DTN

Has anyone heard of XBMC LIVE? It's a fully functional media center computer on a CD. So XBMC started out as an origonal XBOX program for chipped XBOXs. It's evolved and become a Linux program with XBOX, Windows, and Mac being ports of the Linux trunk application. If you have a HD TV, i'd recommend getting this as an accessory.

My desktop works all day long watching TV like Dora the Explorer, Futurama and Sesame Street (aproximately 20 shows a day). It then shrinks the files down, renames them by show, season and episode. Then It transfers the files to the NAS repository, where the files sit until scanned into the XBMC library. The XBMC library then downloads official DVD covers, show, season and episode descriptions and also fan art. All these things are displayed onscreen from the guide which allows my 4 year old to pick out a show to watch.

XBMC scanned in and assigned graphics to all my music for me, then using LastFM makes recommendations of songs I'd like and plays them for me for free. I customize it using the love/hate button. I now have a radio station which plays music I like all the time. It can also play music based on custom tags I input from my remote control, which types like a cell phone.

It's come a long way since XBOX. I had an extra USB remote control laying around and I have a HD TV, so I bought a $300 computer at walmart which came with windows 7. I formatted it and installed XBMC Live. I am running XBMC Live 9.11A2 is still in alpha stages (pre beta). The current stable release 9.04 is available here https://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc/files....1.zip/download

The best thing about a LIVE distribution is that the operating system is included. This means you can download the CD, burn it, and run it on ANY modern computer. So, get a copy and try it out and if you don't like it, then remove the cd. If you do like it, run the install and format the hard drive and keep it. We could use some more beta testers so try the newest 9.11A2.

Go to www.XBMC.org and check it out. It's a very mature software and it's free!

'treezy

you procreated?

DTN

Just to clear up something from the shoutbox and here. It's my girlfriend's 4 year old, I watch her most of the time I'm at home.

I'm not selling anything. XBMC is FREE! It's an open source software I've become drawn into. I figured I'd post an informative post about XBMC.

majik

it sounds like runs as an operating system, correct? So an old laptop would be a good idea, leave it plugged up to the TV and accessing WiFi?

does it run independent of another OS or on top of?

Edit:
My understanding is:

- it runs on a Linux platform (Ubuntu) using a bootable CD. Thus, you're not IN Windows, but you also don't have to format the hard drive.
....thus, I can burn it to a disc, restart my laptop, and boot from the CD and un XBMC?
- I need to have internet connectivity (does it need to be connected while running XBMC?
- I need to have a video signal coming into my video card. Coaxial / HDMI inputs?


Can I shut down XBMC, reboot into Windows, and access the movies? Or access them later through XBMC (shut down, run Windows, reboot into XBMC later)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7MiykE4Kw - example of Home Media Center. I suppose I could easily use my 40" LCD as the monitor. Buy a mini-ITX case and fill it with what I need, and have it become my perpetual DVR. How long to fill up 1TB? How large are 30 minute / 1hr HD shows?

supercow

xbmc isn't a dvr, dtn has his pc (I'm assuming media center? or hauppauge software or something like that recording) xbmc is just a player designed to be used on your tv. Streaming video from online, across the network, usb drive, etc. Boxee is a fork of xbmc, check that out as well.

I use Mythtv which is a true dvr system. Tv tuners controlled by mythtv, live tv, pausing live tv, etc. Downside to mythtv is it's pretty complex comparatively. I have one backend server and a few frontends.

edit: majik, for the average non-linux geek, windows media center will do what your talking about. What I'd do is a pc setup with a couple tuners to record and use an xbox 360 to connect to it to view on the tv. On my system with my hauppauge pvr-150's 30min is a gig. I can re-encrypt stuff to make it smaller but I typically watch and delete so it's not worth it.

blacktibby

I also have a mythtv box running. However i have become too busy to use it much so i've switched to just using a Tversity server with my Ps3. XBMC has come a long way in 2 years.

SOCKS_old

just to add, i also use Tversity on a daily basis, but just to act as a media server to stream movies/shows to my xbox's.

so i have to download all my media online, add it/refresh the folders, then go to videos/music on the xbox and go thru the movies/shows/music and choose what i want, voila.

DTN

XBMC can be used as a front end for MythTV's backend. Just select a video source like myth:192.168.1.100. Then you'd have your TV with all the functionality of XBMC.

XBMC 9.11 has gone beta as of this morning. Expect XBMC Live 9.11B to come out very shortly. They've done away with the Traditional default Project Meyhem skin. They've included PM3.HD, but it's no longer default. This is a big change since Project Meyhem has been the default since it was introduced on XBOX 6 years ago.

Is it just me, or does Confluence look like it uses the same font as Tiburon on the back of our cars?

DTN

XBMC LIVE 9.11B2 released today.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc/files...b1.zip/download

To use:
1. burn the ISO image to a CD
2. put the CD in any computer
3. restart

It will boot from disk and it will turn any computer into a full blown media center for free while the CD is in there. It also has a option to install to HD.

The new interface is something else...

supercow

It's because it uses the upnp network protocol, vista detects it as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPnP_AV_MediaServers

I've got a dlink upnp intel viiv box that hooks up to it as well. Downside is you can't control it from there. No scheduling, pausing tv, deleting, etc. That frontend looks cool though.