NeutralAxis

After Christmas, I picked up a Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-Ray player for $129.  In addition to the standard blu-ray and DVD playback are internet services for Blockbuster Video, Netflix, Pandora Internet Radio, and Youtube.  I tried Netflix back in 2000 but quit because the turnaround time to send in a movie and get the next one back was more than week.  I know they’ve fixed that by opening more distribution centers, but nonetheless, I haven’t gone back.  I’m also not into Youtube except for instructional type videos.  It was the Pandora service I was anticipating most. (continue reading…)

After a rough start, I’ve been successfully running XBMC Live on my Revo.  The instructions on Lifehacker.com either aren’t complete, or they glossed over problems they surely must have had since the software and hardware they used is identical to mine.  First the good news … DVD ISOs and VOBs play great, and that was my main goal.  The bad news is that MP3’s played too fast, and video files like avi, flv, wmv are playing way too fast.

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I picked up the new Acer AspireRevo AR1600-U910H with the intention of installing XBMC on it as a HTPC.  A writeup about this model and XBMC on Lifehacker.com made it look easy as pie.  So far, I’ve run into a roadblock at every turn.  [Updates with some solutions]

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XBMC, the media center program originally designed to run on the original Xbox video game system, has been running on an old Xbox of mine for the last year or so.  I find myself not using it as much as I’d like though because the machine’s a bit noisy and big to hide around the TV.  Other drawbacks are that it doesn’t allow for HD video, and downloading updates for it practically require a meeting in a dark alley and knowing the secret handshake.

A new article at Lifehacker.com has detailed how to install XBMC on a tiny, silent, Acer AspireRevo with HDMI output.  And given that its for a computer rather than a proprietary video game system, updates are readily available.  I gave it a try on my existing desktop computer with XBMC Live.

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Here’s a really cool looking interface for XBMC media player.  Its amazing what people are able to do with that program.

When I rip music, I do it twice.  Once in mp3 format for playback on an iPod and once in flac for playback on my local network via Roku Soundbridge players and the Firefly media server.  iTunes doesn’t support flac, so I can’t make iTunes playlists for those files.  I can, however, make them for the mp3 files which are named identically.  And with a little Linux program called “sed”, I can edit the iTunes library to make Firefly read it to work with the flac files. (continue reading…)

I’m a NPR junkie and found this app, Public Radio Player 2.0, which I’m sure will only feed my addiction. From the looks of it, they’ve compiled dozens of public radio stations around the country that have streaming feeds and podcasts and put them all into one simple app. Very cool! (continue reading…)

I’ve been using the open source Crossfire music streaming web app on my iPhone for awhile now, but a recent update has made it much more reliable. Crossfire requires the Firefly media server be installed and operating on the computer where your music is stored. It then provides a web based interface that you can browse to with the iPhone or iPod Touch to play your music. Basically, it makes it as if your device has unlimited song storage capacity.  No jailbreak process is required. (continue reading…)

Lifehacker.com has found another interesting looking media center for playback of movies, TV Shows, music, photos, and Internet media called Moovida.  The interface is nice looking and is optimized for playback on a TV in HD.  Cross-platform for Linux, Windows and Mac (pending).  See the Lifehacker article and Moovida site for screenshots and feature lists.

Moovida.com

I ran across a new iTunes compatible music streamer for the web, called PulpTunes, and thought it looked like it was worth a try.  But after looking at their demo, I decided against it.  While the user interface is pretty, it would be cumbersome with a large collection. (continue reading…)