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. If you’ve no idea which app to try first you’ve come to the right place. These apps are actually better than a physical remote in some ways. You can browse your media collection without affecting what others see on your TV. In most cases you can even read plot summaries and check out album art, all before you even press play.

Don’t have an Android device? Well, you can also use Chrome to control XBMC, or check out these iPhone and iPad remotes for XBMC. Not sure what XBMC is to begin with? Check out the MakeUseOf XBMC manual, because it outlines everything this amazing app can do.

The Official Android Remote

As a basis for comparison, let’s take a brief look at the official Android XBMC remote. Start it up and you can quickly browse your media:

Tap any category and you’ll be able to scroll through. The images can take a while to show up, but be patient and they will eventually:

There’s even a standard remote screen, with buttons for just about everything. It’s complete with a skin:

There’s not a lot to complain about here: it does everything a remote app should. But as you’ll learn, better apps exist for the job.

• Browse all of your local media, found quickly.
• Can be slow, depending on your network – no local caching for images.
• Does not offer alternative to on-screen remote.

Yatse Widget

Where to begin? Yatse Widget begins by giving you a great-looking remote, but tap the icon in the top-left and you’ll be able to browse almost every piece of media on your computer. The interface for doing so looks great, too, making use of your banner art:

Unique among remotes, this app gives you a quick way to browse all of your add-ons. Even the icons show up:

Sadly, all tapping something does is open an app on-screen. You cannot explore its offerings within the remote. Still, it’s better than nothing.

Also completely unique, Yatse allows you to add a remote control widget to your Android’s homescreen. Add a large enough widget and you’ll even see what’s currently playing.

If you want constant, quick access to your media center computer you’re going to want this widget – but even without that, Yatsee is worth checking out.

• Clean user interface, though confusing at times.
• Files and thumbnails cached on device, so it’s speedy.
• Automatically scans network to find XBMC, making setup simple.
• Includes a virtual keyboard so you can avoid using the on-screen one.
• Can actually browse add-ons, though only at the top level.

Check out Yatse Widget on Google Play.

Music Pump XBMC Remote

If you’re looking for an interface that feels Android-native, this is the one to check out. You’ll need to sync your library before you can explore, but when you do you’ll find a slick interface for browsing your TV shows, music and movies. Just look at this:

It’s clean, it’s organized and it’s intuitive. Hand this to someone without any savvy at all and they’ll be able to find something they want to watch (depending on your collection, of course). The actual remote is also clean and simple:

There’s a lot to love here, so check it out and explore.

• Great user interface – perhaps the best of the bunch.
• Includes shut down options for the computer running XBMC.
• Locally cached library only, meaning nothing will show up until you sync.
• Controls for a lot of things – even turning off or suspending the computer.

Download the Music Pump XBMC Remote from Google Play.

Spooky

Looking for something simpler? You might be looking for Spooky. It’s easy to write this one off because of its homescreen, which perhaps lives up to its infantile name a little too well (Halloween font!). Don’t, however, because this is a solid Android XBMC remote.

Browsing your media is simple – no art to be found here. Just a simple folder structure:

Similarly, the actual remote control part of the app couldn’t be simpler: buttons are completely undecorated, leaving things simple.

There’s not a lot here, but some like it that way. I just wish it was a little faster.

• Kind of slow compared to other apps.
• Homepage might turn some people off.
• Great for people looking for something simple.

Download Spooky from Google Play.

AndMote XBMC

Looking for something even simpler? AndMote is here for you. With your library on the left and buttons on the right, AndMote just might win you over with its single-screen approach.

It’s simple, but it also works quite well.

• Simple interface for quick browsing.
• Browse media without leaving the remote interface.
• Offers keyboard in place of on-screen one.

Check out AndMote on Google Play.

And The Winner Is…

I’ve got to say, for me this isn’t hard. Yatse is the best XBMC remote in this list, hands down. With it you can browser practically everything your media center has to offer, and to top everything off there’s a widget on your homescreen for quick access. The interface is great – though not perfect – and setting up is dead simple. If there’s a better Android XBMC remote out there I’ve never heard of it.

What’s your favorite? Let me know in the comments below, along with any other XBMC secrets you’d like to share. We’ve outlined more than a few XBMC tips and tricks, but I’m sure there’s more out there.

The post Android XBMC Remote Apps Compared – Which One Should You Use? appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Since our guide on How To Build A Great Media Center PC was written, 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.

Plex is a dual media solution by default. There’s not one, but two Plex applications – Plex Media Server and Plex Media Center. The server application handles your media, and the Plex Media Center (or client) is used to enjoy it. If both are installed on the same computer, this makes for no remarkable story. However, by separating the two, it’s incredibly easy to access your Plex library on other computers, or even other networks.

Today, I’ll show you how to enjoy Plex on a remote computer.

1. Create a myPlex Account

myPlex is one of the most important parts of this tutorial. It’s a free ‘Plex account’ that bridges your different instances of the Plex server and client applications. These days, you’ll be asked to create a myPlex account upon installing Plex.

If you haven’t already, you can create a new myPlex account here.

2. Sign Into myPlex On Your Plex Media Server

You’ll have to make sure you’re logged into your myPlex account on your Plex Media Server. Again, this usually happens during the installation process, but you can do this manually as well.

Launch the interface for your instance of Plex Media Server by clicking the icon, or by browsing to 127.0.0.1:32400/web on your media center PC. In the settings, go to myPlex and sign into your account.

3. Publish Your Plex Media Server

Still in the myPlex settings of your Plex Media Server, choose to publish your media center. If this goes without a hitch, you can skip the rest of this step, but you’ll likely be faced with an error. This is because you need to configure your router to send all traffic to port 32400 on your Internet connection to the computer on which you’ve installed the Plex Media Server. In other words, port forwarding.

In essence, you’ll need to forward port 32400 (TCP and UDP) to the local IP address of the computer on which you’ve installed the Plex Media Server. The specific steps to forward a port to your computer depend on the type of your router. James wrote up a very good primer on port forwarding and how it can help you, which also includes useful links that may help you forward the port. You’ll also need to use a static IP address for your media server computer. You can learn more about static IP addresses and how to get one.

If you’ve never before forwarded a port, this is the most intimidating step of the article. However, the articles linked above should guide you in the process. If you have a special router provided by your ISP, try contacting them for help on the subject.

4. Connect With The Plex Media Center Client

Next, you’ll want to use the Plex Media Center client to connect to the Plex Media Server application. The main advantage of separating server and client applications is that you can use as many instances of the media center client as you want.

For example, I have one instance installed on my laptop, and one on an old computer connected to my TV. This way, I can access my media on both without hassle.

Fire up the Plex client application and go to Preferences -> System. Here you can log in with your myPlex credentials.

Signing in to myPlex has a dual purpose. First, it authenticates access to your media files. Second, it allows the media center computer to find the media server computer without having to specify the IP address. In fact, you can even access your media files when you’re on another network, although this will count towards your ISP’s upload and download quota.

After logging in with myPlex, your media files should appear in the Plex client home screen. If not, you can still add the IP address to your media server computer manually, via Settings -> Network.

