media center.. ATV3, Roku, or ???

[freeradical]

Yeah, I have this media player. You just hook up your drive to it. Simple.

[jdc]

What does "its acting up" mean exactly? It kinda sounds like you are trying to find a reason to replace it? :poke:

Reinstall the system? Might just need a refresh?

If that "old" mini is destined to be replaced, I will give you $75 for it... plus 2 boxes of girl scout cookies.

[Ombligo]

JDC,

I won't replace unless it dies. I just want to have a plan in place in case that happens.

[sekker]

If you have iOS devices, the ATV offers options like airplay that is a very nice added feature over just a media player.

And Netflix, etc.

Depends on whether you plan to play further in the apple walled garden.

[davemchine]

I have a friend with a Roku and he attaches a hard drive filled with video to the usb port. It works for him but I'm not sure how it handles soft subtitles. It is also limited to 4gb video files which is somewhat limiting. There may be solutions to both that I am unaware of.

[Catzilla]

sekker wrote:
If you have iOS devices, the ATV offers options like airplay that is a very nice added feature over just a media player.

And Netflix, etc.

Depends on whether you plan to play further in the apple walled garden.

Plex offers airplay like features over Roku boxes. They also have Netflix.

[silvarios]

Ombligo wrote:
So far the WD Media Player mentioned by TheTominator seems to be the best option. Reads USB 2 for the external drive - has HDMI for video and optical for audio. No Plex, but that is minor.

I'll have to look at interface and remote (IR of RF)

Roku 3 handles the same, excepting optical output. Works with USB drive app or over network with Plex.

[silvarios]

pRICE cUBE wrote:
I have a Roku and a Mac mini hooked up to my tv and I find myself using the Mac with wireless kb about 95% of the time. It is just faster to search and navigate, then switch to iTunes and let it run the a screen saver full of random family pictures. It is great seeing family memories up in a screen instead of buried in hard drives.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can use an app with keyboard to interact with the Roku. May, or may not be applicable for your use case.

[silvarios]

deckeda wrote:
Without a computer serving content, you'll need a media player that can directly take a hard disk connection, or pick up the content from a NAS.

I'm a little curious why you used Plex if everything was in iTunes and the Mac is connected to the TV. Can you just play it from iTunes and remove one layer of complexity?

Plex is a bit more lean back friendly than interacting with iTunes. If you add the iTunes Remote app it is manageable, but computer interfaces are generally designed to sit directly in front of, not 10 feet away.

[p8712]

Just sayin'