2010-12-09, 02:05
I've recently moved our file store to a central location (ReadyNAS DUO), and around the same time obtained an old laptop (IBM Thinkpad T41, 512MB RAM) which is set up in the lounge with the TV. I've set this up as dual boot Ubuntu and Windows XP, though haven't actually had to go back to windows yet. Which is nice :-)
Having setup a PC on the main TV I've started looking into media centre software to run on it, to give it a cleaner and easier to use front end than just moving through the file structure on a PC. Which is where XBMC has stepped in.
I installed it following the guide given in the Wiki,and we're up and running.
I'm struggling a bit with getting my video library to work but I think that it because of filename conventions etc (it won't pick up any of the TV shows...) and I'll keep working on that.
Originally the video playback seemed worse than just running the files in VLC Player under Ubuntu, but I've installed the latest Nivia drivers and I think we're now comparible. All hints appreciated (FYI, videos are stored locally on the laptop for playback rather than on the NAS).
Pictures and music are on the NAS. My question is - is it better to access these as a network location, or to stream them? I've got the music library up and running but I ask because accessing the pictures (digital photos) is painfully slow, much slower than just accessing them through the file structure under Ubuntu. What should I be looking at tweaking?
All guidance appreciated, as is the developers effort in getting XBMC available in the first place!
Having setup a PC on the main TV I've started looking into media centre software to run on it, to give it a cleaner and easier to use front end than just moving through the file structure on a PC. Which is where XBMC has stepped in.
I installed it following the guide given in the Wiki,and we're up and running.
I'm struggling a bit with getting my video library to work but I think that it because of filename conventions etc (it won't pick up any of the TV shows...) and I'll keep working on that.
Originally the video playback seemed worse than just running the files in VLC Player under Ubuntu, but I've installed the latest Nivia drivers and I think we're now comparible. All hints appreciated (FYI, videos are stored locally on the laptop for playback rather than on the NAS).
Pictures and music are on the NAS. My question is - is it better to access these as a network location, or to stream them? I've got the music library up and running but I ask because accessing the pictures (digital photos) is painfully slow, much slower than just accessing them through the file structure under Ubuntu. What should I be looking at tweaking?
All guidance appreciated, as is the developers effort in getting XBMC available in the first place!
