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We've cut the cable (10 Viewers)

belljr said:
culdeus said:
No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.
I understand what you are saying and will do that but I just wanted to know for my own knowledge.

What is the difference in setting up a shared folder VS creating a partition and sharing that drive?

Why will my tablet see the whole drive but not the shared folder? Is that just differences of network sharing?

Thanks!
Not sure, I've never had much luck just sharing a folder. It never seems to show up on my systems. YMMV.

 
belljr said:
culdeus said:
No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.
I understand what you are saying and will do that but I just wanted to know for my own knowledge.

What is the difference in setting up a shared folder VS creating a partition and sharing that drive?

Why will my tablet see the whole drive but not the shared folder? Is that just differences of network sharing?

Thanks!
Not sure, I've never had much luck just sharing a folder. It never seems to show up on my systems. YMMV.
LOL THANKS FOR NOTHING J/K. I think I read my phone can only find DLNA Servers but not sure if that's the issue. I'll mess around some more with it.

Thanks

 
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WDTV live has arrived! Can't wait to get home and get this bad boy fired up and running.

Ordered from Amazon Friday night with the free shipping option (non-Prime), arrived today after a national holiday Monday. :wub: Amazon

 
belljr said:
culdeus said:
No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.
I understand what you are saying and will do that but I just wanted to know for my own knowledge.

What is the difference in setting up a shared folder VS creating a partition and sharing that drive?

Why will my tablet see the whole drive but not the shared folder? Is that just differences of network sharing?

Thanks!
Not sure, I've never had much luck just sharing a folder. It never seems to show up on my systems. YMMV.
LOL THANKS FOR NOTHING J/K. I think I read my phone can only find DLNA Servers but not sure if that's the issue. I'll mess around some more with it.

Thanks
Sorry it took me so long to respond, but this is it. Your router is not only sharing the media but acting as a DLNA server to recode the files and stream them. Simply sharing a folder on your PC isn't enough for what you expect to be able to do.

I disagree with other posters that a NAS is functionally better than a Win7 Shared folder (called a "SMB Share" or "Samba Share"). I have been running SMB shares on a Win7/8 box for ages and it's amazingly functional. But that's not important here.

If you want the easiest solution, just buy a USB hard drive and plug it into your router. It will do all the sharing.

Next step up from that, if you're set on using your home PC to store media, is to install a DLNA server. Windows Media Player has one built-in that you basically just have to configure and activate. But if you're looking for a simpler solution, I would recommend Plex. It has a great mobile app and can transcode most files except DVD ISOs (so frustrating about that, if you have lots of ISOs like me).

Graduating from Plex would probably be XBMC. More complicated but more flexible. You can even put it on Android devices.

Those are a few options.

 
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Had a snag getting my iMac on OSX Mavericks to see the WDTV, but started running PS3 Media Server and voila! This is insanely awesome. I have a USB 2 TB external drive plugged into my iMac, and the WDTV wired into my Wireless-N router. Zero buffer, streaming HD movies off of the external HDD connected to my iMac. Movies look amazing.

Unbelievable, thanks for the WDTV recommendation :thumbup:

 
belljr said:
culdeus said:
No, I would split and share so the set top box isn't constantly having to index your root folders.

Some set tops manage this two ways there are "network shares" and "Media servers". Setting up a partition as a network share is a much more reliable way to do it.
I understand what you are saying and will do that but I just wanted to know for my own knowledge.

What is the difference in setting up a shared folder VS creating a partition and sharing that drive?

Why will my tablet see the whole drive but not the shared folder? Is that just differences of network sharing?

Thanks!
Not sure, I've never had much luck just sharing a folder. It never seems to show up on my systems. YMMV.
LOL THANKS FOR NOTHING J/K. I think I read my phone can only find DLNA Servers but not sure if that's the issue. I'll mess around some more with it.

