Home Media

I have to admit I love home entertainment.  I guess it’s one of those things that just come hand and hand with being a IT guy.  I spent a good load of time setting up entertainment just the way I want.  As time progresses and technology advances I always try to keep updated with the latest if only the benefits outweighs my current setup.  In most cases it does!

To start off for my home media setup I purchased a Synology DS415+.  Here is where I store all my digital media.  AVI’s, MP4’s, MKV’s, MP3’s, etc.  The Synology as stated in a previous blog post is perfect because you can install media servers such as Plex or use their built in Video Station.  I prefer plex however the Synology is too weak to allow jitter free streaming on large 50″+ Tv’s.  If your TV is in your LAN, you should be good to go but often times if you try streaming remotely you may run into issues.  To combat that I use my powerful desktop computer to stream off when remote.  Powered by i7-4790K CPU @4GHz, 32GB ram and an SSD, my desktop can handle the load!

Obtaining the digital media.  Now were in a grey area.  My preferred method is Usenet.  For those of you who is unfamiliar with usenet please do your homework.

Media Players:

I used to love the Western Digital  WDTV Live plus but since the launch of Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV sticks I instantly made a changeover.  I love my Amazon Fire tv.  The Fire TV streams music and Media.

Some streaming content:  There are tons more then what I listed below.

1. Netflix

2. Plex

3. Amazon’s streaming

4. Hulu Plus

5. Pandora

6. Youtube

The other benefits of the Amazon Fire Tv is the ability to side load applications.  One certain program I side loaded is XBMC.  I used the Kodi version of XBMC where I then loaded the live tv plugin.  This allows me to stream TV channels for free off my Amazon Fire TV.  With free always comes it’s drawbacks such as links that become invalid but overall it’s pretty nice.

As for my setup, I decided to make my office my workplace and my mini mancave of technology.  2×24″ LCD monitors and a 42″ LCD TV above my monitors for watching movies and tv shows.  My computer is Link aggregated to my managed switch and so is my Synology NAS.  Not that I need it but I wanted no lag so got 2GB network throughput to the NAS for supreme connectivity.  Hooked up to the 42″ LCD is the Amazon Fire Tv, not the stick version, with the sideloaded XMBC.  To not disturb the kids next door I have the Sennheiser RS 170 Wifi over the ear headphones.  This badboy is nice as it packs lots of bass and surround sound!

Downstairs I use the Amazon Fire tv stick to a 50″ Plasma.  It does the job.  Everything is connected to the Synology for central media streaming.