Category: accessible Devices
Hey all,
I'm looking for a media player that I can connect to my tv which can play content from my network. So far I've ruled out:
Computer. Not practical given price & parental constraints. Will most likely use this approach when I have my own place though.
Apple TV. I was hoping that I could hack something together using a Raspberry pi and an external hard drive running elseware on the network, but dlna isn't supported and whilst the pi can do airplay, this isn't enough for the tv - the storage device has to appear to be running iTunes before the tv sees it. A computer running iTunes isn't an option as I'm trying to keep power low & I don't like buying Apple products so I don't want a time capsule. This was my solution of choice but research suggests I won't be able to do what I want to do if I was to buy one which is very disappointing.
Jailbroken Apple tv running xbmc. Potentially workable but xbmc is inaccessible with vo on the tv so I'd have to resorte to controling it with a iPhone app or through its web interface; both of these methods only give parcial control of the system though.
I surpose my real question is if anyone has any experience using things like Western Digitals WDTV, a Roku box or one of the Popcorn appliences? I know I'm going to have to forgo a considerable amount of accessibility - E.G. I'll have to interact with it through an iPhone if I was to use this approach, but for my use case I really don't see any other option.
Any thoughts are welcome.
Cheers.
hmm a google tv box running 4.0 or higher might do the trick.
That's a good idea actually, although someone bought me an Apple TV so it looks like I'll be running iTunes on something 24 7. For a company that is trying to be green their approach to this really doesn't make sense. Makes complete sense in terms of profit & the Apple ecosystem though.
Thanks for the suggestion anyway.