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How Do You Handle Home Media?
carpoolio writes "Yahoo's Tech Tuesday has an interesting series on bridging the PC/home entertainment gap. The solutions are fairly complicated, and very Windows-centric. As I store more media on my PowerBook, I'm finding more ways I can't listen to or view it on my stereo and TV. One example: TiVo Desktop won't stream AAC files - only MP3s - from iTunes to TiVo. That's an easy fix, but still: how do you get stuff off of your computer and onto your TV, stereo, etc.?"
http://www.xboxmediacenter.de
www.mythtv.org
Video: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro w/TV out (composite & svideo). A coax line runs composite -> the TV in line of my receiver.
Audio: Audigy 2 card with coax running from the SPDIF connector to the receiver's digital TV in.
To control it all: an ATI Remote Wonder remote control. It works by RF with ~10M of range so the source computer makes its noise in another room.
The Remote Wonder works well under Linux and MacOSX although you may have to google for drivers.
Trolling is a art,
I have a networked computer in my living room with these things plugged into it:
:P
1) TV
2) Stereo
3) Wireless Keyboard / Mouse
It works. I'm really not sure what the issue is here.
The old-fashioned way... with cables. Video card with S-Video out, miniport-to-RCA audio cables.
For $130, you can plug it in anywhere in your house, and play anything that iTunes can play from any computer. As a bonus, its also a 802.11g extender and printer server.
I have my Myth box handling all my video, photos, and music.
In general, you have to deal with two sides of the issue: the format you get your media in, and the formats that your output device can handle. For me, that means I can do just about anything that doesn't have DRM involved. If instead of running your own system directly connected to you media setup, you rely on some consumer electronic solution (TiVo, etc.), you're going to have to deal with the formats accepted by that system. This is one reason a roll-your-own approach is so enticing.
I've not conquered the video thing yet. I like the idea of having easy access to the digital media, but I don't like the idea of having a computer in the family room. Computers go in the office, where there's a desk and a proper work environment.
Apple's Airport Express has been the perfect solution to play music from my computer. It would be nice if you could play more than just stuff from iTunes, but it's a really great product and great for vacations too.
I'd love to see something like this that you could use to broadcast Video too, but for that I'll have to wait I guess.
--
Free Flat Screens | Free iPod Photo | It really works!
infested with jello like fishes no melotron wishes
http://gordianknot.sourceforge.net for ripping dvd's to high quality divx
i te=sr:S EARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
p =7
+
$60 DVD burner (fits 6 divx movies per dvd):
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4105013?s
+
$80 divx/dvd player:
http://www.divx.com/hardware/detail.php?
=
finally!
That pulls/plays content from it's local drives and from over the network. My buddy uses a MediaMVP to good effect for pulling mpeg2, mp3, photo's, etc content over a wired network to his TV.
That and some ball bearings, and prestone antifreeze...
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I run everything through my PC.
Sound-out from all the appliances goes into the PC's line-in port using a $4 RCA-to-miniplug adapter from Radio Shack. The PC spits it out through two sets of Klipsch Promedia 2.1s (the microphone port is rerouted to act as a speaker port thanks to the motherboard software).
Video from the PC/DVD player isn't a problem; the S-Video out jack from the GeForce 5200 card routes that to the TV while sound goes through the Klipsches. This creates some interesting situations; I can mute a DVD and play music over it or watch video footage while I work on it.
Other devices are routed through an S-video/A-V switch into the PC or TV as needed
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
http://www.mythtv.org/
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Hauppauge MediaMVP
e t/projects/mvpbtv/o ftware.html? pg=mainp ?f=38
it runs linux, and is hackable:
http://www.visi.com/~erl/
http://sourceforge.n
http://www.dforsyth.net/mvp/s
http://mvpmc.sourceforge.net/idx.php
http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewforum.ph
http://www.rst38.org.uk/vdr/mediamvp/
Not to pick nits. ;)
I ended up building a mini-itx 2ghz athlon nforce2 machine using a coolermaster case that looked just like a stereo component.
For software I deicded to use gentoo and freevo. For input I have a standard remote, a wireless keyboard, and a wireless game controller.
the box
on the rack
playing tapper
I already have a Tivo so I didn't bother setting up the TV features, but it works great as an all purpose media player.
got a test box of Windows Media Center 2005. Works great with all audio files and even plays/records High Def TV :) It handles hi-def signal from the roof antena and the sat system. Provides Dolby digital optical output directly to my receiver.
