RE: Re: Media centre options?

["Paul Gale" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

MMmm thanks.

I haven't looked at Myth for a while - might give that a look. Otherwise I
was thinking of building up a new cheapish box to run MCE on - don't need
tuners etc as I use the Sky+ box exclusively for that.

Paul.



-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
noughtomate
Sent: 30 March 2006 11:39
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Media centre options?

I'm familiar with XP MCE.

If you were to consider buying one of these (although personally I
would wait till Intel Viiv technology is established and Vista is
out), you could use one of your legacy PC's as a Media server.

There's a utility available on thegreenbutton.com / downloads (I
think) where you can automatically copy your recorded content to
your network drive. Nothing cutting edge, but it works well.

If you don't want to use shared storage, you could also use Extender
technology to your Xbox, although this may require a few hacks to
get DivX to work. I think M$ only support WMV and MPEG2 over an
Extender.

If instead you want to hack your existing PC's to be MCE
compatibile, you may run into problems as M$ are increasingly
imposing certification on hardware components. i.e. Your tuner would
have to be model xyz etc...

Have you looked at Meedio or Myth TV ?

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Paul Gale" <groups@...> wrote:
>
> I'm just trying to work out what the best route is for a shared
whole-house media centre solution for me. I have some thoughts but
wanted some other thinking!
>
> I currently have:
>
> Xbox with XBMC
> Xbox 360 - standard software
> Apple Mac mini - with that media software (can't remember the name)
> An older (1GHz?) shuttle PC in the AV room (limited expansion for
tuners etc) linked via VGA to plasma.
> Sky+ and Sky boxes in node0
>
> I've used all of these solutions with varying degrees of success.
The Mac Mini is just too slow and the software is not fully featured
enough.
>
> I'd like to rip a small number of DVD's and make these available
along with all TV shows downloaded (DivX AVI format normally) to all
and any TV's around the house. I have an Extron video matrix
switcher and Kat5 infrastructure, so getting the signal around is
already possible. I also have IR distribution, so remote control is
also sorted (providing the hardware solution supports it).
>
> What are my options hard/software wise that will do both of these
things? I don't particularly want to have to spend lots of time
programming screens, so Main/XLobby etc are probably not an option.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul.
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>