Hey everybody. I recently installed a MSS for a client of mine (EX495) and he is loving it. He has a PS3 in his Home Theater room which I've found is one of the easiest methods of accessing the MSS movie content, especially when movies are ripped with Handbrake as a .mp4.

Now, he wants his bedroom and kitchen to access the MSS, but doesn't want to shell out $300 per unit. What is the cheapest way of accessing content on the MSS? I know the AppleTV is one but it seems like the setup with the need to install iTunes on it can be a take troublesome.

So what would be your device of choice that can access the MSS and play the movies that are stored on it.

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EX495: 3x1.5TB * MacBook Pro * 27" iMac i7 * Custom PC
64GB iPad 3G * 64GB iPhone 4S * AppleTV * 500GB PlayStation 3 * PlayStation Vita 3G * 1TB Tivo 3
Denon 2807 * 60" Sony SXRD * Onkyo 5.1
Blu-ray: 297

There are lots of devices that can do that for around $100 each and some can be found for like $75 and then the price goes up and up and up depending on the features. I use a WD TV LIVE its a pretty basic unit but it does the job and those you can often find for $75 and now they have the Plus version which has netflix in it and a few other things.

There are other units too and you can seek those out all I can talk about is what I have here which is simple to use, has an ugly GUI but works really well and supports a wide range of video formats.

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Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I second the WD TV, the Live plus version should be $99, older versions even less. You gain DVD ISO support and netflix primarily with the plus.

I've also heard good things about the Asus O!play and patriot box office. You will get a less "pretty" gui with these options than the appleTV, and you won't have the itunes video service. But, you would gain much better file compatibility for streaming local/network video files.

The live plus has netflix, live365, youtube, pandora, flickr, etc as well.

Comp1962

Does the WD Live unit offer DVD ISO support "out of the box" or did you have to do something between to MSS and the extender?

Kubla

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Ex495 3 x Hitachi 2TB Deskstar
WDTV Live Plus
Escient Fireball MX111
Puget Silent Tower (Win 7 Pro), Sony All-In-One (Vista), Sony Laptop (XP)
1 Seagate Goflex Desk 3TB USB3
1 Buffalo 1TB
1 Seagate 750 Gig

Should be out of the box, at the minimum it'd be a firmware update I think. I'm going through my dvd's and ripping to mkv so I can't comment further...but the support should be there for the live plus, and was also added as a firmware update to the live.

If you like me to try I can rip one as an ISO and check it out, anyone else have any comments on DVD ISO and DVD Menu support with the WD TV's?

Thanks for the information. I bought 2 WD Live TV units and as you said, the UI is Simple and Ugly but that's just what we needed. Nothing fancy, as long as accessing the MSS was easy and it is!

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EX495: 3x1.5TB * MacBook Pro * 27" iMac i7 * Custom PC
64GB iPad 3G * 64GB iPhone 4S * AppleTV * 500GB PlayStation 3 * PlayStation Vita 3G * 1TB Tivo 3
Denon 2807 * 60" Sony SXRD * Onkyo 5.1
Blu-ray: 297