I know what I want……….. I'm just not sure how to get it! I have the set-up below in one room (TV, Onk 875, PS3, etc..), but I want to push music (and if possible video) to the other rooms in the house. In particular, I want……….. A) All music and video stored on a local, centralised source B) Music streamed to the kitchen - has to be wireless C) Music and Video streamed to HD TV in the main bedroom (and possibly additional rooms) - again needs to be wireless I was originally looking at the Sonos as the ideal way of doing this for my music needs (i.e. B), but then I got to thinking about streaming video as well. This is when I discovered the Apple TV at the Bristol show (nice demo by the way!) This looked like the perfect set-up for the living room. However, the Apple TV unit only has a maximum of 160Gb which would quickly get filled up with video, so a bit of research led me to the possibility of linking one of these to an Apple AirPort Express Wi-fi station (1TB model). Now, forgive me if I'm being thick………. but would it then be possible to have another Apple TV unit in the bedroom to stream music and video too? And what could I use in the kitchen for music only that could be fed directly from the wi-fi station in the same way that the Sonos does? Can I pair a Sonos reciever to the Apple wif-fi station? Am I making any sense?!?
Sonos vs Apple TV?!? Help and advice required!
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Hi Ketch,
I've been looking into similar things for a while, so take extra special interest when we get media streamer/client products in for review. Unfortunately, on the video front I'm still to be entirely convinced. The problem is that each device has its own limitations in terms of format support and the like - if you buy the Apple TV, you're limited to Apple-friendly video formats, and even the more universal ones have their limitations.
If it was me (and as mentioned, I've been down this road), I'd opt for a music-only system for the time being, in the form of a Sonos linked to a big NAS device, and hold fire on the video side until a wholly convincing solution reveals itself (Sonos Video please!).
That is, of course, unless you have the money to buy Media Center PCs for the rooms that you want video in...
Oh, and thank you for the kind comments on the Bristol Show demonstration. It was a lot of hard work, so it's always good to get positive feedback!
I've been looking into similar things for a while, so take extra special interest when we get media streamer/client products in for review. Unfortunately, on the video front I'm still to be entirely convinced. The problem is that each device has its own limitations in terms of format support and the like - if you buy the Apple TV, you're limited to Apple-friendly video formats, and even the more universal ones have their limitations.
If it was me (and as mentioned, I've been down this road), I'd opt for a music-only system for the time being, in the form of a Sonos linked to a big NAS device, and hold fire on the video side until a wholly convincing solution reveals itself (Sonos Video please!).
That is, of course, unless you have the money to buy Media Center PCs for the rooms that you want video in...
Oh, and thank you for the kind comments on the Bristol Show demonstration. It was a lot of hard work, so it's always good to get positive feedback!
Cheers for the feedback Tom.
I think we are on the same wavelength with regards to the video streaming capability.
As I said, I loved the Apple TV set-up and was hoping that it could be expanded with the use of multiple clients, but I also worry about the restrictive formats available.
Out of curiosity, what formats can Apple TV handle........... and which one did you use for your copy of Ratatouille at the show?
As for Sonos Video........... that would be superb!
I think we are on the same wavelength with regards to the video streaming capability.
As I said, I loved the Apple TV set-up and was hoping that it could be expanded with the use of multiple clients, but I also worry about the restrictive formats available.
Out of curiosity, what formats can Apple TV handle........... and which one did you use for your copy of Ratatouille at the show?
As for Sonos Video........... that would be superb!
PJ1200
Well-known member
Ketch
Unfortunately I don't have a solution for you either. Like Tom, I have been taking an interest in this area for sometime myself - obviously not to the same level and Tom, but it still frustrates me that there does not appear to be an all-in-one solution for this sort of thing.
People bang on about the PS3 being able to do this and that, and what great value for money it is, but it has some quite big limitations in some of the areas it tries to accomplish.
Like you, I want to be able to stream video/movies/music to my tvs and hi fi's in the house. Streaming music is fairly easy. You can have a fairly cheap and effective 'Airport Express' (which I have) which will stream music to your hi fi wirelessly. You obviously need to be an iTunes user (which I know some people despise) but if you are, it works very effectively. The Sonos obviously takes this a step further and offers more flexibility - but at a price.
