I have described how I setup my Ubuntu-XBMC based HTPC in several of my previous posts: https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/?p=252 https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/?p=279 https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/?p=285 I bought the Wireless USB PC Remote Control Mouse for PC as a cheap IR remote / receiver to control my HTPC. It sells for about $7 on Amazon. This USB … read more
I recently installed Kubuntu Natty Narwhal 64 bit on one of my laptops. The recent changes to Ubuntu (Unity) and Gnome 3 prompted me to go back to KDE. I have to say that except some minor quirks this Kubuntu release is very snappy. I think that the direction of … read more
Like I explained in my previous post, I have an Ubuntu Server playing HD audio and video using Turtle Beach USB Audio Card and Broadcom CrystalHD. Pulseaudio worked when using VLC for some reason I did not get Dolby/DTS passthrough from XBMC. So I had to remove it as I … read more
In the previous post, I explained my audio problem with Turtle Beach USB Sound Card and XBMC. I read several posts mentioned in the previous post and did a lot of “trial and error” work. I learned that at this point pulseaudio cannot passthrough HD audio. However, I did manage … read more
In previous posts, I provided an overview of the process and the i explained how I installed CrystalHD drivers. In this part, I will describe how I compiled and installed XBMC from source with CrystalHD support. If you have not already installed all the dependencies, then check my previous post … read more
In a previous post, I provided an overview of the whole process that I went through. In this part, I am going to describe the procedure I used to install Crystal HD drivers. Before you even begin the process, you will have to install a bunch of files that are … read more
Patriot Box Office PCMPBO25 is an amazing media player from Patriot Memory. For quite some time, it has been a hassle to program logitech harmony remote to control Box Office. The only way to program the remote was to manually learn and configure each key. Well, not any more. Patriot … read more
In my previous post (Installing XBMC on Ubuntu Server with Broadcom Crystal HD Decoder BCM70015) I explained how I installed XBMC. The video worked awesome. The Intel GMA 950 card on the Wind box supported up to 2048 x 1536 resolution. This was good enough to display 1920 x 1080 … read more
Below are my network streaming settings: 1. MSI Wind Nettop Atom 330 server running Ubuntu Server (Lucid) and MiniDLNA 2. LG 42LE5400 TV that can run media from MiniDLNA (no subtitles) 3. LG BD570 Bluray player that can run media from MiniDLNA (no subtitles) and SMB/CIFS (subtitles work) So, just … read more