Some time ago I started a thread about getting video to stream between computers, and it ended with me giving up.
Rather than resurrect that thread, suffice it to say I have made solid progress, and now have lots of films and tv programmes sitting in iTunes on a PC upstairs, and more being added all the time as I encode our collection of stuff.
Currently I use a Mac laptop downstairs connected to the TV, and run iTunes on that. By turning on sharing we can stream from upstairs to down and it works well. But Mrs C doesn't like the trailing cables, and I don't like the constant plugging and unplugging.
Does anyone use either an Apple TV 2 to do this, or another sort of media streaming device, and if so, does is work properly? A little box hidden behind the TV would be acceptable, but I'm not spending (at least) £100 unless I'm sure it works.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 10:17
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I haven't used it so can't comment directly. But, friends of ours have two Apple TV boxes which both link to an iMac runing iTunes, kept upstairs and linked (I think although I'm not 100%) on wifi.
Looked damn impressive when I saw it demoed, and they seem to like it a lot.
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Statistical Outlier, are these Apple TVs or Apple TV version 2's. Very different devices in terms of what you can get them to do. The original came with a hard drive but the new £99 one does not.
I've toyed with this for a bit.
Before committing to buying one make sure all your video is in the right format for an Apple TV device. The laptop is likely to be more forgiving with support for more CODECs etc.
Providing your files are compatible this ought to just work.
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>> Statistical Outlier, are these Apple TVs or Apple TV version 2's.
I don't know but I am seeing them next week so I can let you know.
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Can the iTunes media server running on the PC transcode 'on the fly' like many media servers? If so hopefully there won't be media format issues.
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I'd hope it's not needing to transcode on the fly - makes the computer storing the video files do a lot of work. I have a lot of DVDs of mine now converted to MP4 on a NAS device. Just not got around to getting a wireless media device to stream them. Still copy off MP4 files to a USB drive when needed and play on a WD TV device. Works well and picture is good. It would be more convenient doing it wireless and the Apple TV mentioned could be a good choice. I'd want to enhance it by adding some extra media streaming software though.
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If you're doing this wirelessly then bandwidth can be an issue, my home WiFi runs at a nominal 36Mbs, if I try and play back stored DTV files from a different PC it can't cope with the bandwidth of a stored DTV channel. OK if the video is already compressed significantly then it'll probably be fine over a reasonable WiFi link.
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>> WiFi runs at a nominal 36Mbs
A bit slow then. Some get broadband faster than that. Time to get Wireless N?
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Or Powerline. Mine reports 160Mbps.
John
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>> >> WiFi runs at a nominal 36Mbs
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>> A bit slow then. Some get broadband faster than that. Time to get Wireless N?
>>
If I was streaming video regularly I'd go for that, has to be easier than running CAT6 round the house, powerline is too unpredictable in terms of payload bandwidth IMHO. Just about all I stream at the moment is audio so 36mbps is more than enough for that. thought it was worth bringing to the OP's attention though.
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>> If I was streaming video regularly I'd go for that, has to be easier than
>> running CAT6 round the house, powerline is too unpredictable in terms of payload bandwidth IMHO.
It ok for me, I get a solid 70mbs. don't work well on extension leads tho. Suspect the 13 amp fuse does for them.
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Mine's working through an extension. I didn't expect that to work.
John
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check the thruput on the wall and on the extension - you may be surprised.
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Interesting points about the throughput. I did originally try to stream the PC to the Mac wirelessly, but it wasn't very successful.
I then wired the mac directly into the Virgin Superhub, as they are adjacent, left the PC wireless and it streams just fine. I imagine as the Apple TV box can be hardwired as well it would perform equally well - but that's just the kind of info I'm trying to establish before the splash out.
As to media type, I've handbraked everything into m4v on the Pc with an attached usb drive (so iTunes at both ends handles it), so I'm sure the Apple TV will be fine with that. I don't have any other sort of codec in use.
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Crankcase,
If you have access to an iPod Touch or an iPhone then put a video on that (without letting iTunes convert it) to see if it works. Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Apple TV2 uses iOS4.x unlike the original Apple TV.
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Thank you for the iPhone suggestion.
In fact I do have an iPhone, as one of the main things about this idea is that you can control the Apple TV via the phone and that would be a good thing for Mrs C I think. Easier than a compter interface for her. And I've already played some of the stuff I've encoded from the PC across to the iPhone and it worked fine.