Thanks
Next step up from that, if you're set on using your home PC to store media, is to install a DLNA server. Windows Media Player has one built-in that you basically just have to configure and activate. But if you're looking for a simpler solution, I would recommend Plex. It has a great mobile app and can transcode most files except DVD ISOs (so frustrating about that, if you have lots of ISOs like me).

Graduating from Plex would probably be XBMC. More complicated but more flexible. You can even put it on Android devices.

Those are a few options.
Been using MediaBrowser3 for a while and IMO, it's the tops:

http://www.mediabrowser3.com/

 
Is there a list anywhwre of what new shows amazon has available for purchase vs apple (or available on both)? The ones that are on now are easy, but for other ones who are out of season (like Mad Men for example)

 
Anyone have the Apple TV?
?
Roku is to TV what Apple is to smart phones.

It makes no sense to me why Apple embraces the development community to develop ####loads of apps for the iPhone, but rejects the development community when it comes to Apple TV. If you're a developer and went to develop a streaming app, Roku welcomes you to the table, wheras Apple TV has no seat for you to sit at.

The only reseaon I see to get an Apple TV is for the iTunes app... or you like to mirror your iPhone/iPad on your TV screen. Roku can do everything else the Apple TV does, and much more.

 
Anyone have the Apple TV?
I do - but we have a lot of apple in the house - iPads, iMacs, macbook, etc., so the airplay function works well for us.

It works for what we want in terms of streaming netflix and hulu - we can stream Amazon via one of the apple devices if we were so inclined, but I am not sure if we have actually streamed anything from amazon prime yet.

 
Anyone have the Apple TV?
?
Roku is to TV what Apple is to smart phones.

It makes no sense to me why Apple embraces the development community to develop ####loads of apps for the iPhone, but rejects the development community when it comes to Apple TV. If you're a developer and went to develop a streaming app, Roku welcomes you to the table, wheras Apple TV has no seat for you to sit at.

The only reseaon I see to get an Apple TV is for the iTunes app... or you like to mirror your iPhone/iPad on your TV screen. Roku can do everything else the Apple TV does, and much more.
The dual screen mirroring for Mac is awesome on Apple TV, but outside of that featrure WDTV Live is better in any and every way possible that I've used it for than Apple TV.

 
I think I'm going to cut the cable at least until football season. My TV bill is $115 a month and my wifi another $40. Currently we have an xbox 360 and a Wii my kid uses for streaming some television. I don't mess with either. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. Half my house is 40 years old and that half has an old aerial antennae bolted to the chimney. Direct TV went out a couple Thanksgivings ago so I connected the family room set to this antennae and got a great picture for the games. I'm out in the desert a couple hours from LA. We have a relay that pumps in 15 watchable OTA stations. The relay has a webpage and this old antennae gets everything available with beautiful reception. Cool thing about the old antennae is I simply spliced it into the old cable company lines and it was in four rooms. We have three tvs, only two get watched. TV is on a couple hours a night during the week, more on weekends. My kid needs MTV for a couple shows, otherwise entertains herself with her IPAD and wifi (60mbps).

I'm thinking all I need is a couple Rokus, Hulu+ and we're set. Right?

Is it worth it to buy premium Rokus? They pay for themselves in a couple months, right?

 
A little off topic, but I miss video stores. I was in the mood to rent a movie yesterday while at the grocery store. They've got two Red Box machines there. I decided not to because there were 4 people lined up waiting to use them.

Maybe I should just stream more.

 
Well I guess we are going all over the place in this thread, Zasada had helped me a lot with info about building a NAS a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done at that point, but we have reached critical mass on our videos at this point. So I am thinking about buying this http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A6976459

The only concern I have about it is the capacity,. Running in a Raid 1, I would only have 4tbs and I am concerned that is not enough. However, I know I can't build a unit like this for under $500.00.

