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  1. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Ok here is what i have and what I want to do. I want to have a networked harddrive with videos accessible to my ps3, xbox 360 and wdtv media player (gen 1 non live version - ie usb only no network access).

    I have the paid version of playon media server so I can access hulu through it. It works great on my ps3. I also have a wdtv media player gen 1 that does what I need it to but it only has usb drive access not network access.

    (these are all in the same room hooked up to the same tv within a few feet of each other fyi so distance is not a factor - oh and a wired network of course - regular 100 stuff)

    I would like a centralized harddrive that would have the playon software and a harddrive in it that I could connect to my router so the ps3 can see it and connect it to my wdtv media player via usb. Yes i know I can just as easily stream everything directly to my ps3 but I like diversity and using my wdtv media player gen 1.

    The reason I want to know if I can run playon off a networked drive is so I can leave my pc off. Currently I have to boot up my pc in order to do this on either the ps3 or 360. Ideally I'd like to just boot up a nas drive with some video files on it and a playon server on it so I can do the same thing with a smaller energy drain.

    Is this possible?

    Is this doable under a 100.00 USD?

    Would I just be better off getting a wdtv live tv plus or wdtv live hub? Is the only difference between a live tv plus and a live hub the included harddrive?

    I know the live hub is almost double the price of a wdtv live plus.

    Can you get a nas enclosure and use your own harddrive? That would be ideal and would be cheaper I think. I know d link makes a 2 drive enclosure but thats 140.00 without a drive and I'd be better off getting a newer wdtv player.

    Am I misunderstanding what a nas is? Can it host this software? Or is a wdtv live plus more efficient than a ps3 with playon? Do the two do the same thing?

    Thanks.

    (I guess I'm trying to consolidate here to using less equipment to do the same thing)
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  2. PlayOn is only available for Windows. Unless your NAS runs windows (all that I am aware of run Linux) you can't run PlayOn on it. There are UPNP servers that run under Linux though.

    http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux
    Last edited by jagabo; 12th Feb 2011 at 16:43.
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  3. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Does tversity run on linux?

    Would that do what I'm thinking of doing?

    I guess this wouldn't matter if I was willing to go back to paying 8$ a month for either netflix or hulu. But I can do the non plus hulu through playon right now without the subscription with playon that I already have.

    How much does the wdtv live plus non hub model do compared to playon? Are they virtually the same thing now?
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  4. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    think of nas units as smart harddrives, or really stupid computers. they do mostly run a tiny linux kernel but have midget processors and a small amount of ram.

    my zyxel nsa221 can run a few linux packages listed here.

    Click image for larger version

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    but only what zyxel allows.
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    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  5. If you get a NAS powerful and configurable enough to run a uPNP server it will probably consume as much power as a PC, at least a laptop.

    My media server runs a dual core, Core 2 based Celeron CPU and three hard drives. When idle it consumes about 75 watts at the wall (including the UPS). My WDTV Live (no drive) consumes about 4 watts at idle, 10 watts at full load.
    Last edited by jagabo; 12th Feb 2011 at 19:02.
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  6. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    @aedipuss - thanks for the analogy - that helps.

    Originally Posted by jagabo
    My media server runs a dual core, Core 2 based Celeron CPU and three hard drives. When idle it consumes about 75 watts at the wall (including the UPS). My WDTV Live (no drive) consumes about 4 watts at idle, 10 watts at full load.
    My dual core pc that I have connected to my hdtv is equivalent to yours with two harddrives - an os and a media drive. I have a seperate 500gb drive I use for my wdtv gen 1.

    So I guess I need to figure out what I want to accomplish. If I want the full features I already have but with less equipment turned on would a wdtv media plus do as much as a ps3/xbox with playon installed on a computer? Are they equivalent in features?

    Well I figure if I did netflix or hulu plus at 8$ a month that would be 96$ for a year. That is just less than the price of a new wdtv media plus.

    The obvious benefits of netflix or hulu plus are that you can run them straight off an xbox or ps3 with nothing else running (for their content and no extra file serving which I could still do with just a wdtv gen 1 + harddrive). But I can do basic hulu through playon with my pc on - which isn't a big deal but more hassle.

    If I didn't get netflix or hulu plus is there any benefit from doing a wdtv media plus that I can't do already with a xbox/ps3 and playon? I don't really want to throw money around just for nothing. But I do want to know what benefits I might be missing out on from improved hardware.

    Thanks for the insights....

    Whats the cheapest nas you can get?


    Edit - I've been browsing the specs on the live plus model and noticed it does support flv files that are made with h264. That is a vast majority of the files I've been getting lately with streamtransport. That would be tempting to make the upgrade on that reason alone. However transcoding to mp4 with winff is hardly time consuming and creates perfectly usable mp4 files that my wdtv gen 1 plays perfectly.......

    Decisions decisions.....

    I don't suppose any of the live plus models are on ebay used yet are they?
    Last edited by yoda313; 12th Feb 2011 at 20:02.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  7. I don't think the Live Plus plays FLV files from a drive or share (my WDTV Live doesn't), only from online streaming sites like Youtube. I don't think it supports Hulu at all. You would have to use PlayOn to get Hulu (free) which means you'll still need a PC.
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  8. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by jagabo
    You would have to use PlayOn to get Hulu (free) which means you'll still need a PC.
    So basically it won't eliminate my need of the pc if I don't get hulu plus or netflix than?

    And regarding the flvs it won't play a .flv encoded in h264 from a physical file only the internet? Thats a bummer...

    It is starting to seem like I am already at my best level right now with the equipment I have. If I were to sign on again with netflix or sign up for hulu plus I could do those directly with the ps3 or xbox 360 and wouldn't need a new wdtv unit.

    Thanks for the information. I'll think about it. But it almost sounds like I wouldn't gain anything unless I wanted to do this in another room. However I can use my Nintendo Wii wireless for sd streaming. I haven't used playon with it but when I did netflix streaming with it last fall (when I was still subscribed to netflix) the buffering was ok over my wifi G router. Hmm....
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  9. The WDTV Live Plus support Netflix but not Hulu. As far as I know it won't play local FLV files, only FLV streamed from the supported internet media sites.
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  10. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    @jagabo - thanks.

    I guess this means for my purposes I really don't need a wdtv live plus. I can do everything I need already with playon and the wdtv live plus lacks hulu support so that is actually more limiting - since I'd have to network it to my pc to see the playon server in the first place for hulu.

    I would only need it if I wanted the streaming ability in another room if I didn't want to use my Nintendo Wii to do the streaming.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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