Media Software

[jmadero]

Hi All,
I'm looking for software that is similar to a media center accept it will only be used for DVD's (my personal backups of my DVD's) and music. I have a laptop so won't be doing things like PVR (recording tv). I have looked at Muthbuntu and it looks interesting but it looks like it's mainly aimed for PVR functions, not just for general clean media player that displays all of my DVD's/Music in one clean format and allows me to select what I want to play then have it play in my choice of player (VLC for movies, Amarok for music). I'd like to not have to install a different OS for this (such as Linux MCE), is there something I can install that goes on top of Ubuntu (such as possibly Myth) or some other piece of software that will give me this kind of functionality....sick of having to go into my DVD folder, right click and then open with vlc, it'd be nice to have all of my dvd's in one place, maybe even with a short description of each and the image from the DVD...). Not sure if this exists but any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks all!

[Cabhan]

I don't have any particular experience in this field, but a quick Google for "linux media center" shows a few options, including this:

Entertainer project

Also, you mention Linux MCE. If they have the functionality that you want, maybe see what software they use, and then just install it on Ubuntu?

[jmadero]

I found another one as well....but my question..how do I install this? I downloaded it, there's no config files, it's not a deb....not sure how to install, really want to try it. The other one I tried was Elisa Media Center, the problem with that was that it didn't recognize my folders which contain .vob (using dvdshrink) as DVD's so basically I had to click each individual VOB file to make it work...not what I'm looking for, so maybe this one has that problem fixed. Thanks!

[Cabhan]

I didn't realize how new that one is O.o.

To install it, just decompress and expand the tarball, then check the README. Copy the configuration like it says, and then cd into the src directory and run make and make install from there.

Good luck.

[jmadero]

thanks for the reply I'm going to hold off until a .deb or until repos. I'm doubting it supports the folders that I have, I may try it when I get some free time but alpha 0.1 is probably barely functional I appreciate the link, I'm also going to keep an eye out for Elisa, I posted a request and they put it on the wishlist so maybe at some point it'll support viewing my folders as DVD's...hopefully by then I can also have my cell phone working as a remote (ultimate goal is to get rid of all my extra stuff and just have my computer (controlled by my cell phone) and my monitor (which also functions as a tv)...

[mhanan]

(ultimate goal is to get rid of all my extra stuff and just have my computer (controlled by my cell phone) and my monitor (which also functions as a tv)...

Lofty goal... I'm still working on getting my universal remote to work.

[jmadero]

I actually had my phone working as a remote in XP (that took about 5 hours on the phone plus a bunch of forums plus my soul). I have seen a few programs come out for linux in the past year but so far no luck getting my phone to function correctly (unlocked LG Shine), so...it's still in the making. I just don't like having multiples of anything, so if my computer can work as a dvd player, media center, lappie, then my monitor can be my monitor/tv I can donate my other stuff....I try not to collect stuff if there are options to lessen what I own

[bigtomrodney]

That sucks that Elisa didn't quite work for you. I know it's still developing but it is a nice piece of software all the same. I was going to suggest geexbox but that's a distro. I used to keep it on my laptop instead of booting all the way. I thought I'd replace the stoooopid Dell Media Centre software (XP) but the media button is very fussy and is tied to the BIOS apparently. Still, geexbox is pretty tidy and can play over networks and from upnp servers too.

[jmadero]

I definitely give them props both at Elisa and Entertainer...I wish that open source had a better community of "help one another on one project" instead of "make three things that do the same thing and see who leads in the end" --> I'm not a programmer so I can't say too much but sometimes it just seems like if the people working on Project A and the people working on Project B both gave up on Project A/B and moved on to Project C TOGETHER, things would get done much quicker and the ideas that each have would be implimented together...sometimes it's good to have lots of options but at times Open Source seems to have just too many of the same/similar project happening...I think this is a prime example, the people at Elisa could team up with Entertainer and make an amazing piece of software AND they could do it faster with more people...just my thoughts

I would try that distro but my laptop is also my main computer, it's a desktop replacement (again minimizing what I own) so I don't want to have to reboot to get into a media center, maybe at some point I'll look it over just for kicks but I really prefer a piece of software that runs inside of Ubuntu so that when I'm ready for a movie, just start the software up (maybe even just on my main monitor), pick my movie and be happy..

You know what would also really be cool...I use amarok for my music, I love their setup with ratings/recommending music/lyrics/etc...it's be AMAZING if one of these media centers brought amarok into it (not the whole GUI but similar so that it used amarok's MySQL database, had the lyrics up like amarok does, and all of that). This way, if I use amarok or the Media Center would add to my rating system and keep track of how many times I play/etc....

Perhaps I should add that to the wish list on Elisa....