Can this be done with MediaPortal? (1 Viewer)

[DaHart85]

I have attempted to search for a similar setup in the forums and thus far been unlucky. Bear with me a bit since I am a computer nerd, but new to the AV network setup. Complete noobdemonium here.

End Goal:
Be able to scroll through and select movies at each individual TV in the house. Able to run multiple movies at once.

TVs:
37" LG LCDs that DO NOT have ethernet.

Network:
CAT6 throughout house - Gigabit internal network, ethernet jacks at each TV.

HTPC:
Custom Build - 4GB RAM, 1TB drive, gigabit ethernet port, currently hooked to 42" LG and works great.

Things I've contemplated:
1. Should I have a small media player at each TV that can download a local copy of the movie, play through it and after say 5am, delete it?
2. Should I stream it all over the network? Gigabit should handle it, but will it be choppy?
3. What Media Player would work best?
4. Will I have to have a separate external drive at each TV connected to a media player and have the drives sync by FTP for each new movie I add?
5. Cost of whatever will work?
6. Admin overhead to keep it running smoothly?
7. Is there software that can handle multiple streams like that without dying?


I am curious as to your thoughts since you guys are the rock stars of the House Network Media Design. A realistic solution for this would be absolutely incredible and so wonderful I'd set it up in a few locations for friends/family. Therefore, I figured it was worth looking into. Have a good day.



-Hartman

 

[ryan20021982]

I stream HD video to multiple media centers with cat6 and its fine. I would stream everything, pretty sure thats about what 99% of people using MP do when the use multiple HTPC's.

 

[Jay_UK]

Hi there,

Not being pedantic, mediaportal only streams tv, and reads/accesses other content.

The TV functionality is client/server, where the server receives the signal and streams it to the clients.

Other content (music, videos, pictures) are offered via local directories on the client, or remotely via shares or FTP. The client then connects directly to that content.


For your setup get a pc/nas/server to host your movies. Share them out via a shared directory. Then get local pc/Htpc at each tv. Install mediaportal onto each of these, configure it to access/read from the central location.

And that's it - simple

J.

 

[DaHart85]

Thanks for the replies guys. I figured it was something that simple, just weary of buying equipment when asking the question can save money/aggravation, haha. Well that answers 98% of my questions which rocks. The only question I really have left is

Can I buy those Media Players (like the WD ones, since I'm a WD nerd) and stream from a network location with those? Most of the descriptions I read mentions pulling from a USB hard drive, but rarely mentions pulling from a server of sorts. Or would I have to have an actual HTPC at each TV? This question is more for cost difference than anything. Thanks for helping my noobisms. Haha.



-Hartman