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
Usefull resource: www.thegreenbutton.com It's all about Media Center and includes downloads, knowledge base and howto's. That's how I set up my Media Box. I use a Antec Aria case with a Athlon64 3200+ and 1gb of RAM. It has a hauppauge 32552 tv tuner and a ATI 9600 graphics card. I run XP Media Center 2005. I have the audio output hooked to a stereo head unit type thing which runs to two speakers. Obviously I went with a nice 19" LCD for this and haven't had a problem yet. It's actually pretty impressive to see this for the first time when most people walk in and ask where my TV is or where that sound is coming from :P
Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. Yes is the answer.
I have 2 cables
1 x audio
1 x s-vhs-scart
plug into ANY pc setup and you can view what is on your screen on the TV and listen to sound through your stereo.
I have an old ibm thinkpad t21 with a wifi card which sits under my tv and acts as the home media centre.
pretty simple really, and I've been doing it for 7 years!
Here's my HTPC (home theater PC) setup:
The core: Athlon XP 2800+, 160GB HD, ATI Radeon 9600, Hauppauge WinDVR-250MCE, DVD-ROM, CDROM
OS: WinXP Pro
Software: PowerDVD 5.0, SageTV 2.1
Network: Netgear Powerline Networking
Video Output: 27" TV, InFocus SP4805 Projector (to 76" screen)
Audio Output: harmon/kardon Dolby Pro-Logic 5.1 system
About the only thing I wish I had was Ethernet (so I don't have to dump movies onto a DVD-RW), but I'm in an old house (circa 1844) and the prospect of running cable just doesn't really jibe. I tried wireless with a repeater, but it kept dropping, so Powerline was the way to go. It's been very solid, with a power cycle needed once a week or so.
I can do just about everything with this machine: watch DVDs (SP4805 projector is just breathtaking) and divxes, listen to MP3s, etc. Sage 2.1 is a fantastic product, great userbase, highly recommended.
I would recommend either Freevo or MythTV. Both are very nice. The problem with Windows Media Center is all the DRM crap. Recordings get DRMed and become a pain to play anywhere else. I personally recommend Frevoo, as it is very easy to use and setup.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
I currently use an old laptop running FC2 with an 802.11b connection back to my "linux server" where all our music CD's have been ripped. The laptop connects to the USB speaker input on the surround sound receiver. Works rather well for setting up playlists, and not needing to swap CD's in and out of the real CD player magazine.
Two issues with this setup: (1) 2.4Ghz microwave over, and (2) 2.4Ghz cordless phone. You can't make popcorn or talk on the phone and stream the music at the same time! I suppose it's sort of a "mute" feature....
-- Rick
Since you mentioned getting files from your PowerBook, I'll offer two good Mac-centric solutions:
1) Audio only. Simple. Use an Airport Express. Setup is easy, it acts as a Wi-Fi access point, and you can stream music from iTunes to the built-in audio out port. Run an RCA stereo adapter cable from the Airport Express to your stereo's inputs and bang - streaming music solution. Price $130.
2) Audio and video. Also simple. Get an EyeHome from Elgato, install the server software on your Mac, and then stream your MP3's, AAC's, DivX movies, MPEG2 movies, etc. to your TV or home theater receiver. Price $200.
I own both of these products, and both are very solid, and great at bridging the media gap between the computer and the TV/stereo.
...yes, it's another MythTV solution. Personally, I use KnoppMyth for its utterly trivial installation.
MythTV obviously does TiVo-like functionality, and it does it extraordinarily well, i might add. MythDVD (using Xine for menu support) for DVDs. My whole music collection is in mp3 format anyway, so MythMusic is fine for me.
I used to have the mp3's all on the MythTV box, but once I got my iPod it seemed silly to have a IEEE1394 connection from the iPod to the WindowsXP box, and a piddling 100Mb/s from the XP box to my iTunes folder, which was just NFS-mounted on the MythTV box. So to facilitate speed in synching, I moved the music folder to the XP box and just mounted the iTunes folder from the MythTV box. Works great.
Oh, and photos and videos, too.
