Latest in computer media center

Control XBMC with your Android phone. Sure, you could buy a dedicated phone for your media center, but if you've got an Android smart phone or tablet there's really no need to. Complete control can be at your fingertips right now. It's only an app away. The XBMC wiki outlines a number of Android remote apps, some free some paid. I've tried out the free ones, and the results of my research are below.
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Over the years, I've tried my hand at a number of media center software alternatives. Some people swear by XBMC, or swore by Boxee before it stopped developing the Boxee desktop application. In the end, I always come back to Plex. Plex has matured a lot. Now, it's not only on of the most eye-catching media center applications, it's a easy to use solution I would recommend to most people looking to build a media center.
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Cueing up some videos to enjoy on my Raspberry Pi yesterday, I made a startling discovery – it wouldn't play MPEG videos! Has this happened to you? Are you running a RaspBMC media centre on your Raspberry Pi computer, or enjoy viewing videos through the desktop? Have you noticed that certain video files cannot be played back? If so, you’re not alone.
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A few years ago, attending university, I started renting an apartment. I took over the current electric plan and went to a different Internet service provider, but the television provided a bit of a conundrum. Cable television had become an intrinsic part of my day-to-day routine, but was it worth the money? Or was it even worth the hassle? In the end, I decided to cut the cable. Abstaining from cable television has a number of advantages.
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Do you love TV? Then you also love XBMC, even if you don't know it yet. The ultimate media center software offers a wide variety of ways for you to catch up with your favorite shows online, legal and otherwise. Set up a few plugins and you can watch whatever you want in a couple of clicks, from the comfort of your couch. Legally watching TV shows can be insanely complicated, depending on where you live.
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Over the years on MakeUseOf, we've provided guidance on how to move closer to the Utopian dream of a universal media centre, capable of playing anything. In that time, it has become apparent to us that there are countless ways in which you can create your own media centre, using PCs, games consoles and even smartphones and tablets. In fact, it is getting to the point where households are finding that their various appliances are split into two groups.
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If you’ve been following our recent articles about the Raspberry Pi, you’ll know that it can be set up as a media streaming client with a dedicated XBMC build and you should also be aware that by teaming the device up with any additional hardware (external hard disk drive, cables and adhesives), it can become the complete media center.
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With so many ways of using it, you shouldn't be surprised to find that the Raspberry Pi has sold over 1 million units. Although designed for one key purpose (programming) this small credit card-sized computer is capable of so much more – which is why it seems to have become a popular choice as a home media centre solution.
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I've been building a media centre recently. Actually, scratch that – I’ve been building two. One is a compact device (my Raspberry Pi) running the RaspBMC distribution of XBMC, while the other is a traditional HTPC home build - a media centre in a slimline PC case with added TV card. At this stage I haven’t quite decided which system I’m going to stick with long term, so I have a sort of competition running between the two.
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2013 will be the year of the Smart TV, they say - a new paradigm for interacting with your TV. The TV gets intelligent, with gesture and voice controls, downloadable apps, and can even make you a coffee. OK, I lied about making a coffee - but what exactly is a Smart TV, and should you buy one?
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It's here. You can download a stable version of XBMC for Android right now. This isn't a lightweight version of XBMC made specifically for tablets - it's the full version of XBMC. So you can add your music and video collections and browse the Internet. The interface, designed for a TV, probably won't work well on your tiny smartphone screen – but it's just about perfect for a tablet.
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If you watch a lot of movies on your PC or media center, I'm sure you've faced the lighting dilemma; do you completely turn off all lights? Do you keep them on full blast? Or do you use a dimmer switch to keep a dull yellow glow somewhere? Well, suffer no more. For less than $100, you can set up an amazing lighting system that's going to reflect what's on-screen. Welcome to world of ambient RGB lighting.
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The media center is the ultimate living room experience; one PC to play everything, one PC to find and download, and one PC to bring in all the family and bind them in front of a glowing widescreen TV. And if you didn’t get that reference, you ought to watch more movies. But with a few hacks, your humble media center can do so much more.
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I'm sure you've heard of the Raspberry Pi by now. If not, you're in for a treat. It's a tiny little computer that's dirt cheap and incredibly customisable. Here at MakeUseOf, along with most geeky places online, we've fallen in love with the Raspberry Pi. Many of us have one or more and have come up with some fantastic ways to use them for play or for work.
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Four weeks on and I’ve been playing with my Raspberry Pi in various ways, from using it to browse the web and standard day-to-day computing tasks to playing around with the various configurations that are possible for networking (Ethernet vs USB wireless). But is there an ultimate point to this device, or will it remain a curiosity on my shelf, to be switched on whenever a useful purpose rears its head?
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