Plz help with media sharing....

[Imrahn]

This is the scenario:

I have a Samsung 46" LCD TV upstairs- connected to HTPC having all my movies via HDMI cable and Yamaha AVR in my sig.

Got a 50" Samsung Plasma for the main hall- want to share the movies in the HTPC upstairs with this TV as well.No AVR here but will be getting one soon hopefully.

Whats the most convenient/aesthetic path to take?I don't think all those media players will work out for me since all of my movies are mkvs with DTS/DTS-HDMA and i would like to hear them out the way they are meant to be.

Should i setup a small HTPC downstairs as well(but its the main hall) and network the 2 PCs?

Thanx in advance for any sort of help mates....

Regards

 

[navino87]

Just get a xtreamer sidewinder... It will meet all your needs...

Iam really happy with my xtreamer.. Plays whatever file i throw to it

 

[stormblast]

why would the media players not play the mkv & audio the way they are supposed to????

i dint get what you are saying.

i suggest you to go for the ac ryan playon hd mini & connect it to your htpc via lanwire. alternatively you can use a hdd or use the ac ryan wifi dongle which will play 720p without any problems.

if you want to spend way more money on a bulky htpc which will end up being the same you can connect it to lan the same way you would do a media player.

i would suggest you to go for a switch or use a router if you already have one. gigabit recommended.

 

[Imrahn]

Thanx a lot stormblast and navino87:I thought some players were still not able to do DTS and/or higher sounds, hence the confusion.

So,all i have to do is connect LAN cable from the HTPC network card upstairs to the media player and it should be able to browse the PC and play files fine?Am asking coz am really a noob at all this.

Also, if i get an AVR later, will the media player output raw audio so that the AVR can process it? In that respect, which is the best media player out there?

 

[stormblast]

yes if you setup both on LAN it will work properly.

for audio formats check the website. ac ryan forums are also very helpfull.

my personal opinion is that you should get the ac ryan playon hd mini (if it covers all your requirements) over the xtreamer or a htpc.

here is the audio format list from the acryan site. for raw file etc i think you will need to do some research or ask someone on their forums.

Audio Formats Supported:

MP3 / MP2 / WMA / AAC / FLAC / WAV / OGG Vorbis / PCM / LPCM / MS-ADPCM / LC-AAC / HE-AAC / COOK / RA-Lossless

Audio Formats Supported:

Stereo

Dolby Digital AC3 5.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)

Dolby Digital Plus (passthrough)

DTS (passthrough & downmix to stereo)

DTS-HD Master Audio (passthrough core stream & downmix to stereo)

FLAC 7.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo)