A Complete Guide to creating the Ultimate TV Experience.

[Deezil]

Awesome, awesome, awesome post ... running XBMC via WHS2011 on a Microserver myself but this setup rawks!

Will definitely copycat in the near future ... many thanx!

[Ou grote]

Nice post

[Nhova]

Thanks very much for this guide.

I was running XBMC for years on my original XBOX and it has always been the best experience by far. Obviously the poor old XBOX can't keep up with HD content so this looks like the best solution for me.

[Keeper]

Do you have a link for the cheapo remote you bought?

http://www.biosonline.co.za/index.ph...ducts_id=25637

This is what it looks like, along with the IR Receiver. It works out of the box, and is only R72.



It's a real cheapo remote though - I only bought it to get my feet wet, and also for the IR-Receiver that isn't bundled with the Logitech Harmony 650
(The Logitech isn't bundled with an IR receiver because it's primarily a universal remote for various Home Theater Equipment, not necessarily for XBMC)

I would recommend getting a Harmony 650 in the future though.
R400 for a remote of that quality and features, with a friggen LCD screen, is not too bad imo.


I'm getting mine soon

[DjStyles]

WOW, this is an awesome post. Got some playing to do this weekend

Thanks Keeper.

[CrazyFig]

Wow dude! Thank you so much for this. Have wanted a media centre setup for ages...but never dreamed of anything this cool! On my to do list...have a space pc just for this!

[ABCpt]

And how well does it play big mkv files?

[FarligOpptreden]

SO... WAF (Wife acceptance Factor)

What? You married??? When? Congrats!

[Keeper]

And how well does it play big mkv files?

Flawlesly - And I haven't even upgraded the RAM yet, i'm still on 1GB
(Tested on Avatar Extended Edition, and Transformers 3 (27GB 1080p MKV which is the biggest MKV i've seen before)
you can add 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Kinston value RAM for around R200-R250 or something.

I personally don't think it's even needed with OpenELEC, its not bloated at all.
(bare in mind that because its so lightweight, you will literally have no OS functions on it - it goes straight from POST into XBMC)

[DJ...]

Awesome post Keeper. Some of it is above my paygrade though. Not knowing anything about microservers, would this work with a mede8er box? Also, I've got an old PC that's sitting in storage. If I chucked in decent video and sound cards would it suffice? It's a P4 4ghz with 2 gigs ram.

I'd love to ditch DSTV and set this up. Although I have hardly any content. Will have to fix that...

[Keeper]

Awesome post Keeper. Some of it is above my paygrade though. Not knowing anything about microservers, would this work with a mede8er box? Also, I've got an old PC that's sitting in storage. If I chucked in decent video and sound cards would it suffice? It's a P4 4ghz with 2 gigs ram.

I'd love to ditch DSTV and set this up. Although I have hardly any content. Will have to fix that...

The microserver is basically just a PC
The only difference is, is it has a VERY small PSU (100 watt) so you can't add things like your GTX 690XL Supra GX2 Ultra Black Edition GFX Card. The advantage here is, that it wont cost much electricity to run.
It's basically just built for Serving files, and having lots of Hard Drive Bays (for its small size) - which makes it perfect for this.
It's Ultra quite, so you won't hear it either. another plus point.

OpenELEC is just a cut down Linux operating system, that is easier to install than windows. (you press enter twice, I think)
(I literally know Nothing about Linux...Promise)

It will not install on a mede8er afaik...but who knows, there might be some serious geeks out there moding these pre-built boxes....maybe google it?

I think that old PC of your has a shot - try it, what can you lose. The HP has a dual core 1.3GHz, so that P4 would be faster (if its really 4GHz). The 2GB ram also beats my system.

[ponder]

Keeper,

Wikipedia says OpenELEC comes with retro console emulators, is this true and what emulators does it include?

Excellent post

[luxe]

So your channels are full of content you already downloaded / had?

Are you using any of the plugins for uK TV, Supersport or iTV? Have you had much luck getting those working?

Btw - epic post. +3 internets for you.

[Keeper]

Wikipedia says OpenELEC comes with retro console emulators, is this true and what emulators does it include?

Err...not that I know of - unless its in the new version or a different Build?

You can run Emulators from within XBMC by using Advanced Launcher though.

with Advanced Launcher you can:
- Play Old School Games ala Ice Climber/Mario/Adventure Island/etc and even Genesis, SNES and MAME Games (Arcade)
- Add your comic book library (CBR/CBZ), if thats your thing
- Launch Windows Games (Only if your HTPC is running on windows, obviously)

and yes, with this Add-On installed, all your NES Games' info, covers and fanart will be scraped(gathered) from the internet automatically.

I have not gone so far as to add Classic Gaming yet, but it's definitely possible.

[Keeper]

Are you using any of the plugins for uK TV, Supersport or iTV? Have you had much luck getting those working?

I have not, but the Author of PseudoTV (Jason), is working on getting IceFilms (The XBMC Addon) to work right inside of PseudoTV...which, apparently if you have uncapped internet, is the bees knees.

I suppose you won't need any hard drives or Pre-downloaded content when that happens.


there are many, many free & legal content Channels in XBMC - I haven't experimented with them before but they are there.