 
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Well I guess we are going all over the place in this thread, Zasada had helped me a lot with info about building a NAS a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done at that point, but we have reached critical mass on our videos at this point. So I am thinking about buying this http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A6976459

The only concern I have about it is the capacity,. Running in a Raid 1, I would only have 4tbs and I am concerned that is not enough. However, I know I can't build a unit like this for under $500.00.
My concern about that would be scalability. I think you would be better-off just building a dedicated PC for storage (you can still run RAID 1 on it) so that in the future you can add HDDs and continue to grow. If you have a Micro Center nearby you could get a Haswell i3 CPU/mobo combo as a start fairly cheaply.

If you have your heart set on a NAS device, at least get a 4-bay version.

 
I've had an ATV 3 for over a year. Worthless IMO. Never use it. If I could jailbreak it, I would probably use it.

 
Well I guess we are going all over the place in this thread, Zasada had helped me a lot with info about building a NAS a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done at that point, but we have reached critical mass on our videos at this point. So I am thinking about buying this http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A6976459

The only concern I have about it is the capacity,. Running in a Raid 1, I would only have 4tbs and I am concerned that is not enough. However, I know I can't build a unit like this for under $500.00.
4 TB's won't be enough? :lol:

 
We have a few Buffalo drives where I work. They are teh suxors. Nothing but problems with all of them. Stay away.

 
Well I guess we are going all over the place in this thread, Zasada had helped me a lot with info about building a NAS a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get that done at that point, but we have reached critical mass on our videos at this point. So I am thinking about buying this http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=A6976459

The only concern I have about it is the capacity,. Running in a Raid 1, I would only have 4tbs and I am concerned that is not enough. However, I know I can't build a unit like this for under $500.00.
4 TB's won't be enough? :lol:
Actually what I am wanting is 4 to 6 x 3tb HDs running in a Raid array in case one of those drives fails. I mean some of this stuff is priceless to us--birth of children, video of family members no longer with us, etc. You can't risk losing this data.

I also want to start converting our older Mini VHS tapes and store them on here because those tapes are close to 15-20 years old and not something I want to play at all anymore for fear of them breaking.

This is kind of a birthday present for my wife because she is freaking out about all the different locations where our videos are. The plan is to get them all on one server, throw a bunch of movies that she loves on there and couple this with a Roku box (we do not have a Smart tv yet) and it would be great present. More likely it is going to turn into a Christmas present because this is going to take a huge chunk of time to do.

I am lucky in that I have a Microcenter within a hours drive.

 
Cut it 2 months ago, Charter charged me over $400 over first 2 months after saying I would get a deal. Now I watch over Roku, local channels and with a laptop next tp the TV saving me about $1000 a year.

I love this site. For $25 for 6 months or $5/month they stream a lot of current programming. I found it by looking for some Canadian shows; some shows are offered before they are even on the air here.

They say they get shows from a lot of other sources.

 
Had a friend let me know about Hitbliss and I absolutely love it. It is a cord cutters dream. Here is how it works. You set up the ap on your phone, tablet, pc, htpc, mac etc, link your amazon account and your pandora account. You then watch a few ads 7-10 minutes (it c checks to make sure you are watching) worth and you then earn $ or credits to purchase TV shows or rent movies on Amazon or in the hitbliss store. You can also use the $ earned to pay for your monthly pandora subscription. I have been watching the ads in the am when I have my coffee etc.

Been using it for a couple of weeks here are the pros/cons

  • 4 episode limit on Amazon TV Episode Purchases per week
  • TV shows are not available in HD
  • Max of $6 earned before you have to make a purchase
  • $6 is earned very quickly (most times under 10 minutes)
  • Tons of movie rentals and shows available on Amazon or in the Hitbliss store
  • Has options to speed up your earning by giving private information. I only gave my age and sex
  • Amazon purchases show up in your Amazon library & are not tied to Hitbliss
  • If you subscribe to pandora it can automatically charge your Hitbliss account each month for the $3.99
  • No credit card or banking information needed.
Full disclosure the links above are referral links

 
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So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet SPORTS?!?
Once we cut, will watch what is available on local channels.

