# Streaming Media Setup



## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

OK... UNCLE! I give up! :thud:

We now have no more movie rental stores in the city where I live, not that it was easy getting new releases there anyway. 

We only have one rental store left in the city where I work ... and they only allow one-night rentals on new releases. That doesn't work if I want to rent several movies for the weekend... especially if you live out of town. 

I subscribed to Netflix, however... what I want to watch is either a Long Wait, Very Long Wait or does not release until 28 days later than other sources.

Blockbuster would be good, but it is too long of a turn around in the movies where I live (2 days each way)... and again, all I see is Long Wait on the movies and shows I want to watch.

So... I am looking for an alternative and perhaps streaming is the way to g


*1. What kind of Internet connectivity do I need?*

The first issue is Internet connectivity. I have an older Linksys wireless router and I barely have a connection on my laptop when I am in the home theater room, so I may need to upgrade to a wireless router that extends farther.

I live in the country and our DSL tops averages about 800Kbps... tops out at 1-1.2Mbps... nothing fast.

Is what I watch going to be like the YouTube videos I watch... constantly pausing?

This may be a stopper for me right out of the gate.


*2. Assuming Internet connectivity does not stop me cold... what equipment to buy?*

I currently have an OPPO BDP-83 player, so I really do not want to spend another $500 just to get streaming with the BDP-93. 

A small unit like the Roku or WD TV might be better since I do not have rack space for a large unit. 

Do I want something with storage space in case I want to buy a download? That sounds like an interesting idea, but might require something too big... I need small.


*3. What are the streaming sources and their cost?*

It appears Netflix is $8/mo. for unlimited download rentals, but their downloads are the same as rentals... a 28 day lag. This appears to be the least expensive if you can wait an extra 30 days to watch new releases.

It appears Blockbuster gets $4 for each new release download rental... and apparently some are delayed, but not 28 days like Netflix.

Blockbuster seems kind of expensive, but cheaper than the Dish Network On-Demand rentals that we have access to and that cost $7 each, which is outrageous. I cannot see anyone paying that much to rent a movie... it is just ridiculous. 

I seems like you have no choice but to pay the extra money if you want new releases quicker, but I am not sure if it is worth that much extra.

Are there others sources and do they have limits on new releases?


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## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

Your internet connection will be the limiting factor on "streaming" you will definitely have to buffer and probably wont even be able to try to stream HD feeds without a huge buffer.

Amazon unbox would be another option, as well as VUDU.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I would not want it unless it is 1080p HD... otherwise I stick with waiting and renting Blu-rays the traditional way.

Amazon seems to be about the same as Blockbuster for new releases at $4 each, but I see a few specials... nothing alarmingly great, but it might save me a few bucks all along.

VUDU is expensive at $6 for HDX, which is what I would want.

It appears my only option with my slow speed is to download and watch later, which is something VUDU offers with their player. 

Maybe this was just wishful thinking.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

It might be worth you looking into the PS3 as a streamer, you can simply download and play on the consoles, so net speed is a non issue there. I'm not that upto speed on its content. I just use XBL on the 360 and its great, but its only 720p and 5.1 so that probably crosses it off your list. Still, a 4 Gb slim console is on £150 so you just cant knock it for the price.

Just throwing options out there.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Unfortunately, I am not coming up with a viable solution with my DSL speeds.

I may just be stuck waiting 30-45 days after release to see what I wanna see. :huh:


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## TypeA (Aug 14, 2010)

Panama City area lost its last chain rental location this last year, Blockbuster was gone the year before that. Theres a couple of Mom and Pops and some Red Box kiosks around town, but none on my way to anything so its just not practical to rent here locally. Even with 7meg service, streaming from netflix often leaves me feeling cold, same with streaming from the comcast dvr. We still stream but its a glaring sacrifice, especially for a house that is front-projection exclusively.  Heres a cheap alternative (new can be had for $100), it will stream both pandora and netflix and its what I use, quick and reliable in all regards. Otherwise, besides our regular blu rays from netflix, we're always on the lookout for sales on blu rays and "used" on amazon will get you good titles for about the price of a rental (albeit not new releases). I feel your pain Sonnie...


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Yeah, with Movie Gallery closed up, Hollywood Video gone, no mom & pop's, and the nearest Blockbuster over 40 miles away... In my bustling town of 5592 there are 3 Redbox kiosks and, well, that is about it.
As for the 28 day deal, what I'm hearing is it will likely happen to pretty much everyone in the video rental business. Studios applying pressure to ensure they get a bigger slice of DVD/Blu-ray sales.

