What's new

Can I stream videos from a USB drive connected to the RT-N66U with the PC off?

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

polarvista

Occasional Visitor
I am looking for a solution to be able to watch videos/TV shows from a USB hard drive connected to the RT-N66U router, with the PC turned off. What media player (i.e. WD TV Live/Hub, Roku, etc...) would be suitable so that it could access the videos on a drive attached to the router, without the PC having to be on? I am hoping that the media server software built in to the RT-N66U might allow a media player to connect to an attached USB external hard drive to stream videos. Any suggestions would be welcomed, as I have not found a solution yet.
 
Virtually all media player will support streaming over DLNA (except Apple products). The RT-N66U has a DLNA server, so you will be able to stream to virtually any media player without needing a PC.
 
Thanks for the reply RMerlin. Can you make any recommendations? I have researched this a lot, and the choices are many, but some will require workarounds or various plugins. I like the Roku, but does not support DLNA natively, and might need a channel (like Roxsbox) to utilize DLNA?. The Boxee Box looks capable but no longer supported by D-Link. The WD Live TV/Hub looks capable as well (with built-in storage), playing many video formats. I would like a media player that has a decent UI, plays multiple video formats, and has been proven to connect (via DLNA?) to files stored on a router-attached hard drive.

Any recommendations?
 
I would recommend a WDTV Live Streaming (not to be confused with the recently released WDTV Play).

I used a WDTV Live (an older model) for a few years, having even worked on custom FW development for it. I replaced it with an HTPC a few years ago because I wanted the power of XBMC as a media center over the limited features of a media streamer.
 
+1 to the WDTV Live, I think it works very well for what it does. Could it be a little better? Sure, but for the price, and what its capable of I think it's a very good unit to have. Also I have used it to stream stuff via a usb drive connected to a N66U, and it works fine. But the WDTV Live does require some kind of wireless adapter, if you plan to stream over wireless, and I suggest doing over 5ghz band if possible.
 
I see that the WD TV Live is not wireless (without an adapter), so what limitations would that have on streaming videos? If I have both an external hard drive and the WD TV Live plugged into the Asus router, and the WD TV Live connected to to the TV via HDMI, will that work fine? Is there any way in this scenario to stream content to mobile devices like an iPad or Android phone? Would this be done through the WD TV Live or the RT-N66U router? Can the WD TV Live be used to stream a large music library (175GB), and does its interface handle metadata and/or album art, and also for TV shows. I have seen the Roku using Plex as a nice interface for media, but wanted to see if the WD TV Live was an option as well.
 
WDTV Live Streaming comes with built in wireless.
 
WDTV Live Streaming comes with built in wireless.

Yup you are right, I have one of the first gen WDTV, and one of the newer ones. I knew the older version required some kind of adapter for wireless connection. I assumed the new one did also, and I just have it connected to a 5ghz extender anyways. But seeing as the newer version of the WDTV live has built in wireless, that's just another plus for it's $100 price point which I think is good, for what it does.
 
I use wdtv live with wdlxtv custom firmware in order to support usb hub because I have 3 connected hard drive all sharing using samba. Stream to iPad second generation is handle perfectly by xbmc ios.
 
Is this what you guys are talking about? Is this a good buy?
http://1saleaday.com/flash/wdbgxt0000nbk/

Can't see, seems to requires an account to view it. But based on the model number in that URL, yes, that's the one with built-in wireless. You can't run WDLXTV on it (tho b-rad has started doing some experiments with it, and has a very early and rough build for it), but if you don't care about running homebrew, this is a very nice media streamer.
 
The RT-N66U is the first router I used that was able to stream Full Rip blu ray to both XBMC and my Dune player. Movies file range from 25-45GB. WD media player is probably the best media player for the money.
 
I am searching for a router solution, i thought that the asus ( rt-n66u ) works fine as media server, and not neet to buy a another media device.
So with USB HD will not be able to play through LAN or WLAN, in my smartv samsung ( with out allshare on laptop) ?
 
i am searching for a router solution, i thought that the asus ( rt-n66u ) works fine as media server, and not neet to buy a another media device.
So with usb hd will not be able to play through lan or wlan, in my smartv samsung ( with out allshare on laptop) ?


or usb hd -> asus n66u -> usb cable -> samsung tv
 
I have just got the rt-n66u and im sharing two usb-drives without any password thru samba, but my "WD TV HD Live Media Player Gen 3" cant log on to the usbdrives, i can connect via dlna but then i cant use external subs when i watch movies. (and through dlna i cant play all movies)
i can connect to the usb-drives with both my laptop and my smartphone, does anyone know what to do?
 
I am searching for a router solution, i thought that the asus ( rt-n66u ) works fine as media server, and not neet to buy a another media device.
So with USB HD will not be able to play through LAN or WLAN, in my smartv samsung ( with out allshare on laptop) ?
If you have a smart tv and media server enabled on router then you don't need any other device.
 

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top