Looking like it might be ok then, this idea, in the absence of anyone popping up and saying the Boxee is way better, or some other product I've not heard of.
If I take the plunge I'll update this thread with anything relevant. I'd say anything interesting, but as we all know, I don't do interesting.
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If you covert everything to MP4, everything will read it. Its about the most common codec around for all appliances/OS's
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All true, until I wanted to edit some of the stuff to remove the ads. Windows Moviemaker won't touch it. Luckily, iMovie on the mac will, so there's an advantage in having both platforms.
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The jailbroken Apple TV2 will take XBMC which improves the device. If I got one I'd want this or similar.
One thing to be aware of is the Apple TV2 is 720p only. It will decode 1080p but will downscale to 720p. I know someone with an older TV (I think it's an LCD but could be a Plasma) and it does not work properly with the Apple TV. It's all to do with the 720p resolution and when plugged in won't work with what was a top of the range type of TV.
Worth checking out it won't affect you at least.
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I wonder if anyone's done a feature comparison of the Apple TV versus the various alternatives, off the top of my head you've got the various AC Ryan boxes, Popcorn Hour, Western Digital TV Live, and various no-name Chinese boxes at various price points - OK some of those are closer in functionality to the original Apple TV box. I'll see what I can find on t'internet.
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Given that most new TVs* are network attached, and conform to the DLNA standards, I dont really see a future for boxes like Apple TV. Wouldn't surprise me to see it discontinued.
*and dvd and blu ray players.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 16 Mar 11 at 10:32
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Yes and no. Agreed most 300 quid tellies these days have DLNA capability.
Trouble is, from personal experience, DLNA / UPnP are not consumer friendly enough to catch on. The possible incompatibilities between media clients and servers, firewalls, routers, wireless access points and so on are huge. Then there's the minefield of codec and container formats. I had enough hassle getting reliable audio streaming going, nevermind video, and I'm geekier than 90% of punters I should think.
IF the Apple TV + iTunes setup works flawlessly with everything you can throw at it then maybe there is a niche for it, otherwise I suspect home media streaming isn't going to go mainstream.
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>> Yes and no. Agreed most 300 quid tellies these days have DLNA capability.
>> so on are huge. Then there's the minefield of codec and container formats. I had
>> enough hassle getting reliable audio streaming going,
How so? MP3 Library, WMP, Tele, network cable -
Audio streaming set up in about 5 minutes. It was painless.
nevermind video, and I'm geekier than 90% of
>> punters I should think.
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>> IF the Apple TV + iTunes setup works flawlessly with everything you can throw at
>> it
Doesent tho. Wont like Avi files for example. As long as you have a good DLNA server app, its pretty painless.
then maybe there is a niche for it, otherwise I suspect home media streaming
>> isn't going to go mainstream.
Dont think it will, and most corporations dont want it to, no money in it. Pay streaming over the net is where the money is.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 16 Mar 11 at 10:55
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>> >> Yes and no. Agreed most 300 quid tellies these days have DLNA capability.
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>> >> so on are huge. Then there's the minefield of codec and container formats. I
>> had
>> >> enough hassle getting reliable audio streaming going,
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>> How so? MP3 Library, WMP, Tele, network cable -
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>> Audio streaming set up in about 5 minutes. It was painless.
>>
Challenge 1 - my wifi streamer/radio couldn't see the UPnP server, seemed to be a router issue as the only way I could fix it was to change routers.
Challenge 2 - first few seconds on MP3s skipped - that one was fixed by upgrading the streamer firmware.
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See:
www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2034360/apple-fix-apple-tv-flickering-bug
This rings a bell and is related to the problem a friend had. The Apple TV wanted to select settings that were not compatible with the TV. It would not let him select the settings that would have allowed it to work.
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I mentioned XMBC above and a derivative of that is Boxee. A variant of Boxee will run on an Apple TV.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 16 Mar 11 at 11:26
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The only problem I have is that I have to try and stop the tele/Blu ray player trying to access all the pcs and laptops.
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Well, I took the plunge and purchased an Apple TV 2.
If anyone is interested, there are lots of reviews on the net, so not much point in me saying anything, but briefly, it has lived up to expectations.
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Major issue with DLNA is that it doesn't support streaming of DVDs. Even with a suitable transcoder on the PC, you still need to search through various folders to find what appears to be the VOB with the right length, and even then it's pot luck whether it's in the right language or has Korean subtitles or something.
DVD isn't going anywhere.
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Apple TV 2 - Statistical Outlier
