[Shteve0]

Hey all! It's my first day

I have a sumvision cyclone Micro 2 running media from a 2TB WD Elements hard disk. And it's cool but, you know, it's not quite there. The files are variously avis, mp4s, mkvs and even mpeg2.

I'm really looking for a complete media solution. I've seen people make moviesheets for the WDTV Live+, but it strikes me that, while it's a little (cough) more expensive, an ASRock Vision 3D seems to offer way more options. And it will look way cooler with my Black Wii.

Ideally I'd want to be able to go with the ASRock flash drive version and keep all the files themselves on the 2TB hard disk. It's important to me that I can browse or search through the films, music etc by genre without having to subcategorise (ie that I can give a film multiple genre handles). Is this possible? If so, I'm 50% sold.

Secondly, and the remaining 50%, I assume the ASRock operates as a standard computer. That should mean I can install/subscribe to stuff on it, such as bbc iplayer, 4od and lovefilm. Is this correct? (I'm a uk viewer; I guess there are US equivalents - hulu and netflix, perhaps?). Are there plugins to XBMC for this?

Less importantly, but I'm curious:

• Can I use services such as unblockus to "fix" my ASRock DNS?
  
• What OS do I need to bed XBMC down with in order to make all of the above work?
  
• What OS delivers the fastest boot time for XBMC?
  
• Does XBMC auto populate info on your files, such as synopsis and IMDB rating, or is this a manual job? Where and how is the information stored?
  
• Does XBMC care what file structure your videos are kept in when pulling from an external drive?
  
• can anyone recommend a slot load cd player/hi fi system to set this setup off?
  

Sorry such a long post. REALLY grateful for any pointers

[natethomas]

My suggestion: Read the quick start guide. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...tart_Guide

While it won't answer all your questions, it'll get you at least 50% there. I'm not sure on the UK-specific stuff, though I do know there's an iplayer plugin.

[Shteve0]

Hey Nate, cheers for this. Interesting stuff!

Unfortunately it only seems to answer one or two of my less important questions - either that, or I'm not doing a very good job of reading between the lines.

Still unanswered:

1) Can I search/filter movies by genre?
2) XBMC has a bbc iplayer addin - fantastic! Any offers on 4od, demand5, itvplayer and lovefilm?
3) Can I use services such as unblockus to "fix" my ASRock DNS?
4) What OS delivers the fastest boot time for XBMC?

Thanks so much!

Steve

[Clumsy]

Why not install xbmc on your normal computer and test things out ? You should very quickly get an impression of what xbmc can do.

Regarding number 4) probably openelec or xbmc-live.

[procrastinator]

1) Can I search/filter movies by genre?

Yes

2) XBMC has a bbc iplayer addin - fantastic! Any offers on 4od, demand5, itvplayer and lovefilm?

there's also an ITV plugin, but I'm not sure if its working at the moment. I think it probably is, but might need a nightly build of XBMC rather than the last official release (10.1)... maybe! check the ITV catchup thread if you want to read up on it, or ask how well its working http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...tv&page=22

4OD content is available via the YouTube plugin

*edit* Lovefilm: there's some interest in a Lovefilm addon, but I think it might be technically difficult to achieve [Lovefilm thread]. You might be able to use the Launcher Addon to launch the Lovefilm site in a browser window.

channel 5: don't think there's an addon for this, but then is there actually anything worth watching on channel 5?!


Dunno about question 3 I'm afraid


Trying it out on your PC beforehand is a good suggestion BTW

[outatouch0]

Welcome to XBMC Forums
Can I use services such as unblockus to "fix" my ASRock DNS?
No Idea what that it but now I am curious. What is it?

What OS do I need to bed XBMC down with in order to make all of the above work?
There are versions for MAC WIN Linux as well as boot directly from a flash drive ie no OS needed.

What OS delivers the fastest boot time for XBMC?
Probably the flash drive versions. If you have an SSD this becomes mostly irrelevant.

Does XBMC auto populate info on your files, such as synopsis and IMDB rating, or is this a manual job? Where and how is the information stored?
Does XBMC care what file structure your videos are kept in when pulling from an external drive?
This is all automated by xbmc for the most part if your files and folders comply with certain naming conventions. Fortunately there are a number of folder & file setups that work.

Lastly, spend some time in the Hardware section of the forum. You will likely get more answers to your hardware questions there.

[Shteve0]

I can't believe I didn't think of testing it out myself. there's a reason I'm a n00b.

I'll give it a spin when I get the chance. Limited to a work PC at the mo, don't want to install stuff I'm not 100% familiar with!

[HTML]http://www.unblock-us.com/[/HTML] - here's the unblockus site. I've never used it but there are good testimonials about. Assume it should work.

Cheers, procrastinator - as for channel 5, I've no idea - I've not seen any UK tv for quite a while (bar what's on bbc entertainment), hence my being so keen to get it set up now

Outatouch - I don't get this "no OS needed" thing. If that will save me getting an SSD, I'm all for it, but where can I read up on this? What exactly does it entail?

Cheers all. You've been a great help

[outatouch0]

Check out the different software versions of xbmc. 'XBMC LIVE' is a linux based version of xbmc that you boot direct from a usb flash drive.

[crash123]

Actually instead of XBMC live, I would go for an Openelec distro instead, much faster boot time and updated much more frequently.