HTPC for all TVs?

[RandyKnight]

I've been thinking about distributed video for the new house and had a thought. Right now I have just one HTPC (XP MCE 2005 to be precise) and one extender. But looking at the cost of modulators, running coax all over the place, etc. I had the idea to just plan for every TV (video output really) to be a PC?

I've got some old laptops and you can build boxes for so cheap now, this would seem to provide the ultimate flexibility. HA applications, net access, TV and other sources, etc.

What aobut software? I like MCE 2005 but it has its limits in terms of watching live feeds of remote equipment, etc. I may still need the RG6 everywhere for this reason.

Thoughts?

 

[electron]

I personally would use a very powerful MCE based machine, which drives other extenders (the xbox360 seems to work really well as an extender), or use cat5e to run the video/audio from the MCE box to each TV. I have a PC in my bedroom which is a MCE2004 machine, which means I have to deal with noise/heat/asthetics/maintenance.

 

[RandyKnight]

That is obviously the "normal" solution:

I see two issues though:

1. It limits you to just MCE aware applications, and even then you can't do everything on an extender you could do on an actual MCE box.

2. It limits the TV sources to just the cards you can get into the one central box. With my solution you could have sat receivers or HD on all boxes ... push the DVRd files to a central server, and view them from any unit. You could basically have as many sources as you wanted, and not have to deal with the program guide issues you get with multiple tuners in one box.

 

[ver0776]

MCE, Xbox 360, BLAH!

=)

Since everyone thinks the 360 is so cool, that means there are a lot more used XBoxes out there for cheap. Get a used XBox, have it modded, then it maps and plays anything on your network with no special streaming.

Modding the original XBox is the greatest bang for the buck in electronics I think the world will ever see....

XBox was designed to handle all kinds of video connections, whereas PCs can be a nightmare to run to some TVs. The controls in XBox Media Center are unquestionably superior to Windows. It makes MediaPlayer10 look like something written for a PDA... So for $150-$300 a room, you can have every TV have access to everything in your collections and more.

Now this does not cover cable TV distribution, but does give you access to DVR/PVR recordings... Plus it gives you GAMES, tons of games, not just Xbox but every emulator ever.... That is like 14,000 games on one tiny box...

I love lamp.
I mean XBox. =P

Vaughn

 

[elcano]

What aobut software? I like MCE 2005 but it has its limits in terms of watching live feeds of remote equipment, etc.

This sounds like what Pluto does (or argues to do).

I'm trying to evaluate Pluto by installing it in the external harddisk of a laptop (I dont have a desktop yet), but it has proved to be more difficult than expected. I have not given up. If I get it to work and conviences me to be good I'd be building a server and getting 1 or 2 cheap desktops to be the media extenders. In addition to HTPC I'd get a few other goodies (phone control, home automation and security).

Their support page has a lot more information.

 

[RandyKnight]

Get a used XBox, have it modded, then it maps and plays anything on your network with no special streaming.

XBox was designed to handle all kinds of video connections, whereas PCs can be a nightmare to run to some TVs. The controls in XBox Media Center are unquestionably superior to Windows. It makes MediaPlayer10 look like something written for a PDA... So for $150-$300 a room, you can have every TV have access to everything in your collections and more.

Now this does not cover cable TV distribution, but does give you access to DVR/PVR recordings... Plus it gives you GAMES, tons of games, not just Xbox but every emulator ever.... That is like 14,000 games on one tiny box...

Interesting concept. So you'd still have the primary MCE box but with XBox based extenders everywhere else. This still doesn't give you "normal" application access though. Apps have to be MCE aware (and written for extender at that).

Or am I missing something? To me this is a bigger deal than the lack of a tuner.

 

[royalj7]

I second Vaughn's point about a modded xbox orginal. There is no better bang for the buck in the playback world than that. The interface is skinable and imo better than offical Media Center controls. You are correct you would not have access to your HA applications, but for audio/video playback and distrubtion, it's great.

