Comments on: My HTPC setup http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/ When the going gets tough, the tough sniff packets. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:29:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: tyler http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-83 tyler Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:43:21 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-83 Thanks, James. I never mind late replies to posts. It's not that old. :) I've been meaning to give XMBC a go for some time. I'll check out the theme. Thanks, James. I never mind late replies to posts. It’s not that old. :) I’ve been meaning to give XMBC a go for some time. I’ll check out the theme.

]]> By: James http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-82 James Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:51:35 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-82 I know this post is a bit old, but I enjoyed your blog posts and wanted to comment on this one. I went through a number of 'Buntu-based HTPC front-ends, and have to say XBMC is freaking awesome! It's way prettier than Elisa, and Elisa isn't bad. But it's plugins have recently gotten a lot LOT better. If you name TV shows or movies something reasonably sane, it pretty easily looks up metadata, fan art, posters, wide banners, etc and makes it look really nice. For a power-tip (I'm over-selling myself here) try the Transparency! theme from SVN at this URL: http://xbmc-xbox-skins.googlecode.com/svn/trunk. Unfortunately, as with most of these solutions, live TV is awful -- there is a plugin for MythTV, but it sure isn't like watching cable! I run MythTV for subscriptions to TV shows, and wrote a script to soft-link MythTV files with proper name format ("House M.D. S01E12") for XBMC to index it well. XBMC is amazing at the whole TV Shows --> Show (fanart) --> Seasons --> Episodes w/ teaser and thumbnail. Boxee is apparently the same codebase as XBMC, except their big sell is they write higher quality plugins. But I have MLB.com and can watch live games, any past game from any day and any team in the season, and the condensed games. (15' for a condensed game is pretty nice.) If I can help in any way let me know, just thought I'd pass along what I thought you'd find useful. You sound a bit like me in your posts. :-) I know this post is a bit old, but I enjoyed your blog posts and wanted to comment on this one. I went through a number of ‘Buntu-based HTPC front-ends, and have to say XBMC is freaking awesome! It’s way prettier than Elisa, and Elisa isn’t bad. But it’s plugins have recently gotten a lot LOT better. If you name TV shows or movies something reasonably sane, it pretty easily looks up metadata, fan art, posters, wide banners, etc and makes it look really nice. For a power-tip (I’m over-selling myself here) try the Transparency! theme from SVN at this URL: http://xbmc-xbox-skins.googlecode.com/svn/trunk.

Unfortunately, as with most of these solutions, live TV is awful — there is a plugin for MythTV, but it sure isn’t like watching cable! I run MythTV for subscriptions to TV shows, and wrote a script to soft-link MythTV files with proper name format (“House M.D. S01E12″) for XBMC to index it well. XBMC is amazing at the whole TV Shows –> Show (fanart) –> Seasons –> Episodes w/ teaser and thumbnail. Boxee is apparently the same codebase as XBMC, except their big sell is they write higher quality plugins. But I have MLB.com and can watch live games, any past game from any day and any team in the season, and the condensed games. (15′ for a condensed game is pretty nice.) If I can help in any way let me know, just thought I’d pass along what I thought you’d find useful. You sound a bit like me in your posts. :-)

]]> By: tyler http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-47 tyler Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:13:44 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-47 I looked at Boxee but not XMBC, and was put off by the closed source and requirement to login to use it. I'll have to give it a try. Too bad it lacks RSS+torrent support, although I could hack that in with Azureus. I looked at Boxee but not XMBC, and was put off by the closed source and requirement to login to use it. I’ll have to give it a try. Too bad it lacks RSS+torrent support, although I could hack that in with Azureus.

]]> By: Dave http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-46 Dave Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:36:51 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-46 Been thinking of doing the same kind of setup with a Mac Mini, now that it's been updated with a proper nVidia graphics card. Just meets the spec for 1080p and is very quite. Did you look at XBMC for the flashy interface side of things? Been thinking of doing the same kind of setup with a Mac Mini, now that it’s been updated with a proper nVidia graphics card. Just meets the spec for 1080p and is very quite. Did you look at XBMC for the flashy interface side of things?

]]> By: tyler http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-45 tyler Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:25:59 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-45 I'm not sure what you mean by "sane". I never liked the iTunes interface so Songbird's mimicry of that doesn't interest me. Amarok is a great application that quickly indexes even huge collections, and 1.4.10 has perfect iPod support. I've delayed moving to Amarok 2 until that's back in. I’m not sure what you mean by “sane”. I never liked the iTunes interface so Songbird’s mimicry of that doesn’t interest me.

Amarok is a great application that quickly indexes even huge collections, and 1.4.10 has perfect iPod support. I’ve delayed moving to Amarok 2 until that’s back in.

]]> By: Daryl http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Daryl Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:43:34 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-44 Nice. You might want to check out Songbird as a music player. I've found it a lot more sane than Amaork (ok, and a lot more like iTunes perhapos). Me, I just use my faithful macbook plugged into a stupidly large 23" cinema display. Works great ! (though I have thought about grabbing a small box to just dedicate to this kinda stuff). I do like the name gozer though... =] Nice. You might want to check out Songbird as a music player. I’ve found it a lot more sane than Amaork (ok, and a lot more like iTunes perhapos).

Me, I just use my faithful macbook plugged into a stupidly large 23″ cinema display. Works great ! (though I have thought about grabbing a small box to just dedicate to this kinda stuff).

I do like the name gozer though… =]

]]> By: Posts about DVD Reviews as of April 15, 2009 » DVD Newsroom http://www.tolaris.com/2009/04/15/my-htpc-setup/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Posts about DVD Reviews as of April 15, 2009 » DVD Newsroom Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:10:26 +0000 http://www.tolaris.com/?p=347#comment-43 [...] taunted in a song posted on the web. DVD reviews: The Spirit; Reader; Lionsgates Lost Collection My HTPC setup - tolaris.com 04/15/2009 As I mentioned in my last post , I now have a Home Theater PC (HTPC). Want [...] [...] taunted in a song posted on the web. DVD reviews: The Spirit; Reader; Lionsgates Lost Collection My HTPC setup – tolaris.com 04/15/2009 As I mentioned in my last post , I now have a Home Theater PC (HTPC). Want [...]

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