2014-05-04, 20:21
Hi,
I am new to XBMC and I am circling with all the information in this forum about what is the "best practice" set up - for me.
Let me give a few notes on my use case and current set up (open for discussion):
I want a library for films that allows me to nicely organize and control my videos from a tablet/smartphone for playback on a Smart TV.
Second scope (no must) is playback of Photo *Albums* (not photos from a directory) on my Smart TV ( I am currently using IPhono and like it
I have a separate perfectly working solution on Sonos for music.
XBMC is currently running on my MacBook
I have no HTPC and am not sure I really need one for a suitable set up (part of the question)
I have a Samsung Smart TV supporting UPnP/DLNA
My media is on a HDD connected to a Router via USB, exposed using FTP to XBMC
I am using XBMC remote on iPhone (but can currently only control play back on the XBMC itself - no "play with" feature)
I am using IPhoto plug in with XBMC - works OK - but I do not really like control and Thumbnail view from XBMC remote (so using ATV today)
I have a ATV3 which is not used in the XBMC set up right now but used for iphoto running on the MacBook for playback on TV (A Jail brake would have resolved my issues right away :/
Next door - literally on the wall behind the TV - I have a WinPC (I could, and thought about, getting a HDMI cable through the wall from the PC to the TV - 50 cm)
I am going to purchase a proper NAS, QNAP or Synology (part of my question) - this could be one with local XBMC, and be placed in the room with the Win PC to connect to the TV via HDMI?
I am going to purchase a Tablet - iOS or Android (whatever makes in above setup more sense)
I do not necessarily want to purchase a dedicated HTPC - but I am open if that is what I need - DLNA should do the job in my view?
My Media is in one large directory - with one subdirectory for each film/series - Media is in mixed format today.
(for sake of a smoothly working solution, I am OK to convert to suitable formats for the TV.)
Some issues I currently have with XBMC in the above set up - in perspective of my set scope:
- I can only "play with" controlled from my MacBook to stream from the DLNA/HDD to the TV - this is not (yet) possible from the XBMC remote
- I do not (necessarily) want to connect the MacBook via HDMI to the TV to achieve control from the iPhone / planned tablet
- Apple OS seems to have an issue with the media presented from XBMC (using SMB)- and does not show all films /directories. (same directly on Finder) - that is why I have changed to FTP.
My thinking:
- What is the better option DLNA play with or XBMC HMDI to the TV (not leveraging the smart TV capabilities)
- QNAP has NAS with support for XBMC - should I possibly run XBMC there instead of MacBook?
- Eventually XBMC remote may support "play with", so the control from Tablet will work with XBMC on Macook - however that has to be always on.
- Not sure my WinPC is of any help here - I do not want to have it running permanently.
- QNAP can stream through ATV - but I think this is not working from XBMC -
- probably there are other/better library solutions to XBMC for my use cases
Sorry for the loooong pre-amble- but I thought it would be worth sharing this background for the answers I am looking for
Bottom line: I am lost in different approaches and need to make right decision on NAS.
Please share with me what works for you and what you believe from experience is the best practice to achieve what I am looking for (guess this is not unusual set up)
Many thanks
Eric
I am new to XBMC and I am circling with all the information in this forum about what is the "best practice" set up - for me.
Let me give a few notes on my use case and current set up (open for discussion):
I want a library for films that allows me to nicely organize and control my videos from a tablet/smartphone for playback on a Smart TV.
Second scope (no must) is playback of Photo *Albums* (not photos from a directory) on my Smart TV ( I am currently using IPhono and like it
I have a separate perfectly working solution on Sonos for music.
XBMC is currently running on my MacBook
I have no HTPC and am not sure I really need one for a suitable set up (part of the question)
I have a Samsung Smart TV supporting UPnP/DLNA
My media is on a HDD connected to a Router via USB, exposed using FTP to XBMC
I am using XBMC remote on iPhone (but can currently only control play back on the XBMC itself - no "play with" feature)
I am using IPhoto plug in with XBMC - works OK - but I do not really like control and Thumbnail view from XBMC remote (so using ATV today)
I have a ATV3 which is not used in the XBMC set up right now but used for iphoto running on the MacBook for playback on TV (A Jail brake would have resolved my issues right away :/
Next door - literally on the wall behind the TV - I have a WinPC (I could, and thought about, getting a HDMI cable through the wall from the PC to the TV - 50 cm)
I am going to purchase a proper NAS, QNAP or Synology (part of my question) - this could be one with local XBMC, and be placed in the room with the Win PC to connect to the TV via HDMI?
I am going to purchase a Tablet - iOS or Android (whatever makes in above setup more sense)
I do not necessarily want to purchase a dedicated HTPC - but I am open if that is what I need - DLNA should do the job in my view?
My Media is in one large directory - with one subdirectory for each film/series - Media is in mixed format today.
(for sake of a smoothly working solution, I am OK to convert to suitable formats for the TV.)
Some issues I currently have with XBMC in the above set up - in perspective of my set scope:
- I can only "play with" controlled from my MacBook to stream from the DLNA/HDD to the TV - this is not (yet) possible from the XBMC remote
- I do not (necessarily) want to connect the MacBook via HDMI to the TV to achieve control from the iPhone / planned tablet
- Apple OS seems to have an issue with the media presented from XBMC (using SMB)- and does not show all films /directories. (same directly on Finder) - that is why I have changed to FTP.
My thinking:
- What is the better option DLNA play with or XBMC HMDI to the TV (not leveraging the smart TV capabilities)
- QNAP has NAS with support for XBMC - should I possibly run XBMC there instead of MacBook?
- Eventually XBMC remote may support "play with", so the control from Tablet will work with XBMC on Macook - however that has to be always on.
- Not sure my WinPC is of any help here - I do not want to have it running permanently.
- QNAP can stream through ATV - but I think this is not working from XBMC -
- probably there are other/better library solutions to XBMC for my use cases
Sorry for the loooong pre-amble- but I thought it would be worth sharing this background for the answers I am looking for
Bottom line: I am lost in different approaches and need to make right decision on NAS.
Please share with me what works for you and what you believe from experience is the best practice to achieve what I am looking for (guess this is not unusual set up)
Many thanks
Eric