rx bandit

With my ever expanding DVD collection, I would like to move everything onto a hard drive to free up space in my living room and pack up the dvds to put in storage. Plus the idea of downloading movies from the net and putting them on a HA is intriguing as well. But I know absolutely nothing at all about media centers or how they work or how to set one up. Does anybody have any good resources or links for me to read up on the matter, and how to connect them to my tv? Thanks for the help.

DTN

1. Dedicate a computer to nothing but being on the TV. Nothing special, but you want a good video card with VDPAU for high definition 1080P video. Mine cost $300 at Walmart.
2. Get a control device, ie... wireless keyboard or remote control of some sort. A remote feels the most natural. A Microsoft MCE remote is readily available at best buy and supported on all platforms.
3. Decide on a platform. Windows/Linux... mac is not a good media center platform. I would recommend Linux as it has a customizable nature and you can get all software for free. It takes quite a bit of learning though.
4. Connect the computer to the TV using VGA, DVI, or HDMI connections. Basically, however you can connect it, do it. This will be limited to the TV and the computer's hardware.
5. Pick your display program. Windows Media center works. XBMC Media Center works. Personally, I use XBMC Media Center. It's open source, actively developed, and supports just about all media and formats.
6. For viewing live TV, you will want a TV input device. These devices can be a PCI/PCI Express card, USB device, or a network device. I have a dual tuner SiliconDust HDHomeRun. This device uses my home network to display TV on any channel which I command from any computer in the house. I use one of the two tuners for recording and one for watching live TV.
7. Decide on a recorder. Every tuner you buy will usually come with software or a recommendation. Microsoft Media Center has a recorder built in. MythTV is an open source option for Linux.
I have a recording schedule set up to record nearly 16 hours of TV every day. I also use a script I made called mythicalLibrarian http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=MythicalLibrarian . It reads my guide data and categorizes television shows based upon season and episode. mythicalLibrarian also generates commercial skipping information for XBMC and it sends a little notice on-screen in XBMC whenver mythtv records a new program. mythicalLibrarian also sends Ubuntu Desktop Notifications, and generates an RSS feed of the last 8 recordings. mythicalLibrarian is the key for maintianing a live, dynamic, organized, and fully featured, commercial free media library. Whenever more space is needed, it is freed up by deleting existing recordings.


My recordings go like this HDHomeRun>Network>MythTV>mythicalLibrarian>stored on disk and automatically maintained as a library> read by XBMC media center> deleted when space is required.

There are several other options out there. Boxee is an up-and-comming media center app which uses social networking as well. I guess so everyone can know that you just watched Debbie Does Dallas. There's a ton of apps that work. XBMC, in my oppinion, is the best. It allows for plugins like youtube, supports weather, and handles all media formats. XBMC is availalbe on all platforms.

I'd recommend you try the setup like I mentioned. I'm here to help if you need anything. A media center can be as simple as a bunch of videos on a computer, or as elaborate as you like. The only thing that is required is to have a computer hooked up and dedicated to media with a large display.

faithofadragon

download onto network computer

stream to xbox via tversity

done

DTN

^^ That's a ghetto setup. That's the "slap a cone filter on your MAF sensor 'Cold Air Intake'" solution. It requires the use of 2 computers and is not a "media center" but double tapping a computer as a media server with a media extender. It has no management. Your only choice of remote control is limited to a non-programmable video game controller. You have no live tv options. You're really only taking the videos you've downloaded or recorded and playing on your computer and putting them on your TV. That is not a media center. That is a media extender.

It would only cost you $300-$350 to make a real media center which is capable of automation tasks.

187sks

If you have an XBOX 360, a network, and a PC already, that solution is free and 10 minutes of setup.

It really depends on what you're looking for.

DTN

^^ Again, that's not a media center. It's a media extender. Also suggested by faithofadragon.

faithofadragon

yes but realize what hes trying to accomplish

download movies onto a hard drive

then stream them to a tv

thats all he is asking for

if what your trying to accomplish is making noise then a air filter on a MAF will work just fine

DTN

That solution does not offer a categorization of any sort. He is talking about a large DVD collection. It needs a automated central management solution. The extender option is basically a bunch of files on a hard disk with no organization.

