Alternatives to MVP for Wireless Media Sharing

[kaffeen]

I've got several TV's throughout the house and I'd like for each to have the ability to view my media that lives on my PVR (recordings, photo's, et al). I have a pretty good understanding of MVP and the fact there is integration between these devices and GBPVR. But what if GBPVR integration is not so critically important? Are there better alternatives out there? I've seen some Media Center devices, but do not know how they might compare to the MVP solution. If anyone has experience with other MVP alternatives, please post them to this thread.

Regards,

K

[rscheller]

There are a number of hardware solutions available. You didn't indicate how much you wanted to pay as the price and capability vary by a wide margin.

There are also a number of software solutions available too, but again, you've not been very specific about what you want / expect to do and how much you want to pay.

I've personally tried the D-Link DSM-320 and a number of software solutions...

My 2 cents worth, unless you want to build a full-on HTPC, I don't think you'll find more versatility, flexability and all-around serviceability at such a low price as with an MVP (or MVPs) and GBPVR.

[kaffeen]

I would continue using GBPVR as the base program and user interface on my main PVR machine, however, for watching those recordings on another television (which would be connected to the intranet via some device like the MVP), it is not so important to have the GBPVR/MVP UI (if there is a "better" solution).

It could be that this is the best solution for the money (MVP).

I was just curious if anyone had experience with other hardware solutions (i.e. your Dlink). I am mainly interested in the hardware solutions because each television would need a dedicated device for it's own connection to the intranet (wireless or ethernet). I've read about some devices on Gizmodo, but have little knowledge about them other than their existence.

What did you like/dislike about the DLINK?

[rscheller]

The D-Link DSM-320 was basically a partial solution that allowed me to view photos, watch TV video (scheduled and recorded by some other solution) and play music streamed from my PC to my home entertainment center. It did include an OSD on my TV and a remote which provided the user interface for selecting those media to stream but since it didn't have the flexibility that is provided by the MVP running GBPVR to do "built-in" video recording scheduling, live TV and time-shift, etc. (PVR) it was less than a full solution. Not to mention all the great plug-ins such as net-radio, weather and others as well as the continuing development of GBPVR.

[JrJohnson]

I suggest looking into the D-Link Medialounge 520, unless what you really want is to schedule your pvr from your living room TV.
I have found the 520 to be infinitely more reliable than the MediaMVP at playing almost everything. It hardly ever crashes compared to the MediaMVP. The USB harddrive connection is just great. I put together an external drive from a cheapie external drive kit and an old harddrive I had in a drawer. I copy most stuff on to that and therefore don't need to have any computer on.
I feed the output of the 520 to a modulator and broadcast it throughout my house on channel 125. I loop its output to the TV in my office for better quality. I use remote control extenders (rf) around the house. That way I can keep all my computers, the D-Link and most of my video stuff in the basement yet watch anything on my computer network and the connected external drives anywhere in the house.
Since I have wired ethernet from my system to the D-Link and use the modulator, I have never tried the wireless aspect of the thing so I don't know if it is fast enough or strong enough.
I don't usually recommend products, but I was so thrilled with this piece of hardware I suggest you look into it. I had been looking for this for years.
It's a LOT better than the Mediamvp. I just sold mine.
JrJohnson

[JrJohnson]

Hello, tipstir,
I think I paid $180 US a couple months ago. No, it does not have a dvd player. As far as I can tell the USB input can be used with a flash drive or a fat32 formatted external hard drive.

[erik]

I installed TVersity on the GBPVR machine, hidden somewhere and doing automatic EPG keyword search based recording.
TVersity is a good small free UPnP server.
Then I use some not so expensive UPnP clients throughout the house to watch the recordings made on the PC. That includes playing music and watching photo's
Example is the SLM5500 of Philips.
Works both in wired and wireless mode and installation is VERY simple.
The SLM can also do HD video playback and showing photo's in HD resolution on the 42" LCD TV, fantastic picture quality!
This works for me because I do not need to control the recorder from any of the TV's

[rscheller]

Yep, I had settled on TVersity with my DSM-320. It was the best 'back-end' for that device and I had tried a number of them including the Philips back-end software.

But for my particular usage, I wanted to be able to control my PVR PC (scheduling, recording and time-shifting) from my living room, so the MVP with GBPVR became the best solution.

[stefan]

A cheap, but not equally hi-tech, solution could be to get a wireless audio video transmitter/receiver thingy. You'd need not too far between transmitter and receiver, and not too much obstacles. It has been discussed here in the past, for example here:
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=6310

[kaffeen]

That Philips SLM5500 sounds very intriguing (I don't need to record from peripheral televisions and if I did I could always use my web phone).

TVersity is exactly what I am looking for (thanks so much for that info). I hope any donations to them are split up among all the open source projects that they utilize (the same for GBPVR).

I can't find any of my regular online stores that carry the SLM5500 and a search via Pricegrabber yielded no results. I'm not sold on it yet, but it would be nice to get an idea of how much it costs to compare to other solutions.