[MrJohnnyQuid]

I'm in the planning stages of my home theater at the moment and I'm still a little confused about how the ATV2 with XBMC works.

I have a LOT of DVDs and would like to rip them so they can easily be viewed on the TV and played.

I love the way XBMC displays the DVD covers and IMDB info and I like the ATV2 remote and interface.

Can I get away with a NAS (D-Link DNS-323) and AppleTV2 connected to the network?

Will the ATV2 with XBMC view/play the files stored on my NAS, or will I need a PC between the NAS and the network?

Ultimately, I'd like to stay away from having to keep a PC running 24/7.

And lastly, what software should I be using to easily rip my DVDs and what format should it be saved in? I'm thinking MP4?

Thanks!

[trilidar]

Yes, you can easily use a NAS with XBMC on ATV2-- I've been doing it for months.

My only advice would be to not use the D-Link and spring for a Netgear ReadyNAS. I owned a D-Link and had nothing but trouble with it (not really XBMC-specific, just the model's kind-of 'flaky').

tril

[MrJohnnyQuid]

Yes, you can easily use a NAS with XBMC on ATV2-- I've been doing it for months.

My only advice would be to not use the D-Link and spring for a Netgear ReadyNAS. I owned a D-Link and had nothing but trouble with it (not really XBMC-specific, just the model's kind-of 'flaky').

tril

Thanks for the reply!

I'm open to suggestions for an NAS. I see Synology has really good reviews (the DS211J in particular)

Is the Netgear RND2000-100NAS a good model?

I'd like to stay around $200 for a 2-bay NAS.

Is it easy to get ATV2 w/ XBMC to recognize and access media on an NAS?

[Cranial]

I've been running a QNAP TS-509 Pro for a couple of years now. Yes, it's a 5 bay and above the price range, but QNAP do have 2 bay NAS devices.

It does my downloading, serves my files and is on 24/7. It uses very little power and is highly configurable.

[StillSchweiger]

I'm using a ReadyNas Duo with XBMC, never had a problem with streaming or speed or similar network related things. SMB also worked fine.
Lately I switched my XBMC installation from a mac mini to a ATV 2.
By now I didn't experienced any smb connectivity problems.
The readynas duo seems to be a pretty save bet when it comes to streaming with xbmc.

[Duquesa]

I’m using the buffalo linkstation duo and cannot say enough about how well this performs, it looks nice too and the price was pretty low for 2tb of storage.

Mines stays on 24/ 7 and I just drag and drop my files onto the nas and once xbmc starts up it locates the movies/ tv shows and downloads the artwork automatically, couldn’t be simpler

[MrJohnnyQuid]

Great! I really appreciate all of the suggestions!

What about software for ripping DVDs? And format I should be saving as?

[jcnichols]

Just my $0.02 worth--I'm running a NAS using FreeNAS. I am by no means a computer expert, but with the instructions out there I was able to build a FreeNAS server for the costs of 2, 1TB drives.

I access the files via SMB on my jailbroken ATV2 and I love it.

[eTip]

Great! I really appreciate all of the suggestions!

What about software for ripping DVDs? And format I should be saving as?

Handbrake, Handbrake.....or....Handbrake. In other words, don't waste your time with anything else. There is a slight learning curve but it's well worth it. Just my opinion of course. There are guides out there for ripping with Handbrake for ATV2.

[lucinosferatu]

+1 for FreeNAS. I'm using my old XBMC machine (Revo R3610) as my NAS, and am just about to hook up 2 500GB externals drives to it. Supports many sharing protocols, which makes cross platform sharing a breeze.
SMB seems to work best with XBMC on ATV2, haven't had a problem yet.
+1 for Handbrake as well. Also, MKVtools works good for remuxing lots of video as well, which saves ALOT of time rather than re-encoding.

[gorolla]

Hi all,

Just wondering if you are running ATV2 using WiFi or LAN?

I have got a Seagate GoFlex Home NAS and ATV2 over WiFi, the performance is shocking. I get buffering all the time watch almost any type of format (AVI are slightly better).

After searching the forum it looks like might be the NAS issue or WiFi, but I got WiFi-N running, so I don't think it is the problem.

So if you are running ATV2 through WiFi without any issue, then I think it's time for me to get another NAS.

Thanks

[Iccanui]

Hi all,

Just wondering if you are running ATV2 using WiFi or LAN?

I have got a Seagate GoFlex Home NAS and ATV2 over WiFi, the performance is shocking. I get buffering all the time watch almost any type of format (AVI are slightly better).

After searching the forum it looks like might be the NAS issue or WiFi, but I got WiFi-N running, so I don't think it is the problem.

So if you are running ATV2 through WiFi without any issue, then I think it's time for me to get another NAS.

Thanks

Try to hardwire to test.

I had to drop my network back down to g to max and stablize the transfer over wifi. I'm using a iPod as a nas for the atv2 more or less and I switched it N thinking it would just make things better. I got a lot of buffering and transfer rates to the iPod were slowed. Switched back to G and it's all good now, so I'm just leaving it g.

So dont let tech spec fool ya. I work for a major isp and I see it a lot, G can be faster.