5. Connect With Your Browser Using Plex/Web

The preferable way to access your media from another computer is probably through the Plex client application. However, using the recently added Plex/Web feature you can even access your media from a web browser!

To do so, head to the myPlex website, select a media server and press Plex/Web in the sidebar. Alternatively, you can connect directly through your media server computer’s global IP address. Just point your browser to GLOBALIP:32400/web, where GLOBALIP needs to be replaced by your global IP address. After logging in with your myPlex credentials, you can access and start streaming your media to your browser.

What does your media center set-up look like? Let us know in the comments section below the article.

The post How To Access Your Plex Library From A Remote Computer appeared first on MakeUseOf.

If so, you’re not alone. Many people have run into trouble with the fact that while the Raspberry Pi will happily transcode high definition videos, it seemingly cannot playback MPEG-2 videos. The reason for this is not a hardware failure or even a software failure, however – rather, it is all down to licencing.

Many media players on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux distributions will allow you to enjoy MPEG-2 without any licencing issues, though – so what is going on? What makes the Raspberry Pi so different that it requires a licence to playback MPEG-2 videos, and how exactly does this license work?

MPEG-2 Licencing & The Raspberry Pi

Other operating systems include the cost of the various codecs within the price of the operating system. In the case of Linux distributions, free versions of media encoders and decoders are used instead. But hang on – the Raspberry Pi runs a Linux distribution, so why isn’t the MPEG-2 codec free?

The answer is simple. The Raspberry Pi is designed to be used for education, and while there are many who enjoy its multimedia capabilities, the developers decided to remove MPEG-2 in order to keep costs down. If you want to use MPEG-2, it is there for you to unlock for a small fee. Of course, you might not want to; after all, there are many uses for a Raspberry Pi beyond playing back videos.

How To Get The MPEG-2 Licence

In order to install the MPEG-2 licence on your Raspberry Pi, you will first need to find out your device’s serial number. This can be found in the documentation that you included when you first received the computer, but if you don’t have this to hand, don’t worry, you can interrogate the motherboard.

Boot the Pi and open a command prompt in Raspbian. Enter:

cat /proc/cpuinfo

The serial number will be displayed last in the resulting text, so copy this down and visit www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key where you will see a short form field in which to enter the serial. Do so and click Add to cart to proceed.

To purchase the MPEG-2 licence you will need to spend $3.50 (or £2.40) – not exactly a fortune, and still pennies next to the $25 price of the computer!

Installing The MPEG-2 Licence On Your Raspberry Pi

With the order made, you will need to wait up to 72 hours for your licence to be received by email (if it doesn’t arrive, you should email the Raspberry Pi people, but the process is usually reliable and efficient).

When the licence key arrives you will find it in a text file as a single line, something similar to:

decode_MPEG2=0x1234567

In order to use this on your Pi, you will need to edit the config.txt file, which can be found in /boot. Simply add the licence as a new line of text as shown above, then save and close.

If you have multiple SD cards for different OS versions – perhaps one for Raspbian and one for RaspBMC – you will need to add the licence to each.

Reboot your Raspberry Pi to complete the procedure, and you will then be able to enjoy MPEG-2 videos.

Could I Try a Hacked Codec?

There are – apparently – hacked versions of the codec available online, but really when you consider what might be necessary (for instance, running software to spoof the device serial number) and the fact that the licence is so cheap, this really isn’t worth it.

After all, the Raspberry Pi is a low-cost piece of kit designed with lofty ambitions – to promote IT literacy. The sale of the codec raises money so that the non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation can work towards its altruistic aims. So don’t go ripping off a codec that costs less than a bottle of beer – pay for it, and help change the world!

The post How To Add MPEG 2 To Your Raspberry Pi Media Centre appeared first on MakeUseOf.

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. Or, well, not to reconnect it.

Getting rid of cable television has a number of advantages; some distinct, some more personal.

1. Saying No To Couch Surfing

The most advantageous effect of cutting the cable for me personally was that it broke the bad habit of couch surfing. Earlier, television had become such a ritual that the actual content, or television programs were secondary. Getting home tired, zapping up and down a ridiculous range of channels….watching decent programming seemed to happen almost by accident.

All that changed when you narrate your own entertainment. You turn on the TV when you want to watch something; when you know what you’re going to watch. Incidentally, I appreciate the content I watch even more, even though I spend far less time behind the tube.

2. Enjoying The Netflixes Of This Age

So, maybe you can miss those programs you watch when nothing else is on. But what about the other TV shows? Just because you’re cutting the cable doesn’t mean you don’t want to watch TV anymore!

Netflix, Hulu, and other harbingers of the entertainment revolution provide a great alternative to conventional cable subscriptions. You can watch your series on demand (no headaches about TiVo-ing them), and can even save a lot of money in the long run. With applications like TunnelBear (which Erez reviewed on MakeUseOf) people all over the world can enjoy the on-demand goodness.

Add in the ability to watch Netflix on almost any platform known to man, and you’ll wonder why you ever got stuck with cable.

3. Digital News Is Key

In my eyes, regular news broadcasts are one of the biggest advantages to television; they keep people up-to-date and informed. Netflix may not give you the same news ensemble as regular television does, but there are still plenty of ways to get your daily dose of news. Earlier this year, we asked you where you got your news; getting a great response, and some truly interesting tips.

Digital news is only one such example, as you may still favor listening to the radio on your way to work, or reading the paper over a cup of morning joe. But even within the category of digital news, you needn’t just think of the New York Times website. In fact, there are a good number of professional news streams you can watch online for free.

Better yet, if you’re building a media center to replace your TV, you can kill two birds with one stone and watch online news through XBMC.

4. Don’t Underestimate The Social Benefits

The above examples are mostly practical; how it helps you stop wasting time, or alternative sources where you can get your daily, or weekly fix. However, you also shouldn’t underestimate the detrimental effects television has on our interpersonal relationships. It has been shown that couples who watch more television bicker more, and have a generally less healthy relationship.

That isn’t to say you shouldn’t be able to enjoy your shows. But pushed too far, television can push us apart just as easily as it can bring us together.

Are you thinking about getting rid of cable? And if so, do you have any other motivations than the financial? Drop a line in the comments section below the article, and share your view on the subject!

Image credit: tungphoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The post 4 Real Benefits Of Cutting Your Cable Cord appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Legally watching TV shows can be insanely complicated, depending on where you live. Hulu only works in the USA and BBC’s iPlayer only works in the UK. This means, to legally watch TV online using XBMC, you need to know which services work in your country and find a plugin for those services.

Illegal methods of watching TV on XBMC work everywhere, meaning they’re ironically a great deal simpler to get set up. I’ll outline those as well, mostly for the basis of comparison. Media companies – please help simplify this. We want to pay to watch TV online.

Confused about what XBMC is? Check out MakeUseOf’s Guide to setting up XBMC, written by yours truly. I wrote it to explain how to set up XBMC and install extensions if you’re a beginner, so check it out first if you’re not sure how to set up the extensions below.

Legal Ways To Watch TV In XBMC

Let’s begin with the perfectly legal ways to watch TV on XBMC. Because legal ways to watch TV online are always annoying, these plugins will only work in the countries in which they’re based. I’m sticking to the English-speaking world.

