super-user-friendly front end and back end for managing their media center, requires the use of a CLI for even basic operations like updating the library.

You shouldn't have to use the command line to use plex, especially for things like updating the library. Each Plex install has a full GUI administrative web interface hosted at http://localhost:32400/manage/index.html (replacing localhost with the IP of the machine). The little refresh icon works rather nicely for forcing an update of the library. You can read all about the options here: http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/PlexNine_PMS_MediaManager#Manually_Refreshing_Sections

Yessir thats the way to go! XBMC for the win! At least as long as you have unlimited cable or a very high cap heh. Especially since Boxee Box no longer supports pc's. :( Then theres PLEX and a few other variants out there, I'd stick to XBMC if I were you; plenty of plugin's and aggreators and repositories out there for XBMC you'll never be sorry.

It's available. You just have to jailbreak it.
http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/PlexNine_Client_ATV

Thanks for the heads up!

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/forum/108-plex-media-center-for-linux/

Am I looking at the wrong Plex here: http://www.plexapp.com/pc.php
"Plex Media Server seamlessly connects your Plex clients with all of your local and online media."

So it can use a windows system as the server, but you can only watch the media on:
          Plex Media Center for the Mac.
          iPad, iPhone and iPod touch devices via the Plex iOS app.
          Android devices via the Plex for Android app.
          2011 LG Netcast enabled HDTVs and the LG Smart TV Upgrader.

I'll stick with XBMC and use my bluetooth keyboard and windows media center remote.

on the XBMC note, I'm on a mac mini and I've been using Plex for about a year now. It works great for movies and TV shows. They just released a media server for windows, and the client has been integrated into LG Netcast, as well as android and iOS apps.

It has functionality for pictures and music, but I use itunes and don't have many photos.

Use http://www.plexapp.com on your Mac and then stream to either Plex.app / the new Klexi.app to stream.

Copy or stream & films/videos etc to watch them on/offlne on you ipad/ipod/itouch etc.

Awesome iOS client.

WOrks well, lots of community support and plenty of features in the works (built into a g brand TV later in the year, for one).

You can also run a Plex client on a Jailbroken AppleTV2, which is AWESOME.

Oh, they're also launching Windows support soon I hear.

Use http://www.plexapp.com on your Mac and then stream to either Plex.app / the new Klexi.app to stream.

Copy or stream & films/videos etc to watch them on/offlne on you ipad/ipod/itouch etc.

Awesome iOS client.

WOrks well, lots of community support and plenty of features in the works (built into a g brand TV later in the year, for one).

You can also run a Plex client on a Jailbroken AppleTV2, which is AWESOME.

Oh, they're also launching Windows support soon I hear.

I use a Mac Mini with Plex and Netflix works pretty well. The normal fast forward buttons (using a Harmony One) don't work, but the left and right buttons accomplish the same task.

There's some annoyances, like needing to install an older version of flash to get most of the plugins for flash-based websites to work, but overall Plex can do everything I need that my TiVo can't.

Hopefully just enough to run Plex.

I'd really like to see Plex hacked onto this device myself. Not all that keen on the boxee interface,but the Plex and XBMC interfaces are much nicer, esp with the skins available. Of course, with plex's recent announcement of a partnership with LG, maybe we'll see a dedicated box from LG too? david

I'd really like to see Plex hacked onto this device myself. Not all that keen on the boxee interface,but the Plex and XBMC interfaces are much nicer, esp with the skins available. Of course, with plex's recent announcement of a partnership with LG, maybe we'll see a dedicated box from LG too? david

Nothing that requires a full computer hooked up to the TV will ever be popular outside of geeks.

Plex, which started as a simple port of XBMC for Mac, has morphed into a much more impressive architecture. They separated the media management into a server component allowing different clients to consume it, including Mac (seems a Windows port is coming), iOS, and soon, LG TVs and Blu-ray players. You can read the developer's vision for it here:

http://elan.plexapp.com/2010/09/02/plex-and-the-future-of-television

Streaming, streaming, streaming, streaming, streaming. I wish this VLC based app can stream from iMacs and SMB PCs as well as iTunes libraries and supporting .srt and .sub from streamed sources.

Plex can do this. An excellent application i use on OSX. The media server can be any computer, and the it streams the entire media library to computers and iOs devices.

Check it out: Plex

Plex running on a MacMini is what I use. The mini is a solid low power platform that you can easily hook up external disk or access your NAS with. Has HDMI output for connecting to your stereo/tv etc.

Plex is made to use the apple remote control, so you don't need a keyboard/mouse after the very initial setup. There's also a iPhone/Pad/Touch app so you can control Plex or stream from the plex app to your iPhone/Touch/Pad. The main application for your mac mini is free and the iOS component is $5.

Great community of support for the app definitely better than XBMC.

Plex running on a MacMini is what I use. The mini is a solid low power platform that you can easily hook up external disk or access your NAS with. Has HDMI output for connecting to your stereo/tv etc.

Plex is made to use the apple remote control, so you don't need a keyboard/mouse after the very initial setup. There's also a iPhone/Pad/Touch app so you can control Plex or stream from the plex app to your iPhone/Touch/Pad. The main application for your mac mini is free and the iOS component is $5.

Great community of support for the app definitely better than XBMC.

