I'm getting tired of having to convert my video files to a suitable format before I can watch them on my tv through my xbox360. I know FreeC was talking about making a computer media hub/server a while ago, what do the rest of ya'll use?
I'm looking for something that works with ALL video formats, compatible with windows and linux. Also - something I can control with a remote as my lazy ass doesn't want to get up (or use a mouse) to switch between episodes/movies.
Right now - modding my xbox 360 sounds like it may be the best solution, but then I have to say bye bye to any online gaming through it.
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Not at all. You can purchase barebone desktops that are the size of a hardcover book. You could even look into microATX boxes and find a cool looking one that would compliment you decor, or hide it since they are so small. I've priced out a few media boxes, and really you will spend the most on storage. Not including hard drives you could probably get away with spending under 150.
Falundir X`Viento wrote:Another thing you can consider is exploring the media center functionality of the 360. I know it allows you to stream media from a PC.
Er.... that's what I'm already doing but I'm getting annoyed that it throws a hissy fit when I try to play certain video video formats.
Falundir X`Viento wrote:I've priced out a few media boxes, and really you will spend the most on storage. Not including hard drives you could probably get away with spending under 150.
Yeah - that's not bad at all. I don't need to worry about storage since I already have a couple terabyte drives connected to my main computer that holds all my content.
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I went over to a friend's house last night and he was showing me his new setup. A laptop running Ubuntu connected to his TV. He was using Boxee as his media program and was controlling it from his phone. I looked through the android marketplace and there is a similar Boxee app - so it sounds like it might work out really well. He also gave me a USB TV tuner card, so I'll finally get a chance to set up MythTV as well.
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Ddrak wrote:AOpen MiniPC
Run MythTV or some linux based media center distro. Hell, run Win7 as a media center on it if you want.
Those are pretty slick, thanks for the link Dd. It doesn't look like there are any vendors remotely close to me though and they don't have them listed on newegg? Hrm....
I think I'll just set up my current laptop as the media hub with LinuxMint or Ubuntu and Boxee. That means I'll be in the market for a new laptop, but I want my new one to be BAMF gaming machine compared to my shitty-at-gaming current laptop. I've had bad experiences with laptop purchases so far though - anyone have any recommendations?
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Makes me wonder of I could get our old laptop running stable enough to turn it into an extra dvr... my old Media PC just bit the dust and I'm pretty sure that its the Motherboard thats bad (old school abit with a fan on the Northbridge and the fan gave out, thinking that lead to a northbridge meltdown).
I gave up trying to run retired laptops for my media PC. They just weren't flexible enough because you can't swap parts and you're basically stuck with whatever it came with.
So I built some ugly box from extra parts lying around the house and it's been a champ so far. And nobody's really even noticed the box. It gets lots of ooh's and ahh's because Vista/HD movies look so pretty on the Samsung @ 1920x1080 and we don't even really notice the box any more, but then again this isn't some trendy bachelor pad.
Here's my specs:
AMD Athlon 5200+ dual core CPU (2.6 GHz?)
Epox socket AM2 $50 newegg special motherboard
3 gigabytes (4 stick went bad) of DDR2 800 RAM
2 Samsung 1TB SATA II hard drives
$30 newegg special GeForce 8400 GS video card
$10 newegg special PCI wireless G network card
Running Windows Vista x64
I got my laptop running Boxee and despite the bad graphics card on the laptop, it looks really great on the 47" TV. I've pretty happy with my setup now - I love being able to control it from my phone (or anyone's phone who is over here and has the app) and I don't mind having my storage (2 external terabyte drives) by my main computer. It's nice to be able to watch Hulu and junk on my tv as well. Again - I was really surprised at how good everything looks/turned out.
FreeC - damn that one case is ridiculous at $200. We should trade media collections some time though - how far into your storage are you now? I'm at about 600gigs/2000 hehe... I have a ways to go!
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That laptop is probably going to choke if you try to play a 1080p movie on it. Hell, I bet it chokes much lower than that. Have you tried watching a 720p movie on it? Just about any box will play a standard def movie, but once you get into HD you need much more powerful hardware.
For a while I was using a brand new Acer laptop as my HTPC. It worked great but anything above 720 and it would hitch.
My movie/tv series/miniseries collection is up around 2TB and my music collection is over 1TB (thanks sis). I've got some cool TV series like the 1974 Land of the Lost (might get HR Puff-n-Stuff next lol) and some really cool miniseries like:
Band of Brothers
V - The visitors
Shogun
Stephen King's: The Stand, Storm of the Century and Tommyknockers
Navy Seals BUDs class 234
I'm also working on some classic Sci-Fi like Soylent Green and Silent Running (love Bruce Dern).
EDIT: I waved a drive full of movies in front of Embar but there wasn't enough time. My friend I was staying with barely got a copy - I almost missed the plane.
I can say that your laptop probably won't be up to HD snuff unless it's very recent and very high end. My laptop is about 1 1/2 years old, says "HD" all over it and hitches with 1080i, and it won't even do 1080p. The difference in picture quality between 720 and 1080 is OMG, but some of the 1080 movies I've gotten my paws on are over 20 gigs.I actually deleted a 1080p copy of the Godfather triology because I didn't seem to have hardware powerful (other than my work machine) enough to play it, so I ended up getting a copy of it in 720p, and that saved a nice chunk of HD space.
Ship me a drive or drive(s) in a priority envelope with another SASE inside for return shipping since my wife bitches about all the shipping costs and I might be looking at a 6 figure co-payment (70/30 coverage FTL) for my hospital stay.
Freecare Spiritwise wrote:Ship me a drive or drive(s) in a priority envelope with another SASE inside for return shipping since my wife bitches about all the shipping costs and I might be looking at a 6 figure co-payment (70/30 coverage FTL) for my hospital stay.
PM me your address, plox? I'll just send you my backup 1tb drive probably. Do you have a list of all the media you have perchance?
Sorry to hear about your hospital bills, that sounds pretty awful.
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