If you live in the United States, the Hulu Plugin for XBMC (above) gives you access to every show on the site, with or without commercials. I also highly recommend you check out my article outlining 5 amazing addons for XBMC, which includes Free Cable – a fantastic free plugin for streaming content from a wide variety of USA-based TV stations. If a given show is offered online by a TV station you’ll find it there.

Live TV offerings are limited in the USA, unfortunately – the assumption is that you have cable.

If you’re based in the United Kingdom, I recommend you check out the iPlayer plugin for XBMC. With this installed, you can watch your favorite BBC stations live, or watch your favorite one on demand.

UK users should also check out TV Catchup (above), which provides live streaming of a variety of TV stations in that country. You’ll need to sign up for an account before you can use the TVCatchup XBMC plugin.

Canadian users should check out Canada On Demand, which brings in content from a wide variety of different Canadian TV stations. Similar to Free Cable, this plugin offers shows from a the websites of broadcasters.

Those living in Australia should check out the TV Catchup Australian repository. There’s a lot of extensions offered there, which I unfortunately am unable to test.

New Zealand users should check out NZ On Demand for a variety of live TV streams and on-demand offerings.

Again, I’ve focused here primarily on English-language nations, because this is an English-language site and in my imagination it’s being read by English-speaking people. If your nation’s primary language is something else, however, don’t panic – there is almost certainly a plugin for streams from your country.

I recommend Googling the name of your country, the letters “TV” and “XBMC”, or simply check out the next chapter – illegal ways to watch TV everywhere.

One more thing – plenty of news stations offer 24/7 streaming on their website – and XBMC is capable of playing those streams. I outlined how to watch the news online using XBMC, so check out that article if you’re interested.

Legally Questionable Ways To Watch TV In XBMC

Of course, if you want every channel you can imagine – live – there really isn’t a legal way to get that. There’s no technical reason for this, but even if you were willing to pay for every individual channel, most channels are only available for satellite and/or cable users. There simply isn’t an online option for most live TV.

SuperTV, however, is a free extension for XBMC offering live streams from a wide variety of countries. Just pick the nation you want to watch TV from, then pick the channel you want to watch – you’ll be seeing what’s on, right now, in real time. There’s even a TV guide, allowing you to see what’s playing and check out what will be on later.

The quality isn’t always great, and the extension itself can be rather slow at times, but it’s worth checking out for the curious.

It’s also worth checking out XBMChub’s list of video addons. A couple – 1Channel (above) and Icefilms – give you (completely illegal) access to every TV show and movie on the planet, all from the comfort of your remote.

And no list of legally questionable XBMC plugins is complete without mentioning NaviX, which is perhaps the ultimate XBMC extension. You’ll find more than a little TV there, live and on-demand.

Set Up XBMC To Be A PVR

Of course, I’m missing the obvious way to watch TV on XBMC – getting a TV adapter card for your PC and setting up XBMC to function as your own personal DVR. You’ll probably need a cable subscription, but you’ll be able to watch TV in real-time and record the shows you care about.

Unfortunately getting this set up can be a little difficult, so check out the XBMC wiki page about setting up XBMC live TV.

What shows are you watching using XBMC? Let me know in the comments below, along with any other suggested extensions for the job.

The post Watch TV Shows On XBMC With These Add-Ons appeared first on MakeUseOf.

In fact, it is getting to the point where households are finding that their various appliances are split into two groups – those that can display movies, music and photos and those that cannot. If you’re not sure where to start with building a media center or media viewing system, don’t worry – we’ve got everything you need to know (including kitchen-based media centers!).

PCs

When home theatre took off, it wasn’t long before HTPCs were brought into the mix and it is the functions of these systems (multimedia playback and recording, essentially) that form the basic requirements of any current media center setup.

Whether you use Windows, Mac OS X or a Linux distro, there is a home theatre solution for you. XBMC is hugely popular across all operating systems, while Windows Media Center continues to be popular for Microsoft devotees.

What is crucial about using a PC as a home media center and/or server (feeding video to other devices) is that you’re not limited to just a desktop PC. Laptops, netbooks, old servers and compact computers like the Raspberry Pi can all be used as home media centers, with the minimum of reconfiguring.

Games Consoles

The day I discovered that you can install Netflix on a Nintendo Wii was the day my TV viewing changed completely – it wasn’t long before I had repurposed the console as a media center solution. Several years ago I had tried (with some success) to run my old Xbox 360 as a media center, making use of both Windows Media Player and TVersity (neither being the perfect solution), but this was never really the most suitable device until more recently and Microsoft’s refocusing on media (such as Netflix, ESPN, TMZ, etc.).

The Playstation 3, meanwhile, can also be used as a media center – hardly surprising as it wields a Blu-ray disc drive. Sony’s console has been announced as the most popular device for streaming Netflix videos, and thanks to software such as PS3 Media Server it can receive media streamed from a household PC.

We shouldn’t forget the original Microsoft Xbox in all of this either. Without it, there would have been no Xbox Media Center project, and no latter-day XBMC.

Tablets & Phones

There are various ways in which you can stream media to your phone or tablet. Once again, Netflix is among the answers, but just recently a paradigm shift in the abilities of ARM-based devices means that rather than acting as media playing clients on a home media network, they can now host the full media center software.

Amazingly, XBMC has recently been released for Android, enabling users to take advantage of the various add-ons and reskins and to enjoy HD playback, depending on whether you use the official version or the XBMCANDROID fork.

Indeed, it seems extremely likely that these portable device types will be the home for media serving and streaming in and around the home over the coming years, regardless of platform. Even if you don’t own an Android phone or tablet, developments on the Raspberry Pi mean that an Android distro will soon be available, and along with it another way to enjoy XBMC (including, hopefully, a way of enjoying Netflix!)

What About My Fridge?

As we see the march of the tablet device into other parts of our lives, how long will it be before media centers take over our kitchens and cars?

Setting up a carputer with either dedicated hardware or with a tablet, netbook or Raspberry Pi has been achieved by several people, while fridges equipped with Android tablets have been fixtures at the last two Consumer Electronics Shows.

If you can install XBMC on an Android tablet then by extension, you can install it on your fridge.

However in the meantime, we reckon that there are enough household devices for you to get your media fixes from.

Image Credit: Mac Mini HT

The post Is There Any Device You Can’t Turn Into a Media Center? Wii, Xbox, Android & More appeared first on MakeUseOf.

However as fantastic a solution the Raspberry Pi is to your various HTPC requirements, there are a few things that it cannot do too well. Some additional hardware may prove useful in some situations, but in others – such as where DRM or proprietary software is required – there is currently no way around the limitations.

You’ll find more about using and setting up the Raspberry Pi in our new guide.

Subscription Streaming Services: What Works, What Doesn’t?

The popularity of the Raspberry Pi has seen it chosen by thousands as a compact Raspberry PI home theater device. However, while it works superbly with XBMC to stream content stored on your SD card or on an attached device (local or network), the Raspberry Pi is limited when it comes to certain popular online TV and movie subscription streaming services.

Lovefilm & Netflix

As popular as Lovefilm and Netflix have become over the past couple of years, neither service offers a plugin, add-on or app that will enable you to view its content on the Raspberry Pi, with or without XBMC.

