Topic: Simple network controlled player

[noahbickart]

Hey folks:

Now that USB portable drives are so inexpensive, I have all my music on a single 4tb portable drive.

Is there a simple player which has a usb port for such a drive with a coax or toslink digi out which can then be controlled by my iphone?

Most of the stuff on the market wants to wirelessly stream the data from a networked computer to the player, but this seems silly to me, because the data could be local. The only think I want to do over the network is control the thing.

I suppose a mac mini could do this, but is there a cheap box?

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Raspberry Pi + Dragonfly DAC.

http://www.tested.com/tech/521750-how-i-turned-raspberry-pi-2-audiophile-music-player/

That link uses the Raspberry Pi 2. Personally I'd grab a Raspberry Pi 3. I think they cost the same and the 3 is significantly faster. Both probably would work fine but that give you the option to do more with it.

[dnsacks]

believe you can also accomplish this with an Oppo bd105

[noahbickart]

believe you can also accomplish this with an Oppo bd105

That's what I want, minus the disc player.

[chinariderstl]

Yeah, you could easily do this with a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 or an old-school Mac Mini.  The RPi will obviously be the cheaper choice.

[noahbickart]

Yeah, you could easily do this with a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 or an old-school Mac Mini.  The RPi will obviously be the cheaper choice.

anyone know what the oldest model of oppo disc play can read a usb HD and be controlled by an ios app?

[audBall]

I didn't want to derail Noah's thread with my questions about the Raspberry Pi, which I'm interested in, so here's a dedicated Pi thread:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=178442.0

[kindms]

You could do this with Amazon Fire TV. Wifi and Ethernet, HDMI and optical
Out. There are several media solution apps that would more than take care of your needs.
I do this with the squeezebox server as ther is an app for the fire tv. They run about $100 each. The fire stick will do the same if HMDI is all you need for lower cost

[noahbickart]

You could do this with Amazon Fire TV. Wifi and Ethernet, HDMI and optical
Out. There are several media solution apps that would more than take care of your needs.
I do this with the squeezebox server as ther is an app for the fire tv. They run about $100 each. The fire stick will do the same if HMDI is all you need for lower cost

This looks perfect, however, Per: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201452430

no more optical spdif on the current generation of fire tv. That, unfortunately, is a deal breaker. I need a digi out, and don't have a dac with hdmi. I guess, I could do it with something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Wiistar-Converter-Support-Coaxial-Blue-ray/dp/B012F1LFAK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1468883234&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=hdmi+to+spdif+converter&psc=1

[dnsacks]

believe you can also accomplish this with an Oppo bd105

That's what I want, minus the disc player.

To be honest, I've never used my oppo's disk player --

[kindms]

You could do this with Amazon Fire TV. Wifi and Ethernet, HDMI and optical
Out. There are several media solution apps that would more than take care of your needs.
I do this with the squeezebox server as ther is an app for the fire tv. They run about $100 each. The fire stick will do the same if HMDI is all you need for lower cost

This looks perfect, however, Per: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201452430

no more optical spdif on the current generation of fire tv. That, unfortunately, is a deal breaker. I need a digi out, and don't have a dac with hdmi. I guess, I could do it with something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Wiistar-Converter-Support-Coaxial-Blue-ray/dp/B012F1LFAK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1468883234&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=hdmi+to+spdif+converter&psc=1

shit I just bought the newer one, I guess I didnt notice that it was gone. Sorry about that, but thanks for the heads up.

[kindms]

https://www.google.com/chromecast/speakers/

has toslink out $35


http://www.auralic.com/en/

ARIES MINI

I know some of the guys here have done well with the chromcast stuff. I dont know much about the auralic folks but they are more an audio company vs. google etc

[noahbickart]

https://www.google.com/chromecast/speakers/

has toslink out $35


http://www.auralic.com/en/

ARIES MINI

I know some of the guys here have done well with the chromcast stuff. I dont know much about the auralic folks but they are more an audio company vs. google etc

That looks good, its just for ~$500 I could buy a mac mini....

[Colin Liston]

You should look I to the many "tv boxes" out. Most of them are Android based and have a split output. You can install the squeezebox/squeeze player app, or plex app and stream from your own collection.

Here are a couple of examples

http://wetek.com/product/wetek-play

http://www.minix.us/

And with these you can run Kodi, formerly xbmc, and watch any movie or any tv show at any time for free as long as you have an internet connection

[dyneq]

^ The Wetek looks like it could replace my Win8.1 dedicated HTPC (which I was considering rebuilding soon), except I like that the Win8 Netflix app can do 5.1 Dolby EX. I also like using WMC to watch/record ATSC TV, although I'm guessing XBMC is decent for that?

[Colin Liston]

I have an Asus Chromebox running Openelec/Kodi, which has been rock solid for 2 years.  I'm not sure Kodi can be used as a DVR as I never use that function.  I don't ever feel the need to since literally every show is available for streaming at any time.  Check in to the Kodi forum for the DVR capability, I know that they have been working on it. 

http://forum.kodi.tv/

With PlayOn, https://www.playon.tv/ , you can record shows.  I think right now they have a lifetime subscription for $40.  I haven't used PlayOn but it looks pretty cool.

Some other tv box options

http://www.himediatech.com/productList.htm
http://www.tronsmart.com/products/android-tv-box

A list of popular tv box listed on the Kodi forum here:

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=221407

 

[Colin Liston]

 A bunch or android based TV boxes here:

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-c_11262/

[kindms]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DU15MU4/ref=s9_acsd_bw_wf_a_ODSADWF_cdl_9?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=WM33TN1J4YGGDXSDYC47&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2520407882&pf_rd_i=8497978011

certified refurbished 1st gen fire tv

[Colin Liston]

The new Roku 4 has an optical output. And the Chromecast audio also has optical an output

[edtyre]

Noah

I have a mac mini running JRiver Media Center using JRemote IOS app on my Iphone to remote control it.
Not only can i play files on my local hard drive through my sound system, i can stream it to my Iphone to play
on that and using JRiver's media server functions, can remote control the stream to other WIFi zones in my house via
it's DLNA server, to a Chromecast Audio > digi out > DAC > preamp using BubbleUPnP (a free mac software)

Also using Jriver's Media server function, can stream to my Iphone anywhere in the world where i can get a LTE or WiFi signal
> Airplay > Bluetooth directly to head unit in my car. Basically i can access all of my 130,000 tracks i have on home mac mini anywhere.
Jriver also plays video to my TV via HDMI out on mac mini.

https://www.jriver.com/
http://www.jremote.net/