DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

I'm planning to buy a media streaming client for my living room to watch the videos stored on the DNS on my TV set.

First, I thought of a Fujitsu-Siemens Activy Media Player 150 or a Netgear EVA8000. Then I read here about the Pinnacle Show Center. Finally, I saw that the Xbox 360 and the PS3 can also be utilized as streaming clients.

Currently my favorite is the PS3 (40GB version) at the moment, as it has a HDMI output and is - as far as I understand - ready for the future as it is capable of playing H.264 videos (is it?).

Currently I want to play videos
* AVI files using XViD about 640x352 @ 24 and 25 fps, 960x528 @ 24 fps
* MKV files using avc1 1280x720 @ 24 fps

But there are a few questions left open:
* Can it play AVI files (divx, xvid or mp4)? There are confusing stories in the internet about that...
* I have no dolby 5.1 amplifier, only a simple stereo amp. Is the PS3 able to output a stereo downmix from 5.1 sound?
* Are there special restrictions about video resolutions, size/bandwidth, format (4:3, 16:9, 24p, 25p, 30p, 50i, 60i?)

Which experiences do you have with the PS3 being a media streaming client?


Bernhard

PS3 as a media player is an hit or miss experience.
using the DNS-323 beta firmware seems to work but only for one root directory.
If you have lots of media you need more flexible media center.
I ended up installing TwonkyMedia and after lots of pain and a little scare Christian at Twonky released version 4.4.3.1 that is able to stream to PS3...
Problem is only some of the avi files are able to be streamed, some of them fail as unsupported data..
Same is for music files...

Overall experience is better than XBox 360 but still not perfect.

The best is a modded XBox 180 (the old one), but it is noisy.... almost as noisy as the new one reading Halo 3 Game DVD....

:-)

That is why I posted the previous message....

PopCorn Hour is what I am going to use.... I researched a lot and it seems the best one out there ...
Only problem is not available ... backordered.....

They sell it on ebay at twice the price....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … amp;ih=008

Or you order now and wait for a month...

:-)

My 5 cents!!!

Happy New Year to you all!!!!!!!!!!!!


Angel67

^bump

re: What is media player compatible with DNS-323?

I was at Fry's again and decided to buy a D-Link DSM-520 media player.  It has the Live365 internet radio that my DSM-510 doesn't - so I decided to try this player.  It is nicely compatible with the DNS-323 NAS drive - it can find and play the music, video and photos just fine.  Live365 (without a computer) works fine too.

However this DSM-520 has a compatibility problem with my Sony TV... the HDMI output signal of this DSM-520 refuses to work - the error message on-screen says the HDMI signal is unsupported.  Next problem is this DSM-520 is always stuck in the 4:3 mode - it cannot do 16:9 widescreen.. the D-Link setup says 16:9 but the video output is eternally stuck in the 4:3 format.  I downloaded and tried the newest v1.05 firmware too but it still didn't help.  Pressing the video output/type button on the remote didn't help either.  It only works in the analog/composite mode and not in HDMI.  I guess I'll be returning this DSM-520 to the store soon...

Last edited by phil (2008-01-06 07:21:14)

dan.crouthamel wrote:

Maybe it's a bad box or something.  My DSM-520 works fine with my Sony TV in HDMI mode and does display in 16:9.

I exchanged the DMS-520 for another one but still no love... it just doesn't wanna sync (same issues as before).  I also tried another HDMI port on the TV but it didn't help.  (The 510 works nicely on the same port.)