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Blogs Will Boxee’s $6 million help make media PCs less rubbish?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Sifter3000, 14 Aug 2009.

  1. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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  2. yakyb

    yakyb i hate the person above me

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    windows 7 media centre has been good so far.

    few problems tho
    the MKV problem (esspecially on 64 bit)
    and a lack of any form Tv show (with series) interface (like in mediaportal)

    its also not entirely easy to navigate when trying to find settings for example i was trying to add some extras on to it (eve online had added itself automatically) but could i add pro evo? i couldnt even find the setting.

    granted i have only been using it 5 days and sporadically at best but i hope to dig deeper at some point this weekend
     
  3. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    Not living in the UK (and so not having acces to BBC-iplayer), how to realize the "You can access TV shows that aren’t available in the UK " part?

    I've tried proxies...and they're generally too slow for streaming... youtube is for some reason limited to very short clips and has a usually horrible resolution.
    I'm somehow missing this world-wide-media-availability.

    Sure, I could torrent the lot but that's appearently not the way you do it, or is it?
     
  4. Spiny

    Spiny What's a Dremel?

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    "You need something like VLC to cope with MKVs "

    Huh?

    Install Windows
    Install ffdshow
    Install Haali Media Splitter
    Play anything

    ...
     
  5. davefelcher

    davefelcher What's a Dremel?

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    Some comments on your points about media centres:
    They crash - really? I leave mine on 24/7 and it works like a charm (I've used Vista and Win 7 RC).
    They’re noisy - That would be down to your poor choice of components.
    Certain video files won’t work - Like what? I've not come across a file that won't play, including mkv. http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html (note the add ons required for 64-bit).
    They love throwing up totally bizarre errors (mine won’t play audio from DVDs in MCE, when audio works fine from MP3s, for instance) - Not seen bizarre errors. Friend had the DVD sound issue (in Vista) where mp3s were fine. His volume bar had it muted DVD playback but all other sound was enabled.
    The remote controls don’t work properly - Not sure what you mean, I've used the MS one and the Hauppauge ones without issue.
    Update boxes appear while you’re watching films - Not seen this myself, can you configure it to not interrupt video playback?

    Best tip I could give is buy decent branded hardware. I've had no end of trouble with cheap rubbish (Asrock is the main culprit).
     
  6. UncertainGod

    UncertainGod Minimodder

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    Just had a play around with Boxee and I am quite impressed how everything integrates together very well, will keep an eye on it's progress although I hope they don't go the custom hardware route as that just guarantee's that the project will fail.
     
  7. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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    SPINY!! CHECK YOUR BLEEDIN' PMS!
     
  8. shaffaaf27

    shaffaaf27 The budget builder

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    honestly the best Media Player is KMP.

    its amazing and was made for remotes aswell :)
     
  9. roundyz

    roundyz What's a Dremel?

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    xbmc ?
     
  10. MaverickWill

    MaverickWill Dirty CPC Mackem

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    Is this in response to Haali Media Splitter being bad/buggy/virus-packed, or something we don't need to know about? *cue shady blokes in suits and shades slowly approaching behind me*
     
  11. bobwya

    bobwya Custom PC Migrant

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    Yeh what about the truly multi-platform solutions - poor show Bit-tech not even to mention this one!
     
  12. UncertainGod

    UncertainGod Minimodder

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    Well if you read anything about boxee you would know that it IS XBMC + the closed source social media and net scrapping features.
     
  13. LAGMonkey

    LAGMonkey Group 7 error

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    vpngates.com

    and that is all im going to say on the matter.

    but come on Bit.... XBMC, and as for the noise?! thats just a hardware choice! you cant hold media PCs to that one just cos youve chosen the incorrect hardware before!

    EDIT::
    and as for Boxee.... me thinks Bit has been dazzled by web 2.0 i dont need to blooming "social" marketing for my XBMC. play vids, play music, use iplayer. job done. i dont care if somone is watching the same stuff as me on the toilet.
     
    Last edited: 15 Aug 2009
  14. pimonserry

    pimonserry sounds like a party.

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    TBH, if it isn't aired in the UK, I see no reason not to torrent it. You've paid your TV License, so if it was on the TV it'd be free anyway. In my book that's fair game ;)
     
  15. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    Out of the box yes, but ten minutes after installing windows followed by installing the CCCP codec pack and it'll play about anything.

    If that's the main issue, then it's a non issue tbh.
     
  16. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

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  17. Rapp

    Rapp Minimodder

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    Have a look at this http://tvcatchup.com/ you can stream all the free view channels live straight over the internet, really useful if you don' have a TV card. Its still very new but should have lots of features added to it soon.
     
  18. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    MythTV?
     
  19. HourBeforeDawn

    HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz

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    Im running a HTPC and well its more silent then any my other AV equipment in the room lol, heard of thing called passive cooling?
     
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