Technology, video, phone & computer questions

[Angrboda]

I'm confused. Why not just load up XBMC and skip the transcoding all together? A halfway decent system will play 1080p @ 30fps with no issue.

As far as the Nook and Roku, both should support DLNA with minimal modification (though personally I believe the Roku box is a waste of effort).

Depending on the Cellphone, there are a few options for streaming... but you would need to specify which platform


For what it's worth I personally have an HTPC (XBMC) hooked up in the living room connected to a Linux NAS over ethernet (super easy). Twonky is optional to run and will support any DLNA compliant devices.

(emphasis added)

My sister is not as technically proficient as you or I. I'm essentially designing a turnkey system to meet all her video playback needs. She has a lot of old TV shows on disk and would like to be able to painlessly load and watch them on any device in the house (including both things like avi as well as DVDs), as well as use Amazon Prime and Hulu. I'm in the process of getting up to speed on the technology myself, so I'm just starting to learn about things like Playon and XBMC. Until I'm further along in my learning process, I can't just blindly commit to one solution, either XBMC or DLNA, without knowing what the advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs are. I've already learned that the hardware I had chosen wouldn't work. Since XBMC doesn't do transcoding on the fly, my guess is that her Nook HD will only play files that are already compatible with the device, which means only some of her videos would be playable on some devices; I know that she currently spends a lot of time transcoding files - those files would not play with XBMC if it doesn't do on-the-fly transcoding. Your suggestion of just loading up XBMC or using DLNA would have resulted in a non-solution, a paperweight, if I hadn't researched the hardware / software interdependence and had just done what you said. Further, you assumed "a halfway decent system" despite all the contrary specifics given. I apologize if my tone here is a bit harsh, it wasn't my intent to be, and I appreciate the time you took to post your ideas; however, you seem to be suggesting I ignore a lot of details that I can't ignore and then achieve a working turnkey system that meets as many of her needs as possible, especially the technical proficiency level one, among others. On the plus side, I wasn't aware that XBMC doesn't do on-the-fly transcoding; your bringing that to my attention will save me from wasting time pursuing dead end solutions.

XBMC will not currently transcode any files, so only file formats that your TV/device can natively playback will work.

(emphasis added)



(ETA: And, IIRC, I just found out this morning that the Chromecast is announced to be working on supporting Playon.)