Ethernet to HDMI DLNA client thing dobery...

[Megaflow]

Right, normally I'd google search and find it myself, but in this case I haven't got the first clue what to search for, or even if such a thing exists.

A friend is looking to get a small NAS drive for Christmas to burn DVD's to, mostly to reduce the huge pile of box set DVD's around the house.

Sadly the TV's are not smart TV's and lack ethernet ports, they do however have spare HDMI's. So is there a box of tricks that can be plugged in to the router that can then be plugged into a spare HDMI socket?

TIA

[randlemarcus]

Raspberry Pi running xbmc.

[Megaflow]

Ah, perhaps I should have mentioned that this friend was recommended a NAS drive by a distant uncle, and I had to explain exactly what it was and did, therefore an off the shelf solution would be preferred.

Good call though.

[vladcjelli]

Try googling some of these:

AC Ryan
Roku
WDTV
Boxee

I've got an older AC Ryan box that does the job but isn't massively user friendly in terms of its menus.

In the past I've also run Boxee off an old recycled PC and would expect the bespoke device to be really quite good. The software itself was excellent.

But for cost, I would still second the suggestion of Rasp Pi running openelec or raspbmc. If you teamed up to install it the first time, it just boots straight in from then on, and is pretty user friendly.

[Tycho]

Don't forget you'd have to get a remote for the Pi unless you have a smartphone in the room all the time.

I believe that the Roku box hasn't much local streaming ability as it's set up for internet use mainly. There is a plex plugin if the NAS supports plex though.

[Megaflow]

Cheers guys, that gives me something to work from.

[JimbobVFR]

How about a PS3?
This is what I use mine for a lot. Also does BBCi, 4OD etc. and is a good Bluray player too.
Doesn't do MKV unfortunately but I don't find that a massive issue
If your mate fancies a bit of gaming or maybe even already has one this is a very good 2nd use for a PS3

[Megaflow]

Bedazzled said:

There's also a Sony media player here (£80 on Amazon) which has hdmi, component and composite outputs. I'm thinking of getting one of these to hook up an old CRT telly to a NAS. Not sure what the quality will be like via composite, but according to the blurb it will play most formats even .MKV, odd that their latest DLNA TV's won't do this.

Anyone got any experience with the Sony SMP-N200?

That is just what the doctor ordered. No offence to my friend, but she is not the most technology mided, but I'd hope a Sony product would be pretty much plug and play.

[spudgun GB]

I'm going through the same process myself. Putting all my DVD's on to a NAS. I have been on it since May most evenings but I can see light at the end of the tunnel now.

I have PS3 and a Xbox and this was going to be my prefered way of playing them but ended up buying a 3d Bluray player and the functions of that changed everything.

I have this one.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/blu-ray/lg/bd6...

I paid £89 for it I think.

I rip the films off using DVDFAB as .avi retaining the audio track as original.

Once the Bluray player and the NAS are connected up to the router, you fire up the Bluray player, pick "play movie" choose your source Disc, USB, or NAS drive. GO to folder, find file and press play. It's simplicity itself.
It also upscales to 1080p as well. The consoles are far to much hassle after using that.

[JimbobVFR]

Bedazzled said:

I'm not sure whether to spend nearly £100 on a media player given I can only use a cr*ppy composite connection, it's almost worth upgrading the telly instead; I also found this cheap workaround. It's non-networked, so I'd have to copy movies from the NAS onto a flash drive to watch them.

If you want a cheap player then I'd recommend the Sumvision Cyclone Micro. I bought my mum one and she loves it, Go for a ver 2 or 3
version 3 has internal memory as well as the card slot and usb, however the USB is a mini usb and requires an adapter cable to use a usb key or drive. Version 2 has a normal USB socket but no internal memory. Either is brilliant and plays anything I've ever thrown at them, for the price you can't go wrong

http://www.ebuyer.com/274064-cyclone-micro-2-mkv-p...
http://www.ebuyer.com/342378-sumvision-cyclone-mic...

[vladcjelli]

JimbobVFR said:

If you want a cheap player then I'd recommend the Sumvision Cyclone Micro.

Not networked.

[VEX]

Agree with the above.

DVD / BluRay players from Sony and others are great for playing out these sorts of NAS drive stored videos.

V.

[JimbobVFR]

vladcjelli said:

Not networked.

The OP had suggested a non networked cheap option as an alternative. I was suggesting a better non networked cheap option.

[vladcjelli]

JimbobVFR said:

vladcjelli said:

Not networked.

The OP had suggested a non networked cheap option as an alternative. I was suggesting a better non networked cheap option.

Not trying to get all :handbags: but I genuinely didn't (and still can't) see that?

[JimbobVFR]

vladcjelli said:

Not trying to get all :handbags: but I genuinely didn't (and still can't) see that?

Actually I remain corrected to an extent, it wasn't the OP but the post I replied to and quoted from BeDazzled who was considering going for a cheap non-networked player as he was unsure the more expensive options were worth it connecting via composite to a CRT

Bedazzled said:

I'm not sure whether to spend nearly £100 on a media player given I can only use a cr*ppy composite connection, it's almost worth upgrading the telly instead; I also found this cheap workaround. It's non-networked, so I'd have to copy movies from the NAS onto a flash drive to watch them.

[VEX]

My up dated recommendation would be PLEX Server on a central PC and then Roko boxes with PLEX app added.

Plex Server with transcode on the fly and a client of mine has been testing it out with two different screens, via two pc's, showing two different movies + an iPad running a 3rd.

V.