I began trying to set up an ftp server to go with my XBMC on an Apple TV 2, and ran into problems. The better parts of two mornings were wasted while I crashed and burned with Filezilla and ports and more ports. Finally, I decided that it simply was not worth the effort. I bought a NAS so I would not need to have a computer running to use a media server. Why should I change that plan now?
Over at the forums at XBMC.org there were a few people still had problems with 720p content even through an ftp server. I finally decided to wait until this version was merged into the main trunk and see if the problems of samba were fixed. Time and money can cure about anything I suppose. If not, I think I may try the Boxee Box which can play hd content well and high def audio which this one cannot.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Replacement Blu-ray Player: LG BD530
I finally replaced my Samsung BDP 1590 with a new blu-ray player the LG BD530. Would it work over hdmi as the old Sammy had quit doing after a firmware update was the first question to answer. Heck yes, it did. I actually planned on buying the new Panasonic from Best Buy but it was not in stock and this one ended up being a steal.
It does not have all the fancy apps that many players have. It has weather, youtube, and access to Picassa. Basically, there's nothing there that I will ever use. We watched The Incredibles on dvd first upconverted to 720p for our hdtv. It looked better than I had ever seen it. Then I popped in my Sammy's nemesis, Robin Hood on blu-ray, and it played dutifully. Finally, I can watch Russell Crowe steal from the rich and give to the poor, well sort of, I suppose.
But, there was definitely a bonus feature that I did not expect: mkv playback. The files have to be h264 so far from my experimenting with it. But it will play back recordings I've made from my HD PVR perfectly which I have yet to get my Apple TV 2 to do! Awesome. The downside is that it is just a a file viewer to look at the files on an external hard drive and not a cool gui like on XBMC.
It does not have all the fancy apps that many players have. It has weather, youtube, and access to Picassa. Basically, there's nothing there that I will ever use. We watched The Incredibles on dvd first upconverted to 720p for our hdtv. It looked better than I had ever seen it. Then I popped in my Sammy's nemesis, Robin Hood on blu-ray, and it played dutifully. Finally, I can watch Russell Crowe steal from the rich and give to the poor, well sort of, I suppose.
But, there was definitely a bonus feature that I did not expect: mkv playback. The files have to be h264 so far from my experimenting with it. But it will play back recordings I've made from my HD PVR perfectly which I have yet to get my Apple TV 2 to do! Awesome. The downside is that it is just a a file viewer to look at the files on an external hard drive and not a cool gui like on XBMC.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
More XBMC On Apple TV 2
I'm still working on getting the Apple TV2 with XBMC going. Standard def material plays great, but I still cannot get any HD content to play without stuttering. From the forums there have been several issues with this and some of my problems may be related to using Samba to access shares. My new plas is to try to set up a ftp server on my computer to see if that helps.
The good news is how well the box works. Watching movies, and recently Austin City Limits via the PBS plugin, with XBMC is a great experience. It is easy to operate and very smooth and intuitive. My wife is really liking it for it and for the Apple side of the interface.
The good news is how well the box works. Watching movies, and recently Austin City Limits via the PBS plugin, with XBMC is a great experience. It is easy to operate and very smooth and intuitive. My wife is really liking it for it and for the Apple side of the interface.
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