With XBMC, there is a plugin available which will rip the DVD to the hard disk and then add it to the media library. When it is added to the media library, you get all kinds of additional information including posters, dvd covers, fan art, and actor linking to every movie you own. Say you want to have a Steven Segal night. You look up Steven Segal in the media library and it comes up with every movie in your library with Steven Segal. You make a playlist and let it run.

Any decent media center software should be able to accept a DVD into the drive; Automatically fetch/download all related information; Allow for burning of the software onto the hard disk and ategorize the burned file into the library. The process is automated with the exception of inserting the DVD and hitting the copy button.

You might as well just plug your desktop into the TV rather then go through the XBOX360, because at least there are accellerators for searching, and you have direct access to the files so you can rename it. With a media extender, you generally use a DLNA UPnP solution, which is not good for management of a large libary.

With a Media Center solution you get MORE functionality then the original DVD came with. This is why for a large library you go with a Media Center to manage your library, not a unmanaged extender.

turbosocks

I use tversity, xbox, external HD (to fit more media), my personal laptop and have been as my 'media extender/center' for the past 2 years or so, and Tversity free and SUPER simple to use.. Load xbox, go to videos, select movies or shows, find show i want, pick season, pick episode.. organized enough for me..

same deal with my music.. i don't need to spend extra money to do any of that either. I just have the bigger, external hard drive to hold the 280 movies, 700+ shows, 3000+ mp3s..

my library of videos is quite extensive also, and its perfectly manageable. 18+ shows that include probably a total of 40 seasons.. over 700 shows now.. i don't need any links to fan art, posters, pictures of steven seaguls member or any of that stuff that you would need..

I would say that the Tversity solution would work for almost anyone for most purposes..

And why plug your desktop in? that would ruin the functionality of it.. I can use both of my xbox's to stream the same library..

Download Tversity, and setting it up is simple.

If you don't have an Xbox, then you might have to go a different route.

If you have a laptop and a hard drive, you can pick up a new xbox these days for under 150$ if you don't have one, put them in as many rooms you want, and stream your media wirelessly from the computer to anywhere you want.

Here is my setup:

Laptop running Tversity media server connected to 500GB media drive (when I am watching stuff)
Two Xbox 360s.
When I download or 'acquire' new media, I make sure to organize it.. for example
Movies >> 300 >> 300.avi
Shows >> Breaking Bad >> Season 2 >> Episode 3.avi

Of course you can complicate it more, but thats how I decided to do it. you can also add properties to sort by genre and such through Tversity.

Heres how simple it is.. acquire media, move to the folder you want, refresh the Tversity folders.. turn on xbox, go to videos.. go to the computer hosting Tversity (Tversity on Nate01) pick movies, go through your list, hit play.. ENJOY!!

You can also do something similar right through Vuze (Azureus) now with streaming to your Xbox's. If I have Vuze running, I can go to (Vuze on Nate01) and watch anything that I haven't organized yet.

but yeah.. definitely GHETTO!!! LOL.. since its FREE (if you have an xbox) and functions great..

DTN

^^ That is not a 'media center/extender'. It is only a UPnP server/media extender. A media center has a internal management system.

People get confused from the name XBMC which used to stand for (XBox Media Center). XBox Media Center was a program that ran on a chipped XBOX. It is now XBMC Media Center and it does not support XBOX anymore. XBOX 360 are a media extender only and have no management capabilities. The difference is one has a maintained database http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title...se_Schema_4.0a and the other only does what it is told by the file.

Here is my setup.

This is what I see at the home screen


All recordings automatically get renamed: "/Show Name/Season/Show Name.SxxExx (episode subtitle).ext" This process is automated by about 3000 lines of code which I wrote and is available free (as is xbmc). The naming convention is pretty much gauranteed to be perfect based on about 12 points of data which are referenced against each other.

They show up on my screen like this:

When a new show is added it looks like this:

and I get a notification on my desktop if it was responsibile for recording the show


Movies:


XBMC also has addons which allow for additional functionality. There are some which will burn DVD media directly to your computer and file it in your library. There are others which will torrent download and label your media as well as 3rd party apps.