While there are XBMC plugins for both services, these will only work on Windows computers. Because the Raspberry Pi is running Linux and is powered by an ARM processor, the plugins are unsuitable for reasons of compatibility and because they employ the Microsoft Silverlight software for streaming content. This is a proprietary system, so there is no way to access the stream.

However, all is not lost. There is a good chance that an Android build for Raspberry Pi will be able to run Lovefilm and Netflix – and if these two companies see how many Raspberry Pi computers have been sold (now over one million!) then there is also a good chance that they might soon see sense…

Services that Will Work

This isn’t to say that there are no streaming services that run on the Raspberry Pi using XBMC. Hulu will work, for instance, as will UK TV catch-up streaming provided by BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4OD and ITV Player.

Booting up a Raspberry Pi home theater running XBMC and checking the various add-ons that are available, meanwhile, will enable access to YouTube, Vimeo and a wealth of streaming services such as German TV and various niche channels carrying video games, technology shows, and movie trailers.

Storage: Local or Network?

With XBMC installed, the Raspberry Pi can playback music, video, and photos on devices attached locally and remotely. You’ll probably find that the best solution is to either use an external hard disk drive or a network drive (either a NAS or a hard disk drive on your PC that has been shared to the local network).

Although SD cards can be used for storage, the largest supported size for a SDHC card is 32 GB. This probably won’t hold all of the media that you wish to watch, and using the same storage device for media and for running the operating system isn’t ideal when the OS fails and the card needs to be reformatted.

Similarly, maximum storage capacities of USB flash sticks don’t come close to external hard disk drives or network drives, so while they’re useful for playing back a small number of video files, USB flash devices shouldn’t be considered a permanent storage solution for a Raspbmc.

Watching Live TV on the Raspberry Pi

There are a couple of ways that you can watch live TV on Raspbmc. The first requires the most up-to-date build of XBMC (version 12 and above) and a PC on your home network that is equipped with a TV card or USB TV tuner. Acting as a server, this computer will make TV signals available to your Raspberry Pi, with the XBMC software providing a front end for the TV card, enabling you to remotely change channel.

The alternative is to use a USB TV tuner that is compatible with the Raspberry Pi. Such devices are produced by Sundtech but will require you to purchase the MPEG-2 license key for the Raspberry Pi (just £2.40) in order to successfully decode the digital TV streams.

Raspberry Pi: Ideal as a Media Center with Some Limitations

If you own a Raspberry Pi then you have in your hands a hugely versatile mini-computer that can be used for teaching yourself programming, as a NAS box controller, as a retro gaming/MAME unit, or as a media center.

In all of these uses the device has some limitations, usually in power, so to find that it won’t stretch to streaming Netflix and Lovefilm shouldn’t come as any surprise.

However, remember that this limitation has been imposed by third parties. There is a chance that the Raspberry Pi will eventually be able to stream video from these services at some point in the future…

Image Credit: Hulu logo

The post The Raspberry Pi Home Theater: What You Can And Cannot Do appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Simply by adding the right software – in this case a dedicated XBMC build called Raspbmc – you can turn the little computer into a compact Raspberry Pi media center solution that is waiting for you to add your favourite video, music, and picture files.

However, you will need a little bit more than just the Raspberry Pi if you are going to make the most of Raspbmc. Several hardware components are required…

Using the Right Hardware For Your Situation

You should already have a Raspberry Pi; you will probably already have an SD card; the required Ethernet and HDMI cables, as well as the Micro USB power supply.

In addition, in order to build a Raspberry Pi media center, you will need:

• A SATA HDD with Sata to USB converter w/short SATA cable OR
• An external HDD with USB connector
• External 5v/12v power supply for the chosen HDD

If you’re planning on sending your audio through a surround sound unit then you will also require an audio cable.

Note that it is possible to combine the power supplies for the two devices. This will require the addition of a SATA to Molex power cable, an external 5v/12v power supply with male mini-DIN connector, a micro USB cable and a female mini-DIN connector. It might also require some means of mounting the connectors and will certainly require some electronics knowledge, as you’ll be splitting the power supply between the DIN and the USB, thereby supplying power to the Raspberry Pi and the HDD. Different power cables are constructed differently, so if you choose to take this approach you will need to spend some time checking the different wires in your cable and ensuring that both the HDD and the Raspberry Pi receive the required current. It is probably best to stick to the dual power pack solution.

Setting Up Your Raspberry Pi Media Center with XBMC

With your hardware all sorted, you will need to install the Raspbmc software onto an SD card and insert it into your Raspberry Pi.

Full steps on how to do this can be found in How To Make Your Raspberry Pi Into a Home Theater System, along with basic steps on how to extend the media center.

This is vital, as it will enable you to enjoy media beyond your own collection. Thanks to these XBMC add-ons it is possible to:

• Watch the news online
• Add podcast feeds
• Enjoy YouTube videos
• Watch Hulu
• Enjoy free cable and sport (yes, you read that right)

What Else You Will Need

If you’re using the Raspbmc build, you will need to use a separate computer to download some of the add-ons as they are based in unofficial repositories.

As such, you will need a USB memory stick to copy them from PC to Pi. Once added to XBMC, the USB stick can be removed.

You might be wondering about the best way to control your new media center. The best way isn’t with the mouse and keyboard (after all, your HDD is taking up one of your USB ports, and a hub will just add another device into the mix) but with one of the many XBMC remote apps that are available for mobile phones and tablets. Just check the store of your preferred mobile platform to see what is on offer – these apps use a network connection and a dedicated API on the XBMC device that supports remote access.

Fixing It All Together

With your Raspberry Pi media center ready to go, you may find that it is easier to keep it all in one place rather than distributed across a few shelves.

My initial Raspberry Pi Media Center setup made great use of Velcro-type strips of fabric on the base of the mini-computer’s case and the back of my flat panel TV. However with the addition of the external hard disk drive, it makes sense to incorporate the Pi more closely with the HDD case.

Ultimately, this might involve mounting the Raspberry Pi within the HDD case (from what I can tell, it should just about fit…) but in the meantime finding some means of attaching the computer to the HDD case seems like the best idea. You might think along the same lines, relying on anything from temporarily adhesive material to some L-profile aluminum to keep the Raspberry Pi securely mounted.

Conclusion – Media Center for Pocket Money!

If you’re looking for a media center solution there really is little reason to overlook the Raspberry Pi. Depending upon the approach you take you could be building a media center for under $100, with the main portion of the outlay on the storage rather than the media center itself!

With free software and affordable equipment, this is an easy to start, easy to finish, and ultimately satisfying project – and really, you should have started by now!

The post The Hardware You Will Need To Build A Raspberry Pi Media Center appeared first on MakeUseOf.

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. Covering everything from hardware and additional storage to useful add-ons and network play, the device that is eventually chosen will be the one that I decide has the best chance of playing everything.

So how do you build a media center PC that can play anything? A device that can deliver as much good quality, free TV as possible?

Well, you need to make sure you’ve got the right hardware, suitable storage options and the best media center platform, before spinning this off with plugins and additional features that will give you the television experience you’ve been looking for.

