WiFi Media Players and NAS

[TaureanBull]

Hi guys. I am starting this thread to discuss all the WiFi Media Player products available, their prices, specifications and maximum we can 'squeeze' out of them.

I personally know of three of them.

1. Logitec Squeezebox
Wi-Fi Music Players

Price : approx 15-16k

2. Apple TV
Apple - Apple TV - View all technical specifications for Apple TV.

Price : approx 8-9 k

3. Xtreamer Pro

Xtreamer India ::

Price : Approx 13k (without HDDs)

I personally have Xtreamer Pro. Other people owning others can throw light on their capabilities. If people know of other such players they can post here.

Some of the important utilities, I have found with Xtreamer Pro(found most of them in others too):-

1. Of course, a media player.
2. I can have 2 disks of 2TBs and addl disk via USB.
3. I can use these disks as NAS. No need to buy another NAS server.
4. It plays almost all the formats. Both FLAC and WAV among the music formats. While apple plays only WAV, if I am right.
5. As of now, the 4TB space is sufficient for movies and music. Pics I store in portable disk, which I use to stream through Xtreamer's USB port.
6. It obviates the use of a CDP which is very specific in usefulness. Some amy feel a need for a DAC.
7. The file management and storage is excellent at good prices.

 

[haisaikat]

I own a ASUS O!Play Air and it is real good, plays any format (including RMVB) and has a host of input options, operates on 2.4 GHz 802.11n band, can store network shortcuts, can play from any network share be it my NAS or PC.

My NAS is DNS 323 with 1TB+1TB installed (max 2+2 TB support) out of which 250GB is mirrored on both for photos and the rest is sequential. It can download and store torrent links using its torrent downloader feature, has Gigabit ports that is directly hooked up to my router's Gigabit ports It also serves me as print server for my USB HP inkjet printer. It supports jumbo frames.

Both of these I purchased over a year back from US and are working fine till date with no issues.

For the media player I would have loved if it would have supported Youtube playback but still waiting if ASUS will update its firmware in future to bring in more features. I overlooked this part while buying.

I am yet to purchase a bigger screen TV and hence am yet to find out how this ASUS player performs on bigger screens. I do not play much music with this network player but it can do that though.

I personally think NAS should be directly hooked up to router to help minimize the latency and bottleneck during large file transfers over the network at least we can get wire speeds when the data is transferred between NAS via router for the NAS-Router path.

 

[GeorgeO]

I use a ReadyNAS Duo with a single 2TB and have 2 Squeeze Boxes as well as a Popcorn Hour A 200 media player ( with wireless dongle)with an internal 1.5TB HDD. My NAS is on my network and programmed to boot up at 6AM and shut down at 11PM, and is accessed wirelesly for audio and via cable for video.

 

[denzong]

I own a ASUS O!Play Air and it is real good, plays any format (including RMVB) and has a host of input options, operates on 2.4 GHz 802.11n band, can store network shortcuts, can play from any network share be it my NAS or PC.

My NAS is DNS 323 with 1TB+1TB installed (max 2+2 TB support) out of which 250GB is mirrored on both for photos and the rest is sequential. It can download and store torrent links using its torrent downloader feature, has Gigabit ports that is directly hooked up to my router's Gigabit ports It also serves me as print server for my USB HP inkjet printer. It supports jumbo frames.

Both of these I purchased over a year back from US and are working fine till date with no issues.

For the media player I would have loved if it would have supported Youtube playback but still waiting if ASUS will update its firmware in future to bring in more features. I overlooked this part while buying.

I am yet to purchase a bigger screen TV and hence am yet to find out how this ASUS player performs on bigger screens. I do not play much music with this network player but it can do that though.

I personally think NAS should be directly hooked up to router to help minimize the latency and bottleneck during large file transfers over the network at least we can get wire speeds when the data is transferred between NAS via router for the NAS-Router path.

just trying to understand here: can i connect playon mini hd to DNS 323 for a 2x2tb storage. trying to find out if i can use this as an external storage (using the usb of playon hd mini). if it does then i dont need to buy xtreamer pro.
will this idea work?

