So, a good portion of my DVD/BlueRay collection is digitized, and I'm working on the rest. I've ripped them to the h.264 codec as mp4/mkv files because I was originally streaming them through the the DLNA app on my older Panasonic Viera TV.

I've since moved the collection to a ReadyNAS 104 that works fine for streaming, but the DLNA app on my TV leaves much to be desired, and I'd like to manage the content through a streaming device over the TV.

I do have a Netflix and an Amazon Prime subscription I'd like to be able to play through the device as the apps through the Viera interface are slow and chunky at best.

• My primary objective is to have something easy to use for my wife to play Netflix or a movie from my NAS when I'm not there.

• I like the idea of the WDTV device as it doesn't have to transcode from a very broad range of formats - it seems to play just about any codec. While most of the stuff I recently ripped is h.264 and should stream through DLNA, I've got older stuff that is in a variety of formats. It would be nice to be able to play a broader range, but I don't want to give up ease of use for that. In theary I can eventually convert my other codecs to h.264 when I finish with my DVDs.

• I hate all things apple, and while my wife has an iphone I don't think an apple TV is for me. I don't have much media set up with itunes, and I'd have to do a lot of work to get it to that point

• I'm not really looking at the Amazon Fire TV as it seems to push Amazon content first, and everything else second. I'd like something that is more agnostic.

• Other considerations?
  

Has anyone used both or have feedback on one or the other (or something else I haven't thought of)?

I have a WD TV Live. I bought it because it plays ISO files. I refuse to give up bits in the A/V source when I rip from DVD. Plex won't do that. And DLNA doesn't support it.

As a general purpose streamer the WD unit is at least adequate. It doesn't have a lot of channels. And I don't think the list of channels is increasing at all.

I don't have a Roku 3, but based on reviews that is the streamer I would choose for everything but playing ripped DVDs. It bugs the crap out of me that I can have Plex running on my NAS, where I have ripped movies in ISO format, but Plex can't stream them unless I transcode them. If you know of a way to repackage these files in a lossless format, please tell me how.

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If you know of a way to repackage these files in a lossless format, please tell me how.

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I don't - I think you're always giving up something when you convert to a new codec. I've ripped DVDs for my wife and kids to make their lives easier, and my wife says she can't tell the difference.

If I want a home theater experience, I pull out the actual blu-ray.

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I have a WD TV Live. I bought it because it plays ISO files. I refuse to give up bits in the A/V source when I rip from DVD. Plex won't do that. And DLNA doesn't support it.

As a general purpose streamer the WD unit is at least adequate. It doesn't have a lot of channels. And I don't think the list of channels is increasing at all.

I don't have a Roku 3, but based on reviews that is the streamer I would choose for everything but playing ripped DVDs. It bugs the crap out of me that I can have Plex running on my NAS, where I have ripped movies in ISO format, but Plex can't stream them unless I transcode them. If you know of a way to repackage these files in a lossless format, please tell me how.

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MakeMKV can create an uncompressed mkv from DVD's.

One thing to consider, the Roku3 will not pass through DTS HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD. It only passes the cores audio at 5.1. WDTV will pass both formats at 7.1 so if you rip your movies, WDTV would be the better choice.

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I have a WD TV Live. I bought it because it plays ISO files. I refuse to give up bits in the A/V source when I rip from DVD. Plex won't do that. And DLNA doesn't support it.

As a general purpose streamer the WD unit is at least adequate. It doesn't have a lot of channels. And I don't think the list of channels is increasing at all.

I don't have a Roku 3, but based on reviews that is the streamer I would choose for everything but playing ripped DVDs. It bugs the crap out of me that I can have Plex running on my NAS, where I have ripped movies in ISO format, but Plex can't stream them unless I transcode them. If you know of a way to repackage these files in a lossless format, please tell me how.

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MakeMKV can create an uncompressed mkv from DVD's.

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Uncompressed =/ lossless conversion. If you convert from the original ISO, whatever you convert it to will result in additional loss. Just unpacking an ISO and repackaging it into an MKV will result in some amount of data loss.

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I have a WD TV Live. I bought it because it plays ISO files. I refuse to give up bits in the A/V source when I rip from DVD. Plex won't do that. And DLNA doesn't support it.

As a general purpose streamer the WD unit is at least adequate. It doesn't have a lot of channels. And I don't think the list of channels is increasing at all.

I don't have a Roku 3, but based on reviews that is the streamer I would choose for everything but playing ripped DVDs. It bugs the crap out of me that I can have Plex running on my NAS, where I have ripped movies in ISO format, but Plex can't stream them unless I transcode them. If you know of a way to repackage these files in a lossless format, please tell me how.