The Hardware Side Of Things

There are many different pieces of hardware that can be used to build a media center, from an Xbox 360 to a Nintendo Wii, all the way down through standard PCs and dedicated set-top boxes to Android devices and Raspberry Pi computers. Regardless of which platform you eventually select (see below) your chosen hardware should be networkable, powerful enough to deal with HD video and offer enough storage to access music and video.

For my own purposes, I need a device with an optical drive as I regularly review DVDs. USB ports and a card reader are also vital for viewing photos, music and video.

Whichever hardware solution you choose, don’t forget a remote control! This might be a game controller, a keyboard and mouse or a smartphone running a suitable remote application.

Choosing The Right Platform

There are many media center platforms available for Windows, Mac and Linux, but by far the most popular at present is XBMC. Originally released for the old Xbox games console, XBMC is available for all major desktop computer platforms and is capable of playing back the vast majority of media formats.

Its user interface is straightforward, offering sections for music, video and pictures (as well as up-to-date weather reports!) and is enhanced by a large selection of add-ons that introduce new features and online channels that can be subscribed to for free.

You can check 5 Great Linux Media Center Distributions To Transform Your TV for further information about the various media center platforms. If you’re not using a games console, however, then I would recommend XBMC – it’s what I have installed on both of my media center candidate devices.

Extending Your Platform With Add-ons

The beauty of XBMC, (versions for Windows, OS X, Linux, Apple TV, iOS, Ubuntu, Android and Raspberry Pi are available from the XBMC download page) is that it can be extended considerably thanks to a vast selection of official and unofficial add-ons. There are many uses for these add-ons, from streaming TV and managing torrent downloads to playing games and skinning the user interface.

While the basic XBMC package will enable you to watch DVDs, video files, listen to audio discs and sound files, enjoy photos and check the weather, with add-ons you can:

• Integrate TV channels from a TV card thanks to a MythTV add-on
• Stream live sport
• Stream live TV
• Access Internet radio
• Watch YouTube on your TV
• Enjoy video channels from popular websites such as Wired
• Much, much more!

The options are considerable, and add-ons can easily be added to XBMC via the System > Add-Ons > Get Add-Ons menu. A good list of additional add-ons can be found at the XBMC unofficial repositories list – these should be downloaded in their ZIP format and saved to your media center.

Installation is achieved via Settings > Add-Ons > Install from ZIP File. After this is done, the chosen add-on will be available in the Get Add-Ons menu as above.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that you can get hold of and stream virtually any TV show, movie or sports event using the right add-ons. The Bluecop repository is a great solution, offering shows from various subscription channels such as CBS, SyFy and the History Channel, as well as output from Hulu.

Network Play, DLNA & UPNP

Being able to play media across a network is important. Most media center platforms support this – for instance, you can stream videos and music from a PC to an Xbox 360.

With the XBMC platform, other computers on a network can be accessed so that media can be streamed to them. If you have a large selection of video clips on your desktop PC, these can be sent across the network to your XBMC device for enjoyment – the same is true for images and audio clips.

Users with an iPhone, meanwhile, can use AirPlay to send video from their device to XMBC, as long as AirPlay is enabled in Settings > Network > Services.

Additionally, DLNA and UPnP have some limited support, enabling you to wirelessly send video from an XBMC to a TV (albeit one that natively supports the transmitted video format).

Time To Cut The Cable?

We all watch TV in a different way. This is why XBMC is probably the best media center platform available, and when coupled with the right choice of hardware can deliver the best results: a media center that will play any file required with the minimum of fuss and no preparatory file conversion.

If you’re able to get all of the TV viewing that you need through XBMC and the storage solutions you have added, then it might well be time for you to ditch your expensive cable TV arrangement in favour of watching your own collection of videos and streaming more – and importantly, relevant – TV from the Internet.

Is XBMC the solution for you? Does it tick all of your boxes, or do you have an alternative that is even more flexible and offers better add-ons? Have you got a better media center solution that will play even more formats? Tell us in the comments!

As for me, I’m still weighing up the pros and cons of a lightweight, small and easily secreted Raspberry Pi with the all-in-one storage solution of the more traditional HTPC…

Image Credits: Home cinema system with flat screen tv via Shutterstock, Electrician cutting cable via Shutterstock, wikien2009, Zsigus

The post How To Build a Media Center That Will Play Anything appeared first on MakeUseOf.

What Is a Smart TV?

The concept of Smart TV has actually been around for quite some time. The first Smart TV related patent was filed in 1994, though it’s only in the last 5 years that we’ve seen features in commercial sets.

There is no one answer which can describe exactly what a Smart TV is. Generally speaking, Smart TV refers to a trend of integrating Internet-connected technologies into a TV set; a convergence of computer-like features.

More specifically, Smart TVs may have one or more of the following features, though not necessarily all – the term is used for marketing purposes, not as an international standard. Features vary by manufacturer and by age of the TV. My 4 year old Smart TV will have a lot less features than a new Smart TV bought this year, for instance, but they both adopt the moniker.

• Video Playback Via DLNA/USB. This is a much base level feature for Smart TVs and has been for some years now, though format support varies, particular on older devices that would play video through USB, but were restricted to FAT32 formatted drives and AVI files only. With DLNA streaming, a server application on the network can often take care of transcoding to compatible formats, but this isn’t foolproof, and a server machine is needed somewhere to do the actual conversion.
• Apps & Games; Angry Birds on your TV? That’s a thing now, along with catch-up and on-demand streaming such BBC iPlayer, Netflix, and YouTube.
• PVR/DVR Functionality; the ability to schedule and record shows without using a separate device. You may also be able to search for media across a variety of sources, similar to TiVo or Roku.
• Gesture & Voice Control; embedded Kinect or Wii Remote-like devices enable control of the TV from the sofa without using a traditional remote. Just wave your hand, or shout at the TV. I can’t comment on how effective these are as I havn’t tried them out, but if it’s anything like the Kinect then I expect it’s quite frustrating once the initial wow factor wears off.
• Social Networking; because you can’t ever have enough Facebook. Some will also have Skype video conferencing.
• Web Browsing.
• Smartphone Connectivity; for streaming media and sharing content to the big screen.

Manufacturers

Considered by many to be the leading Smart TVs, Samsung have teased a new design to be unveiled at CES2013 this year, due to kick off about the time this post is published – expect to hear more about these very soon. Existing Samsung models already have gesture control and apps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qitm-mFH-AM

LG have announced their 2013 will have NFC capability; this enables quick pairing of a smartphone with the TV to easily stream content. This is in addition to existing “Magic Remote” gesture controls, branded Google TV OS and apps.

Here’s a demo from CES2012.

Sony, Panasonic and Sharp also offer smart TV features in their higher-end models.

Is It a Future Proof Solution?

Not really. The trouble with integrating computer-like features into a TV is that they get outdated very quickly. Having “smart” features involve computing of some kind, but unlike an actual computer, you can’t upgrade your TV components. Manufacturers are also unlikely to offer “firmware upgrades” for additional features or new software; you get what you pay for at the time, and that’s it. However, if the Smart TV offers an app store, you can expect app updates and new apps.

