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Video streaming

Got problems with Bubba? Then this forum is for you.
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ian
Posts: 128
Joined: 30 Jul 2007, 09:07

Video streaming

Post by ian »

I have an old HDD media player under the TV, and am seriously considering replacing it with a photo/video streaming device, capable of streaming content stored on the bubba. I know it's possible with a PS3, but I don't want to go down this route; we have a PS2 already, and I would rather have a dedicated streaming media player anyway.

So, my question is; has anyone already got such an arrangement up and running, and if so, what hardware are you using?
Tompa
Posts: 81
Joined: 03 Feb 2007, 12:50

Post by Tompa »

I've had such a setup for quite some time now. It started with my Bubba1 and now I've moved on to the new Bubba2. Both working without a flaw.

The hardware I use under my TV is a Popcorn Hour A-100 unit. It's fairly cheap (under 180 EUR) and doesn't require a harddrive to operate. It connects through SAMBA (and other protocols) and you can even stream HD-material (depending on bitrate some 1080p works). Read up on the popcorn unit at http://www.popcornhour.com/.

There's also a A-110 unit which is a little more pricy but includes more goodies on the other hand.

I while ago I was using a Dvico TViX unit (4300-SH) and the downside with that is the way SMB is implemented. It was a bit more tricky to connect to bubba using that, and it costs a bit more as well.

/Tompa
ian
Posts: 128
Joined: 30 Jul 2007, 09:07

Post by ian »

I'd noticed the PopcornHour devices on the website of excito's Dutch importer, but didn't know much about it. I do have one question; how do you browse the bubba's media content? Are you presented with sort of library which you can browse, or do you have browse the bubba's folder structure? Our present media player is simple Linux-powered external HDD affair, which works quite well, except that to play media you are presented with a simple file-browser, which is not very quick, extremely un-user-friendly and generally not very nice to use...

I've just seen that the PopcornHour A-110 doesn't have WiFi support, which is a pity. How is your's connected?
HerrJanzon
Posts: 9
Joined: 13 Dec 2007, 06:21

Post by HerrJanzon »

I also use a Popcorn Hour A-100. When connected using samba you browse bubba's folder structure (from the samba shared folder). I think it works good enough. It is a lot faster than my Snazio mediaplayer.

Popcorn can also browse content shared though a UPnp media server. Bubba has Mediatomb preinstalled. However, at least in my setup they do not really like each other. As a test, I installed Twonky media server on another server and that worked fine.

I have only used the photo slide show once, it shows all photos in a folder. I do not like the dark delay between each picture, I expected some prefetch algorithm to minimize the delay. But maybe there is better way to do it, I have not investigated that.
ian
Posts: 128
Joined: 30 Jul 2007, 09:07

Post by ian »

A friend of mine has discovered that the Popcornhour can be bought with a WiFi adapter, so I have now ordered one. So, my question is: is there anything I need to look out for when configuring it up to work with my bubba?
ian
Posts: 128
Joined: 30 Jul 2007, 09:07

Post by ian »

Having finally got my Popcornhour to connect using its WiFi adapter (which is extremely fussy BTW) I have a question about setting up samba shares; how can I set up the video/music/photos shares on the bubba, so that they don't require passwords?

I have edited the smb.conf file, to set the home, music, video and photos shares as allowing guest users, and have restarted samba, but the popcornhour still insists that a logon is required. Am I missing something or is this not possible?
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