If you are like me who is a Linux user and owns a huge collection of music, videos and pictures, the world is not over for you yet. There are many open-source applications that you can use to turn your Linux machine into a lean, mean media center.

In part one of this series, I will go through some of these free media center software that you can use in your Linux machine (also see Media Center alternatives for Windows).

1. XBMC

XBMC is by far, one of the best media centers around. Originally built for Xbox, the XBMC team has now ported the popular software to the various platforms, including Linux, OSX and Windows. It supports a wide range of protocols and audio/video formats, making it a versatile media player that you want to have in your system.

With XBMC, not only can you enjoy your audio/videos/images that are stored in your local drive, you can also stream the multimedia content from the Web, via network share, SAMBA or even from uPnP devices.

In addition, XBMC is also extensible via the use of scripts. There is even a site that is dedicated for XBMC scripts.

2. Entertainer

Entertainer aims to be a simple and easy-to-use media center solution for the Gnome and XFce desktop environments. It uses the Gstreamer library in your Linux system to playback multimedia content and it allows you to play audios, videos, pictures, RSS feeds and weather.

One of its abilities is that it can download metadata (like cover-art and movie information) from the internet and makes it easier for you to organize and search your media files. The installation and initial configuration is not as straightforward as it should be and it involves running several scripts to get the application running.

However, once you have done the configuration and got it up and running, the rest is simply a matter of ‘point and click’.

3. Elisa

Elisa is an open source media center available on the Linux and Windows platform (the Mac version is due to be released soon). The interface is simple, with only 5 icons in the main screen that lets you select between Picture, Video, Audio, Settings and Plugins.

It has a tight integration with the internet and allows you to watch YouTube videos, listen to Shoutcast, view photos from Flickr and many other popular internet services. It is also extensible via the use of plugins.

4. MythTV

MythTV is a popular software that need little or no introduction. With the necessary hardware, MythTV can turn your computer into a PVR (Personal Video Recorder), a digital multimedia home entertainment system or even a Home Theater Personal Computer.

If you are familiar with TiVo, then this is the equivalent to the software version of it. MythTV initially started as a PVR project, but now with the use of modules (similar to plugins), one can also listen to music, play DVD’s, access NetFlix, view pictures, and many more features.

Due to its popularity, MythTV has also been integrated into several Linux distros to make the whole usage process easier. The most popular one is Mythbuntu, a Ubuntu-based distro with MythTV as the frontend. Other distros include KnoppMyth and Mythdora

5. Freevo

Rather than calling it a media center, Freevo is in fact a “media manager” that organizes your media files and enables you to access them all in one place. It uses the mplayer or xine to play your multimedia content and has an image viewer that can rotate your picture on-the-fly to allow easy viewing.

With the use of a TV-tuner card, Freevo can also act as a TV recorder. In addition, Freevo also comes with a series of in-built plugins that you can activate to extend its functionality. One of the interesting plugins is the game plugin that allows you to play your console game on the computer (via an emulator).

6. GeeXboX

GeeXboX is not a software that you install on your Linux. It is instead a small Linux distribution built with the intention to turn your PC into a Home Theater PC. There is no installation required. You just need to boot up the LiveCD and it will run by itself. You can even use it on a diskless computer, where the whole system is being loaded in your RAM.

While a full Linux distro comes in a size of up to 700MB, the ISO of GeeXboX is only 9MB and it comes with a complete and automatic hardware detection, thus does not require any drivers to be added. It supports playback of nearly any kind of audio/video and image files and all known codecs and containers are shipped in, allowing playing them through various physical supports, either CD, DVD, HDD, LAN or internet.

Now, if you are looking to recycle that old computer, GeeXboX might be the one for you.

In Part 2, I will discuss using your Linux machine as a media server.

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1. Joost

Joost, formerly known at the Venice Project, is the undertaking of the creators of Skype and Kazaa. Using P2P protocol to deliver its video, it is a free, legal video service. Joost is currently in deals with several networks including CBS, VH1, MTV, other Viacom channels as well as several other video distribution networks. Joost’s interface is one of the best around, and is meant for a ‘big screen’. It is workable via mouse, keyboard, or remote control. The strong point of Joost is it’s interface and its content that is available so far. A sampling of currently available shows:

• Star Trek: The Original Series
• Jericho
• CSI
• MacGyver
• GiJoe
• Several VH1 Shows
• Top Fifth Gear
• Punk’d

The weakness of Joost is also its content. Although there is a huge amount of content available, it is mainly niche content and is not very attractive for a large audience. Since there is so much content it is necessary to wade through much of it to find the gems. If Joost can get additional deals with other networks, it could really be the cable killer. However, since cable systems own stake in many distribution companies, I have a feeling that they are not very anxious to get their content online. Therein lies the problem – not a technical one but a political and dollars and cents problem.