I think we're all going to be in the same boat soon. I have a pretty fast internet connection and really don't have any issues streaming movies, other than what I want to see is generally not available for streaming. So for now I have; my 1 disk at a time Netflix account, hit Redbox in between and occasionally stream a film I'm not really interested in just so I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Dish Network VOD works very well... and is excellent quality. I can not tell any difference between it and Blu-ray. Maybe I could if you stuck them side-by-side or if you pointed something out to me. The problem is 7 bucks a pop. Maybe if I just use it on those that I don't want to buy, but really want to see early and and keep up Netflix... that will be my best option, until something else comes along that will work better.


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## JohnJSmith (Apr 25, 2010)

Sonnie said:


> The first issue is Internet connectivity. I have an older Linksys wireless router and I barely have a connection on my laptop when I am in the home theater room, so I may need to upgrade to a wireless router that extends farther.


I spent a lot of time screwing around with wireless access points and directional antennas trying to get decent connectivity between my modem and my home theater. I finally went with MoCa (networking over coax) adapters instead, and I wish I'd done it sooner. I get a full 100 mbits over the existing coax in my house.



Sonnie said:


> I live in the country and our DSL tops averages about 800Kbps... tops out at 1-1.2Mbps... nothing fast.


You won't be able to stream Netflix HD with that. It's variable bitrate, but it averages about 3 mbps. I think their standard def stuff is around 1 mbit.



Sonnie said:


> *2. Assuming Internet connectivity does not stop me cold... what equipment to buy?*


It seems like everything has a Netflix client these days. I have three of them now:

1. Xbox 360 - Best interface, hands down
2. PS3 - Also a good interface
3. TiVo - I use this one the most because it's convenient. It's really the worst interface of the three, though.

A home theater PC is another decent option.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

I think the issues with the consoles is that the cost of them isnt quite the bargain if your not a gamer. I do however think its well worth looking at say a pre owned 360 console. You would need the 20Gb version minimum, but I bet you could pick one up for a decent price Sonnie. Like I say, download speed issues are removed as you can simply download the whole film before watching it. The only thing you would have to do is start the download before you wanted to watch the films, so you couldnt quite just watch a film whenever the mood took you, but it is an option.

The only issue for you would be the fact they arent 1080p and 7.1, but the quality is still very good. Is there no one you know that could say bring their console round for you to try?


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## Jason1976 (Aug 13, 2009)

I take it sonnie you live in an area were you can not get virizon fios or cable modem. My older brother lives in an area like that. He had one of those dishes for some time that still had to use a phone line to upload stuff but he was able to download with the dish. Then they upgraded it were he could upload slowly over the dish and still download at a good pace but it wasnt cheap. satellite internet he had was called direcway but now its called hughes.net. Then they cable out with DSL in his area and he was able to cancel the direcway. I checked online and they do offer speeds up to 5MBps but you dont want to pay their prices. You could check with your dsl company and see if you can pay more for faster dsl. not sure if you will be able to do HD movies but you maybe able to do netflix of vudu.


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## mandtra (Aug 30, 2010)

If you have tried C-net, and speed test.net , speed test utility and your less than 3.0 megs down continuous that is going to be a problem. I would consider that the absolute minimum under optimum circumstances. And if not optimum you will need more like a average of 5 megs down min. There are many factors , like a wired or wireless connection , wired directly into the router is better, is anything else using the internet at the same time? esp other wireless products, if so shut them down. You can get an extended range router (N) Linksys is my favorite , it is not as prone to memory dumping (burping) as such as a Netgear router. You can then set it up in gaming mode and set the priority to the connected streaming device. So other devices do not leach bandwidth.or let the router reserve bandwidth for another device Have you tried testing the connection with the DSL modem connected directly to the host computer only ? (no router connected) Either way if you cant solve your down stream bandwidth problem you have no streaming options


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## Jason1976 (Aug 13, 2009)

mandtra said:


> If you have tried C-net, and speed test.net , speed test utility and your less than 3.0 megs down continuous that is going to be a problem. I would consider that the absolute minimum under optimum circumstances. And if not optimum you will need more like a average of 5 megs down min. There are many factors , like a wired or wireless connection , wired directly into the router is better, is anything else using the internet at the same time? esp other wireless products, if so shut them down. You can get an extended range router (N) Linksys is my favorite , it is not as prone to memory dumping (burping) as such as a Netgear router. You can then set it up in gaming mode and set the priority to the connected streaming device. So other devices do not leach bandwidth.or let the router reserve bandwidth for another device Have you tried testing the connection with the DSL modem connected directly to the host computer only ? (no router connected) Either way if you cant solve your down stream bandwidth problem you have no streaming options


another place to check is http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/


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## dadgonemad (Sep 5, 2010)

I have an excellent option for you that would cost about $200 bucks. But first is the 1080 streaming is it a deal breaker?

The two pieces of equipment you need. An apple airport express and the new apple TV.

