The Geek Forum

  • April 28, 2024, 02:26:06 PM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Due to the prolific nature of these forums, poster aggression is advised.

*

Recent Forum Posts

Shout Box

Forum Stats

Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 129555
  • Total Topics: 7152
  • Online Today: 247
  • Online Ever: 1013
  • (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

Author Topic: Home Media Centers  (Read 3823 times)

Socrates

  • Wannabe Professional Blogger
  • **
  • Coolio Points: +123/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 567
    • View Profile
Home Media Centers
« on: March 02, 2009, 02:42:40 PM »
Mrs Socrates and I now find ourselves listening to our music collection more instead of turning on the TV for background noise.  Currently we have everything we listen to commonly ripped as MP3s on our tablet (see my prior thread on laptop choices if you are interested) but are beginning to kick around the idea of getting something to connect to the TV/game systems/DVD player to use as a media center of sorts.  This has the added bonus of giving Mrs Socrates with her background in sound recording the excuse of buying speakers and what not.  Something she geeks out over and that just bores me to tears.

I know there is a Windows version for using as a media center but is there anything else we could go with?  At this point we are only really looking for something that we could use to play music, maybe show pictures on the TV and potentially play DVD's (or maybe blue-rays) on. We're both pretty techy people but when it comes to stuff around the house we just want it to work.

Any of you out there have something like this setup now?  suggestions? thoughts? cheese ideas?
Logged
--this space intentionally left blank--

HeavyJay

  • Hacker
  • ****
  • Coolio Points: +72/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1500
  • Gorn Tamer
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2009, 02:52:01 PM »
I don't know a whole lot about the subject, but MythTV and Linux MCE come to mind.  I think those are mostly for movie/TV watching and recording, but there's no reason they shouldn't do the job just fine with your existing home theater for m00sicks.
Logged
"Don't just eat that hamburger, eat the HELL out of it!" -- JR "Bob" Dobbs

Joe Sixpack

  • Nerd
  • ***
  • Coolio Points: +176/-19
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 836
  • Low brow and brilliant
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2009, 10:13:01 AM »
If you don't require DVR, XBMC is by far the best out there that I have used.  It's rock solid and is available for linux or windows.  I currently run it on my XBox, on a PC in my daughter's room, and I have a touchscreen jukebox set up with XBMC as the front end.  It plays all kinds of audio, video, photos, and DVD.  It just doesn't have any DVR-type functionality, which is probably part of the reason why it's so stable.

If you do require DVR, it gets kind of tricky.
I like Mediaportal a lot, but there is no free EPG.  Microsoft MCE I like a lot less, for various reasons, but it does come with a functioning EPG.  I have found that if you are going to go TV-inclusive, the EPG contributes sharply to the WAF (wife approval factor).  These are both on Windows, obviously.

I haven't tried MythTV in a while.  Maybe it's better now, but a couple years ago when I checked it out it was a nightmare to set up.
Logged
"God places cherubim with a flaming sword east of Eden to guard the Tree of Life from the ambitions of man.

Cherubim is plural; Genesis 3:24 specifies one flaming sword. Presumably flaming swords were in short supply."

Demosthenes

  • Evil Ex-HN Moderator
  • Administrator
  • Hacker
  • *
  • Coolio Points: +567/-72
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 9904
  • Just try me. See what happens.
    • View Profile
    • Zombo
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2009, 11:28:24 AM »
I have Tivo for TV, so I haven't looked at MythTV in quite a while.

However, for music and some video, I have GNUMP3d set up on my main Slackware box so I can use it as a streaming music and video server.  It was really easy to set up, and it works great, if a bit simplistically.
Logged

Coolio Points: 89,000,998,776,554,211,222
Detta Puzzle Points: 45

Banning forum idiots since 2001

Socrates

  • Wannabe Professional Blogger
  • **
  • Coolio Points: +123/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 567
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2009, 03:01:58 PM »
Thanks for the input guys.

Joe no DVR needed.  In fact we just canceled cable and are using an internal antenna to get all the local stations, all we really need.  Probably part of why we are listening to more music now.  That XBMC looks pretty nifty and the touchscreen jukebox idea is along the lines of what are thinking of.