Also know that not all broadcast networks are happy with Smart TV features either: since the end of 2010, NBC, ABC, CBS and Hulu blocked Google TV devices from accessing their on-demand content. Before buying, be sure to make a list of features you definitely want and services you need access to; and accept that at some point, they may completely stop working – at least on a PC, you can find some kind of workaround.

Should You Buy One?

If you’re in the market for a new TV, it’s actually going to be difficult to not buy a Smart TV. Regardless of whether you want the features or not, most new TVs are going to have some form of Smart TV functionality built in to varying degrees. It’s a similar situation to 3D – if you’re buying a good TV, then chances are it will also be 3D capable, purely because 3D features require good quality components.

That said, if you already have a TV that you’re happy with, the new Smart TV features are certainly nothing worth upgrading for. If you already have a computer, an Apple TV, Xbox 360 (all great media center devices), or an iPad – these perform the same job better, and your Smart TV isn’t going to offer anything new. If you don’t already have a PC or other device hooked up to your TV, or have been living under a rock for 10 years, then you will undoubtedly find some value in a Smart TV.

Personally, I have a Samsung 3DTV that’s a few years old; it has some kind of Smart TV features for streaming media, but I’ve never used them. A computer that you can upgrade, install new software, and send the output to the TV is always going to be a better choice.

Do you have a Smart TV, and do you actually use some or all of the features? Let us know in the comments, and why you chose that manufacturer in particular. Are you going to buy a new TV this year, and do Smart TV features sound like something you might want?

The post What Is a Smart TV & Do You Need One? [MakeUseOf Explains] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The XBMC Android interface, designed for a TV, probably won’t work well on your tiny smartphone screen – but it’s just about perfect for a tablet. For the unfamiliar, XBMC is a media center app that sorts your media for you and makes it simple to browse everything from your couch. Movies, TV shows and music are all given artwork and metadata – meaning your media looks almost as good while you’re browsing it as it does when you’re watching it.

But XBMC does more than play your media; it can play media from a variety of web sources, thanks to a seemingly endless supply of extensions. TV shows from Hulu and sites like it, as well as live news from around the world.

XBMC might not work on every Android device; check this list if you’re unsure. Also note that the XBMC Android app is not on Google Play, so to use it you’re going to need the ability to install APK files on your phone. On some devices this means rooting; on mine (ASUS Transformer) it does not.

Watch TV Shows Without A Subscription

Love TV? Check out Free Cable, which scrapes content from the websites of all the major networks plus a wide variety of cable channels, including Comedy Central, The History Channel, PBS, Adult Swim and A&E. This is content you can easily watch for free on your computer, but which occasionally doesn’t work on Android tablets for technical (no Adobe flash) or legal (someone decided you shouldn’t) reasons.

I used this to watch the most recent version of The Daily Show on my tablet, and it worked beautifully. If you have trouble, use the settings to turn down the max bitrate and all should be well.

Find Free Cable in the Bluecop repo for XBMC.

Oh, and this might be USA-only, but browse the XBMC repos and you’ll find plugins for your area. There’s iPlayer for the UK, for example. Explore and you’ll probably find something, or just keep reading.

Watch Live News From All Over Earth

Do you want to quickly switch between a variety of live news stations? The XBMC Android version gives you access to a variety of live news streams; all you need to do is find the appropriate plugin for the job.

Learn more here - how to watch the news online using XBMC.

NaviX, 1Channel & Every Video You Could Want

Do you want access to even more media? Be sure to try out NaviX, the ultimate media source of XBMC. This massive repository of user-submitted media links includes live streams, TV shows and more then a few movies that you can access with your XBMC Android app.

If that doesn’t work out for you, check out 1Channel for XBMC. It’s questionable from a legal standpoint, but with it you can watch any show or movie you want instantly.

Beautiful Organization For TV Shows and Music

Do you already have an extensive media collection? Assuming there’s room on your Android device, you can browse it all from the XBMC Android app – and it will look gorgeous when you do.

If you’d rather not store your media on your device you can always add network shares. It won’t work when you’re away from your home network, but if all you want is to watch your videos on your tablet it’s a great idea.

Read more about adding media sources to XBMC.

Coming Soon (Hopefully): Hulu!

There’s a Hulu Plus app for Android, but those who want to watch Hulu’s free content on their Android devices are out of luck. Until now.

A readily available Hulu extension for XBMC brings Hulu’s free content to Android with or without a Hulu Plus account.

Browse your favorite shows, see your subscriptions and watch as much TV as you want. Read more about Hulu for XBMC here. This one’s not working on Android right now, but hopefully it will eventually. Find Hulu in the Bluecop repo for XBMC.

So Much More…

Of course, there’s so much more here to explore. YouTube, Reddit, Miro’s directory and TED can all be found in XBMC’s default extension repo, so be sure to explore that as soon as you install XBMC. Also be sure to check out these articles for even more tweaks:

• 5 Amazing Addons for XBMC Media Center
• Add Podcast Feeds to XBMC Directly

Again: you can download XBMC for Android right now at XBMC.org as an APK file.

The post 5 Reasons To Install XBMC On Your Android, Right Now appeared first on MakeUseOf.

For less than $100, you can set up an amazing lighting system that’s going to reflect what’s on-screen; if the video is a blue night scene, the lights will be blue; when a blaze of orange fire flashes on, so will your lights. Welcome to world of ambient RGB lighting.

Components

• RGB light strip – this is a 5 metre strip of RGB LEDs which can be bought on eBay and shipped from Hong Kong for less than £20 each. If you purchase in electronics shops you’ll be paying by the metre and a reel of 5m will cost three or four times that, so buy online. These type of LED strips can be changed to any colour, but only all at once – they cannot be individually adjusted.
• 12v power supply – the power (ampage) required depends on upon how many strips of LEDs you’ll be connecting. Each metre draws approximately 0.6 amps, but this depends on the density of your LEDs so be sure to check your particular LED strip. 3A would be sufficient for the 5m strip I linked above, and separate power supplies can be bought for around £10 if you can’t source one elsewhere.
• 3 x MOSFET N transistors – you can probaby find cheaper, but I bought a pack of 6 (type STP16NF06FP) for around £10. These are used to isolate the current from the Arduino – connecting the strips directly to the Arduino would fry it with the amount of current they draw. You need 1 MOSFET transistor per LED color channel, for Red,Green, and Blue.
• Arduino – I haven’t included the cost of this item as it’s assumed you’ll already have one, and there are a variety of clones you can buy if you can’t afford an official one.

The total cost was therefore around £40 not including the Arduino.

Introduction

The project consists of two parts. First we’ll be creating a basic Arduino circuit that listens to commands from the computer, and sets the RGB LEDs to an appropriate colour. The second involves using a new application called Processing and Java on the computer side – to work out what colours are currently on screen, average them, and output that to the serial communications port for the Arduino to react to.

Part 1: Circuit and Arduino

The circuit we’re using is very simple as you can see from the diagram below. The LED strip should be supplied with a male plug on one end that you can place directly into the breadboard.

