Any personal recommendations for media streaming devices?

[smitbret]

Yeah, I agree. I bought and returned the Roku - it just didn't perform as I wanted. It's media streaming interface was very annoying - imagine having over 3000 titles - even logically broken down alphabetically.

The WD has been my favorite - but lately I've been having to unplug and plug it back in, or re-flashing the firmware to get it to work. It connects to the media server just fine, and everything looks good right up until I press play. Then the spinning arrow will just spin and spin and spin..... frustrating.

That's why I am looking to replace it with something else -

Cross posting from your thread about the Search Function. I had a WDTV Live for a couple of years and hated its limited DLNA support but loved its broad codec support. Not to mention the GUI really started to slow down once the library/playlists got moderately large. I traded it off and got this. It blows the doors off of the WDTV Live.

Personally, I would recommend a Raspberry Pi3 and run LibreELEC on it. Pay the extra $3 and get the MPEG-2 and VC-1 hardware support, too.

If you just want to use your smartphone or tablet to control it then you can just tape or velcro it completely out of site behind the TV and be done for $39 and the cost of a 1GB microSD card and a 2+ amp cell phone charger. It will outperform those Android boxes by a country mile as well.

If you want something a little more stylish and or real remote control function, add a FLIRC and a case. The case I have used so far (tried about 4) is actually the metal FLIRC case because it has an internal metal post that contacts the CPU and turns the whole metal case into a heat sink. The FLIRC remote device lets you use any remote control because it is 100% programmable with a PC. With a FLIRC it can be ANY remote control, doesn't even have to be a universal or multifunction. If it has buttons you can program it. I don't even have my FLIRCs in direct line of sight. I still tuck the Pi away, velcroed behind the very top of the tv and the FLIRC is sensitive enough to pick up the signals as it bounces around the room. You can get cheaper IR Receiver/Remote combinations, though. I just like the FLIRC+the older style DirecTV remote control.

https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-...raspberry+pi+3

https://www.amazon.com/FLIRC-FL-0902...keywords=FLIRC

https://www.amazon.com/FLIRC-FL-5319...keywords=FLIRC

https://www.amazon.com/DIRECTV-RC66R...v+rc66+backlit

https://www.amazon.com/PiTech-Raspbe...ds=pitech+2.5a

https://libreelec.tv/

After experimenting with different items for the last couple of years these are the components I have settled on for my RaspPi2 (I haven't upgrade to a RasPi 3, yet, haven't needed to). Many people will already have a microSD card, remote control and phone charger lying around. Just make sure the charger is 2+ amps or you will have problems that will first be revealed by a rainbow colored box in the upper right corner of the screen when you first boot it up.

It is a $90 project if you go with the "premium" setup here but you can always save a little money with less expensive components or by forgoing the case and/or remote control.

I also use an Asus Chromebox with a FLIRC and running the same OS. The experience is virtually identical. The only difference is that the Chromebox will pass HD Audio (True-HD or DTS-MA) and the Pi3 won't. You have to downsample or pass through LCPM.