Kodi Community Forum

I'm still searching and reading through the threads but wanted to get some information before I lost my train of thought...

I built a new gaming rig back around Christmas and gave my old PC to my 9 year old daughter, but I wiped it and installed Ubuntu 10.04 on it. She was enjoying it at first, geeking out on it for a while, but then started experiencing issues with playing videos back on it and realized she couldn't stream Netflix, Hulu, etc. Because of that she has gone back to using my Windows based laptop and claims that she wants to keep it full-time.

So I'm going to bring her PC back into my office this weekend. That's ok, because I've been wanting to do a HTPC for some time. Especially since I went out and dropped $800 on a new TV a few months back (a gift to myself for a promotion at work and my birthday, plus my ex-wife took the big TV with her so I was using my 14 year old 25" CRT television...) but haven't watched it much because I rely on streaming media (Netflix, Hulu, TWiT, Rev3, etc) for most of my entertainment needs. But, best as I can tell based on what I've read so far, I'm worried that Linux won't be able to meet these needs. I *hear* there are work-arounds/plug-ins to get them working on Linux, but can't find the solid solutions (yet).

I'm wondering now if I should put her Ubuntu box on my desk and set my Win7 box up as the HTPC. The biggest issue I have with that is I'd feel like all that money I spent on hardware would be going to waste just sitting there plugged to a TV. Then again, I'm not gaming much these days, anyway, so I guess it's "going to waste" sitting here on my desk.

For my situation, what would y'all suggest? Does XBMC operate better on one versus the other? Has anyone used ReactOS (Windows based)? If I wipe the Ubuntu drive and put this on, could I use XBMC and access all the media I'm looking for? Or is there an option I'm overlooking?

And XBMC remote for Android: Does that work regardless of platform?

Thank you for any help/insight/suggestions. Back to reading...!

XBMC (Dharma) works equally well on all platforms. Your choice of OS should be dictated by other factors such as what OS you feel most comfortable with and whether you needs apps like Netflix that are only available on certain operating systems.

I find that wife acceptance is the biggest factor in choosing a PC to use as an HTPC. In the living room I use a Mac Mini because the wife thinks it's cute (well, Macs are girly computers :-). My chances of using a big noisy workstation PC for XBMC in the living room are effectively zero!

In my study I use a Revo even though I have spare workstations and it's a wife free area, because the Revo is tiny and virtually silent.

JR

Ok, I came to a simple solution: I remembered I had a copy of Vista in the closet and put that on the HTPC box, so I get to keep my gaming rig and still will be able to stream Netflix/Hulu. I didn't realize how old the equipment was until I saw the Windows Experience Index of 1.0... It should still be enough for what I'm doing, though.

Just to be sure I understand completely (I'm still reading/searching as I get time), XBMC is an application that resides on the OS and can be launched/closed at will, right? It doesn't automatically boot into XBMC when I power that PC up (unless, probably, I otherwise specify)?

On the Windows platform, are there operational plug-ins that allow streaming of Netflix/Hulu within XBMC so that I *could* set it to launch on startup? Or will those still have to be accessed through my preferred browser?

I know the answers are probably out there for me to find with enough time, and I apologize. Normally I would do the footwork myself but between 12-hour work days and my daughter's fall softball season starting (an additional 2.5-3 hours, 4 nights a week), I'm stretched thin...

I really do appreciate any assistance/insight/opinions/suggestions y'all can offer.

Yes, XBMC is just an application. There are lots of ways to make it start automatically when you start Windows, but no more than or any app.

I don't think there is a plugin for Netflix. I believe it uses Silverlight and this makes it hard to handle from inside XBMC. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Usi...nal_player descaribes one way of using Netflix from inside XBMC. This method would apply to Hulu and in fact any web site.

JR