Streaming Surround Sound

[itschris]

I'm finding the main weakness with my iPad, AppleTV, PLEX setup is video. A lot of my movies are ripped with DTS. So because ATV doesn't pass that, I'm stuck with 2 channel. I don't believe there's anyway to stream the high def surround formats at all. I guess I may have to build a dedicated htc unless there's some other way.

 

[macddmac]

Any way you could run a cat-6 line or HDMi directly to your pioneer from the pc?

 

[itschris]

Any way you could run a cat-6 line or HDMi directly to your pioneer from the pc?

Unfortunately not. My desktop is in my home office. It would be a big undertaking to get a cable to where my router is.

 

[sholling]

802.11n can be iffy if you're trying to stream full quality Blu-Ray but can easily handle DVD rips. Running gigabit Ethernet over Cat5e is the ideal solution but if you can't cable then high-speed Powerline Ethernet may be a possibility if your home's wiring is in good shape. I haven't tried the latest flavors (I have Cat5e) but it should be more reliable than wireless when it comes to video streaming.

As for devices a HTPC is a good solution but you can get 5.1 sound from several off the shelf appliances. One to consider is the Western Digital TV Live (under $100) which supports most audio and video formats including DTS. What it does not support are Blu-Ray's lossless audio formats like DTS-HD MA or 24bit FLAC music files.

Netgear sell's their NeoTV550 which supports DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD as well as gapless playback of 24/192 5.1 music FLACs (but no internet streaming at all) but it's closer to $170. Amazon reviews are mixed but I have two of them (and 2 Rokus for internet streaming) and although they are a bit quirky I like them a lot and use them far more than my HTPC. But I can't speak for how well they will work with your DLNA server because I use network shares instead.

WD TV Live
NTV550

 

[itschris]

Okay you gotta help me a bit here. The netgear unit interest me because of the support of the hd codecs. So the box doesn't stream, so I hook it up to my receiver hdmi. Do I then just attach an external hd with my files? What is the interface like? How do you control it?

802.11n can be iffy if you're trying to stream full quality Blu-Ray but can easily handle DVD rips. Running gigabit Ethernet over Cat5e is the ideal solution but if you can't cable then high-speed Powerline Ethernet may be a possibility if your home's wiring is in good shape. I haven't tried the latest flavors (I have Cat5e) but it should be more reliable than wireless when it comes to video streaming.

As for devices a HTPC is a good solution but you can get 5.1 sound from several off the shelf appliances. One to consider is the Western Digital TV Live (under $100) which supports most audio and video formats including DTS. What it does not support are Blu-Ray's lossless audio formats like DTS-HD MA or 24bit FLAC music files.

Netgear sell's their NeoTV550 which supports DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD as well as gapless playback of 24/192 5.1 music FLACs (but no internet streaming at all) but it's closer to $170. Amazon reviews are mixed but I have two of them (and 2 Rokus for internet streaming) and although they are a bit quirky I like them a lot and use them far more than my HTPC. But I can't speak for how well they will work with your DLNA server because I use network shares instead.

WD TV Live
NTV550

 

[sholling]

Okay you gotta help me a bit here. The netgear unit interest me because of the support of the hd codecs. So the box doesn't stream, so I hook it up to my receiver hdmi. Do I then just attach an external hd with my files? What is the interface like? How do you control it?

For some reason they were never able to come to a deal with Netflix etc so even though there is a menu item the NeoTV550 does not stream much in the way of internet content but it does do a great job of playing rips from either an external USB hard drive or from a network server via an Ethernet connection. You can even set it up to act as a media server and backup content from your computer across your network to the external hard drive on the NeoTV. The only limitations that I've found are the lack of internet streaming and a high sensitivity to RF interference.

I find the interface pleasant but BSA is a bit less impressed with it. It's basically all like the pictures below with nested menus for videos, music, and photos. You have a choice of selecting movies from a list or thumbnails but you have to provide the thumbnails. Movies always default to thumbnails but you can switch to a list with one button on the remote.

Music defaults to a list view and if you provide folder art it will be displayed while the music plays. Generally you just highlight the album and hit play to play the entire album. What I have not experimented with is playlists spanning multiple folders - I have no idea if that works. BTW it plays nice with Harmony remotes but I did add a couple of custom button mappings for buttons missing from the Harmony's predefined template.

Bottom line it's a bit quirky and could use more polish but I haven't found anything I like better better yet. I'm just not holding my breath for anymore firmware updates. It's been a year since the last one and I get the feeling that with its poor sales Netgear isn't putting any resources into further development.

Here are a couple of early reviews.
NETGEAR NeoTV 550 (NTV550) Review - Page 1
AnandTech - 2011 Media Streamer Roundup : Netgear NTV550, A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Boxee Box

And the NeoTV550 support forum.

Photos courtesy havetheknowhow.com.

