One Step Closer to Total Media Domination

March 19, 2010 1:14 PM

Can I stream from a Seagate Dockstar to my XBMC-running Xbox?

I'm getting a 1.5 TB Seagate external hard drive for my birthday (thanks Dad!). What I would like to do is pick up the Seagate FreeAgent Dockstar Network Adapter and hook it up to my wireless router. In this scenario, my XBox (running XBMC) would be in another room altogether, connected through my local wireless network.

Basically, is this possible? If I set up in this way, will my Xbox be able to stream all the media stored on the external hard drive?

I currently use SMB sharing to stream from my laptop to the Xbox, and I'd like to maintain that simplicity.

(Oh, and if there's a better/cheaper way to accomplish my goal, please feel free to school me.)

posted by joelhunt to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Probably the best way you want to do it is by setting up an SMB share on your Dockster if possible. That is, in my experience, the best way to stream to XBMC.
posted by Napierzaza at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2010

Sure, I used to do this with an Xbox, XBMC, and wireless LAN. Just expose the shares via SMB from the Dockstar thing, just like you do from your laptop now. As long as you have 802.11g or better and your videos aren't crazy high resolution, you'll be fine. Only problem I had was that the video would freeze whenever someone used the microwave, which may give you second thoughts about your microwave, if it's anything like mine.

Better/cheaper way - This or something similar from Linksys or the other usual suspects is probably the cheapest way to get a standalone networked hard drive to happen. If you're just planning to fill the drive with media and not worried about sharing it with other devices, you could just put a bigger drive right inside the Xbox and forget the network setup entirely.
posted by pocams at 1:23 PM on March 19, 2010

So, what I'm gleaming is that there should be no issues with either enabling SMB sharing on the external hard drive or streaming from the Dockstar to my Xbox? If so, awesome.
posted by joelhunt at 4:34 PM on March 19, 2010

I can't promise the Dockstar is capable of doing it without some kind of issue. I've never used a Dockstar. But I can tell you that the Dockstar has SMB and I have used it (from a Linux Box) over my old network (over wireless G).
posted by Napierzaza at 5:21 PM on March 19, 2010

I stream from a NAS right now over the wired network. SMB support is solid in XBMC; the only drag is the initial read times for network folders can be long for large folder listings.

I don't know if I'd want to do it over wireless G; the amount of HD video (in my collection anyway) is only going to grow over time. And of course, the HD size does not lend itself to seamless wireless play.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:23 PM on March 19, 2010