Hea there Chris...the reason I don't want to use an Apple TV is, last time I looked, a) you couldn't store media on external USB devices, b) it didn't do anything except mp4 (I want avi/mpg), and c) I don't think it did HDMI out.
If I can store my DVD rips on my external USB drive, and have it show up in the UI, and then play..I'll be happy.
Not out of the box but with a bit of hackery the AppleTV will do everything you asked for. Spend a few minutes checking out http://www.appletvhacks.net/ and you'll probably find information on everything you want to do.
@runningwithbulls Try media portal. It works fine for me, plays with lots of remotes, is fast and has many skins that don't make you want to gouge your eyes. Combine it with a used xp home licence, the CCCP (combined community codec pack) and you're done.
Then again there is MythTV for linux which is also nice out of the box. However supports fewer remotes and codecs on linux can be a little old. Still you get to loose any software expenses.
Check out FreeVo. Just build the PC you want, install Linux, then run FreeVo. If you want something more robust, look at MythTV, a full PVR suite. If you want a prefab'd box, actually look at the PS3. My friend has relegated his PlayStation 3 to media center duties and he loves it. It's a bit picky about AVIs, doesn't read Matroska (MKV), but is very flexible with MPEG-4, and I hear it's good with MPEG-2 as well. Plus, you get a BluRay player, and a good Linux box out of it too. It does read networked shares and FAT32 hard disks/flash drives. Plus, when it's idle, you can donate your gazillions of cycles to the Folding@Home.
Thanks for the answers. The reason i was overlooking the Mac TV was, well its closed (by default). I wanted a box can put in the TV room, connect my USB disks (with my movie rips, old mpegs, avis), connect the TV via HDMI, have the box index the video media and present it as Apple TV/XP media centre does. Does anyone have Frontrow installed on a Mac Mini with what I am looking for working already? I'm tired of VNCing to start up a media player! I'm gettin old and lazy!
@kcorax: havent heard of media portal. Is it Win/*nix? Does it operate with a remote?
@kichigai: does frevo work with remotes? Might be an option. I'm not looking for actual TV recording (don't watch TV channels) more just video files, avi/mpeg/dvd rips.
Front Row comes pre-installed on all Macs, since they have the remote bundled in. I just click the Mini's remote's menu button, and Front Row starts up. I would make sure you get Leopard on the Mini, because pre-Apple-TV Tiger Front Row just sucks visually.
@strredwolf: ok, interesting. And where do you have your media stored?ideally it would be able to index USB drives (drive_letter/media/video or /music or /pictures).
@runningwithbulls you can find it here http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ . It's windows only, built on DirectX, so preety fast. It will let you timeshift your TV content (legal script for recording) if you have such a card or somehow input you TV's signal. There's also a TV programme guide which will let you record stuff, but it's not very complete for most countries. It plays videos on your HD with your codecs of choice, will view photos a la media center, play music, tune to radio if you have such a card or usb stick, do weather, some simple games, and takes extensions for almost anything.
BUT whichever solution you end up getting, make sure that your hardware will work nicely with it. Especially for remotes, tv cards and radio, look up for the components you like in the respective fora.
17 comments so far
umm how about an Apple TV? :-)
2 years ago by ChrisHanson
Seriously though, are you sure you don't want an Apple TV? The next best thing I can come up with is using an xbox/xbox360 as a media center extender
2 years ago by ChrisHanson
Hea there Chris...the reason I don't want to use an Apple TV is, last time I looked, a) you couldn't store media on external USB devices, b) it didn't do anything except mp4 (I want avi/mpg), and c) I don't think it did HDMI out.
If I can store my DVD rips on my external USB drive, and have it show up in the UI, and then play..I'll be happy.
I would also like a bittorrent client ;)
If the Apple TV does that, then I'm happy
2 years ago by runningwithbulls
Not out of the box but with a bit of hackery the AppleTV will do everything you asked for. Spend a few minutes checking out http://www.appletvhacks.net/ and you'll probably find information on everything you want to do.
2 years ago by ChrisHanson
Check out http://mini-itx.com many teeny tiny motherboards and the cases to match.
2 years ago by chrisk
@runningwithbulls Try media portal. It works fine for me, plays with lots of remotes, is fast and has many skins that don't make you want to gouge your eyes. Combine it with a used xp home licence, the CCCP (combined community codec pack) and you're done.
Then again there is MythTV for linux which is also nice out of the box. However supports fewer remotes and codecs on linux can be a little old. Still you get to loose any software expenses.
2 years ago by KCorax
Check out FreeVo. Just build the PC you want, install Linux, then run FreeVo. If you want something more robust, look at MythTV, a full PVR suite. If you want a prefab'd box, actually look at the PS3. My friend has relegated his PlayStation 3 to media center duties and he loves it. It's a bit picky about AVIs, doesn't read Matroska (MKV), but is very flexible with MPEG-4, and I hear it's good with MPEG-2 as well. Plus, you get a BluRay player, and a good Linux box out of it too. It does read networked shares and FAT32 hard disks/flash drives. Plus, when it's idle, you can donate your gazillions of cycles to the Folding@Home.
2 years ago by Kichigai
Um, how about a Mac Mini?
2 years ago by strredwolf
Thanks for the answers. The reason i was overlooking the Mac TV was, well its closed (by default). I wanted a box can put in the TV room, connect my USB disks (with my movie rips, old mpegs, avis), connect the TV via HDMI, have the box index the video media and present it as Apple TV/XP media centre does. Does anyone have Frontrow installed on a Mac Mini with what I am looking for working already? I'm tired of VNCing to start up a media player! I'm gettin old and lazy!
2 years ago by runningwithbulls
@kcorax: havent heard of media portal. Is it Win/*nix? Does it operate with a remote? @kichigai: does frevo work with remotes? Might be an option. I'm not looking for actual TV recording (don't watch TV channels) more just video files, avi/mpeg/dvd rips.
2 years ago by runningwithbulls
Have you relegated the Babel.TV? I've seen people put Babel under a TV and forget that there's a computer set up and running under the box.
2 years ago by topgold
@bernie: hmm...i'll go look at that. I'd really like a box with my media..that doesn't need Internet to operate. Chocolate moon on a stick :)
2 years ago by runningwithbulls
Front Row comes pre-installed on all Macs, since they have the remote bundled in. I just click the Mini's remote's menu button, and Front Row starts up. I would make sure you get Leopard on the Mini, because pre-Apple-TV Tiger Front Row just sucks visually.
2 years ago by strredwolf
@strredwolf: ok, interesting. And where do you have your media stored?ideally it would be able to index USB drives (drive_letter/media/video or /music or /pictures).
2 years ago by runningwithbulls
@runningwithbulls you can find it here http://www.team-mediaportal.com/ . It's windows only, built on DirectX, so preety fast. It will let you timeshift your TV content (legal script for recording) if you have such a card or somehow input you TV's signal. There's also a TV programme guide which will let you record stuff, but it's not very complete for most countries. It plays videos on your HD with your codecs of choice, will view photos a la media center, play music, tune to radio if you have such a card or usb stick, do weather, some simple games, and takes extensions for almost anything.
2 years ago by KCorax
BUT whichever solution you end up getting, make sure that your hardware will work nicely with it. Especially for remotes, tv cards and radio, look up for the components you like in the respective fora.
2 years ago by KCorax
It ties into iTunes, unfortunately, and other Apple TV's. Should be intresting to try a third party DAAP provider or iTunes server faker.
2 years ago by strredwolf