[Jaspersharpe]

Sorry I'm probably not making much sense! Long day....

I suppose what I'd like is to be able to switch the tv on and pick a film to watch (that I've already downloaded or saved from a DVD) without having to power up the laptop etc.

Easiest, simplest way without too many cables.

[Bubba]

Easiest, simplest way without too many cables.

Netflix / Amazon subscription instead?

[Jim]

do you have the telly hard wired to your router?
does your router have a usb port and the ability to share files over it?
perhaps the simplist and cheapest way would be to buy a 500gb or 1tb USB external hard drive (preferably bus-powered) and plug it into the router and enable the share feature (depends on which router you have.

or the very cheapest way of doing it would be to install something like plex media server or PS3 media server or whatever it is that panasonic call their own brand of media server: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/tv/network/netfs/index.html
This does mean you have to have your computer on to do this tho

[Jaspersharpe]

I've not got it plugged into anything yet as I've just ordered it and am wanting to get all this shit sorted before it gets delivered/put on the wall etc.

I need to get a new router anyway as mine is shit so this sounds like a good plan.

[Jaspersharpe]

Jim you're a genius. Just read the link and it seems all I need to do is set it up like that, stick everything I want to watch in the shared folder and leave the PC upstairs on. Then I can control it from the tv anyway (and I've got an app on the phone that'll control the tv so that'll be easier than the remote).

Brilliant, I'll buy a new router. Any advice..... (I'm joking, I'll check your thread).

[Paul B]

So I think the answer's yes?

I can't believe you had the above in mind and didn't check what you were buying? 

The good thing about using a PC as Jim said is that you can "encode on the fly" so if your network is sh*t or under-performing you'll still actually get something streamed rather than juddering playback.

I'd still go for the router and bus-powered HDD option. It'll be less of a pain than having a PC permanently on.

[Jim]

I'd agree although it's not quite as simple as that with adsl on sky

[chris j]

I'd agree although it's not quite as simple as that with adsl on sky

No, there's odd things with Sky routers - I was upgraded from an O2 box to the latest Sky router after O2 sold out to Sky and since plugging it in anything on the network running Windows media player can't see more than the first 4 or 5 items in the music library on my NAS. Everything else (android phones/tablets/iphones/pure radio) sees it fine, baffled...

[Jaspersharpe]

FFS

[Jaspersharpe]

So I think the answer's yes?

I can't believe you had the above in mind and didn't check what you were buying? 

No I just went to Richer Sounds and bought the best Panasonic tv they had within a sensible budget. Then started trying to work this shit out!

I had thought about it beforehand and read stuff on here but I didn't really understand it. The guys in RS know their shit about tvs and hi fi stuff but pretty much nothing about this.

Which is why I'm asking you lot....

Seems even Sky's supposedly best router gets pretty average reviews but I'm sure it'd be ok for my purposes. Only problem being it's pointless upgrading it if it's still not going to do what I want it to!

This is already doing my head in.

[chris j]

I think you'll be ok as it is fine for me for everything except Windows Media player (just discovered it appears to work ok with MusicBee on the same PC so it is a WMP specific thing).

I do music and video from the NAS through the Sky router to my TV/stereo via network to Boxee Box (an outmoded, slow and unsupported evolutionary dead-end that was a great idea but didn't catch on or get developed enough) and then HDMI to TV and then stereo. This has been both via network over powerline (homeplug?) and wifi through a Sky TV wifi adapter (plugged into 4 port switch behind the TVto give internet to the Sky TV box, Boxee box and Blu-ray player).

[Paul B]

I take it openWRT and/or Tomato aren't supported on Sky's routers? Worth a look if so.

[Jaspersharpe]

Ok so is the long and short of it that I try setting the tv/pc up as per Jim's link and see if it works. Then if so, I can look at the HDD option and if not start cursing Sky and go back to the drawing board?

I need a better router anyway as I said but if Sky are  twats about third party kit then I might be best just getting their better (although still not great) one.

[Paul B]

I'd still see if you can directly play from a USB drive in preference to having a media server PC on all of the time.

If you've got a thumb drive, stick a video on it, plug it in and see if you can play it. If so, buy a small USB bus powered HDD. It says in the spec that it can do this. This removes networking headaches and basically the biggest issue you'll have is putting new content onto the HDD (i.e. unplug it and copy it across from your laptop).

It may be slightly selective about what format stuff is in but that's easily fixed.

[Jaspersharpe]

Sound. This I understand.

[slackline]

What Paul B suggests.

A unified backup/streaming/downloading solution would be to get a half-decent NAS with 2xHD in a RAID array mirroring each other to store video/music/pictures on and download things.  Pick the right one and it will have a built in torrent client (if thats how you download movies) and a built in uPnP mediaserver for making all the media available to TVs/smartboxes/XBMC/Chromecast/your new TV.  Main advantage beyond backing up what is on your desktop is that its a lower power consumption.  Not all NAS are powerful enough to convert videos on the fly from one format to another which is sometimes required, so depending on your TV the format of your ripped DVDs/downloaded films might have to be changed, you can do this using Handbrake (which is also the best option for ripping them in the first instance, when doing that  choose the correct format, usually mp4 but check your TVs specification).

I also second Jim & others suggestions of having the TV and whatever you end up streaming from on a wired ethernet connection (you could get some powerlines if needs be, although obviously another expense).

[Paul B]

Well, I unpacked the ReadyNAS (Duo V1) after moving house (nearly 2 years ago) and started backing up my laptop (~25Gb of photos that weren't elsewhere). About half way into the backup, the network connection failed and I'm now unable to log onto the NAS as admin without a "Contact Customer Support" dialogue box; basically I think it's knackered. The two external USB shares are synced and fine. I can't currently see what's on the 3.5" drives within the NAS but I'm assuming they're fine (although they're now quite old).

I currently have:
Phones / Tablets (these back up via various Google products)
One Laptop (ageing Lenovo Thinkpad X220); Win 7.
and a desktop PC that's huge and not plugged in; Win 7.

Between all of that lot I've got >1Tb of stuff needing to be backed up. Most of it will be RAW files I haven't deleted and probably should (although it's both dull and time consuming).

What's the best option for backup these days? Is there a cloud solution that suits the above or should I still be looking at a NAS (or perhaps a 1-bay option and cloud storage combined)?

I haven't seen any NAS products so far that have built in Wifi (likely due to connection speed I guess) but it'll need to be remote from the router (I can do this via an access point of needs must).

I would prefer a "JustWorks" solution these days as I don't seem to have masses of spare time.

[Paul B]

nobody?