Panasonic Plasma, Android Tablets, Streaming and Recording

[gda_scooby]

I would like some hints what to look for / research, in the following set ups:

TV - Panasonic Plasma - 42" TX-P42GT50B
2 x Samsung tablets 10.1
BT (fibre) Home hub
PC (win 7 pro 64bit) I5-2500, 4gb ram

TV is connected via RJ45 through home hub, to PC. Tablets connect wirelessly to internet.

We currently just use freeview (or council TV as my friends call it), and have a couple of USB sticks in the TV with some film (trailers obviously) which works well on most file formats.

I have tried a couple of software media server solutions on the PC, currently running TVersity Media Server Pro, using which I can successfully stream some stuff to the TV. There seems to be a limit of a certain file size (way over 4GB), or file format, with streaming though as certain files which play on the usb stick, don't always play over stream.

So what I would like to be able to do is find a solution that
1) allows me to more easily access downloaded large file HD film (trailers) from over the network.
2) Allows recording from TV feed (while watching another channel)
3) ideally also allows me to watch stuff on the android devices connected to the network.

I presume for 2), some form of the BT youview would be good? ( I should get this as part of my unlimited BT bundle at a reduced rate)

I have played around with some Synology NAS drives at work, but don't want to spend hundreds for me to run into the same streaming problem?

Any advice gratefully received.

G

[dudleybloke]

i use serviio as my dlna server on my laptop streaming to my panasonic g30. plays everything, even full 1080p rips.

http://serviio.org/

i dont know about your tv but mine will allow recording onto a hard drive but it only has 1 tuner so you can only record the program thats on.
i rarely watch broadcast tv these days, pretty much everything i watch is downloaded from various jack sparrow type sites.

for android devices i use mediahome which can stream content from the laptop to my phone or from phone to tv.

theres also a very good panasonic remote app for android that has streaming options. its also a bloody good remote and means that you can use google voice search to search on youtube which is so much better than using the standard remote.

Edited by dudleybloke on Saturday 30th November 23:59

[gda_scooby]

Thanks DudleyBloke

I was thinking it was a streaming/PC issue. I very rarely watch broadcast TV but the wife is still addicted to it.

Ripping you say, I deny any knowledge of any such things.

Yes the TV can record straight out to usb, but its only got one tuner, so as you say, it locks me to that channel.

I will go look up your media server recommendation

[dudleybloke]

any joy?

[Bullett]

Short of building a proper multi-media PC there is not a single box solution out there that I am aware of.

To record one/watch another you need multiple tuners. So either a tuner card for above PC or a seperate PVR solution like a Humax. Playback of trailers is easier as your TV supports DLNA and some of the PVR boxes will do as well.

To support all this you will need a server/PC running a DLNA server.

A good choice is PLEX, it will run as a DLNA server and as a backend for PLEX clients running on your Android devices. It will also do transcoding so format becomes less important for the end devices as the server will convert on the fly.

A final solution is a centralised server with Freeview/Sat tuners and running a PVR application. Then XBMC clients (say on a RaspberryPI) where you need them so you get movie and TV playback on any device. This is a bit geeky and can be flakey still not one for an out of the box solution.

[gda_scooby]

I've not tried the media server yet, might get round to it tonight though.

I think that, in combination with a BT youview recorder, should do the trick.

[FlossyThePig]

gda_scooby said:

We currently just use freeview (or council TV as my friends call it),

Why do most Council houses have dustbin lids fitted on an outside wall? Are they not paying Murdoch tax?

[gda_scooby]

OK have installed Serviio and it works great at streaming, my home network, not so much

I can stream 16gb hi def video seamlessly to my phone and tablets, but still get stuttering on the TV (all conversions switched off)

I installed media server on a cheapy laptop and it streamed ok to the TV directly - I think its the BT home hub that's messing things up.

Reading up on it, seems others have the same issues, with one or more of the bt hub ports under performing.

I am going to add a pair of netgear 5 port switches, one near the home hub, the other at the back of the TV (and youview + blue ray) - hopefully this will speed up the bottleneck on the network.