my plan inside

C

Ch1m3r4

Gawd
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
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In an apartment this year with three other people up at college. The plan is to have a server in the living room to perform the following functions:

play divx and perhaps mounted dvd images on a 27" daewoo tv (not hdtv, glass is flat like a flat screen crt would be, dunno what the tv terminology for it is).
play mp3s on my receiver/big speakers for chillin and for parties.
stream divx and mp3s to other computers.
fold. yes that's right, F@H
server for games is a possibility but not necessary.
the tv will be the sole "monitor" for the computer

The current plan was to use winxp pro, setup an html movie list that would open whatever player with the divx movie selected. Was thinking winamp 5 for the mp3s because I seem to recall it has a magnification feature of some sort, so things might actually be visible.

Is there any better way to go about this and/or any better software to use?
I'm partially concerned about the readability of things on the tv. What's a typical resolution and/or font size, etc that would be readable on the tv listed above?

thanks
 
Yeah you can do this but I don't really see the need for an HTML file for movies, I have no trouble just selecting them from within Explorer. You might want to look into getting Meedio though.

Readability is going to be crap though, it's a low res thing so I'd say looking into getting Meedio and use a frontend for everything. Oh yeah, your going to need alot storage too. :)
 
can you easily read them through explorer? did you jack up the font size or anything?
Meedio...I'll have to go read up on that and see what all it can do.
I think...and hope...storage is covered, at least for a while. The OS is running on a 20gb harddrive and there are 2 120gb harddrives in there currently. I also have 2 MORE 120gb hdds in my main machine.

of course if you combine my friend's mp3s with mine, that's around 70gb already :(
 
meedio does look pretty sweet, as does the bundle with the pc remotes. the bundles they have come out to $90, alone meedio is $60. alone, the remotes they bundled with are $40 I believe.

places to get either meedio or the remotes or the bundle for cheaper?
 
The only place to get it is Meedio's site I believe (there are four of you so that would come out to be something like $22.5 a piece;) )

I use something called SageTV which lets you watch TV (with a hardware based encoder card) but you can also watch divx file with it, I like it alot. Right now I'm using a trail version of Meedio with Sage for TV.

Sage TV you can buy from either Frey's site or PC Alchemy (think of it as Newegg for HTPC stuff) but it gets pretty cheap if you get it with a bundle.

That remote is pretty much the same cost, $40.
http://store.niveusmedia.com/s.nl/c.304836/sc.2/category.2/it.A/id.4/.f
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=80-100-651&depa=0

But you could probably find something else (or build your own USB-UIRT look under the sticky)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=list&catalog=283&DEPA=0&order=price&sort=asc
http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cPath/38

This stuff can get pretty complex (as in your choices) once you really get into it. :D
 
I can run the cable line straight to the tv...I have no real need for recording or anything, and it's not a hardcore htpc so I don't care if not everything goes through the computer. Meedio will play divx as well right? That's the impression I got, or maybe that was some plugin for it, I don't recall.

I'll have to take a look at those links and the diy info, thanks.
 
You don't have to have a TV card, SageTV will work without one I was just giving an example.
 
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