If you can afford it, get one of the new Mac Minis and install Plex. The new version that came out yesterday is incredibly slick. It'll do all you want.

I've been a long time plex user on my laptop connected via DVI/optical audio out to my home stereo. I figured the next mini would be the right time to offload all my movies/videos/music from the laptop to a permanently attached mac. The big disappointment to me is the lack of a bluray player and that the SD slot is on the back. They should have put on the front a SD slot and a USB port. I realize putting all the ports on the back makes the front cleaner, but having the two most commonly used connectors for copying files from your camera would have been great.

Anybody know why apple is so against having bluray players in their systems? Somehow I doubt that an iTunes downloaded movie has the same quality as that of a native bluray disk. I guess this is just the next step in the "heavily sampled mp3s are just as good as CDs" downspiral of quality.

MythTV, especially v0.22, is really an awesome DVR but I agree it doesn't do a great job of providing the rest of the media center experience. I've been happy, though, using Plex media center and Myth on a Mac Mini, which of course has no problem with DVDs. (Blu-ray is a thornier issue).

You can read a little more about my setup and experiences here.

I think the real modern tragedy is the encrypted channels on cable and satellite: no decent HD PVR solution is possible any longer for these media. My solution was to fire the satellite company and go broadcast only.

I set up an SVN snapshot of Myth on a Mac Mini about six months ago. I wanted to save power, so the Mini runs both the backend and the frontend. If you like, you can see a full description of how I did it. (The guide is out of date in the sense that I resolved jumpy playback issues by reducing the priority of commercial-flagging jobs.)

It's been wonderful. I get full HD video and convenient scheduling. I've had exactly zero crashes, and the automatic commercial skipping has been very reliable (maybe one mistake every 5 or 10 shows). I also really enjoy the ability to watch TV on any computer in the house.

Right now, I'm working here and there on integration with Plex because I'd like to have all media in just one interface.

This looks very similar to what they're doing with the Mac fork of XBMC, Plex. It's very cool how they implemented it, basically making Plex a frontend for Safari with the plug-in defining the area of the browser that the video is in. This way, as far as the site is concerned, someone is using the browser like normal.

They also have an App Store but it's not designed to be for pay, and I would doubt the Boxee one is either. I had never used Python before but I was able to whip up some plug-ins which are now available in the store.

http://www.plexapp.com/

XBMC.app, huh?

Seriously. Ditch that, get with the program, and run Plex.

http://www.plexapp.com/

Native Mac Mini IR remote support, native support for Logitech harmony universal remotes (which extends the control set beyond the four cardinal points, select, and menu) as well as much more cool stuff.

A Mac Mini looks to be a decent media center if you get a wireless keyboard+mouse and download HandBrake+VLC.

The Mac Mini also has a built-in infrared receiver, so you can use it with a remote as well including the Apple remote, some universal remotes, and the Harmony remote. Also, there are some great media center applications for Mac including Boxee, Plex, and XBMC.

And Plex is a Mac port of XBMC. It's really sweet on a Mac mini.

I've been planning on doing an HTPC this month. I had half-settled on Plex -- XBMC for OSX -- on a Mac Mini when I heard about Boxee. Does anybody have experience of both, and would you be willing to share opinions?

From what I understand, Boxee is good for watching web video, and sharing video recommendations among your "friends" on social networking sites. XBMC is better for dealing with libraries of locally stored media and the like. And neither is all that good as a DVR.

Am I right? And since it's the DVR (based on talking to an HDHomeRun) that interests me most, I'm kind of torn. But I lack the time to really give both options a full workout.

Not really. I've found the old PPCs lack the ability to run any modern media center software. The new de facto standard for OS X is Plex and it's intel only. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with mt old G4 Dual 1ghz MDD.

Sure if you want HD content the 733mhz P3 in the XBOX ain't going to cut it.

$400 http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=9999386 an MCE remote, and a little work with Ubuntu will have you with the times. HDMI audio\video capable of 1080 display. You'll want to overclock to about 3ghz though.

More here -> http://xbmc.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33 Can you say MAC, Linux, AND Winders ports?! :-O it will even run on an aTV just don't expect it to play too much more than your old XBOX :-( All of this still being tweaked mind you but it's looking pretty good.

Oh and Plex is a good MAC fork http://elan.plexapp.com/ and Boxee is a good fork on most every platform http://boxee.tv/

OS X Users might want to check out: http://plexapp.com/

This group forked from XBMC a while ago. It was originally called OSXBMC but to differentiate from the 'official' OSX XBMC release they renamed to Plex.

I've played around with it for a while and it is absolutely gorgeous. Each release gets it more and more integrated with OSX. Apple remote, mouse, local file system, etc.

They've also teamed up with CenterStage to work towards a more OSX like GUI.

Currently my XBOX, bought for $75 used, is going strong. Served via the XBMC protocol running on a debian server with 2 TB of data. pytvshows and rtorrent are nearly as good as a DVR (considering I work second shift) and ... There just aren't more words to describe how awesome the XBMC project is and how far it has come in the last 3 years I've used it.

I'll have to check out the other release tonight to see how it compares.

Mac users should also look at Plex. It's a very nice fork by the former XMBC for Mac/OSXBMC team.