Media Centre PC - What do you guys do?

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Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

I have a WDTVLIVE with a USB HDD plugged in. It autoshares the drive so it is available to other devices. Its not much bigger than the size of a 20 pack of smokes, and plays every file format Ive thrown at it.

Im pretty impressed and it was really cheap

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on the minus side for this if find the interface a bit clunky... but otherwise, it is as you says it is!

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Originally Posted by Oaktech

on the minus side for this if find the interface a bit clunky... but otherwise, it is as you says it is!

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True, but its got a lot better with the recent firmware updates..

Ive been tempted to try out some of the homebrew/custom firmwares for it as well, but not yet found the time to dabble..

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Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

True, but its got a lot better with the recent firmware updates..

Ive been tempted to try out some of the homebrew/custom firmwares for it as well, but not yet found the time to dabble..

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then i am missing out! Thankyou for that info. I didn't know there was new firmware/custom firmare. I shall have a play later!

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Originally Posted by Dos_Box

Now if only this had a hard drive: Sony SMPN100B USB Media Player with Built-in Wi-Fi: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
I wish Sony would stop missing the point. They make good products (they do!), it's just they don't fulfil the requirments of the consumer.

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The Netgear Eva9150 is something I looked at to replace my Eva8000 and it has a HDD and does all of that the sony does.
The price tag put me off though it was near 300 quid when it first came out (not sure of prices now)

I have Plex running on my Mac and a jailbroken AppleTV running the Plex client. Works very nicely :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

I have a WDTVLIVE with a USB HDD plugged in. It autoshares the drive so it is available to other devices. Its not much bigger than the size of a 20 pack of smokes, and plays every file format Ive thrown at it.

Im pretty impressed and it was really cheap

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Have you had any lip synch issues with mkv files, particularly if you have either paused, or fast forwarded? I've had to relegate mine to the bedroom.

Thank everyone for their replies - so maybe as @Dos_Box pointed out it is a media server I need to purchase so I can store everything. I'll look through the other post to see what I can pick up.

As long as it can serve my iTunes.

GJE

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Originally Posted by AyatollahPies

Have you had any lip synch issues with mkv files, particularly if you have either paused, or fast forwarded? I've had to relegate mine to the bedroom.

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Cant say Ive had a single issue with any mkv files. The only ones i play though are pirate tv shows in 720p downlaoded from the net tho

I have a hybrid of both.. Core2Duo machine with 1.5Tb of Storage with external 750Gb connected and 500Gb NAS to serve what music I don't listen to from Spotify.. which isnt much these days..

If I was to buy a box id probably go with the Boxee Box.. I run the software on my machine it's really good and runs flawlessly but my only problem is that there are some applications for Boxee that only come if you own the Boxee Box like for instance the Spotify application :(

Now that I have binned my Sky subscription my media machine will take a hammering :)

This: XBMC
This: Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Desktop PC (Intel Atom N230 1.6 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, Vista Home Premium): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
And This: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Link...9616699&sr=1-7

XBMC is an awesome media server, the revo can be mounted behind your TV and is powerful lenough to play 1080p(theres meant to be a new one soon, but i dont know when its out), and the linkstation for storing your Data.

Well I don't know what to do. Plenty of advice on here. I've decided that it is a media server I need to store everything. I've spent the afternoon ripping my old CDs and the wife has been sorting our photos on various storage devices (hard drives, usb hard drives, dvds etc).

There are a lot out there but are so expensive - still I suppose you cannot put a price on personal items like photos.

Arghghgh - what do purchase... I like the QNAPP devices - the QNAP TS-219P+ is reasonable but I do like the TS-419P+ but the price is what out of my league. It's the iTunes server that is bugging me the most. Yes it can play over the network, but I cannot see if I can drag and drop tunes from the server to my phone - or will I have to link the Library as well and transfer over the network?

Decisions, decisions.

Gareth

Another vote for XBMC - Just started the migration from MythTV to this
Using XUbuntu 11.04 as its comes with the XFCE Window Mananger which is designed for low end systems meaning more RAM/CPU for XBMC....

XBMC doesn't need much config compared to Myth and recognises my MCE remote with only a quick edit needed for the Context Menu...

I use Serviio pn my main pc as my video server and have a sony blu-ray (BDP S370) in the living room as the playback device.

I also playback videos to 'droid using UNPNP player

Si

I'm cosidering a logitech revue.

Ben

I've been looking at XBMC on my Mac and it looks pretty cool - and seems to be what I want - especially if it can be used as a media server across the network and somewhere to store things.

So I need a machine to run it on - with backup. 2 x 2Tb drives that mirror each other? Connectable to my TV - TV has a VGA input, the two HDMI sockets are taken. Does it need to be a fast machine? I've not looked into running films yet, just storing music and pictures. All the better if they can he played across the network.

Anyone ever bought from :
http://www.mediacenter-tv.co.uk/full...a-centres.html

Gareth