Best streaming box out now?

[biostud]

Why doesn't Microsoft make a windowsRT based box like appleTV?

 

[lagokc]

Why doesn't Microsoft make a windowsRT based box like appleTV?

Probably because they expect someone like Dell or Asus to do it. They don't want to piss their partners off too much by directly offering competing hardware.

 

[Muadib]

Why doesn't Microsoft make a windowsRT based box like appleTV?

Rumors are that the new Xbox may be your answer.

 

[dagamer34]

Why doesn't Microsoft make a windowsRT based box like appleTV?

Xbox 360 / Durango.

 

[dpodblood]

Xbox 360 / Durango.

Exactly. MS will be pushing the next gen Xbox as a media platform as much as they will a gaming platform. Unfortunately as long as they want to charge me an xbox live subscription just to use Youtube, Netflix, and my internet connection in general I won't be buying into it.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I have a jailbroken appletv 2 with xbmc that works well for netflix and streaming files off my NAS. It's hooked to the 720p TV that is in front of my treadmill, so being 720p only isn't a problem. The only thing that irks me is that I have to re-encode blu-ray rips to sub-2gb size before they'll play on it. I think this is a limitation of the wireless N network more than the appletv itself, because it will attempt to play the full rips, but has to buffer constantly. I still haven't tried a wired connection to test it and really determine where the bottleneck is though. I would love to be able to play the straight rips if for no reason other than to not have to go through the headache of running them through handbrake and keeping 2 copies of the movies I might want to watch on the NAS.

 

[Kanalua]

Roku 3.

 

[smitbret]

Yeah, you won't notice a difference on an SD TV, but once you start bit starving HD or even a good DVD you'll start getting lack of detail, blockiness in shadows and artifacts all over the place. Not sure if Plex has customizable quality settings but some transcoding software does and it will make a difference for HD material.

 

[jhansman]

Roku 3.

This, although I wish I could stream audio with something besides iTunes via Plex (love Plex, dislike iTunes). Not a fan of Pandora; just would like to stream either the music on my PC or internet radio to my Roku 3. Ideas?

 

[Cuda1447]

I went through this a few months ago. I settled on just using a laptop with an HDMI output and streaming everything through that. Works perfect for me.

 

[freegeeks]

mac mini + remote buddy + plex
tried the roku and other streamers but everything fails IMHO next to a properly setup HTPC