First the airport express. Just $99. This will be an upgrade for your modem as it acts as an WAP which broadcasts wireless N.

Second is the Apple TV. Just $99. You can rent movies in HD. Keep in mind the HD is a 720P signal. (ABC broadcasats in 720P) Unless you have a super keen eye you can't really tell the diference between 720 and 1080 (yes I know I am generalizing)

You can rent movies through your itunes account(4.99 standard def and 5.99 for HD plus .99 cent rentals). The selection is not perfect, but you can watch movies on the day they come out. You can also purchase content from apple and watch it streaming as well. If you are saavy you can also convert video and import it into your itunes libray and view that way.
ABC and FOX are also onboard to be able to rent tv shows for .99 cents.

You have 30 days to view content once it is downloaded and 48 hours to watch it once you click play.

Apple TV also has tones of internet radio stations, cool slide shows and more.

I don't believe there will be one perfect box that will do it all, but I think its worth a look.

_________________________________________
Sony KDL W46W4100
Poineer VSX 1020=K
PS3 Fat 80Gig
XBOX 360 Slim
Wii
Apple TV (2nd Gen)
Polk Audio CS10 Centre and RTi4 Fronts


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

The VuDu works pretty well with the exception of you interne connection. Their HDX has a great picture and the movie won't start until it has enough cached to finish the movie without interruption. The downside, and I do mean downside, is that it would take several hours to download a single rental based on your bandwidth.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

dadgonemad said:


> I have an excellent option for you that would cost about $200 bucks. But first is the 1080 streaming is it a deal breaker?
> 
> The two pieces of equipment you need. An apple airport express and the new apple TV.
> 
> ...


At first glance, I cant see what this apple servie is offering over the consoles, particularly the 360 which I personally feel offers the best streaming service. Sure the apple may only cost about the same, but you dont get a free games console with that. The consoles can also be used as a media hub/extender as well, can the apple device? If one wanted, both consoles can also be used as music storage, can the apple device?

I'm just curious, noting your sig, why you would prioritise the apple tv over any of the 2 main console options.


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

I have 2 Apple TV's and prefer it over the consoles mainly because most of my music resides in my ITunes library which I can also stream. Additionally, the digital copies that I get from most Blurays are also in my iTunes library which I stream from my media PC. But that's just me.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I am not sure I want to spend money for a console and then still have to pay $5.99 for HD. I might could see $4 each to see it in HD, and 720p would be acceptable. But it would have to be the download and watch later option. I would also be worried about getting a stable download over several hours with our slow speeds. There is no help for us right now... we are on the end of the line and until they boost the signal, it is what it is... for example... about .68Mbps second at this hour.

We have an XBox 360 console, but it needed a second repair about a year ago and we never have sent it back to the service center. It seems too aggravating to keep it working.


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## dadgonemad (Sep 5, 2010)

I like the convenience of using my itunes account to rent movies, I don’t have to move stuff over to my gaming machines to listen to my music. 

I am not impressed with the media server for both units. I got the 360 because of the media centre and am unimpressed. Unless you are hard wired into your router it is way too slow even with the N connection. The apple is wireless and fast. Coupled with the integration on itunes it gives everything the consoles cannot provide.

If you rent the movie from your itunes account, you can transfer it to an ipad, touch or iphone. Pretty neat. Note, if you rent from the apple tv itself, you cannot use the transfer function.

The cost of the 360 is going to be at least $500 after you do all the add ons.

After all we are talking about the rental aspect, apple offers a great selection of movies, including new releases the day they come out. 

There is not perfect box that can provide everything, you need to pick what is best for you based on budget and necessity.


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## JohnJSmith (Apr 25, 2010)

dadgonemad said:


> I am not impressed with the media server for both units. I got the 360 because of the media centre and am unimpressed. Unless you are hard wired into your router it is way too slow even with the N connection. The apple is wireless and fast. Coupled with the integration on itunes it gives everything the consoles cannot provide.


I agree the Xbox 360 + Windows Media Center really sucks. It's terribly slow, the interface is confusing, and it isn't very functional. E.g. It doesn't support many codecs, and good luck finding an mp3 if it doesn't have ID3 tags.

Apple TV is your only choice for Apple DRM content.


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## Jason1976 (Aug 13, 2009)

The Thing is even wireless G is faster then what most ISP's go. like with comcast when i do a speed test i get like 10Mbps down and wireless G goes at 54Mbps. But it also depend on how far away you are from the router. They do make larger wifi antennas. I even see ones that you mount outside that are a lot bigger, but your also limited using them since a lot of the devices have a small antennas built in.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

dadgonemad said:


> I like the convenience of using my itunes account to rent movies, I don’t have to move stuff over to my gaming machines to listen to my music.
> 
> I am not impressed with the media server for both units. I got the 360 because of the media centre and am unimpressed. Unless you are hard wired into your router it is way too slow even with the N connection. The apple is wireless and fast. Coupled with the integration on itunes it gives everything the consoles cannot provide.
> 
> ...


