[DLeavy]

Sorry to hi-jack this thread but I've been browsing the forum for a couple of weeks looking at what HTPC would work for me and I was going to make a post similar to Tomeq but from the replies it seems like the ATV2 fits the bill as my video collection is only DVDs, which I will transcode to mkv's with the appropriate codec.

However even though I now know what box to use I was wondering if someone could tell me if http://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-ShareCent...=de_a_smtd would work well as the network storage?. My goal would be to stick 2x2tb drives in it (probably WD greens as people here seem to rate them) and eliminate my dvd collection.

Many thanks for any advice you can provide.

I have the exact same one - only running 1 2tb WD Green at the moment, as my library isn't huge yet. Works well - no issues encountered streaming to my ATV2 and my Win7 machine.

[craigpd]

Excellent just what I wanted to hear, many thanks. Now the grueling task of transcoding thousands of DVD's

[touser]

no software volume control yet (so I have to use 2 remotes)

This is something i had not heard, if i understand correct if i was to use the constellation or xbmc commander apps on my iphone as my xbmc remote i would not have any volume controls?

[Tomeq]

Thanks for your replies guys, small details - but very important. (What am I going to do with 400 movies in my library without scroling? )

[BASARAB]

2. APPLE TV 2 REMOTE. Small, sexy, but a pain in the ass. I want to like it, but it is always falling through the cracks in our reclining sofa. Eventually I got so frustrated with this that I ended up wrapping it with this stuff to make it bigger. It also doesn't really have enough buttons for the optimal XBMC experience. That's not to say it doesn't work. It does -- just takes a bit of getting used to -- and if you hate it you can always use the available iphone and android remote apps, which are pretty cool.
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Go to ATV menu-settings-general-remotes and set up your regular tv remote. Now you can put the sexy little one in a storage box

[quiet storm iii]

i have an ATV in the bedroom. I was quite disappointed with XBMC with my vast library, it is just so slow. I am a huge fan of XBMC running it in variouis flavours on more powerful hardware all over the house.

i do however, love the ATV2, but is use it with, dare i say it, PL3X and it runs brilliantly

what exactly does plex do?

[Ned Scott]

what exactly does plex do?

Ties up an entire computer, re-encodes videos causing quality loss, defeats the point of having a media center on the ATV2, and takes open source software and keeps it to itself unless you get a lawyer.

[dirtymurt]

apart from all that.

I have a server with all my media on and I stream from it to several rooms where I have various flavours of XBMC running, which I love.

but, on the ATV2, the XBMC experience is not there yet, by a long stretch.

take a simple issue such as scrolling. on Plex, I can hold the button down and scroll through my collection of 1000's of movies with ease, in xbmc it's a key press per movie.

the quality is not as good, thats for sure, but it is good enough for my needs in the room where i have this.

[rogerthis]

take a simple issue such as scrolling. on Plex, I can hold the button down and scroll through my collection of 1000's of movies with ease, in xbmc it's a key press per movie.

Press the right button when you are in the list and you will control the scroll bar. This will allow you to go down using page by page.

[nsviper]

I have approx 2TB of 720p encoded movies and TV shows, all in MKV format ranging in size from 500mb to a few over 10GB (lord of the rings BD rips) stored on my NAS device.

I have 2 ATV's connected via Solwise PowerLine 200mb adapters (speed tests show 160-180mb throughput), both are configured to use my NAS device as the movie source, MySQL is installed on the NAS, all my thumbnails and backdrops are on the NAS, and my XBMC install is configured to use these.

I'm still just using the official build, haven't been brave enough yet to switch to a nightly, but haven't had any issues with the install - yes the interface is a little sluggish on the Aeon Nox skin, but when Eden is released soon I'll update my Windows 7 PC and my 2 ATV's at that point. Looking forward to the performance improvements.

As for the current build, I can happily watch any of the files, even the 10GB+ MKV's with no stuttering whatsoever. Quality on my 40" Sony TV is excellent and the surround sound works great as well.

An extremely good investment

[Gabhan]

I have 2 ATV's connected via Solwise PowerLine 200mb adapters (speed tests show 160-180mb throughput), both are configured to use my NAS device as the movie sourc

+1 for the Solwise PowerLine adapters. Have been using them with my ATV2 to ReadyNAS duo over uPnP and SMB for the last few months and never really had stuttering / playback issues of any sort. They were the best investment I've made and saved me running cables all over the house!!

[Ned Scott]

...the quality is not as good, thats for sure...

Err, what? The quality is pretty much identical to any other video playback device.

[dirtymurt]

Err, what? The quality is pretty much identical to any other video playback device.

on plex

[dirtymurt]

Press the right button when you are in the list and you will control the scroll bar. This will allow you to go down using page by page.

not the same though is it.

[activate]

Was less than a year ago, bought the atv2, now what? xbmc or plex ? never heard of either!

Woke up on the right side of the bed that day!