Is there a Streaming Box for unRAID

All-

Got my unRAID server all set up - works awesome.  Now onto phase II.

I have a TV in my bedroom, right next to an ethernet jack.  I want a box (preferably NOT a PC), but it must have 2 things - internet (we watch a lot of TV streaming from abc.com, nbc.com, and such that doesn't completely cover Hulu - not to mention you have to pay for Hulu Plus if you don't watch from a computer) AND the ability to read MKV files from my unRAID box.

Anyone have good knowledge on how to do this from...name your box (Roku?  Fire TV?  Apple TV?  something else?)

Many thanks!

There are many ways to do what you want, and you will get many different responses from the users here.

My $0.02?  Run Plex media server on your unRaid server and use a Roku with the Plex channel on your TV.

So barring any other replies...is there something pretty detailed i can read up on how to do that?

Other replies also welcome...

also, can what you suggested have full Internet functionality?

If you want full internet functionality, you need a PC. There's not much of a way around that.

Really? I've heard that but it just blows my mind no box has Firefox or dolphin or something built in...

A browser doesn't equal full internet functionality.  The internet is vastly more than websites.

True... Let's say a browser plus all Java or whatever is needed for streaming videos from the network websites...

There are loads of devices out there that do streaming, I've yet to see one that can stream from all available sites, and play MKV files without them being re-encoded.

Your best bet it to choose what streaming sites are must haves, and search based on that.

I personally don't like dedicated hardware boxes for HTPCs, as you're at the mercy of the manufacturer for firmware if new or updated file formats appear.  Manufacturers that release hardware regularly don't have a great incentive to update firmware more than a handful of times.  Same goes for new streaming service support.  Rokus are okay, but rely on transcoding for mkv playback.

What about an Android TV Box?

There are probably apps for most of the streaming services you require.

Android is a stable OS and firmware upgrades are are less likely to be required once the platform itself is stable.

It has almost the same flexibility as a PC (it essentialy is a PC).

AND IT IS CHEAPer 

I have 3 running in the house using XBMC and central database (MySQL).

XBMC also has addons for TV streaming.

XBMC has add-ons for streaming, e.g., the "Free Cable" and Hulu add-ons gets everything you mentioned.

The only potential issue with some of the smaller Android or other flavour mini-PCs is that some of them will choke when playing 1080p MKVs (this is assuming local play, not Plex).

I've not used Roku, but have bought and given up on the Raspberry Pi and Amazon FireTV as they are too slow. Pivos makes some okay devices, but the remotes are really cheap (and the new versions (XS) ships with TOFU instead of XBMC, which is accurately named - it's a bland and lifeless version of XBMC), but it's the best box I've seen for $100-ish.

I have a ASUS Chromebox which works well, but it has no remote, so that is extra cost over the $200 for the box.

The best solution I've found are the Intel NUC units. They are usually a bit more expensive, but are actual mini-PCs with Celeron, i3 or i5 processors, so you can get lots of horsepower for 1080p movies. You can also load Windows on them if you want (though I tend to load OpenELEC on everything as I don't stream from the internet).

If you just want a dumb frontend and have Plex do everything in the back then even the lower end units will do for you because Plex will do all the heavy lifting from your UnRAID server.

There are a number of ways to skin this - it all comes down to whether you need it to handle media locally, and what interface you are happy with (Plex is meh in my opinion and I much prefer XBMC, but it forces different requirements on my tv-based devices).

You can try the new S802-H and RK3288 based Android TV Boxes - cost ~$100-$120

They play 1080P without issues.

Plex + Roku is my personal choice.  For all the features please go visit the plex site and read up for yourself.

What I can tell you *I* love about my setup is that I can view my content on my phone and tablet if I want while travelling (either via streaming or content synced to the device) and of course locally on my small inexpensive roku. 

The current roku can handle almost all of my full bit rate 1080p bluray rips without transcoding with full DTS.  the few that it has a bit of trouble on, Plex will just transcode if I ask it too.  Plex scraping is very good as well though sometimes I have to rename a torrent if it is non-standard.

FWIW, you can try plex for free, and they have apps for a few TV as well as the roku.  At the least you can look at it via your pc / phone as a test.

Plex + Roku is my personal choice.  For all the features please go visit the plex site and read up for yourself.

 

What I can tell you *I* love about my setup is that I can view my content on my phone and tablet if I want while travelling (either via streaming or content synced to the device) and of course locally on my small inexpensive roku. 

