Preparing for my HDR to eventually die

[ntm1275]

My HDR is working perfectly at the moment, but I'm starting to think about what happens when it eventually dies as they are no longer available to replace

I have the CF installed and my killer feature is the 'network-shares-automount' that connects to my NAS to stream all the content through the HDR to my non-smart tv

My NAS has it's own built in 'Video Station' that can be accessed via a web page

My question is:-
Is there a device that will connect to the tv via HDMI and has the feature of 'web connectivity', as in it has a browser installed that I can access any web page I want
Having a digital sound (SPDIF or Coaxial) out would also be great as well to connect to my amp

I've looked at boxes like NowTV and Chromecast which will access the internet for Catchup and other streaming services, but they don't state whether they have the ability to access web pages

I know you can use things like an PC/Laptop, PS4 and Xbox etc, but I don't want to spend that kind of money

Does anyone know of such a device

When the HDR does finally die, I'll probably end up getting a Youview box, but I need something else to access my NAS 'video station' web page

 

[Black Hole]

Doesn't your NAS offer DLNA? I've never heard of this "Video Station" idea before - there would be no problem adding DLNA to your TV with a cheap STB. Even my Blu-Ray player does that.

 

[briang]

There are many reasonably priced devices that do what you want. Android Set-Top Boxes are the ones that spring to mind. don't discount PCs, as they're getting increasingly affordable.

XBMC - soon to be rebranded to Kodi would be worth looking at as a fun/flexible way of presenting media. You'd be pushed to find a non-proprietary device it doesn't run on.Personally I have a 2nd hand(70 quid) Asrock PC running Openelec/xbmc. It doesn't have a TV tuner in it (yet).

What do you consider too expensive?

 

[ntm1275]

Doesn't your NAS offer DLNA? I've never heard of this "Video Station" idea before - there would be no problem adding DLNA to your TV with a cheap STB. Even my Blu-Ray player does that.

The problem I've found with DNLA is that the list of supported video formats can be very limited and I don't want to buy something that I end up having to convert all my files

There are many reasonably priced devices that do what you want. Android Set-Top Boxes are the ones that spring to mind. don't discount PCs, as they're getting increasingly affordable.

XBMC - soon to be rebranded to Kodi would be worth looking at as a fun/flexible way of presenting media. You'd be pushed to find a non-proprietary device it doesn't run on.Personally I have a 2nd hand(70 quid) Asrock PC running Openelec/xbmc. It doesn't have a TV tuner in it (yet).

I used to use a laptop until it died and then I bought the HDR
I was hoping I could find something that would have minimal power consumption when in standby, but would wake up in seconds as opposed to minutes for a starting up a PC

My Synology NAS has a built in feature called Video Station that just needs access to it's web address i.e http://192.168.0.2:5000/video
Once there you are presented with a web page which list my films/tv shows etc, with all the relevant descriptions etc
The video then plays in the browser when you click on it
Here is a picture from the 'movies' page

 

[briang]

I have a Synology NAS too. Kodi/XBMC on my PC plays very nicely with it. DLNA or SMB.

My PC takes 28 seconds from power on to get to operational Media Centre. (No MS-windows involved - it's running Openelec an optimised version of Linux/Xbmc). By contrast my Humax Fox HDR T2 takes 18 seconds. It's not the latest or greatest media centre PC. It's probably cost the equivalent to a 2nd hand HDR.
Add TV tuners and it's getting close to the Humax as a PVR, but with a great deal of extra functions available via a huge wealth of plugin modules.

I'm advocating XBMC not PCs. A quick search in this forum indicates it's in widespread usage. However I do have a preference towards PCs, as I like to be able to upgrade and replace the components easily. It should run on whatever hardware you have available (outside of the vendors who really expressly don't want it to happen)

Android - my bog-standard Samsung phone for example, though there are Set-Top Boxes, which are ideal.
PC/Windows
PC/Linux - Openelec being one example.
Mac OS/X
Raspberry Pi (albeit slowly)
ATV1/ATV2. (jailbroken).
Ouya
Boxee
.....
etc

Other media-centre softwares may be available.

 

[Black Hole]

The problem I've found with DNLA is that the list of supported video formats can be very limited and I don't want to buy something that I end up having to convert all my files

Not really - the Humax is limited, yes, but that doesn't have to be general. DLNA is the standard way to shovel this kind of thing around. Your web page server thingy equally relies on the client browser being able to support the video format (unless the server has transcoding ability).

 

[probedb]

The problem I've found with DNLA is that the list of supported video formats can be very limited and I don't want to buy something that I end up having to convert all my files

I can't say I've had this problem, it's usually the renderer that doesn't support a format.

I use my BR player to stream things to and that's never had an issue other than what I know it doesn't support which is lossless audio in MKV container so I use m2ts for that.

 

[ntm1275]

Update

I've found a solution to to my question and it arrived with the purchase of my new Samsung Galaxy S5 phone

The S5 is compatible with MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) and I just needed to buy a MHL cable off Amazon for about £7

For those of you that don't know what it is, it is basically a USB to HDMI cable

It allows me to 'mirror' the screen of my phone on to my TV

As the phone obviously has access to an internet browser, I can access all the 'on demand' web sites and also access my Synology NAS video files either by using DNLA or through Synology's DS Video app as pictured above in post #4

I've installed a dnla client and VLC on the phone so that I can watch recorded video from the HDR (SD and HD) on any tv in the house with a HDMI input

I'm well pleased