 

[haisaikat]

just trying to understand here: can i connect playon mini hd to DNS 323 for a 2x2tb storage. trying to find out if i can use this as an external storage (using the usb of playon hd mini). if it does then i dont need to buy xtreamer pro.
will this idea work?

You cannot use the USB of DNS 323 to connect to this Player s USB Drive. The USB of DNS 323 is only for input. since playon has built in DHCP so you better connect this through the ethernet port to the DNS 323 and access it directly. You will be able to do it. The only assumption here is that the DNS 323 will take the first IP under the alowable IPS and that is how you have to access it. Similar to the case as if you access your DNS by connecting it to a PC by setting up DNS 323 as the DHCP server.

Otherwise if you have a home wifi network then you better purchase an wifi dongle of Playon and not end up purchasing XTreamer.

 

[haisaikat]

I use a ReadyNAS Duo with a single 2TB and have 2 Squeeze Boxes as well as a Popcorn Hour A 200 media player ( with wireless dongle)with an internal 1.5TB HDD. My NAS is on my network and programmed to boot up at 6AM and shut down at 11PM, and is accessed wirelesly for audio and via cable for video.

Thats a cool bootup feature that you have.
I wish my DNS 323 supported that.

 

[denzong]

You cannot use the USB of DNS 323 to connect to this Player s USB Drive. The USB of DNS 323 is only for input. since playon has built in DHCP so you better connect this through the ethernet port to the DNS 323 and access it directly. You will be able to do it. The only assumption here is that the DNS 323 will take the first IP under the alowable IPS and that is how you have to access it. Similar to the case as if you access your DNS by connecting it to a PC by setting up DNS 323 as the DHCP server.

Otherwise if you have a home wifi network then you better purchase an wifi dongle of Playon and not end up purchasing XTreamer.

if i am understanding correctly then i can connect the nas and the media player with an Ethernet (have a spare wifi router too but i want a simpler solution). this will create a 4tb media player set for me

 

[haisaikat]

if i am understanding correctly then i can connect the nas and the media player with an Ethernet (have a spare wifi router too but i want a simpler solution). this will create a 4tb media player set for me

Yes you are correct. Playon will be dhcp server and nas will be client

Des 323 will be dhcp client

 

[denzong]

Yes you are correct. Playon will be dhcp server and nas will be client

Des 323 will be dhcp client

i am here talking about Play On HD Mini not the full.. is that ok?

 

[denzong]

Yes you are correct. Playon will be dhcp server and nas will be client

Des 323 will be dhcp client

sorry to bother again but another query. can i use a nas with apple tv and use apple tv as a media player. or would play on hd mini be a better option then apple tv?

please help

 

[haisaikat]

i am here talking about Play On HD Mini not the full.. is that ok?

Yes. Mini is fine. I checked the specs before replying .

 

[haisaikat]

sorry to bother again but another query. can i use a nas with apple tv and use apple tv as a media player. or would play on hd mini be a better option then apple tv?

please help

Although I own none but it seems from the specs that Apple TV has Wifi-N built in but on the other hand they seem to require itunes in the PC streaming. Did not find a direct USB port for HDD support. So your PC-Media player option can still work but not NAS to direct media player unless you use wifi. Have to check the compatibility with with NAS directly, not 100% sure at least to influence your buying options.

However this problem is not there in playon and moreover it supports higher resolution 1080p which the apple tv does not support (max 720p). Check on the prices as well.

If you have still not purchased a media player you may also see options for upgrading to an HDMI enabled laptop as that will serve the same purpose but of course will require a newer laptop.

 

[denzong]

Although I own none but it seems from the specs that Apple TV has Wifi-N built in but on the other hand they seem to require itunes in the PC streaming. Did not find a direct USB port for HDD support. So your PC-Media player option can still work but not NAS to direct media player unless you use wifi. Have to check the compatibility with with NAS directly, not 100% sure at least to influence your buying options.

However this problem is not there in playon and moreover it supports higher resolution 1080p which the apple tv does not support (max 720p). Check on the prices as well.