Joost is in ‘beta’ but is now open and available for all to download at http://www.joost.com.

2. Hulu

Hulu is where it’s ‘at’ if you want to watch many of your favorite shows online. It is a project of NBC Universal and News Corporation and is currently in private beta. If you want me to send you an invitation I currently have 10 invites – please add your email to the comments area and I will send one off. If I have used my invites up – please use InviteShare to get an invite.

The single biggest feature and draw of Hulu is the volume of shows available. Not all content is available but a handful of currently airing shows are available to stream, as well as a multitude of ‘Clips’. Shows currently available include (but are not limited to):

• The Office
• Family Guy
• Saturday Night Live
• American Gladiators
• Prison Break
• The Simpsons
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• House

As you can see – it is an impressive offering. Hulu also allows you to embed whole shows or clips into your website in a YouTube-esq fashion.

The downside (isn’t there always one!!) is that the interface isn’t the greatest. It is pretty apparent that this is meant to be a small screen offering; you need your mouse to navigate the shows.

Hulu offers a multitude of shows and therefore in my own eyes is the best video site currently out there. They are always adding more shows and as it moves out of beta we may see more providers sign on.

3. Episodes via Network Websites

The television networks are now streaming a lot of their content onto their own individual websites. Remember the writer’s strike that recently settled? That is what it was all about – the writers were not getting a fair share of online ad revenue.

Dealing with each individual network is a pain but if you know where to look there is a lot of content available.

ABC

This is a sampling of ABC shows are available:

• Lost (HD)
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Ugly Betty
• According to Jim

MTV

Shows such as:

• Real World/Road Rules Challenge
• My Sweet 16
• The Hills

Discovery Channel/TLC/Animal Planet

• Dirty Jobs
• SmashLab
• FlipThatHouse

There are too many networks to list all of them, but check out the website of your favorite network and see if they offer streaming shows online. You’ll be surprised to find that many of them do!

4. Miro

Miro player is technically a video player. It does not have any direct content, so you need to be able to add content to it using RSS feeds.

Using its directory there are a plethora of Video podcasts available, such as Diggnation, Tekzilla, CBS News and much more. Adding this content to Miro is easy, however shows must be downloaded before you can watch them. Miro will gladly run in the background and download new shows as they are available. However, this can quickly add up to a lot of disk space lost, so you may want to customize your settings to only keep a few shows at a time.

The Killer feature of Miro is the integrated BitTorrent client. It allows you to set up an RSS feed of episodes which it will then automatically monitor and download. One such site that offers these types of RSS feeds is tvrss.net.

So about that television provider…

As you can tell, the choices available for replacing your television provider are really getting viable. Although nothing beats plopping down in front of the television after a long hard day at work, products such as Joost almost replace your current set top box and actually Joost is rumored to be working with hardware providers on creating a Joost set top box. DVR functionality isn’t quite there yet; but with content being on-demand on many of the sites above, replacing a DVR may work for many people.

Have you already made the cut? Please let us know about your experiences with ditching your cable company!

_ _ _ _ _

UPDATE 1: (Hulu Invites)

Hi folks,

My name is Christina and I work at Hulu. I noticed a bunch of readers were interested in getting Hulu beta invites. We’ve created a page at www.hulu.com/beta/makeuseof that will provide the first 500 users a Hulu beta invitation. Just submit your email address and we will send you an automated email with your temporary login and password. We hope you will enjoy!

Let us know what you think after you check it out. feedback@hulu.com

UPDATE 2: Sorry guys, all invites are already gone.

_ _ _ _ _

(By) Dave is an IT Manager by day and technology consultant by night. He is interested in all things internet but is specifically interested in system administration, network security, history, and backpacking. He lives near Philadelphia with his family. See his blog @ www.systembash.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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