April 8, 2013
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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December 7, 2012
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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September 23, 2012
Microsoft has been implementing big changes lately, and none of them are sitting too well with me. If you’re as jaded as I am about the $50 Windows Home Server being killed off - replaced by the $450 Windows Server Essentials - then fear not; you can get pretty much all the same functionality from these awesome free tools, and not give Microsoft a penny in the process.
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September 13, 2012
UPnP stands for “universal plug and play” and provides a set of standards for the hassle-free sharing of media without the need for manual setup. In essence, UPnP devices are able to see and communicate with one another, and one of the best uses for this technology to stream media around the house.
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March 1, 2012
Set up your own personal music server, with a web-based interface that lets you listen to your collection everywhere. Sockso does this, and runs great on Windows, Mac and Linux alike. Google Music and services like it are great. All of your music is moved to the cloud, giving you the ability to listen to it anywhere. There's a tradeoff, though - you're trusting a third party with your music collection.
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February 28, 2012
We recently published an article about the value of using your Xbox 360 as a media center. One commenter noted that the ease of its use can be enhanced with a media server program called TVersity. My experience with using Windows Media Center as an extender for my 360 has always been lackluster, so I gave it a whirl. TVersity turned out to be a good, though not flawless, solution.
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January 21, 2012
You've probably heard at some point that servers aren't only for those that have a lot of money. In fact, anyone who has a spare box sitting around somewhere in their house can have their very own server, slaving away at whatever whims you may have. Although it sounds very cool, it does take some effort and a little know-how to get it all set up.
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November 13, 2011
I first introduced the Plex media center app to you a few months ago as my Media Center app of choice, mainly because of it’s superb meta-data handling. The one major drawback was that the client software was not available for Windows which had just the server software. Plex have finally got around to releasing a Windows client, as well as streamlining their server offerings. Let’s take a look at at it all.
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September 2, 2011
Downloading or streaming music is definitely an activity that I love to do when I'm relaxing or just trying to pass the time. The problem I have is that when I download music to a PC, I may want to access that music from different PCs in my house. To solve that problem, I decided to create a sort of Wi-Fi PC Radio server where I can store all of my music and then allow users from anywhere to stream that music.
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August 4, 2011
An issue I encountered when I first received my iPhone was the inability to stream my fairly well-organised music and video collection direct to my new device. I don’t use iTunes other than on my iPhone for the odd podcast, mainly because I’m primarily a Linux user, so I thought I would try Air Playit for Windows and Mac OS X.
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June 1, 2011
Taking a break from our regular awesome software reviews and tutorials, I thought it’d be interesting if myself and some of the other staff writers here at MakeUseOf show you our own home setups - whether that be in the form of fantastic custom desks, complicated home media-streaming networks, or just the apps and services we make use of on a regular basis and our favourite software tools.
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May 15, 2011
Plex is widely regarded by many as being the best media player, manager and streaming application around - available for both Windows, Mac and even mobiles (though the mobile apps are not free). If you're looking for a single solution as both a media center and server, then read on.
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May 5, 2011
There are a handful of people who find creating their own streams a useful thing to do, for whatever reason they want or need. Ever since the YouTube era started video streaming has been hot and music/audio streaming is still a pretty common thing to find. The process in Linux, though pretty easy for basic configuration, is somewhat lengthy.
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January 20, 2011
Yesterday, we looked at Netgear’s ReadyNAS Ultra 4 and were impressed with its throughput performance. The day before, we loved how Synology’s DS411j and its gorgeous GUI stole the limelight. And before that, we were all taken with the Drobo FS and its ease of use. So today, how about we feature a NAS that [...]
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January 19, 2011
Yesterday, we reviewed Synology’s DS411j and were greatly impressed by its intuitive GUI. And while the DS411j is mostly geared towards average home users, the NAS device that we will be looking at today is targeted at power users who demand higher performance over ease-of-use. Netgear’s ReadyNAS Ultra 4 is available in both diskless ($699.99) [...]
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