Roku

[Covart]

I used to buy all Apple products (computers in particular) so I purchased some Apple TV 2's and an Apple TV 3, over the last couple of years.

Well, I am sick and tired of the crappy updates, which usually ends up disconnecting the ATV while you are watching something, then doing a reset to get home sharing working again. I am sick of Apple's crappy iOS devices. They don't "just work" and in fact that should be quoted as they "just don't work"!

So now I have replaced all the iPhones and all the ipads in my household and amazingly everything works much better, except for those fuc#@ing Atv's. If there are any Roku owners here I would love to hear about it, especially if you have it connected via a MacBook pro or imac. I currently have approx 650 movies and 100 TV shows converted to MP4 or m4v format ranging in quality from sd to 720p to 1080p to 3D.
I really want to dump these apple TV's. They have pissed me off for the last time. Roku seems like the best alternative.

 

[joggy]

I love my Roku boxes, but I only use them for streaming via Netflix & Amazon. I've never used it for streaming from within the local network.

I had an ATV2 for a while and never had the issues you point out that you are having with yours. I loved it, but decided to leave the Apple ecosystem and pawned the ATV off on my son. It's still a great little box with one benefit being YouTube...Roku doesn't have this.

Good luck with our decision. I don't think you'll be dissapointed with the Roku if you decide to go that route.

 

[zoxxo]

I have a Roku and a Roku 2 XS and I love em! I stream netflix, amazon, and ripped mp4's from my server.

Look for an app called Plex at www.plexapp.com. It has server apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, and NAS appliances. The clients are available on Android and iOS for a fee, but the app for Roku is free.

The Plex app will stream your MP4's and music stored on your MAC, and it has several apps for streaming Internet music and movies.

Be warned that you won't get HD quality on your big screen for MP4's that were ripped for the small screen. But you will still have access to them.

Personally I think the Roku and Plex are some of the best investments I've made for my home theater...

 

[Roadie1015]

Sometimes I can use Windows Media Center on my Xbox 360, it doesn't support all formats though.