You talk about AppleTV, and when this came out I thought - wooppie - problems solved, but as mentioned by Tom, it has serious limitations with video formats and as you mention HD size.
I think Tom's recommendation of going for a music solution (where there are a number of different solutions) and waiting for the video side to sort itself out is the key.
On a side not from me, I want someone to create a machine, that has sufficient size to be able to hold music and movies, which I can download effortlessly from the internet/computer/designated provider (say Sky/Virgin+ on demand type thing) that will be in HD/high quality audio. I want it to be able to surf the internet, and be used as a PVR!! Is that too much to ask!?
Nothing does that all in one box at the moment. Sky allows you to do the PVR and watch on demand movies - with limited HD content, but you can't surf the net and stream media from other sources.
Apple/Sonos provide music solutions, but no video ones (AppleTV looks an lovely idea but still flawed)
And that brings me back to my gripe with the PS3. It has the POTENTIAL to do something close to all of this... but doesn't! You can surf the internet, but I'm not sure how flexible it is/can be with downloading stuff onto it to watch on tv. As of yet it is no PVR - although I know there are plans for 'SonyTV' (or whatever it is) soon, which will be great... but will that allow you to download movies - HD ones?? And if so the small HD isn't going to cop it! My understanding is all it will change the PS3 into a freeview box you can record tv onto? Hardly a leap forward! Can it talk to my computer and iTunes, and stream music from it?
As you can see I find it all frustrating - but I'm pleased I'm not the only one!
Unfortunately I don't have a solution for you either. Like Tom, I have been taking an interest in this area for sometime myself - obviously not to the same level and Tom, but it still frustrates me that there does not appear to be an all-in-one solution for this sort of thing.
People bang on about the PS3 being able to do this and that, and what great value for money it is, but it has some quite big limitations in some of the areas it tries to accomplish.
Like you, I want to be able to stream video/movies/music to my tvs and hi fi's in the house. Streaming music is fairly easy. You can have a fairly cheap and effective 'Airport Express' (which I have) which will stream music to your hi fi wirelessly. You obviously need to be an iTunes user (which I know some people despise) but if you are, it works very effectively. The Sonos obviously takes this a step further and offers more flexibility - but at a price.
You talk about AppleTV, and when this came out I thought - wooppie - problems solved, but as mentioned by Tom, it has serious limitations with video formats and as you mention HD size.
I think Tom's recommendation of going for a music solution (where there are a number of different solutions) and waiting for the video side to sort itself out is the key.
On a side not from me, I want someone to create a machine, that has sufficient size to be able to hold music and movies, which I can download effortlessly from the internet/computer/designated provider (say Sky/Virgin+ on demand type thing) that will be in HD/high quality audio. I want it to be able to surf the internet, and be used as a PVR!! Is that too much to ask!?
Nothing does that all in one box at the moment. Sky allows you to do the PVR and watch on demand movies - with limited HD content, but you can't surf the net and stream media from other sources.
Apple/Sonos provide music solutions, but no video ones (AppleTV looks an lovely idea but still flawed)
And that brings me back to my gripe with the PS3. It has the POTENTIAL to do something close to all of this... but doesn't! You can surf the internet, but I'm not sure how flexible it is/can be with downloading stuff onto it to watch on tv. As of yet it is no PVR - although I know there are plans for 'SonyTV' (or whatever it is) soon, which will be great... but will that allow you to download movies - HD ones?? And if so the small HD isn't going to cop it! My understanding is all it will change the PS3 into a freeview box you can record tv onto? Hardly a leap forward! Can it talk to my computer and iTunes, and stream music from it?
As you can see I find it all frustrating - but I'm pleased I'm not the only one!
Nope, you're certainly not the only one PJ1200! Of course, the one type of product that can do all of this is the Media Center PC, but of course these aren't user-friendly in the same way that a Sky HD box or Apple TV is. I do currently use one, but to get the most out of it have had to download lots of codecs and things.
And Ketch, the demo that we showed at Bristol used the Apple TV as a music device, and then moved over to an I.US Media Center for the movie. I.US managed to store the Ratatoille Blu-ray on the PC's hard disk, and it was this that we were showing. This was more of our 'look to the future' section, as at this point, HD content isn't readily available for download, and the hard disk space required to store a full Blu-ray is still quite phenomenal. We expect that more HD content will become available for download soon, and that as hard disks get bigger and broadband speeds get faster, this kind of thing will become far more common.
