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Component MP3/OGG Players?

Posted by Cliff on from the completing-the-home-theater dept.

RJV asks: "I currently have a rather large digital music collection. It is all in mp3 or ogg format and it is all from CDs that I personally own or have borrowed from friends. I have built a rather cheap mp3 server to store all of the music on and I listen to it on my machines rather easily. However, I'm looking for a better solution for accessing and playing from the archive in my living room. I currently have a linux box that uses the TV as a monitor. I can use it fine to play mp3/ogg files through the home theater, but mostly because I know where the buttons are in xmms. (640x480 isn't the best resolution for xmms). I've looked into multiple other projects, such as Aurian Music Manager and Freevo (the computer also has a TV in card) but have not been satisfied with their performance and/or ease of use, especially when trying to use my Universal Remote Control. So, I've decided that perhaps the best course of action for the living room is to purchase a stand-alone component that will integrate with my current system. What are my options and are there any experiences within the community with these products?"

"I'd like to find a product that has the following features (in order of importance).

  1. Ethernet Connectivity (NFS/SAMBA/something Linux can share out)
  2. Intuitive/Easy-to-Use Interface
  3. IR Remote Control (so I can use my Universal Remote)
  4. Ability to play mp3s and oggs
  5. TV display capabilities (may fall under Intuitive Interface)
  6. Digital Out
  7. CDR capabilities
1-4 are my must-haves. 5-7 would be nice."

4 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. FlameThrower Linux by phatvibez · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here is a project I found a little while ago that is trying to create a Linux distro (actually just a graphical interface) for home theater multimedia devices to be displayed on the TV.

    here is the homepage:
    http://staff.washington.edu/jmgasper/index.htm

    check out the screenshots here, pretty cool looking!:
    http://staff.washington.edu/jmgasper/screenshots.h tm

    --
    --- Brad (http://www.LinuxReview.net)
  2. If the sound is good enough... by Junta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wouldn't give up on the computer unless the audio card delivers unsatisfying sound quality or the system makes too much noise on it's own.

    For one, using the gui is not necessarily the best approach anyway. For one there are keyboard shortcuts in most every application. For another, you could get something like xmms-lirc and some other relatively cheap device and use a remote on your system.

    The *huge* plus for having an HTPC is that you are not limited to mere music applications. Video is a decent option, and games as well. I know the resolution is not great on most TVs, but can't beat them for size.

    But if you *really* want to go over the deepend in price, you could improve your display technology. A projector that does XGA (1024x768) is very awesome. If you like big screens and like Video, that is a life saver, and it can cut down in cords. For example, you would have your screen and probably stereo speakers of front, with one wire for each speaker running, say, behind your couch. You keep all your stereo and video equipment back there, or next to your couch. I'm big on video game systems, so the cords on controllers are more convenient this way. Plus, I don't have to move my butt off the couch to change DVDs when I'm watching a Box Set in a sitting... Of course, a decent projector runs a couple of thousand, and you can't walk in front of it, so it is something you have to carefully consider...

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  3. Yes! We have a chilling effect on songwriting! by yerricde · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The moment you say that musical works are somehow worth less than written works or inventions, then you have stripped musicians of their rights.

    There's no way to guarantee that the song you just wrote isn't also the song that somebody else just wrote. Such coincidences are exceedingly likely to happen, and defending oneself in court against an allegation of plagiarism is prohibitively expensive for a novice songwriter. Thus, songwriters are already stripped of their rights.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  4. I hate to say it . . by pickanothername · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Grab a 2-U case and build what you have under . . .
    *GASP*
    WinXP. I hate to say it, but for this application, Windows running UIce for a remote interpolation prog seems to work best for me. I played with several different things, but the best performance/usability I've gotten is with XP and UIce using an AverTV card. Here's why:

    1) The AverTV Studio card works best under Windows and has limited TIVO-like functionality and has a remote control that most IR remote apps will recognize. It's also suprising quality, and quite cheap.
    2) UIce will direct keystrokes to any running prog, and any key on a remote can be designated to pracicaly any function, including mouse movement.
    3) WinAmp has a nifty double-size function that makes it quite usable on the TV. I don't know if XMMS or any of it's ilk have this, though.
    4) A 2-U case with stereo feet screwed to the bottom looks like a stereo componant, mayhaps an amp.
    5) Guests can use the machine intuitively. They already understand how everything works for the most part, they just have to get used to using an IR remote for the computer.

    Reasons why Windows isn't a good choice for this:

    1) Security. Unless your machine is behind a firewall, I wouldn't recomend it.
    2) Umm . . . you want to run Linux.

    I've built the box, and am quite impressed with the results. I'll be putting up a page for what to use and blah and blah in about a month, once I've got the faceplate cut and installed.

    -Dirk R.
    Sure, nobody asked me, but I knew they eventually would.