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XBMC
This thread has 16 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Wednesday June 23, 2010 at 13:40
Barry Gordon
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As I have mentioned before I have built my own "Kalaidascape system" for a fraction of the real ones cost.

The NAS I built is industrial grade and can handle up to 12 2 (or next year 3) terabyte drives. More storage than I forsee I will need. I could have built it for half the price if I went consumer grade. By industrial grade I mean it is designed to run unattended 24/7/52.

With regard to players I bought the Dune player and put together a full XBMC player on an Asrock ION-330 as I always like to play around.

I am controlling both players over HTTP, although the Http firmware for the Dune player is not yet officially released, and I am doing beta testing for them. The Dune plays everything I throw at it, with the only problem being some slight audio drop out on the Avatar disk. It plays True HD and DTS MA with no issues. Picture and sound is the same as the original disk.

The XBMC has a superb graphical interface which incorporates Music, Movies, TV shows, Slide shows... XBMC currently can not play (AFAIK) True HD nor DTS MA, although sWords has given me a ripping process to try which he feels will solve that issue.

Now why put this on this forum? Although I have interjected a PC between the Pronto Pro and the media players, there was no need to do so. The pronto can easily CONTROL either player over TCPIP as well as the unraid NAS. Feed back is weak, that is, the status/state is on the main TV screen for both players. XBMC is fully skinable and is a very graphically rich interface. The Dune player is more utilitarian but does allow for some "dressing up". Feedback from the players is basically that the http command has been accepted and if not why not. The people that make Dune are "Kiosk" people so Dune is very very reliable.

Cost wise a Dune player is $350-$399 and looks just like an A/V component. XBMC is free (I use XBMClive v9.11) and the Asrock ION-330 costs $349. the ION-330 is a small box with no controls other than power. The NAS is an unraid controlled unit(Linux base) built on a machine I assembled. Costs for a basic unraid NAS will vary based mostly on the case size (how many drives) and the size/cost of each drive. Excluding drives, you can probably build the NAS for about $500-$600 in a nicely expandable case with 2TB drives going for about $120-$140.

The unRaid design requires N+1 drives for N drives worth of storage so is much more efficient than mirroring, and has the advantage that the loss/failure of two drives does not destroy the array as is the case with Raid-5 architectures. It uses a single drive to store recovery information (Parity) and no data striping. Any given file is always stored completely on a single drive. SMB is built in so windows has no issues seeing the NAS data.

Ripping software is either free or fairly inexpensive. I use Clown_BD, AnyDVD HD and CloneDVD2. With regard to ripping in general, I do not rip disks I do not own and posess. I do not loan out disks I have ripped nor do I provide any one (gandkids included) with the rip files. I feel the law is self contradicting (DCMA vs Right to use) so I choose to follow the intent as I believe it. I will take a disk I have ripped to a friends house to watch it there, but it never stays there. As a person who develops and charges for software I understand why the film industry wants to protect its product, I just don't agree with how they are implementing that protection.

The Theater now controls the unraid NAS, the players and has always had it's own librarian. The librarian was rewritten using many of the ideas from XBMC. The Librarian displays on the main screen, but there is a version that displays on the Pronto PRO. The main screen version puts the library up as a scrollable list on the left 1/3 of the mainscreen, and as a disk is selected it places all the pertinent info about that disk on the right side including coverart, overview, cast, etc.

The librarian is driven from output files of the DVD Profiler application ($29.95). You put your DVD/CD/BR disk in your reader and tell the profiler it is there and you are done. For a new disk you can just enter its UPC numeric code and you are done. All of the searching and data retrieval is done by the profiler. As time goes on and more info about a disk is entered (think Wiki) you can automatically refresh all the information for your personal collection. The output of the profiler is an xml formatted file (Which the Pronto PRO could read) and all of the cover images stored in a well known location in well known format (jpg) named with the disk's ID which is in the XML file. My librarian running on a PC reads the XML file and builds three simple flat text files containing only what I want from the XML file for each disk. One sorted by title, one sorted by age in collection and one for TV show episodes by title. The Pronto could do the same thing with a little server app to feed it the XML file and place the text files in global storage. I actually have the server app or at least the basics of one to do just that.

