Best way to watch videos from a hard drive on a TV wirelessly

phillyrx · Dec 30, 2013

Hello,

I'm looking to set up a system in my house in which anyone can watch any video (I don't have a lot so 1-2 TB drive is plenty) that is located on a storage drive/hard drive (or whatever else you'd suggest) on any TV in the house. I have 3 TVs (two with HDMI, and the other one a bit older). Also, I'd like to do this wirelessly. I currently have Verizon FiOS internet 50/25.

I'm not sure what other information may be relevant, but please let me know what additional details may help to provide insight. Also, if I'm in the wrong forum, can you please direct me to the right one?

Lastly, I'd like not to spend a lot of money (preferably less than $200) to set up the network.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

ram1009 · Dec 30, 2013

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=570

This will do the job but I recommend against wireless.

allennnn · Dec 31, 2013

I would recommend just getting a NAS.

FAQ. WD TV Live Hub Media Center.

Problem:
when playing a high bitrate movie from a Network location (computer or NAS), after a period of time, the video may slow down and jitter.

Cause:
Samba (the method the WD TV uses to read a network location) cannot play back high bitrate movies.

http://support.wdc.com/product/kb.asp?wdc_lang=en&fid=wdsfWDTV_LiveHub

ram1009 · Dec 31, 2013

allennnn :

I agree. I have had this problem. However the player I recommended is the WD Live Hub which has its own 1 TB HDD to store content. This works on my system. You can also use the second solution offered in the knowledge base article which is to use the media server option rather than network shares. I also had many problems until I abandoned wireless. I don't think a NAS is within the OP's budget.

smitbret · Dec 31, 2013

I stream my Blu-Ray rips regularly to the WDTV Live Hub and they work very well. I keep it wired, though. I tried a good wireless N setup for this a few years ago with some success and in most cases I was able to watch the Blu-Ray rips but forget about things like FF/Rew. If they are compressed BR rips and/or DVD quality you will probably be marginally OK up to file sizes around 4 or 5GB but the bitrate peaks will still cause issues if they get too high.

If you must go wireless, you're probably gonna have to invest in a bridged AC setup (2 AC routers).

phillyrx · Dec 31, 2013

Thanks for the valuable insight everyone! I'm still trying to figure out if I should go the 2 router option or go with a powerline adapter option. As for the NAS, what are the biggest differences between that and the WD live hub? Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't the NAS require one of the computers to be playing the video, or does it play directly from the NAS? Also, a 1TB drive is completely sufficient for my needs.

smitbret · Dec 31, 2013

phillyrx :

A NAS is just a place to store files. If a 1TB WDTV Live Hub can hold it all then you could use it as your NAS. You can also connect external HDDs to it. Keep in mind though, that even though it has a gigabit connection, the SOC limits the network transfer speeds to about 11MB/s.

A lot of people build NAS/HTPC combos with great success. Any decent low-power CPU and enough storage space will work fine but will cost more than a media streamer.

Search

Best way to watch videos from a hard drive on a TV wirelessly

phillyrx

Honorable

ram1009

Distinguished

allennnn

Honorable

ram1009

Distinguished

smitbret

Distinguished

phillyrx

Honorable

smitbret

Distinguished

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page