 

The current roku can handle almost all of my full bit rate 1080p bluray rips without transcoding with full DTS.  the few that it has a bit of trouble on, Plex will just transcode if I ask it too.  Plex scraping is very good as well though sometimes I have to rename a torrent if it is non-standard.

 

FWIW, you can try plex for free, and they have apps for a few TV as well as the roku.  At the least you can look at it via your pc / phone as a test.

While I am not a big fan on Plex for the home TVs I will say I love the fact I can use it to cache videos for travelling. It's far more elegant and simple than transcoding everything into mp4 for the ipad before a trip. It's also nice to be able to stream to my phone when my 4 year old daughter is getting bored.

Yup.  Other things that can be nice depending on you life's tempo: start watching on one device, pick up in the same spot on any other device.  A sig other can even join in on something mid-stream to be in sync with you. 

It also has profiles so you can, with well organized media, create a kid friendly account. 

Personally I don't use this feature at the moment.  But another use case that I might use it for is this: move all of my SO's Julia Roberts, Musicals, Police Procedurals, and Reality show into its own library, and then create an account for me that doesn't have those libraries.  It will save me scrolling through them all ;-)  It will also give us independent "watched" status so that we can watch the same shows but at different paces.  We try to sync our watching but my sleep habits and toleration for binge watching leaves her in the dust, or, forces me to always find and choose content I know she won't care about while I sit there jonesing to watch a mutual show.

Another thing i love about using plex is that if I know I'm going somewhere like my 'rents with a useless TV, I just grab my roku to bring along and know I can see/share all my content.  That is clutch when looking for Movies to watch together.  Casting from a tablet to their TV is hit or miss.  At the same time, if / when they get a TV that can install the plex-app natively, then not only can I watch stuff when I'm there, but I can share my plex box with them to watch stuff when I'm not visiting.

Yup.  Other things that can be nice depending on you life's tempo: start watching on one device, pick up in the same spot on any other device.  A sig other can even join in on something mid-stream to be in sync with you. 

 

It also has profiles so you can, with well organized media, create a kid friendly account. 

 

Personally I don't use this feature at the moment.  But another use case that I might use it for is this: move all of my SO's Julia Roberts, Musicals, Police Procedurals, and Reality show into its own library, and then create an account for me that doesn't have those libraries.  It will save me scrolling through them all ;-)  It will also give us independent "watched" status so that we can watch the same shows but at different paces.  We try to sync our watching but my sleep habits and toleration for binge watching leaves her in the dust, or, forces me to always find and choose content I know she won't care about while I sit there jonesing to watch a mutual show.

 

Another thing i love about using plex is that if I know I'm going somewhere like my 'rents with a useless TV, I just grab my roku to bring along and know I can see/share all my content.  That is clutch when looking for Movies to watch together.  Casting from a tablet to their TV is hit or miss.  At the same time, if / when they get a TV that can install the plex-app natively, then not only can I watch stuff when I'm there, but I can share my plex box with them to watch stuff when I'm not visiting.

A lot of the categorization I do with XBMC. I flag any kids movies with a specific tag and then create a playlist with only that content - it means we can browse through my 200 kids movies vs my 2500 total movies.

I also have a backend MySQL database so watched status, etc is kept up to date. Rather than create a profile, my father-in-law watches stuff on one specific TV in the basement, so I did a local library for him instead to keep his own watched status.

When travelling I use plex-synced content on the ipad (for planes) and have a 2.5inch HD and a Pivos XS I carry with me so I have local content whether I am at family or a hotel and don't need to worry about streaming.

I have been planning on setting up a Boxee running XBMC and a local 2TB disk with TV/Movies for my parents, but streaming Plex may be a better idea that will always keep them up to date (and less work for me).

I hadn't really been thinking about the Plex idea for them, but now that you mention it I am really liking it.

Right.  Obviously XBMC can be made to do much, if not all of the same stuff and possibly more.  And it is 100% free.  With PlexPass you're paying for something a bit more turn-key to be sure.  OP needs to know about both so it good you're bringing up your setup as well.

I keep all the kids movies is a seperate folder and define it as a source and then I simply create a playlist from a source.  No need to tag.

All good info. Anyone know if the new Android TV boxes coming out have a full up chrome browser? Might be worth holding out for.

All good info. Anyone know if the new Android TV boxes coming out have a full up chrome browser? Might be worth holding out for.

They are all running regular  android so you can install chrome for android.  No flash support on android 4.4.2 though.

Boo. Who has flash support?

Besides a pc...