In the Theater, when a disk is selected it starts to play in under 10 seconds, and is playing the main feature not the trailers or dire warnings. That is more a function of how I do the rips.

If you take the time to learn Prontoscript you will be amazed at what you can do in todays A/V world using the Pronto PRO and TCP/IP sockets. It really pays to learn Prontoscript, TCPIP, and how do deal with HTTP based servers. Almost all A/V devices use the Http protocol for IP control.

Last edited by Barry Gordon on June 23, 2010 17:05.
Post 2 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 04:35
nimnul
Long Time Member
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August 2007
245
I use XBMC as well and it is a nice product if you like to tinker, not a CI solution, more for an interested user.

What we could use is a script for browsing movie/TV archive, there is nice ones for music : [Link: blog.ziki.net]

But something that can browse movies by text, and start playing, and show info/synopsis etc. That is whats lacking.
Post 3 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 07:25
sWORDs
Long Time Member
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November 2006
373
If you want something like it why don't you build it? It's pretty easy.

There are users that have build those scripts (like me). It's the sharing part that's the problem. I have no problem sharing my scripts with others that share aswell (Barry, Lyndel, etc). I would love to make a community effort out of it, but no one seems to want too. I understand why Barry doesn't he uses a slighty other approach by only using TCP, I use UDP aswell, but both methodes could be easily integrate in a single module and settable with a parameter. I only use UDP to be able to see when a poll is really necessary.

And the XBMC music script you mention isn't perfect, there are much better ways to do so with XBMC.

Last edited by sWORDs on June 24, 2010 07:38.
OP | Post 4 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 09:25
Barry Gordon
Founding Member
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2,157
The version of XBMC That I am playing with (XBMClive 9.11) has the capability you seem to feel is needed. In fact I was so impressed with it that I redid my librarian to its style and capabilities. XBMC does its lookups based on what it finds as folders in the Movie, TV, and Music shares. It then looks them up in selected on line reference data base(s) and supplies all of what you seem to want. My only issue was with the TV Episode lookups, but since I am just tinkering around wit it I did not delve into how to correct it.

XBMC acts in some sense as a library manager. I really prefer DVD Profiler for that solution. One of these days I will build a workflow manager to manage the entry of the disk into DVD profiler and its ripping to the NAS. I am sure some interested soul could integrate the output of DVD Profiler into XBMC so that it uses the DVD Profiler exported XML file as the data base in which to look up the disk info.

I do agree though it is not, as it stands, a CI solution.
Post 5 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 11:35
sWORDs
Long Time Member
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373
Barry,

Movie and TV shows are not that hard in XBMC and you don't need external tools. I've got a 95% succesrate and almost all others can be corrected from the interface. Just make sure you use the database mode.

Save your movies in a subfolder like this: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
And your TV series like this: Grey's Anatomy\Grey's Anatomy S06E11.WMV

Make sure you use the exact name from imdb with year and the exact seriename from thetvdb. If a movie still gives the wrong info select update info and select another movie then the top one.

If you have trouble getting the database mode send me an email and I'll (write and) send another guide. I didn't have time for the postscript for clownbd and probably won't in the next 6 weeks, we've bought a house.
OP | Post 6 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 14:28
Barry Gordon
Founding Member
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August 2001
2,157
sWords, I experimented with all of that and had no issues. It is just that I really like the librarian I built based on DVD Profiler which a true media manager keeping track of a lot of additional info. I was only looking at XBMC out of curiousity as I am really satisfied (for my situation) with the Dune player. I will probably give the Asrock ION system to my grandson, as he is the inheritor of all my old equipments and gadgets. He has my old BenQ projector (720p) and with the XBMC system he will have the makings of a nice HTPC. He has put togther a PC with a decent amount of eSata storage to hold DVD's and is looking at building a small unraid NAS as soon as I give him enough parts.

If anyone on this forum is interested in DVD and/or BR mega changers contact me at my eMail addres in my profile; I have quite a few for sale.
Post 7 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 17:13
sWORDs
Long Time Member
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373
That Dune thing got me curious, I've tried the 2.0 Dune and it performed terrible here (BD's with high bitrate from NAS where stuttering and it did not support a html interface like UMC or YAMJ. Which player do you own and does it play all BD's and does it support LPCM? And what do you use to show cover art?