As for Apple TV, I believe that it only really shows video that's been bought from iTunes. I understand that there is software available on t'interweb for converting other files (DivX etc) for iTunes/iPod/Apple TV use, but obviously having to convert each file you want to watch isn't ideal. Hopefully it won't be long before you can put a DVD into your PC, and for iTunes to simply rip it in exactly the same way it does CDs. Wouldn't that be nice?
And Ketch, the demo that we showed at Bristol used the Apple TV as a music device, and then moved over to an I.US Media Center for the movie. I.US managed to store the Ratatoille Blu-ray on the PC's hard disk, and it was this that we were showing. This was more of our 'look to the future' section, as at this point, HD content isn't readily available for download, and the hard disk space required to store a full Blu-ray is still quite phenomenal. We expect that more HD content will become available for download soon, and that as hard disks get bigger and broadband speeds get faster, this kind of thing will become far more common.
As for Apple TV, I believe that it only really shows video that's been bought from iTunes. I understand that there is software available on t'interweb for converting other files (DivX etc) for iTunes/iPod/Apple TV use, but obviously having to convert each file you want to watch isn't ideal. Hopefully it won't be long before you can put a DVD into your PC, and for iTunes to simply rip it in exactly the same way it does CDs. Wouldn't that be nice?
PJ1200
Well-known member
[quote user="Tom Parsons"]Nope, you're certainly not the only one PJ1200! Of course, the one type of product that can do all of this is the Media Center PC, but of course these aren't user-friendly in the same way that a Sky HD box or Apple TV is. I do currently use one, but to get the most out of it have had to download lots of codecs and things.
And Ketch, the demo that we showed at Bristol used the Apple TV as a music device, and then moved over to an I.US Media Center for the movie. I.US managed to store the Ratatoille Blu-ray on the PC's hard disk, and it was this that we were showing. This was more of our 'look to the future' section, as at this point, HD content isn't readily available for download, and the hard disk space required to store a full Blu-ray is still quite phenomenal. We expect that more HD content will become available for download soon, and that as hard disks get bigger and broadband speeds get faster, this kind of thing will become far more common.
As for Apple TV, I believe that it only really shows video that's been bought from iTunes. I understand that there is software available on t'interweb for converting other files (DivX etc) for iTunes/iPod/Apple TV use, but obviously having to convert each file you want to watch isn't ideal. Hopefully it won't be long before you can put a DVD into your PC, and for iTunes to simply rip it in exactly the same way it does CDs. Wouldn't that be nice?[/quote]
LOL - well I'm glad I'm not the only one that is frustrated with the 15 box half a*sed solution we currently have to put up with!
As you say the Media PC is the only way - but not convienent.. and the longer you have a PC (esp. connected to the Net) the more it slows down due to the nonsense it inevitably picks up on the way!
Sky should bridge this gap in my opinion. Offer more HD content, provide boxes with bigger hard discs, allow internet access and talk to your PC/iTunes... it's the future!
But I like the idea that iTunes can be used to rip DVDs and BD (!?!) which can then be streamed via AppleTV - that would be an excellent start! Then bring out an AppleTV with a bigger HD that can then be used as a PVR! Job's a good'en
And Ketch, the demo that we showed at Bristol used the Apple TV as a music device, and then moved over to an I.US Media Center for the movie. I.US managed to store the Ratatoille Blu-ray on the PC's hard disk, and it was this that we were showing. This was more of our 'look to the future' section, as at this point, HD content isn't readily available for download, and the hard disk space required to store a full Blu-ray is still quite phenomenal. We expect that more HD content will become available for download soon, and that as hard disks get bigger and broadband speeds get faster, this kind of thing will become far more common.
As for Apple TV, I believe that it only really shows video that's been bought from iTunes. I understand that there is software available on t'interweb for converting other files (DivX etc) for iTunes/iPod/Apple TV use, but obviously having to convert each file you want to watch isn't ideal. Hopefully it won't be long before you can put a DVD into your PC, and for iTunes to simply rip it in exactly the same way it does CDs. Wouldn't that be nice?[/quote]
LOL - well I'm glad I'm not the only one that is frustrated with the 15 box half a*sed solution we currently have to put up with!
