Apple TV, WD TV Lite or ... ?

[Juventino]

here's the situation. I am looking for an easy way to enjoy tons of ripped movies and tv shows (currently stored on an external hard drive) on my TV. what i'm looking for is a device/configuration that can be synced over wi-fi and has a big hard drive. (I don't want to stream videos using iTunes)
apple tv 2 is obviously out, but can the original apple tv do this? I haven't looked much into it but i think it's achievable with jalibreaking it and upgrading the hard drive. not having the HDMI output is a bummer though.
my second choice was WD TV Live but it doesn't have an internal hard drive.as my own drive in filling up, I have to buy another drive as well to make it work.

should I wait until 2012 for the Apple-branded TV?

 

[McGiord]

Have you ever considered a PS3, it is a nice solution.
Blu-Ray player. Games. Big HDD. Wi-Fi. Netflix, Hulu, and some other stuff.

 

[blevins321]

The original ATV does have HDMI, just FYI. But in the short time I had one, I noticed that it cannot keep up with high bitrate BRs of today. Have you considered a NAS? Like Synology or QNAP? You'd have to have a "receiver" on the TV to play the media like a jailbroken ATV2, but it can stream everything for you over DLNA. XBMC on the ATV2 can play a stream straight from the NAS.

 

[obsidian1200]

Have you ever considered a PS3, it is a nice solution.
Blu-Ray player. Games. Big HDD. Wi-Fi. Netflix, Hulu, and some other stuff.

I'd second this only if your files do not go above 4GB in size or if you're willing to split larger files into separate ones. The PS3 is limited by the FAT32 hard drive format. Also, as a side note, get the cheapest PS3 and upgrade the drive yourself. There are now 1TB HDDs that can fit inside the PS3.

 

[Juventino]

Have you ever considered a PS3, it is a nice solution.
Blu-Ray player. Games. Big HDD. Wi-Fi. Netflix, Hulu, and some other stuff.

I'm an xbox guy
plus these game consoles doesn't do what i mentioned.

The original ATV does have HDMI, just FYI. But in the short time I had one, I noticed that it cannot keep up with high bitrate BRs of today. Have you considered a NAS? Like Synology or QNAP? You'd have to have a "receiver" on the TV to play the media like a jailbroken ATV2, but it can stream everything for you over DLNA. XBMC on the ATV2 can play a stream straight from the NAS.

well, I think a NAS is a lot more than what i want/need! (isn't it?)
I was hoping for a simpler and cheaper solution.
how much can I expand the ATV's hard drive? does any 2.5" SATA drive work?

I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but is there an hdd like time capsule (with wireless compatibility) that the ATV2 can stream from?

 

[Juventino]

I'd second this only if your files do not go above 4GB in size or if you're willing to split larger files into separate ones. The PS3 is limited by the FAT32 hard drive format. Also, as a side note, get the cheapest PS3 and upgrade the drive yourself. There are now 1TB HDDs that can fit inside the PS3.

can I manage the files on the PS3 over a wireless network?

 

[obsidian1200]

can I manage the files on the PS3 over a wireless network?

Do you mean like syncing? Managing files over a wireless network can mean a lot of different things.

AFAIK, there's no software that will automatically sync video files to your PS3, however you can manually copy videos from your wireless network to the PS3 internal drive, provided you have the right software (Rivet for OSX is free now) and don't mind manually telling the system to copy the video files. However, considering the time this would take, you'd be better off just copying the files via a wired connection every so often, or using a USB stick for when you want to add new files to the system.

 

[slothrob]

my second choice was WD TV Live but it doesn't have an internal hard drive.as my own drive in filling up, I have to buy another drive as well to make it work.

You might want to consider the WDTV Live Hub. That would seem to do what you want and contains a 1TB hard drive.

 

[Juventino]

Do you mean like syncing? Managing files over a wireless network can mean a lot of different things.

AFAIK, there's no software that will automatically sync video files to your PS3, however you can manually copy videos from your wireless network to the PS3 internal drive, provided you have the right software (Rivet for OSX is free now) and don't mind manually telling the system to copy the video files. However, considering the time this would take, you'd be better off just copying the files via a wired connection every so often, or using a USB stick for when you want to add new files to the system.

actually, I think this will work just fine. I can use a wired connection for the initial file transfer (which is about 500 GB) and add files manually every now and then over the wireless network.
the fact that I don't have to run a cable through the house is a big help!
thanks!

You might want to consider the WDTV Live Hub. That would seem to do what you want and contains a 1TB hard drive.

The WDTV Live Hub doesn't have wireless network! I don't know what kind of update this was! they added 1 TB internal drive, and dropped the wi-fi!