Howski
I have a squeezebox (slimp3.com) for streaming mp3's from my linux box to my receiver downstairs. Now what I want to add is another box just like it that will do video. It must be open source, support all the codecs, run under linux and allow me to dump the contents of a dvd to a hard drive and stream it across to the box to play on the tv. I want to be able to dump all my dvd's to a massive set of hard drives and have it all accessible at the touch of a button. This kind of thing just doesn't exist yet. I don't want to put a full blown PC downstairs next to my tv to do this either.
I bought a couple of old iMacs on ebay for $200 each (400MHz G3s), and am using one next to my stereo to run iTunes. This works far better than the Gateway connected DVD player I bought specifically for that purpose.
A remote would be nice, but I'm too cheap to buy the one that's specifically designed for iTunes. I'd rather find some kind of IR USB dongle that can receive the codes from the remotes I already have on my coffee table, and tie that to iTunes with some applescript. I haven't found one yet. In the mean time, I can just VNC to it from my powerbook, or the other old iMac in my kitchen.
The iMac DV has a VGA port that mirrors the build-in display. Converters are available that go from VGA to svideo. I got one of those for $20 on ebay, but I think I fried it trying to find the right power supply. If that ever works, I'm hoping to use it to show home movies. I already have TiVos, so I don't need tuners in this.
The iMac would be silent but for its aging hard disk. Newer disks are much quieter. This problem will eventually solve itself.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
Me three. MythTV is fantastic and like a lot of free software, just keeps getting better.
Make sure you do some reading before you make your purchases and consider joining the users mailing list as well. The list is very tolerant of FAQs, you usually will get an answer to even the most frequent of FAQs, but please don't be that guy, do some reading.
Also, remember that MythTV is software, not a consumer electronics device. You will have to configure some things. However, the docs are good and there are pre-built packages for various distros, including but not limited to Xebian (debian Xbox), Fedora Core, debian, etc. in adition to the aforementioned KnoppMyth.
http://www.mythtv.org
I have a PC that I decided to employ as an all-out entertainment hub:
Games: GameCube, X-box, & PS2 are connected to it via a VGA box. In addition to this I've got arcade and console emulators.
TV:Yesterday I bought a Hauppauge PVR-150 $99 - $20 MIR)at MicroCenter. I tried out SageTV which downloads my local cable company's TV guide and gives me PVR capabilities.
Music:I use iTunes to organize my music. I have some decent PC speakers, but if I want to listen to some music in the living room, I connect an RCA cable from the line-out jack on my laptop to my stereo system. I share the music wirelessly using iTunes on my PCs with my wireless router.
Of course my PC organizes photos and video files, e-books, etc. In short, my PC handles home media to my satisfaction, saves space, and allows me to modify it to my taste.
I'm thirding it. MythTV, 200gig, PVR-250 and a GeForce FX with DVI out to a 55" Mitsu. Digital Optical to a Sony reciever. Also have 2 other computers and an XBox that act as front ends throughout the house. Excellent media handling, TV recording, DVD watching and ripping, Weather, News, and web surfing capabilities. Newer versions even do video phone.
Actually, my setup is slightly fubared at the moment. It seems the 6xxx series nVidia drivers dork up the DVI out, no vhold. I'm currently using S-Video until they or I can iron it out.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
I love my Myth system. Having PVR/Music/Games/etc, all in one clean & integrated interface is great. This is the one time that my wife has asked me to buy more computer parts.
I can record shows from work with MythWeb, or even from my cell phone. Not having a broadcasting company decide when we need to rush home to watch Foo at X time on TV is so nice, we actually end up spending much less time watching TV. Especially since the commercials are all but gone.
Granted, setup can be a trial (This was my first time setting up a 'media' linux box), but no more than I would expect any setup that would include all the different facets involved. Distribution choice probably affects this too. (Gentoo preaching saved for a later post.) Not to mention, once one thing is working, it's far too tempting to include even more nifty gadgets, so setup seems to be a never-ending process. Caller ID notification is next on my list, and there's discussion of a new MythRecipie on the devel list that looks like it will compliment my ever-expanding Good Eats colletion...
This rating is Unfair ( ) ( ) Fair (*) Funny
Sigh... If only. Modding would be so much more fun.
Go to xbox-scene.com. They've softmodded even the latest BIOS without problems. Just hotswap your hardrive using xLinux. It's great. I boot to EvoX directly. The only problem is you can't ever access xbox live unless you have a game save hack scheme setup. I just leave it soft modded though because I've given up on live. They really screwed me over when I tried to renew.