blogtribe

As Miguel has already blogged about his I thought I’d mention mine. I’ve been searching for a media centre for a long time now and have investigated many options, including the Freecom Network MediaPlayer-35, with and without HDD, Pinnacle ShowCenter and of course the xbox Media Centre (xbmc). I’d heard lots of things about the MG-35 and the ShowCenter but not a lot about the xbmc, although I’d fully researched it and had many items marked on ebay, so I’d been slightly leaning towards the ShowCenter. Mig is correct when he says he convinced me to go in that direction, it was just the little push I needed to fully commit, the idea of having an xbox sitting in my entertainment cabinet hadn’t really appealed to me but hearing how good it was convinced me it was worth it. I also like the fact that it is open source, free and has a good community releasing patches, scripts and customisations.
I am now slowly customising my folders on my computer so they display nicely on the xbmc, adding folder icons etc. I have taken a few screenshots which I’ve used to show the current level I’m at, still a long way to go as I seem to have a lot to display :) Sadly the writers strike has interrupted full enjoyment of the media centre for now as not much is airing that I’m downloading so it’s not being used to its full potential. But once things get back to normal it will sure beat waiting till I have enough to fill a DVD before I can burn and watch :)

Take a look at the screenshots and if you have any questions just ask, no doubt I will be posting more on this when I’ve played more with it. :D