As you say the Media PC is the only way - but not convienent.. and the longer you have a PC (esp. connected to the Net) the more it slows down due to the nonsense it inevitably picks up on the way!
Sky should bridge this gap in my opinion. Offer more HD content, provide boxes with bigger hard discs, allow internet access and talk to your PC/iTunes... it's the future!
But I like the idea that iTunes can be used to rip DVDs and BD (!?!) which can then be streamed via AppleTV - that would be an excellent start! Then bring out an AppleTV with a bigger HD that can then be used as a PVR! Job's a good'en
professorhat
Well-known member
Mmm, my mate and I have been banging on about this for a couple of years now - like you I thought the PS3 might be a good solution, but it isn't perfect by any means. The most limiting factor is you still really need a PC / Mac to get the best out of it. I use it with a DLNA enabled NAS so the PS3 can connect to the 1Tb NAS with all my videos on it. Sounds ideal, unfortunately, to get them to work on the PS3, I had to convert all the videos I'd recorded from my PVR into MP4 files to get them to play on the PS3 (which took quite some time). So to get this, I need a PVR to record the TV shows, a Mac to convert them to MP4 format and then a NAS to store them on - hardly elegant and also requires a reasonable technical knowledge to get this all set up.
The Play TV add-on will at least skip a few steps when this comes out, but as you rightly say, 60Gb (or 40Gb even) isn't enough for a PVR so I'll still need the NAS...
The Play TV add-on will at least skip a few steps when this comes out, but as you rightly say, 60Gb (or 40Gb even) isn't enough for a PVR so I'll still need the NAS...
PJ1200
Well-known member
Interesting Proffessor.
I don't think the PS3 is a bad bit of kit by any means. You can play 'some' pretty decent games on it and it's a pretty decent BD player too. But it just doesn't fullfill its potential! And that really frustrates me!
You've highlighted the areas that you need to add to, in order to get the best out of it, and to my mind that is ridiculous! I'm not techno idiot, but I certainly would have trouble setting all that up!
Plus converting all your videos into a format to suit the PS3 must have taken ages! I would also assume MP4 is not as good a format as the natural format the films came as either!?!?
I just think Sonos, Apple - or even Sony are missing a big trick here somewhere to really make A LOT of money!!
Sonos Video?
iCinema?
PS4? (filling in the obvious failings of the PS3!)
Make it happen!!!
I don't think the PS3 is a bad bit of kit by any means. You can play 'some' pretty decent games on it and it's a pretty decent BD player too. But it just doesn't fullfill its potential! And that really frustrates me!
You've highlighted the areas that you need to add to, in order to get the best out of it, and to my mind that is ridiculous! I'm not techno idiot, but I certainly would have trouble setting all that up!
Plus converting all your videos into a format to suit the PS3 must have taken ages! I would also assume MP4 is not as good a format as the natural format the films came as either!?!?
I just think Sonos, Apple - or even Sony are missing a big trick here somewhere to really make A LOT of money!!
Sonos Video?
iCinema?
PS4? (filling in the obvious failings of the PS3!)
Make it happen!!!
I got my apple tv a few months ago and i love it. I purchased the 160G model which is plenty for the amount of movies, music etc I've got. I've rented HD movies from itunes store and the quality so good i dont see any reason for splasing out on a blueray player plus movies at the moment.
Converting my DVD collection for apple tv takes a while but worth it just for the conveniance of having movies kids watch over and over again available at a few pushes of a button. Nothing is going to be as good as the natural format the films come in but the result is more than acceptable. The only thing which has been mentioned before is that Jobs should come to some sort of arrangement with hollywood to rip are own DVDs straight to itunes like we do with CDs, hollywood should accept people are going to do it anyway why not make it simple for people who have legaly purchased DVDs.
Converting my DVD collection for apple tv takes a while but worth it just for the conveniance of having movies kids watch over and over again available at a few pushes of a button. Nothing is going to be as good as the natural format the films come in but the result is more than acceptable. The only thing which has been mentioned before is that Jobs should come to some sort of arrangement with hollywood to rip are own DVDs straight to itunes like we do with CDs, hollywood should accept people are going to do it anyway why not make it simple for people who have legaly purchased DVDs.
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