If you have still not purchased a media player you may also see options for upgrading to an HDMI enabled laptop as that will serve the same purpose but of course will require a newer laptop.

thanks friend. i already have 2 new laptops (one office and one home) and both have hdmi. but i cannot keep the laptop near my setup as kids might destroy it when i am not there. moreover there are times when i need peace of mind to work on my laptop (have my own den for that) and if i connect it to the system then i would have to be in the living area to use the laptop which i would not prefer.

therefore connecting the laptops out. thus needed an option of a media player.

i was thinking of playon mini hd to connect to my setup and then adding the external hdd. but you gave me a great idea of nas. so i can now start the way i had thought and soon build the nas (as expenses are to be controlled).
i am now totally convinced as to what i want as a setup but just evaluating the option of the media player

i am getting a playon hd mini (with wifi) for 6800 and apple tv for 5000. so just wondering what to buy.

 

[haisaikat]

thanks friend. i already have 2 new laptops (one office and one home) and both have hdmi. but i cannot keep the laptop near my setup as kids might destroy it when i am not there. moreover there are times when i need peace of mind to work on my laptop (have my own den for that) and if i connect it to the system then i would have to be in the living area to use the laptop which i would not prefer.

therefore connecting the laptops out. thus needed an option of a media player.

i was thinking of playon mini hd to connect to my setup and then adding the external hdd. but you gave me a great idea of nas. so i can now start the way i had thought and soon build the nas (as expenses are to be controlled).
i am now totally convinced as to what i want as a setup but just evaluating the option of the media player

i am getting a playon hd mini (with wifi) for 6800 and apple tv for 5000. so just wondering what to buy.

For the NAS part, if you plan to purchase playon with USB support then you can even hook up usb portable drives with media player and save on NAS cost setup for the time being. If the shop offers a demo then see the PQ in both. But from specs it seems that playon supports higher resolution.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

sorry to bother again but another query. can i use a nas with apple tv and use apple tv as a media player. or would play on hd mini be a better option then apple tv?

please help

New Apple TV doesn't work with a NAS out of the box, and it always needs an instance of itunes running on a computer through which it can access the contents of your NAS.

 

[denzong]

New Apple TV doesn't work with a NAS out of the box, and it always needs an instance of itunes running on a computer through which it can access the contents of your NAS.

in short better not go with it :lol:

 

[TaureanBull]

In my personal experience, the Xtreamer is the least technical of all. Needs no additional software etc. Easy to configure too.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Squeezebox seems to stand out as being the only one mentioned in the initial post that is audio only. In that sense, does it qualify as a "media player"?

I have Squeezebox Duet.

What it does for me: it is a ridiculously expensive alternative to the cable that I used to use to connect my PC to the hifi.

What else it does: Internet radio.

What it could be for you: Part of a true multi-room, multi-controller audio system --- but no movies.

 

[TaureanBull]

Squeezebox seems to stand out as being the only one mentioned in the initial post that is audio only. In that sense, does it qualify as a "media player"?

I have Squeezebox Duet.

What it does for me: it is a ridiculously expensive alternative to the cable that I used to use to connect my PC to the hifi.

What else it does: Internet radio.

What it could be for you: Part of a true multi-room, multi-controller audio system --- but no movies.

As far as its a WiFi player its fine.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

It is indeed, and it is also good value for money. There is other stuff that only does audio streaming that is far more expensive.

I don't have any NAS, and with quite a lot of a 1Tb disc empty, along with over 600Gb capacity on two other discs, I have no plans for any. Internal storage is fine.

The Squeezebox will interact with internet music services with only the modem/router turned on. It is even possible (although it takes a hack to enable the hardware!) to use earphones with the remote itself. Obviously the PC needs to be on to access music stored on it, via dedicated squeezeserver software. Then it is easier to use the web interface than the remote.

I don't really believe in NAS: I could 5 to 10 Tb in my PC case! Of curse, as a file server it also available to anything else on my network*




(*Give or take the bad moods of Ubuntu Samba, but that is an entirely different story)