I'm really looking for a feature-rich, organized media center platform that I can connect an external drive to (negating the need to stream files across my network). I basically want something the Apple TV Home Sharing interface (organized by tags, w/ cover art, access to multiple audio streams and subtitles and chapters), but with local files.

Roku couldn't do that, I found.

A friend suggested building a Raspberry Pi system that will run an XBMC port...that is what I will try next.

had you not looked up its features?

maybe one of the WD players or something, I assume you don't want a videogame system.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I just didn't find any in-depth reviews of its video playback features.

I was also under the impression I might be able to find an alternate channel that provided the extra functionality, but it's the Roku video playback API that's limited this way.

I've been told the WD boxes have less-than-good looking interfaces, but I'm starting to think I might just need to do heavy organization to my files and run in that way. Just tired of having to have my computer on and iTunes open all the time to watch TV (and so is my light bill).

that's basically WD's zone. the UI isn't horrible, it's just not something you'd want to give a random person.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I mainly just use it for rips but it's great for what it does. Basically plays anything I throw at it. Interface isn't that bad either. It looks alright but is kind of slow and a tad buggy. It's not horrible though and something I can live with.

Crashes a lot?

but it doesn't happen often. A quick reboot usually does the trick. But in terms of just being able to play any file from an external along with metadata, there's nothing better at that price point imo.

but for this specific implementation, it's by far the best.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Or did I miss that post?

Cause that looks like something you can customize to what you're looking for.

Other than that, I'd agree with rjcc and get the WD box.

used Mac mini.

I'm gonna check out that WD box, and if that doesn't work out I'll throw in the towel.

it just works.

I ask because I've tagged all (yes, all) of my movies and shows with cover art and credits info. Everything is in H.264 format (anything that isn't gets converted)

WD Live reads all the tags and even shows thumbnails. i don't know if the thumbs are in the tags or if the WD downloads itself. When I said it was buggy, it occasionally freezes but usually when trying to stream over the network. Sometimes it will just lose connectivity for no reason. That's why I just use USB or an external HDD. It's just a lot easier and hassle-free than dealing with streaming and network issues. WD Live is cheap too. Like $70 or 80 when I bought it.

I'd recommend dropping $150-200 on a barebones PC and putting a linux distro on with XBMC.

I love my XBMC (I use a Dell PC w/Win8).

I've been trying to find a good alternative, but I'm having difficulty. I'm considering just getting a NAS and using Plex.

It does everything that I need it to, but it does it all so slowly. The loading time in the start up is agonizingly slow, menu load times are terrible, and it's just plain frustrating to use at times.

Then cheaping out on your media interface

That has become the biggest expense for me

I built a Core i3-530 / Windows 7 machine in 2010 that runs XBMC , blu-ray rips at full HD, plus anything else a streamer can do.

Craigslist has a bunch of cheap computers for sale (in San Diego) that would be great at this, tower or laptop. Figure $200 will get you something good enough.

This Dell on eBay would be a great media PC , and it went for $156 bucks: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-OPTIPLEX-790-DESKTOP-CORE-i3-3-3GHz-2GB-DDR3-RAM-750-GB-HDD-WIN-7-PRO-COA-/371170826595?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item566b815963&nma=true&si=jkeDrL6DIjt2LkCmvyY5JeTHrW8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Just add a wireless keyboard/trackpad like the Logitech K400 (can be found on sale for $19 at least a few times a month: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-touch-keyboard-k400r


The WD is cool too - and cheaper.

... I didn't want to have my comp on since it's old and makes the room hot and the wife complains to stream so I got a WD MyCloud which is what it is a small NAS device. In my room I use the WDTV Live to watch from the Media Server, my PS3 in the living room, my kids room can view the contents on the Wii via WiiMC. My boys room should have the Playstation TV for Christmas so the crib is set.

I have a Synology NAS drive. Synology has apps that play all my media on basically any device... tablets, smartphones, computers, roku box. i have 5 tvs in my house all connected to my NAS by roku.

i recommend: https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS214play

i don't have this one, but i'm planning on upgrading to that soon.

you can stream audio, movies, and pictures. you can also record live tv. you can access your media outside your home network if traveling.

the set up is a bit of work, and it's not cheap. but once set up it's perfect.

i know you said you didn't want to stream over your network but i think that's ideal for being able to playback on the most devices.

and there is also a seagate central. seems to be much like the WD cloud.

http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/home-entertainment/media-sharing-devices/seagate-central/

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-VivoPC-VM40B-02-ASUS-Desktop/dp/B00KU54KPQ/ref=sr_1_11?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1415149934&sr=1-11&keywords=chromebox

but really if this works, there might be a reasonable Chromebox solution.

PLAYS EVERYTHING!

I also own a Amazon FireTV for online content purposes.

The Amazon Fire does XBMC. I'm not really up on the Raspberry Pis like that but I'm sure it's dope. There are a bunch of off brand set top joints out there for $99 and up.

Review on Anadtech
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8262/ecs-liva-review-the-nettop-rises-again/4


Jsut install Linux +XBMC

New-egg has it on sale for $110 right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501007&cm_re=ECS_LIVA-_-56-501-007-_-Product

I'm gonna sell this mini form factor PC I got and cop that.

32 or 64GB storage?
Seems like once you install Windows 8.1 you wouldn't have much onboard storage left to play with...

Or is the intent to rely solely on external storage via the USB 3.0 port?
.