$500 for a 360?

All you need is the slim console and away you go. Its a moot point now anyway, but FWIW I find the 360 quick and reliable, I stream HD films no problem at all. I also use the 360 to view my picture library and listen to any music from my PC. Ive never tried the Apple TV (the reviews seemed to give me the impression it was pretty good, but nothing special sort of thing), but I can certainly see the attraction for people with iTunes accounts etc. MS provide all the same kinds of things through Zune and windows phones etc, but Ive never really been that interested in all that stuff, I'm happy to stream as I do.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Based on the reviews the Apple tv seems very limited. If you want something simular the game counsels are an option but I prefer the Roku and it does stream movies from hulu with an 800 mbs dsl connection. 

Matt


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## JohnJSmith (Apr 25, 2010)

Jason1976 said:


> The Thing is even wireless G is faster then what most ISP's go. like with comcast when i do a speed test i get like 10Mbps down and wireless G goes at 54Mbps.


Wireless G is good enough for your link to the internet, but it is not too good for transfers within your house. That 54 mbit number is the raw throughput, but there's a lot of protocol overhead. The actual throughput is about 22 mbits. That's plenty when you're downloading through a 10 mbit cable modem, but Windows Media Center will choke on it if you're trying to transfer from a PC to an Xbox.


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## dadgonemad (Sep 5, 2010)

I have 4 or five movies that i converted that i stream to my tv. I quite enjoy the convenience. Not to mention the digital copy included in blue ray. Like anything there is a work around for content. I dont think it will replace dvd or the mighty blueray.

We are a slave to our need for devices!


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## dadgonemad (Sep 5, 2010)

Moonfly said:


> $500 for a 360?
> 
> All you need is the slim console and away you go. Its a moot point now anyway, but FWIW I find the 360 quick and reliable, I stream HD films no problem at all. I also use the 360 to view my picture library and listen to any music from my PC. Ive never tried the Apple TV (the reviews seemed to give me the impression it was pretty good, but nothing special sort of thing), but I can certainly see the attraction for people with iTunes accounts etc. MS provide all the same kinds of things through Zune and windows phones etc, but Ive never really been that interested in all that stuff, I'm happy to stream as I do.


I agree you can get a 360 slim for $200. But it is a 4 gig. 4 gig is nothing my todays standards. A 250 gig is $300. By the time you add the play and charge, additional controller, xbox live membership a game or two you are at $500. You have a premiere gaming system to be used as a media streamer.

I agree that you can stream your music and picture files. I really liked the play pictures option in media centre, I just can't be bothered to reorganize my library when its already setup in itunes.

Once i saw how slow the process was with media centre i stopped there. 

I also agree the Apple TV has limitations. So do many other streamer boxes.

One day the perfect unit will come out. Until then we will have to settle for less than perfect units.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Does the Roku allow download and watch later?


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## JohnJSmith (Apr 25, 2010)

Getting a bit off the original topic, I set up streaming on my PS3 today, and I'm kind of happy with it. I downloaded Vuze, which is actually a bittorrent client, but includes a transcoder and a DLNA server. You can drag and drop video and music into it, and it either converts to whatever codec the device understands or just makes it available if it's already compatible. You can get your media onto an Xbox 360, PS3, TiVo, some phones, or into iTunes to put on an iPod.

I downloaded a YouTube video using the YouTube Downloader extension for Chrome, which gave me an flv file. I then dragged the flv to the PS3 section in Vuze, and it transcoded to mp4. The video looked surprisingly good on my TV.

The PS3 also pulls from the Windows Media Server sharing service (instructions), and it works much better than the Windows Media Player interface.


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Sonnie said:


> Does the Roku allow download and watch later?


Roku is a streaming box that will fetch movies and tv shows from various sorces but I did not see any live tv being streamed. So I guess the answer would be no. : )


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

dadgonemad said:


> I agree you can get a 360 slim for $200. But it is a 4 gig. 4 gig is nothing my todays standards. A 250 gig is $300. By the time you add the play and charge, additional controller, xbox live membership a game or two you are at $500. You have a premiere gaming system to be used as a media streamer.
> 
> I agree that you can stream your music and picture files. I really liked the play pictures option in media centre, I just can't be bothered to reorganize my library when its already setup in itunes.
> 
> ...


Steady on there dadgonemad. We're not talking about a premium gaming setup here. All you would need is a 250 Gb console, which could be picked up pre owned if one was so inclined, and you dont need the gold membership. As for media streaming, I wouldnt use Media Center, its slow. Use something like TVersity media server, and its quick and painless, and you can even use you tube etc on it.


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