Your LED strip may vary, but if you look closely you’ll see 12v, R, G, B written on the rails somewhere. These strips can actually be cut at these copper points (every 3 LEDs on the ones I have), so if you want to cut the strips at the corners of your TV you can safely do that – you needn’t use the whole 5m either, so you may have some left for a future project. Connect the positive 12v directly to the external power supply.

The MOSFETs have three pins; gate, drain, and source. The gate is like the electronic switch which the Arduino will control. This then determines the current flowing between the source and drain. The drain of each MOSFET should be connected the ground of the Arduino, and the ground of the power supply, while the source connects to the LED strip channels.

When you’ve completed the circuit, download and run this test code (originally from LadyAda, pins modified). You should see your LED strip swirl through a variety of colours.

Part 2: Processing

Download Processing and run. You may be surprised to find it looks almost exactly like the Arduino development environment; that’s because the Arduino environment was based on it, though they both perform different functions. Grab this code – originally by Silicon Republic but heavily modified by me to make the screen size settings automatic and with better color representation -  and take a moment to look over it. Basically it uses a Java class called Robot to do a screen capture every 10ms; it then picks out every odd pixel and averages the total color. If performance is an issue for you, increase the skipValue variable to 3 or 4 to skip more pixels – the overall effect should be the same but it’ll run faster as it examines less pixels. Finally, I added a filter which helps to saturate the color by increasing the maximum and decreasing the minimum RGB values found (without this, I found the colors to be too white). 

Run the app; the first time, you will probably get an error as it tries to access the wrong serial port.

Check the debug window for a list of current serial ports, and note the number next to what your Arduino is plugged into. In my case on a Mac, the USB connection is port 4. Change the number in this line to the correct port:

port = new Serial(this, Serial.list()[4],9600); //set baud rate

Save and re-run; you should see a small window pop up – this represents the average color of everything on-screen. Launch a painting app or something with strong colors to test it, otherwise it’ll probably just display a murky shade of grey. Stop the application when you’re done testing as we need the serial port access to program the Arduino.

Lastly, load this code on to your Arduino. Instead of sending random colors to the LED strip, this code reads the values from the serial port (which Processing is outputting to). It’s fairly easy to understand, the only difficult part may be the use of a marker in the serial data:

if (Serial.available()>=4) {
if(Serial.read() == 0xff){
red = Serial.read();
green= Serial.read();
blue = Serial.read();
}
}

This ensures we read the correct byte values - the Processing app outputs a marker as a “breakpoint” between each set of values so that the Arduino won’t get out of sync and think that the green value is for blue etc.

Once the Arduino code is uploaded (there should be no output on the LED strip initially), then you can load and run the Processing app; immediately you should see your ambient light working.

Here’s a video demo of how it worked out for me with some random trippy music video.

What do you think?! While it isn’t quite as impressive as something that analyses each part of the screen and uses individual LED pixels, it is a lot cheaper and a lot brighter. The only downside to this is that everything must be run on your media center computer – it won’t work with regular TV broadcasting or your Xbox 360, for example. If you have any problems, questions, or suggestions then please ask away; or perhaps link to a video of your completed setup.

The post Build Your Own Dynamic Ambient Lighting For A Media Center appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Let’s take a look at 10 ways to supercharge your media center experience.

Play Retro Videogames

Requirements: XBMC

Personally, I think old games are overrated, but if you’re itching for some finger twitching and you run Xbox Media Center, check out the Rom Launcher plugin, which you’ll find under the Programs add-ons menu. Justin first showed us this back in January, and it’s superb – along with the other 4 XBMC plugins which you really ought to go check out right now.

Automatically Download The Latest Episodes of Your Favorite Show

Requirements: Usenet provider (limited torrent support)

Integrating nicely with XBMC, SickBeard will seek out new episode of your favorite show, download from your specified NZB source and USENET provider, then add them to your library with all the right metadata added. While we don’t condone piracy, if you were the type of person who enjoys watching the latest shows for free, this is a tool you would probably want.

Get Hulu And Netflix US Selections, Even From Abroad

Requirements: money

I don’t think Americans quite realize how privileged they are when it comes to access to media; everyone else in the world, we get shafted. However, if you’re a Netflix subscriber in the UK, or anywhere else for that matter, you can quite easily gain access to the vast US selection – and to Hulu and other regional services – by using a simple bit of DNS hackery. Tunlr is a free service but no guarantees are made and Netflix isn’t supported, but on the paid side, I’ve found UnoTelly to be very reliable for under $10 a month.

Unlike a full VPN which tunnels all your traffic through another country, UnoTelly and other DNS hacks only redirect the packets of information pertaining to your location when viewing regional locked services – there is no slowdown in internet speed and you’re able to watch in full HD if your connection is fast enough.

Add a Remote Control

Requirements: Mobile device, or Universal Remote and IR receiver

If you have one of those awesome universal remotes and some kind of IR reader for your PC, you can set it up to control your media center using LIRC or the WinLIRC port for windows. It’s a pretty complicated setup though, so head on over to the project page for instructions and supported devices.

A far easier option is to use your iPad or Android device as a remote control for either Plex or XBMC. The Plex client (iOS, Android) is far more polished in my opinion (pictured above), but it also costs $4.99; the official XBMC remote (iOS, Android) is free (pictured below).

Minimize or Hide Hardware

Required: time, effort, or money

Did you know a $35 Raspberry Pi can run XBMC? Indeed it can, and with the size of those things you could even bolt in it on the back of your TV! No more ugly great tower or desktop PCs.

Alternatively, what about hiding your existing bulky hardware into furniture, or swapping out your ugly tower case for a sleep HTPC case that makes it look like just another bit of AV kit? Don’t forget check on motherboard sizes though – many HTPC cases will only accept Micro ATX.

Go For The Cinema Experience with a Huge Projector

Required: money

Okay, not exactly a hack as such, but projectors are seriously underrated bits of kit; yes, they can be difficult to view in the daytime, but who watches TV or movies in the day anyway? You ought to be outside! Nothing beats the cost effectiveness and big screen cinema-like experience of a projector, added to which their portability lends itself to impromptu garden movie screenings in the summer and hilarious Halloween effects.

You can get an HD 3D projector for as little as $450 on Amazon, capable of projecting a far bigger image than you could ever afford from a TV at that price – all you need add is a blank white wall.

Image credit

Record TV

Neither XBMC nor Plex handle TV recording, though they’re the best solutions for playing your downloaded or ripped media. If you do want to record TV, you’ll need a separate package such Windows Media Center (not included with Windows 8 but currently free for Windows 8 Pro owners), or Linux users can check out Myth TV. Personally, I just phoned up my cable ISP, added TV services, got a free 500gb TiVo box, and am now paying £10 less per month than I was before.

I rarely watch TV to be honest, so having a separate bit of software on the media center and the hassle involved with setting it up versus simply adding it to my cable internet package was an easy decision to make. You’ve also got a lot more considerations when it comes it comes to signal format in the UK; the analogue signal has now been completely switched off – rendering a lot of TV cards useless – while newer devices can sometimes only record HD channels from FreeSAT signal and not over the air digital broadcasts – it’s a mess, basically.

Resume Playing From The Bedroom, or Anywhere

Required: Plex, or XBMC

If you have Plex, the good news is that you can already resume playing your media from any Plex client you own; since media is served from one central location, there’s not additional setup and everything is happy in the world.

