Tallitsch

Freevo Media Center is an open source HTPC media centre software integrating PVR / DVR funtionality along with music, video, gaming, home automation and more. It is written in python and uses existing popular software such as mplayer, xine and vlc. Primarily aimed at the Linux platform it is also possible to run on OSX and for the determined on Windows. It is the main mythtv alternative.

Just found out about this new software and can’t wait to give it a try. I would love to get rid of my Tivo and ReplayTV monthly subscriptions.

I have spent a little time on trying to get Boxee working on an old Gbox computer that I have here at home. I have installed Ubuntu 8.10/intrepid on it but am unable to get Boxee to start. After reading up on the problem that I am having, a quick flash of a black screen then the Boxee folder tab on the bottom vanishes after a few seconds. I think it is due to the integrated ATI card. I tried a few ideas from the web, but it either did nothing or caused the video to not work at all. Next is to try a different video card. UPDATE I got Boxee to work. Turns out that the computer that I was trying to get it to work on had what seems to be hard drive and memory issues. I reinstalled 8.10 on another computer with a newer drive and it worked. Hooked it up at home to the TV using a SVGA cable and a cable that converted the sound from 1/8 mini jack (speaker out) to RCA left and right. Worked well on a few things that I tried. Did have a weird high speed viewing of a movie trailer. Ended up disconnecting the computer from the TV due to the computers size (old 4U super heavy server) and the fan noises that it produced. I need to find a smaller computer case and give it a good try. One issue that I have is that I have no remote due to the MB that I am using is so old it does not have an IR ability. So everything has to be done with mouse and keyboard. I tried to remote desktop it using ultraVNC, but I just had a black screen when I started Boxee, so that does not work. I did find something new that I am looking into. See my post on “Qtv”.

UPDATE
I placed purchased a new video card and got Boxee working in the Gbox to a point. Over all it seems to be working quite well, except I experienced an issue with Hulu in that I got sound but no picture on a couple of occasions. This I think is due to bandwidth. Other then that it was working fine. My biggest issue is that both out TV’s are of the older tube type and I am havng troubles with the display.  I hope that in the near future I will get a LCD TV, which should solve all my problems.