I do watch a few twins games which are on Fox Sports North, but tend to put the game on the radio while I'm outside doing other things any ways so won't miss watching them.

Other then the NFL, which at this point I'll lose Monday night games and half the Thursday night games, I don't watch anything other then local channels for sports.

As for the Thursday/Monday night games.. Due to getting up at 5:15am, I tend to only watch until Halftime any ways, and for that I can always just "watch" the action on nfl.com as the little icons move ;)

 
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet
ATT U-Verse for about $50 a month for the fastest they got, 40mps or however that works. I am on the internet a lot so I'm not cutting that out plus I have a house phone because my cell doesn't get spectacular coverage in the house. ATT likes to try and convince me to grab a cable package but I just tell them no interest. My bill would go to about $150 a month for everything.

 
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet
ATT U-Verse for about $50 a month for the fastest they got, 40mps or however that works. I am on the internet a lot so I'm not cutting that out plus I have a house phone because my cell doesn't get spectacular coverage in the house. ATT likes to try and convince me to grab a cable package but I just tell them no interest. My bill would go to about $150 a month for everything.
I just checked it out. $65/mo for 45Mbps

The names of their tiers is a crackup... 3Mbps is "Pro", 6Mbps is "Elite", 18Mbps is "Max Plus", 45Mbps is "Power"

Anything under Max Plus is pretty much worthless for HD streaming. Pro and Elite.. lol

EDIT: Actually those are 1-yr commitment prices. Also noticed they have "Max Turbo" which is 24Mbps for $71/mo no commitment. Cox gives me 28Mbps for $61 no commit.

 
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So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet
ATT U-Verse for about $50 a month for the fastest they got, 40mps or however that works. I am on the internet a lot so I'm not cutting that out plus I have a house phone because my cell doesn't get spectacular coverage in the house. ATT likes to try and convince me to grab a cable package but I just tell them no interest. My bill would go to about $150 a month for everything.
I just checked it out. $65/mo for 45Mbps

The names of their tiers is a crackup... 3Mbps is "Pro", 6Mbps is "Elite", 18Mbps is "Max Plus", 45Mbps is "Power"

Anything under Max Plus is pretty much worthless for HD streaming. Pro and Elite.. lol

EDIT: Actually those are 1-yr commitment prices. Also noticed they have "Max Turbo" which is 24Mbps for $71/mo no commitment. Cox gives me 28Mbps for $61 no commit.
I was one of the first in my neighborhood for their U-Verse, I called and haggled so I got a pretty good deal on the 12 month commit. I royally hate Comcast but I'm sure I can fetch a terrific deal from them for 12 months next year. As long as I have fast speed for around $50 a month, I'm good with that. I have my Mac, Netflix running, cell phones on wi-fi so I use it a lot. Sounds like you have a solid deal from Cox.

 
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet
ATT U-Verse for about $50 a month for the fastest they got, 40mps or however that works. I am on the internet a lot so I'm not cutting that out plus I have a house phone because my cell doesn't get spectacular coverage in the house. ATT likes to try and convince me to grab a cable package but I just tell them no interest. My bill would go to about $150 a month for everything.
I just checked it out. $65/mo for 45Mbps

The names of their tiers is a crackup... 3Mbps is "Pro", 6Mbps is "Elite", 18Mbps is "Max Plus", 45Mbps is "Power"

Anything under Max Plus is pretty much worthless for HD streaming. Pro and Elite.. lol

EDIT: Actually those are 1-yr commitment prices. Also noticed they have "Max Turbo" which is 24Mbps for $71/mo no commitment. Cox gives me 28Mbps for $61 no commit.
I was one of the first in my neighborhood for their U-Verse, I called and haggled so I got a pretty good deal on the 12 month commit. I royally hate Comcast but I'm sure I can fetch a terrific deal from them for 12 months next year. As long as I have fast speed for around $50 a month, I'm good with that. I have my Mac, Netflix running, cell phones on wi-fi so I use it a lot. Sounds like you have a solid deal from Cox.
All of the cable companies are so aligned on pricing that they only way it ever makes sense to switch is to get the promo price. Long term you pay for what you get. That's why some people who are real cheapskates switch systems every year so they are always on some promo rate.