 

[itschris]

That seems like a viable solution. But if they're not supporting anymore, I'm a little hesitant. I'd rather invest in a current and supported solution. I'm really digging PLEX so I'd love a way to utilize that in my solution.

Ill have to give that some thought though. It's really not that much to give it a try.

For some reason they were never able to come to a deal with Netflix etc so even though there is a menu item the NeoTV550 does not stream much in the way of internet content but it does do a great job of playing rips from either an external USB hard drive or from a network server via an Ethernet connection. You can even set it up to act as a media server and backup content from your computer across your network to the external hard drive on the NeoTV. The only limitations that I've found are the lack of internet streaming and a high sensitivity to RF interference.

I find the interface pleasant but BSA is a bit less impressed with it. It's basically all like the pictures below with nested menus for videos, music, and photos. You have a choice of selecting movies from a list or thumbnails but you have to provide the thumbnails. Movies always default to thumbnails but you can switch to a list with one button on the remote.

Music defaults to a list view and if you provide folder art it will be displayed while the music plays. Generally you just highlight the album and hit play to play the entire album. What I have not experimented with is playlists spanning multiple folders - I have no idea if that works. BTW it plays nice with Harmony remotes but I did add a couple of custom button mappings for buttons missing from the Harmony's predefined template.

Bottom line it's a bit quirky and could use more polish but I haven't found anything I like better better yet. I'm just not holding my breath for anymore firmware updates. It's been a year since the last one and I get the feeling that with its poor sales Netgear isn't putting any resources into further development.

Here are a couple of early reviews.
NETGEAR NeoTV 550 (NTV550) Review - Page 1
AnandTech - 2011 Media Streamer Roundup : Netgear NTV550, A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Boxee Box

And the NeoTV550 support forum.

Photos courtesy havetheknowhow.com.

 

[itschris]

Thinking about it, you'd think ROKU would allow the hd surround formats. That's really the only thing it's missing...and it runs PLEX

For some reason they were never able to come to a deal with Netflix etc so even though there is a menu item the NeoTV550 does not stream much in the way of internet content but it does do a great job of playing rips from either an external USB hard drive or from a network server via an Ethernet connection. You can even set it up to act as a media server and backup content from your computer across your network to the external hard drive on the NeoTV. The only limitations that I've found are the lack of internet streaming and a high sensitivity to RF interference.

I find the interface pleasant but BSA is a bit less impressed with it. It's basically all like the pictures below with nested menus for videos, music, and photos. You have a choice of selecting movies from a list or thumbnails but you have to provide the thumbnails. Movies always default to thumbnails but you can switch to a list with one button on the remote.

Music defaults to a list view and if you provide folder art it will be displayed while the music plays. Generally you just highlight the album and hit play to play the entire album. What I have not experimented with is playlists spanning multiple folders - I have no idea if that works. BTW it plays nice with Harmony remotes but I did add a couple of custom button mappings for buttons missing from the Harmony's predefined template.

Bottom line it's a bit quirky and could use more polish but I haven't found anything I like better better yet. I'm just not holding my breath for anymore firmware updates. It's been a year since the last one and I get the feeling that with its poor sales Netgear isn't putting any resources into further development.

Here are a couple of early reviews.
NETGEAR NeoTV 550 (NTV550) Review - Page 1
AnandTech - 2011 Media Streamer Roundup : Netgear NTV550, A.C.Ryan PlayOn!HD2 and the Boxee Box

And the NeoTV550 support forum.

Photos courtesy havetheknowhow.com.

 

[sholling]

Thinking about it, you'd think ROKU would allow the hd surround formats. That's really the only thing it's missing...and it runs PLEX

If the NTV550 didn't play everything thrown at it I'd agree that it's scary but the new stuff coming out is going to have to start respecting the latest copy protection schemes and that's even scarier. I want to be able to play my legally purchased content anyway I want and on any of my devices. Although I mainly use mine for music and for a few demo videos to show off for friends.

Roku's thing is internet streaming and while they may be forced into network streaming they probably have bigger fish to fry for now.

 

[itschris]

I'm not terribly interested in interent streaming. I don't know why, I just don't. I have all kinds of Internet steaming options via AppleTV and my LG bd player. Actually, I did want watch something from my ATV, but the cost is too high IMHO. For tv series, I can buy the disc for the cost of rental. Also, I like having my own inventory. Depending on how much I can build a decent htc for, I may just go that route. I'm not cheap, but its just irritates me and I don't do things out of spite, probably to my own detriment.

If the NTV550 didn't play everything thrown at it I'd agree that it's scary but the new stuff coming out is going to have to start respecting the latest copy protection schemes and that's even scarier. I want to be able to play my legally purchased content anyway I want and on any of my devices. Although I mainly use mine for music and for a few demo videos to show off for friends.

Roku's thing is internet streaming and while they may be forced into network streaming they probably have bigger fish to fry for now.