And building something on top of the xbmc database should be possible aswell, it's a SQLite database.

I would wait until giving away that ION, XBMC 10.xx is only a few weeks away (probably 8).
Post 8 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 18:21
husa550
Long Time Member
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On June 24, 2010 at 07:25, sWORDs said...
If you want something like it why don't you build it? It's pretty easy.

There are users that have build those scripts (like me). It's the sharing part that's the problem. I have no problem sharing my scripts with others that share aswell (Barry, Lyndel, etc). I would love to make a community effort out of it, but no one seems to want too. I understand why Barry doesn't he uses a slighty other approach by only using TCP, I use UDP aswell, but both methodes could be easily integrate in a single module and settable with a parameter. I only use UDP to be able to see when a poll is really necessary.

And the XBMC music script you mention isn't perfect, there are much better ways to do so with XBMC.

Easy for those who can :-)

If i could, i had build me a XBMC prontocontrol a long time ago, but i can't find the time to learn prontoscript.
I manage to test the scripts in Developers Guide, and get them to work, but from that, to make my own stuff feels lika a huge step.
I have even bought David Flanagans: Javascript, The definitive guide.
But 996 pages take's a while to read through ......
Post 9 made on Thursday June 24, 2010 at 20:25
Lyndel McGee
RC Moderator
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12,992
Don't be intimidated.
You only need to read the first 200 or so pages. Chapters 1-11. Get some post-it dog-ears so that you can mark places of interest as you will refer back over time. The rest is about HTTP, JSON, and other browser Javascript extensions. Also covers a bit of Flash Player, etc, which you don't need for Pronto.

Once you are done with the chapter on Modules (Chapter 10 or 11, I forget which), open up one of the Philips modules and you will see lots of similar things there. ;-)
Lyndel McGee
Philips Pronto Addict/Beta Tester
OP | Post 10 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 00:46
Barry Gordon
Founding Member
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Posts:
August 2001
2,157
sWORDs,

I am running a dune Player model Base 3.0. With special firmeware for IP control. The IP firmware has nothing to do with the capabilities of playing a rip. I am about to (tomorrow) try some dvd rips (TV episodes) to mkv format to see how they play. I am not expecting an issue but who knows.

Currently I am using using BR format and DVD format as the rip containers. The only disk that gave me a slight issue was avatar with some audio drops. Every other disk I have tried has played perfectly over a 100 mbit LAN from my NAS.

It plays True HD properly and DTS MA without issue as far as I can tell. The A/V processor says it is getting True HD and DTS MA through HDMI for those disks that have that as the audio stream. For older DVD's is it reports DD 5.1 and DTS 5.1 as it should.

Remember I have my own librarian so all I use the Dune for is to play the disk. You never even see its GUI as I send an IP command to blank it out.
OP | Post 11 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 00:54
Barry Gordon
Founding Member
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August 2001
2,157
The whole point of writing this script was to try and convince other non-CI's, i.e. hobbyists, that it really pays to learn prontoscript and how to deal with http servers. All of the manufacturers I have spoken to over this past year indicate they will be dropping RS232 in favor of IP.

As that happens direct control of A/V devices from the pronto will be the way to go. No extenders in the loop.

It is not that hard. As Lyndel said go slow and read the book, read samples and it will become obvious. If you have never done real programming (coding in a language like C or VB or Java or. . . you have a slight advantage. You won't keep getting the nuances of syntax confused all the time as you will only know one, javascript.
OP | Post 12 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 00:56
Barry Gordon
Founding Member
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August 2001
2,157
By the way who put the little red heart icon on ths thread. I have no problem with its being there but what is it supposed to mean?
Post 13 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 02:26
gopronto
Senior Member
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April 2008
1,453
Barry , What little Red Heart?
Pronto still one of the best Wi-Fi Remotes,
www.ikonavs.co.nz and [Link: axiumcontrol.com] Axium Control
Post 14 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 05:02
sWORDs
Long Time Member
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November 2006
373
Barry, that means you've added it to your favourites.
Post 15 made on Friday June 25, 2010 at 07:20
husa550
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44
After monday morning, i have 6 week's off duty, perhaps i manage to improve my prontoscriptskills a few steps then.
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