 
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet SPORTS?!?
Watch any and every game that I want with my Chromecast :)
Talk me through this, please.
You can get any game with betting sites like Vipbox but video quality isn't HD by any means.
You can cast those streams to a TV with Chromecast?
You can cast anything you view within the Chrome browser to the Chromecast. I've tried a few games but they seem to lose some quality in the process.

 
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet SPORTS?!?
Watch any and every game that I want with my Chromecast :)
Talk me through this, please.
You can get any game with betting sites like Vipbox but video quality isn't HD by any means.
You can cast those streams to a TV with Chromecast?
You can cast anything you view within the Chrome browser to the Chromecast. I've tried a few games but they seem to lose some quality in the process.
Yeah, chromecast is terrible for casting. You have to downgrade it so much to get it to play smoothly.

 
Getting real tired of paying $100+/month for cable. <_< Really love HBOGo, wish they offered it stand-alone instead of through a cable company. Are we ever going to get to the point where providers can offer a la carte channels or do cable companies have too strong of a hold on things for the foreseeable future?

I'd cancel my cable immediately if there was an easy solution for HD sports and just a couple channels like AMC and HBO. :kicksrock:

 
My question to those who are afraid they will miss out on sports and a couple channels...when do you all find the time? My wife and I have perhaps 1-2 hours a night tops we can devote to much on TV. Netflix fills that void nicely. I do wish I could watch a little more basketball however when it comes to football...

-If you live in the city of your home team you get all those games thru the NFL on Sunday for free in HD with a simple Mohu Leaf antenna

-Most big college football games are on CBS/ABC/NBC/FOX on Saturdays...see Mohu above.

-All primetime shows plus PBS are free, PBS is loaded with good television options and there aren't many commercial interruptions, a huge plus in my book.

How much time can you really devote to 200+ channels of commercials? We have found that we cut way back on sitting around the house on the couch watching our waistlines swelling and suddenly we have time for walks, yoga, exercise, writing that book we always wanted to do, reading books I never knew were in print, stop signs, we have a lot more time and we're still entertained. $5.95 PPV movies?, $1.50 at Redbox to fill in the gaps. Also a lot more time to play games like postman and hide the snake.

We've saved a lot of money on entertainment but we also have been out and about, a lot more social, made a few new acquaintances along the way, even helped me find my way to a new career path.

Ditch cable and find a new career path.

 
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paz1 said:
So all you cable cutters...what do you do for internet SPORTS?!?
Watch any and every game that I want with my Chromecast :)
Talk me through this, please.
You can get any game with betting sites like Vipbox but video quality isn't HD by any means.
You can cast those streams to a TV with Chromecast?
You can cast anything you view within the Chrome browser to the Chromecast. I've tried a few games but they seem to lose some quality in the process.
but not amazon prime video?

 
UniAlias said:
Getting real tired of paying $100+/month for cable. <_< Really love HBOGo, wish they offered it stand-alone instead of through a cable company. Are we ever going to get to the point where providers can offer a la carte channels or do cable companies have too strong of a hold on things for the foreseeable future?

I'd cancel my cable immediately if there was an easy solution for HD sports and just a couple channels like AMC and HBO. :kicksrock:
HD sports is the kicker. I want HD broadcast quality all I can consume live sports, and cutting the cable just won't get it done. MLB and NFL are musts in this arena, and that covers ~ 9 months of the year, college basketball in the winter I like to have too. I've slimmed my package down to barebones non-sports to get the sports and pay for the all-games packages, that's it. Go jailbroken Apple TV and WDTV live for any premium TV shows and movies I want to watch. No broadcast HD quality live sports solution that I know of out there, and I'm willing to pay to get what I want for sports.

 

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