Sadly, XBMC isn’t quite as easy since it’s designed to only really play local media. You’ll need to install MySQL in order to setup a shared database of your media, and get more familiar than most of us like with the command line. If you absolutely must run XBMC clients but love the networked capabilities of Plex, consider the PleXBMC plugin, which is also capable of resuming playback from the last know position, though isn’t quite as nicely integrated.

Add Creative Lighting

Watch the video, and try to tell me that’s not the most awesome ambient lighting setup, ever. Though this video is from a Russian-only device, similar project files and software are available for Arduino. The only downside is that it’ll work with anything from your PC, but not raw TV signals or your Xbox 360. Here’s a simple 1 channel project that averages the colour of the whole display, while this is a more complicated setup that gives you about 8 channels (potentially more) for a multicolor backlight.

Got any more media center hacks? Tell the world comments below. If you’re just starting out on the path to media centre bliss, be sure to check our free PDF guide.

The post Super-Power Your Media Centre With These 9 Hacks appeared first on MakeUseOf.

If you’re thinking of getting a Raspberry Pi yourself, we’re obviously going to help convince you to go ahead with it. Maybe there’s a few things you didn’t realize it could do – or maybe you don’t yet realize how easy they are to work with. Either way, here’s a list of reasons that should help you part with that minuscule sum of money and get one of the best gadgets developed in recent history.

1. It’s Cheap!

Yes, I said it was a miniscule amount of money. You’re looking at a maximum of US$35 (and postage/taxes) for what is essentially a tiny computer without a case. When it comes to bang-for-buck, you’d be hard pressed to do better. Model A has 256Mb RAM, one USB port and no Ethernet. Model B has 512Mb RAM, 2 USB ports and an Ethernet port. Check out the FAQ for more specs.

2. It’s Tiny

The Raspberry Pi is just over credit card sized at 85.60mm x 56mm x 21mm, plus a little overhang for the SD card and connectors which stick out over the edge. It weighs only 45g.

3. The Pi Can Run A Variety Of Operating Systems

Seriously, you can install Linux on this little computer and use it for whatever you like. Android is now officially supported too, plus there are also rumours you can run Windows 8 on it, but apparently it’s too slow to be worth trying.

4. The Raspberry Pi Is Really Versatile

The following items are two of the most popular uses for the Raspberry Pi: the media centre and a gaming machine. However, it was actually built with education in mind, to teach students how to program. Lots of people use Python to code for the Pi, but there are plenty more languages you can use.

For more uses still, this article shows how you can use a Raspberry Pi to be an arcade machine, a carputer, internet radio system, security system or a media centre:

• The Top 5 Amazing Uses For Your Raspberry Pi Computer

5. Play Video And View Photos With The Pi

It can support 1080p video, which is pretty decent when you’re watching mpg movie files or viewing photos. It’s nearly as simple as plugging in a USB stick of your favourite media and watching. RaspBMC is the recommended software, which even supports Airplay. If you want more information on setting it up, check out these articles:

• How To Make Your Raspberry Pi Into a Home Theater System
• Entertainment On The Cheap: The Most Affordable Ways To Set Up A Home Theater

6. You Can Overclock It

It’s really easy to overclock a Raspberry Pi, so check out the guide we’ve written and get started:

• Not Enough Juice? Squeeze Your Raspberry Pi By Overclocking

7. You Can Play Games

There’s a growing community of gamers looking to play MAME and SCUMMVM games on the Raspberry Pi, but there are just as many using educational games for kids from software suites such as GCompris.

Get Your Raspberry Pi

Willing to break into the bank account now? Thought so. Go get your Raspberry Pi and peripherals at either of these stores:

• Premier Farnell / Element14
• RS Components

Also, you might want to know how to get started, join the community and how to make yourself a cool case for your new Pi:

• What You Need to Know About Getting Started with Raspberry Pi
• Some Crazy Ideas for Homemade Cases For The Raspberry Pi
• 8 Interesting DIY Raspberry Pi Case Ideas
• Raspberry Pi – A Credit-Card Sized ARM Computer – Yours For Only $25
• Official Raspberry Pi Community

What was your biggest reason for getting a Raspberry Pi? What do you use it for now?

The post 7 Reasons To Get A Raspberry Pi appeared first on MakeUseOf.

We’ve looked in detail elsewhere on MakeUseOf at the many uses for a Raspberry Pi computer, but one of the most popular is undoubtedly transforming the device into a media streaming or home theatre system.

As I write this, print magazines on newsstands are heralding the arrival of the “£22 smart TV” and the Raspberry Pi certainly affords this type of functionality to a typical flat screen LCD or plasma screen television, thanks to the port of the popular XBMC software, which has resulted in Raspbmc.

Preparing The Raspbmc Software

You should have already followed our previous guide on installing the Debian distro for Raspberry Pi and got yourself up and running.

In order to install Raspbmc, you will need a couple of things. The first is a new SD card – your old one is kind of necessary for running your Raspberry Pi under normal circumstances; it is effectively the Pi’s hard disk drive, so overwriting it will result in you having to reimage the card, which will be approximate to reinstalling the operating system. You don’t have to use a new SD card, but it is recommended. Note that a microSD card with an SD adapter is suitable.

Whichever solution you use, the device will need to be formatted and inserted in a card reader connected to your PC before proceeding.

Next, you will need to download the Raspbmc installer. Once saved to your PC, unzip and run the installer.exe file.

Your SD card should be listed in the installer window; check the box and click Install, and the utility will install Raspbmc to the media. When the “congratulations” message appears, it’s time to remove the card and replace it in your Raspberry Pi.

Setup Raspbmc

With your Raspbmc-installed SD card inserted into your Raspberry Pi, switch on the device, ensuring beforehand that it is connected by Ethernet to your router or LAN. Further data will be downloaded as part of the setup, so this is vital.

You won’t need to do anything – unless there is an error with your Internet connection, Ethernet cable or SD card – so sit back and enjoy a coffee (as instructed by the Raspbmc installer!) while you wait.

You’ll know when the media centre is ready…

What You Can Do With XBMC On Your Raspberry Pi

Raspbmc is essentially the popular XBMC media centre project ported to Raspberry Pi. As such the user interface and functionality of the software is more or less identical.

Pictures, Video and Music are split into their own menus, while you can also get weather information for three locations. Media sources need to be manually added while various add-ons can be installed via the Add on-Manager.

What is great about XBMC/Raspbmc is that it is so easy to use – the UI is clear and attractive to look at.

For full details on using Raspbmc, head to the XBMC wiki.

Improving Raspbmc

Setting up this media centre software on your Raspberry Pi is relatively simple, as is connecting media and enjoying the fruits of your (relatively light) labour.

However the system isn’t perfect – codecs for particular file types are not available with the software. Instead, the MPEG-2 and VC-1 codecs must be purchased. Fortunately, they’re relatively inexpensive and can be found at the official Raspberry Pi Website.

Even without these additions, however, your Raspberry Pi will make a great portable media centre!

The post How To Make Your Raspberry Pi Into a Home Theater System appeared first on MakeUseOf.