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Home Theater Set up with DLNA, NAS, and playing blu-ray ISOs

post #1 of 9
5/30/11 at 6:54pm
Thread Starter 

 

Hello,

 

I am about to move into my first home, and I am really excited to put together a home theater system with full networking capabilities.  I know this can mean a number of different things to a number a different members, but let me explain what I want out of my home theater, and how I think I would need to proceed to achieve it.

 

Here are my requirements:

  • 5.1 surround sound system (I do not think 7.1 is necessary at this point)
  • Network attached storage (NAS) that will be DLNA compatible so that it can store all music, video, and photos from PCs and smartphones from those in the home (who allow for sharing of their media)
  • Capability of playing backed up Blu-Ray ISOs from my NAS (please don't get into the debate of licensing for this... it would be for backed up copies of my owned Blu-Rays so that I could easily access any of them from my TV without putting them into the system)
  • Capability of playing other video file formats from my NAS to my TV
  • Capability of playing audio from my NAS and iTunes playlists through my system, controllable via my TV.
  • Capability of being able to connect a Blu-Ray player, cable box, and game console (PS3) to the system.
  • Capability of doing all these things easily via TV on-screen navigations.

 

So, it seems like a lot of requirements, but this is my first pass of how it would be achieved, at a relatively low cost:

  • TV: Sharp 60" lc60le835u with DLNA [Hooked to receiver via HDMI out] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR609 7.2 Channel Network THX Certified A/V Receiver [Hooked to TV via HDMI out] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • Media Player: Popcorn Hour C-200 [Hooked to receiver via HDMI in] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • Blu-Ray: Sony Networked Blu-Ray player [Hooked to receiver via HDMI in] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • Network Attached Storage (NAS): Not sure of what to get yet... [Can they directly hook to receivers?] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • PS3:  [Hooked to receiver via HDMI in] [Hooked to network router via Ethernet]
  • Router: WNDR4000 Netgear Router 

 

 

So ... does anyone have suggestions for me?  Is there any media player than can play Blu-Ray ISOs from a NAS system better than the Popcorn Hour C-200?  How about the receiver?  Is there a receiver that can act as the central GUI that can control each of these devices nicely?  I really want to get this right!
 

Thanks!!!

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post #2 of 9
5/31/11 at 5:46am
"Backing up" Blu-ray disks requires defeating copy protection, a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998, not to mention the World Intellectual Property Organization treaties of 1996,l and is forbidden on this forum. Whether you think that is fair or not, it is an illegal act and thus is not allowed.
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post #3 of 9
5/31/11 at 7:10am
Thread Starter 

OK, then ignore the blu-ray ISO part.  I don't even know how it'd be done, but I have heard of people doing it for DVDs.  I was thinking of how to have a collection in one place, but I guess i'm stuck with popping my blu-rays into my blu-ray player (which is the reason I got it anyway banana.gif.

 

So, scratch the ISO idea, and lets talk about any other media file on my NAS instead.  I have many home videos... from both my digital camcorder and also from my new smartphone (Android Motorola Atrix).  In addition, I have family members with iPhones.  So, there could be many different videos with different video formats on my NAS.  What is recommended to play these?  I read that the Popcorn Hour C-200 should be able to handle this.  Other suggestions?

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post #4 of 9
5/31/11 at 9:02am

I've heard good reviews of the Popcornhour.  I was cheap and went with the WD TV Live (which I had problems with, twice, but others seem to like), and then settled on the Seagate Theater+; which works fine for my needs but is a little rough around the edges in terms of user interface.  If I were to do it again I'd spring for the C-200.

 

By the way, why are you connecting your TV to the network?

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post #5 of 9
5/31/11 at 10:13am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the reply.  

 

 

 

Quote:
By the way, why are you connecting your TV to the network?

 

The TV i'm getting (The Sharp listed in my previous post) is DLNA certified.  I figured that, since I can, I would hard-wire the TV to my router as well.  That way, anything played from my NAS would be quick, hard wired through to my TV.  In addition, should I decide to stream Netflix to my TV, the connection would not be wireless, giving me better speeds.  Is this inaccurate?  I guess it doesn't need to be done if i'm already hooking my HDMI to my receiver, and my receiver is connected to the network,...

 

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post #6 of 9
6/2/11 at 4:34am

 

Quote:

 I guess it doesn't need to be done if i'm already hooking my HDMI to my receiver, and my receiver is connected to the network,...

 

Yeah, I think you only need the devices accessing the NAS to be connected, which would be the media player for the movies and the receiver if you're going to be playing audio files (and the receiver is DNLA compliant; otherwise you'll probably play the audio through the media player also).

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post #7 of 9
6/2/11 at 7:33pm

Unfortunately iTunes does not support DLNA.   Unless you buy Apple hardware you will have to go through some machinations to get access to the iTunes libraries.  There is software out there that can help.  The biggest headache is the DRM tracks that were bought from the iTunes store.  Apple does not play nice outside its ecosystem.

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post #8 of 9
1/23/12 at 6:32am
Hi there - I'm very interested in this thread - I have a Sony KDL-40W5710 40" TV which is DLNA certified, and a Netgear DLNA certified NAS, both of which are connected with CAT5 cable through a gigabit router. The TV can load jpegs and mp3 music, however, there are 2 problems:-

(1) accessing any media is very slow - I assume this is down to the TVs internal CPU - eg displaying a jpeg takes 30-60 seconds, hardly good for a slideshow!

(2) the TV cannot access wma or m4a music or ANY video format - even though it should .

Admittedly I've had the TV 2 years now so network integration has probably improved...

So, my question - I'm looking to upgrade my Sony home cinema from an old DAVS550 (as the DVD player is broken) to a bluray home cinema (eg Sony BDVE280) however, I don't want to end up with a system that has the same problems as listed. so, can any one recommend a system that is good in terms of its speed of loading networked content? I'm not overly concerned whether it's Sony or not...

Thanks,

Andrew
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post #9 of 9
1/23/12 at 9:47am
I have both the Sony S370 and S380 and both play video just fine from a lowly ReadyNAS Duo. (For comparison's sake, much better than my Seagate Theater+.)

On the downside, neither plays my flac files. I have to go through my receiver for those.
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