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MakeMKV can create an uncompressed mkv from DVD's.

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Uncompressed =/ lossless conversion. If you convert from the original ISO, whatever you convert it to will result in additional loss. Just unpacking an ISO and repackaging it into an MKV will result in some amount of data loss.

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Actually, the MakeMKV system simply takes the raw video/audio stream data, and puts it, unconverted into an MKV package of the movie file only.

I've done a very large number of Blu-Rays with MakeMKV, and all it does it remove the extraneous videos (if I want to watch the special features, I'll dig out the disc) and remove any separate streams (extra languages, etc) that you don't want from the selected title. H.264 videos are decoded by my player as H.264 and VC-1s are decoded as VC-1s; no transcoding happens from the source title format.

The video and selected audio are lossless from the source tracks; only the extra language tracks are removed from a selected title and the other titles are simply not copied.

To say it's data loss is a bit a matter of terminology; if you're going for the video and English DTS audio tracks only for example, and only select those tracks to rip, then for those tracks, it is lossless as compared to the source media. If you consider lossless the loss of any data, whether you want it or not, then yes, it can be lossless (you most certainly can rip every single title, with every single option and they'll simply be packaged into an MKV compliant container).

I have both. Swapped WDTV for Roku 3. I am not as tech savvy as this thread all I needed was a device that ran slingbox/SlingPlayer. Once Roku began working with Roku I switched simple for the easier interface (kids use it)

WDTV runs great. OP, it's sitting in the box. I was about to throw it up on eBay. Email me. I'll give you the Texags special.

Atmilk @ Verizon dot net

I understand MKV is a "package" - not a format. So I should be able to package my ISOs as MKV. I will try that.

By lossless - I mean no loss whatsoever of video or audio quality. Removal of portions of the file is a choice.

If you use MakeMKV for example, then you could package each title under the root ISO as a compliant MKV file. A standards-compliant MKV container can have multiple titles and menus under a single MKV container, but MakeMKV (at least as I've found) only supports a single title per MKV container, and I don't know of any tools that integrate menus and multiple-titles in a single MKV file though.

The audio and video streams MakeMKV produces in the containers are the same as they were in the source format with no transcoding.

Thanks for the info everyone. I think I've about decided on a Roku 3, mostly because my library is already in MKV and MP4 files and I don't really have the need for the WDTV that will play other formats. So, I'll be able to stream everything I already have, and the hundreds of channels Roku has with seemingly better/faster Amazon and Netflix browsing and playability make it look pretty attractive.

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Actually, the MakeMKV system simply takes the raw video/audio stream data, and puts it, unconverted into an MKV package of the movie file only.

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I didn't know that - I've used primarily handbrake for mine, and hadn't tried MakeMKV. I guess that's the draw for it! Thanks for setting me straight.

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WDTV runs great. OP, it's sitting in the box. I was about to throw it up on eBay. Email me. I'll give you the Texags special.

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Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. The better UI on the Roku 3 is what I'd like for my wife and kids. Plus, my inlaws are still on me about a Christmas list, so I'll throw this on there so I don't get stuff I can't use.

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By lossless - I mean no loss whatsoever of video or audio quality. Removal of portions of the file is a choice.

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A Silicon Valley start-up called Pied Piper has developed a lossless compression algorithm that fielded Weisman Scores of 5.2, nearly double the theoretical limit.

I would suggest either way you move to plex to manage it your library... will have a much nicer interface than dlna.

Plex has a good app but they have apps on almost everything and the roku one is actually one of the worst. I'm actually about to replace my 2 rokus because their apps are pretty dated looking these days. The xbox one app is the best out there right now but the android tv (nexus player) and firetv apps are much nicer looking than roku.


As for the whole converting debate.... I compress my movies mainly so I can get them all in the same format and not have to worry about what device plays what, I choose the "standard" codecs and bitrates that are pretty universal. I use makemkv to rip the movie and then run it through handbrake to compress and remove the excess audio/subtitle tracks.

FWIW, MakeMKV can remove the extra audio/ST tracks as well. Both are really good tools for their purpose

I used to run it that way as I had a monitor action setup on the folder I dropped the file into to run Handbrake automatically with a given set of parameters. Each DVD was slightly different on which audio/ST tracks were which, so I just removed them before transcoding/compression.

Personally, I just gave up on the compression. Disk space was cheaper to me than the time to do the compression!