[bastardale]

Hello, I'm totally new to the scene of HTPC rigs although I have been running XBMC on my v.1 Xbox for years and years (but only as a media/video hub no plugins really).

I've just spec'd and ordered parts for my first custom HTPC and now I'm researching media centers. Of course XBMC is first to come to mind so I've been test running it on my Windows7 64-bit PC just to get a feel.

Running Dharma 10.1 btw...

My question is this;
what can I do with XBMC besides use it to stream videos in various formats from my HDD?
At first I was really excited about using Hulu desktop. I downloaded all the files but it looks like the new Dharma doesn't support the Hulu desktop.
Also the Netflix plugin seems to be clunky. It wants to open an instance of IE which is in a separate window and doesn't seem to navigate very well.
Neither of these are big deals (just a bummer) but now I'm lost as to what else to do.

I've installed various other video plugins like Comedy Central, PBS and a few others. Once the list of available shows populates it appears the majority of them are 1-2 minute 'clips'. That's pretty useless.

I really don't expect one single person to list EVERYTHING that the XBMC will do, I'm just looking for some suggestions to get me going with this.

I guess if I were to rephrase my question I should ask, "what do YOU do with XBMC". And if that sounds cool, maybe I'll try the same.

I should also add, I do not subscribe to cable TV just internet. I have a netflix account which I usually watch through my Xbox360. Other than that I have a ton of videos and tv shows I've acquired over the years on HDD (still on my old xbox actually).

Thaks

[jhsrennie]

Hulu and NetFlix in particular don't make life easy for us. IIRC NetFlix uses SilverLight, so the only way to make it work at all is to spawn a copy of Internet Explorer.

JR

[bramblepants]

Hello, I'm totally new to the scene of HTPC rigs although I have been running XBMC on my v.1 Xbox for years and years (but only as a media/video hub no plugins really).

I've just spec'd and ordered parts for my first custom HTPC and now I'm researching media centers. Of course XBMC is first to come to mind so I've been test running it on my Windows7 64-bit PC just to get a feel.

Running Dharma 10.1 btw...

My question is this;
what can I do with XBMC besides use it to stream videos in various formats from my HDD?
At first I was really excited about using Hulu desktop. I downloaded all the files but it looks like the new Dharma doesn't support the Hulu desktop.
Also the Netflix plugin seems to be clunky. It wants to open an instance of IE which is in a separate window and doesn't seem to navigate very well.
Neither of these are big deals (just a bummer) but now I'm lost as to what else to do.

I've installed various other video plugins like Comedy Central, PBS and a few others. Once the list of available shows populates it appears the majority of them are 1-2 minute 'clips'. That's pretty useless.

I really don't expect one single person to list EVERYTHING that the XBMC will do, I'm just looking for some suggestions to get me going with this.

I guess if I were to rephrase my question I should ask, "what do YOU do with XBMC". And if that sounds cool, maybe I'll try the same.

I should also add, I do not subscribe to cable TV just internet. I have a netflix account which I usually watch through my Xbox360. Other than that I have a ton of videos and tv shows I've acquired over the years on HDD (still on my old xbox actually).

Thaks

Personally, I use it to keep up to date with American TV (and some UK) by automating downloads of my favourite shows via SickBeard.

For movies, I use the Apple Trailers plugin to watch the latest trailers, and use CouchPotato to download movies.

The whole setup is more or less automated, but that doesn't stop me from spending a lot of time fiddling about on there and trying new things out. You are in for a treat!

[poofyhairguy]

what can I do with XBMC besides use it to stream videos in various formats from my HDD?

You act like that is such a minor thing, when its XBMC's bread and butter!!!

[bastardale]

Personally, I use it to keep up to date with American TV (and some UK) by automating downloads of my favourite shows via SickBeard.

For movies, I use the Apple Trailers plugin to watch the latest trailers, and use CouchPotato to download movies.

The whole setup is more or less automated, but that doesn't stop me from spending a lot of time fiddling about on there and trying new things out. You are in for a treat!

Those both sound very much worth checking out, thanks. One question; are they both supported by the latest Dharma 10.1 release? and can I find them in the Programs or Videos directory under add ons... or do I need to download and copy them to the XBMC directory manually?