And people say we are an unfriendly group...
Logged
--this space intentionally left blank--

Joe Sixpack

  • Nerd
  • ***
  • Coolio Points: +176/-19
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 836
  • Low brow and brilliant
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2009, 03:10:45 PM »
I'll kill the bastards.

Touchscreen has one relatively minor hurdle that I am trying to overcome, but it works perfectly with a remote that emulates a keyboard or other HID.

I've tried craploads of different remotes, including a LIRC that I built with Radio Shack parts, so let me know if you have trouble with that part. 
Logged
"God places cherubim with a flaming sword east of Eden to guard the Tree of Life from the ambitions of man.

Cherubim is plural; Genesis 3:24 specifies one flaming sword. Presumably flaming swords were in short supply."

ivan

  • Forum Moderator
  • Hacker
  • *
  • Coolio Points: +499/-50
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4929
  • Not a Mod, nor a Rocker. A Mocker.
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2009, 04:21:02 PM »
Quote from: Socrates on March 03, 2009, 03:01:58 PM

In fact we just canceled cable and are using an internal antenna to get all the local stations...

So you got one of them digital converters? Did you claim your forty bucks?
Logged
"I TYPE 120 WORDS PER MINUTE, BUT IT'S IN MY OWN LANGUAGE!"  -Detta

xolik: WHERE IS OBAMA'S GIFT CERTIFICATE?
Demosthenes: Is that from the gifters movement?

Detta: Crappy old shorts and a tank top.  This is how I dress for work. Because my job is to get puked on.
Demosthenes: So is mine.  I work in IT.

bananaskittles: The world is 4chan and God is a troll.

12AX7

  • Guest
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2009, 04:32:47 PM »
I thought it was forty acres? And a mule?
Logged

ivan

  • Forum Moderator
  • Hacker
  • *
  • Coolio Points: +499/-50
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4929
  • Not a Mod, nor a Rocker. A Mocker.
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2009, 04:54:32 PM »
I'LL TAKE IT!
Logged
"I TYPE 120 WORDS PER MINUTE, BUT IT'S IN MY OWN LANGUAGE!"  -Detta

xolik: WHERE IS OBAMA'S GIFT CERTIFICATE?
Demosthenes: Is that from the gifters movement?

Detta: Crappy old shorts and a tank top.  This is how I dress for work. Because my job is to get puked on.
Demosthenes: So is mine.  I work in IT.

bananaskittles: The world is 4chan and God is a troll.

Socrates

  • Wannabe Professional Blogger
  • **
  • Coolio Points: +123/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 567
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2009, 07:51:35 AM »
Quote from: ivan on March 03, 2009, 04:21:02 PM
So you got one of them digital converters? Did you claim your forty bucks?


Nope, my Sony has the digital whosamathingee built in.  I've been using an antenna for a few years now to get free HD for the football games, no NESN in HD unfortunately.  I've been making noise about cutting cable for a while and decided to finally just go for it.  That $50 a month can go for something else.  Plus I still have internet access if I really need to know what is going on in the world.

My in-laws in Maine have the converter and it worked fine for them.  I use past tense because they finally buckled and went from the 25" old CRT style tv to a 42" wall mounted LCD with the converter built in.
Logged
--this space intentionally left blank--

HeavyJay

  • Hacker
  • ****
  • Coolio Points: +72/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1500
  • Gorn Tamer
    • View Profile
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2009, 03:25:52 PM »
Quote from: Socrates on March 04, 2009, 07:51:35 AM
My in-laws in Maine have the converter and it worked fine for them.  I use past tense because they finally buckled and went from the 25" old CRT style tv to a 42" wall mounted LCD with the converter built in.

Apparently Zenith still makes one or two console TVs.  I miss those.
Logged
"Don't just eat that hamburger, eat the HELL out of it!" -- JR "Bob" Dobbs

LuciferSam

  • Wannabe Professional Blogger
  • **
  • Coolio Points: +122/-122
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 592
  • ástellaþ: ("hálette eormengrund!")
    • View Profile
    • ZomboCom
Re: Home Media Centers
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2009, 10:44:26 PM »
I don't know about home media centres. I have a home entertainment centre.

Logged

  • Q: What is green and homeomorphic to the open unit interval? A: The real lime!