The Payoff - Watching Your Movies
Ultimately the goal is for you to be able to sit back in your home theater, browse through your collection of videos, pull one up, and watch it in all its glory. Unfortunately, this is the weak link in the entire chain - you are wandering into uncharted territory here. But, there’s plenty of fun to be had as an early adopter, so I’ll lay out the options and you can decide where to go.
Right now there are three different categories of solutions for your DivX home theater viewing. They are, in no particular order:
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The high-end media PC
The dedicated appliance
The home-brew solution
Each of these have their merits and disadvantages. I’ll take a look at the options here and let you decide for yourself.
An XP Media Center PC
You probably noticed in 2003 that Microsoft was pushing something called Windows XP Media Center Edition. Media Center PCs combine special hardware and software to create a box that fits nicely into your living room. Ideally, this PC is quiet, unobtrusive, operable via remote control, and connects to your TV and sound system.
The Media Center PC is more than capable of playing DivX videos, and is probably powerful enough to act as a server to other systems around your house. You can find out a little bit more about this version of XP at Microsoft’s Media Center portal.
When it comes to managing your home video collection, Media Center claims to have just what you need. Right out of Microsoft’s mouth:
Media Center is a full-screen interface that helps you access more entertainment with less effort. Using the Media Center remote control and Media Center interface, you can access your entertainment using just one remote and a handful of common commands. From your favorite chair, use the Media Center remote control to browse TV Program Guide listings for shows to watch and record. Browse thumbnail images of your music, photos, and videos to find entertainment easily. Sort choices by artist, show or album title, or genre. While you browse your entertainment choices, the Now Playing window keeps your currently playing media selection in view and within easy reach. You can also access Media Center while sitting at your desk using a mouse and keyboard.
Media Center PC
Now, I have to give full disclosure here and let you know that I don’t have a Media Center PC, so I can’t comment on whether the software is really particularly friendly. All I can say for sure is that the underlying technology for playing DivX videos is there in Windows Media Player, so you aren’t going to have any problems there. I can also say that Media Center PCs are manufactured specifically for the purpose of recording and playing video, so Microsoft has put a lot of work into the user experience.
Sounds great, what’s the downside? I really see only two downsides to the Media Center PC. First is price. This is an expensive box. At a time when desktop PCs are getting really cheap, manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Gateway see the Media Center PC as a way to sell a system for a nice high price. Expect to see something well above the $1000 mark, with an average system probably going for $1500. (XP Media Center machines can be had for under $1000, but I haven’t seen an XP Media Center 2004 machine going for that price.)
The second downside of the Media Center PC is simple packaging. This is still a PC. The manufacturers have done a lot to make this thing fit into your media room, but they can’t change the fact that it’s a PC. It’s big, generates a lot of heat, and requires all the PC handholding and maintenance.
3 users commented in " Building Your Home Video Jukebox "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI disagree on your use of a pc jukebox- see a film once, how long b4 you want to see it again -most likly years . The best material for a VJB is music - Rip that into individual tracks from DVD’s videos, TV, or download it from the net. Store your tracks on a massive hard drive (1TB HD= 20,000 tracks) linked directly to a pc via say winamp . Press the shuffle and suddenly your music video collection come alive . Its far superior to the original formats when you are expected to listern to 90 minutes by 1 artist . Many videos have never been released on dvd and can now be picked up and converted for next to nothing.
However are you looking at your own VJB or is it really your own music video channel that only plays what you want without interferance from VJs, DJ’s and adverts
@record collector:
I’m with you on the movie watching habits, most people video along the lines of a Tivo - strictly for time shifting.
However, people with kids can tell you a different story about repreat viewings!
Great info, DVD Decrypter is a great program, thos it takes a good 90-100 minutes for the complete process to finish, which isn’t a problem when you have a 2nd machine to work on. Also try AutoGK Assistant http://www.free-codecs.com/download/AutoGK.htm
which works in unison with Decrypter. The time of storing music/video on plastic disks is over. I will oneday have a HDTV connected to a PC with a huge hardrive and internet capabilities, thus also getting rid of my cable companies forced programming that i dont watch or ever wanted, so i can surf the net for tv programs “I” want without commercials as well.
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