--Jamie

 

[ver0776]

So you'd still have the primary MCE box but with XBox based extenders everywhere else.

Nah, I don't use MCE, or extenders, or streamers.... I think life should be simpler. I use Drive Mappings. Every machine simply shares everything.

The XBox can simply see all of your network drives and its media player can play what is on them. No conversion, no administration, nothing proprietary... Movies, Music, Pictures, Games...

If applications are important too, for $100 more than an XBox, get a laptop to play movies and run apps. But the Xbox is sooooooooo sweet it is the primary TV device I prefer, but I have computers and PDAs and VR and X10 Remotes and plenty of control and access options. The XBox is a Home Theator device, not a Home Automation device. But you can't complain, it is such an awesome device...

My main plasma has a 2TB server (ATI AIW-9600 driving it) and an XBox. When it is movie time, I use the XBox to play the movies off of the computer hooked to the same TV =). The main point was while most people are throwing out XBoxes, people who know what they can do can snatch them up cheap and use them to network to TVs all over the house...

(BUY THE DAMN HDTV CABLE TOO!) It kills me to see a $4,000 TV with composite cable running to it. heheh

Vaughn

 

[RandyKnight]

Got it. I may end up doing a combination. Where I need tuners and/or non media applications, I can put an MCE box. But the XBox is a great solution for other locations (i.e. kids game room where I ONLY want them to have access to media vs. live TV).

Question, can you play ripped DVD content on the XBox? This is one of the things I dislike about the MCE Extender ... you can't play DVD from the MCE box, even if it's been ripped. You could of course translate it to a diff format but what PITA.

 

[IVB]

I have no idea about MCE, but when SageTV records TV shows, the filename is awful to read directly. Indeed, it's not meant to be directly read.

However, SageTV does have a $99 MediaMVP/SageTV Client box that allows you to display the Sage UI [or any custom UI that you create] on that TV.

I don't think you can do DVDs that way, but for everything else, it's a great cheap solution.

 

[electron]

I thought I read somewhere that the xbox360 supports the "My Movies" plugin.

 

[smee]

I have no idea about MCE, but when SageTV records TV shows, the filename is awful to read directly. Indeed, it's not meant to be directly read.

I don't know if we are running different versions of Sage or if there's a setting somewhere, but my recorded programs are all given file names based on the program name. They are very easy to read - albeit kind of long sometimes.

 

[ver0776]

Sure you can play DVD's on an XBox, it will even rip them for you. It will play VOBs, Divx, XVid, anything you could want out of a computer. It will even download cover art and tag info.

XBox-Scene.com has all the XBox info you could ever want. Links on the right are for you major groups. For features read about Avalaunch (you new XBox OS) and XBox Media Center is the media player...

As for TV, although the XBox is not a tuner, at worst you use the PVR in your computer to record shows and as soon as they are recorded, the XBox can play them. So it does do TV, just not live, but who wants commercials anyways.

Vaughn

 

[RandyKnight]

I thought I read somewhere that the xbox360 supports the "My Movies" plugin.

That would be nice. I haven't checked in a while but the last I checked you couldn't play native DVD format on an extender.

I suppose xBOX 360 may be different though. And who knows what they're going to do in Vista.

 

[IVB]

I have no idea about MCE, but when SageTV records TV shows, the filename is awful to read directly. Indeed, it's not meant to be directly read.

I don't know if we are running different versions of Sage or if there's a setting somewhere, but my recorded programs are all given file names based on the program name. They are very easy to read - albeit kind of long sometimes.

Well, for my particular audience, long=unreadable. Plus, you don't have access to the stored EPG info [i.e., 1st-run indicator; description of the episode, so you can determine if you've seen it before;etc]. You also cannot control Sage, i.e., check ou the program guide for what's on, setup a new favorite or recording.

For my personal priorities, that info makes the xBox a non-option until it can run the SageUI.

BTW, here's the name from one of my shows, i'm sure it's the same in all versions:

LawOrderSpecialVictimsUnit-Pique-1235772-0.mpg