I am very interested in dropping my HTPC and going with something more simple. My biggest problem is I cannot find any content streamer with an even halfway decent GUI. Right now I use Video Browser for VMC which allows me to search by a Poster view and also reads XML data.

Are there any content servers that will do this. I know a modded XBOX can, but does not support HD video files.

Basically I need a good GUI and support for divx, Video_TS dvd rips and 1080p MKV and that's it.

I absolutely hate interfaces that are simple lists of text on a boring blue background.

Have you looked into the NMTs? (Networked Media tanks) There are about 7 different ones on the market right now that are all pretty similar and have the same user interface.

The Popcorn Hour, iStar, HDX 1000 or HDX 900, eGreat, Elektron are the models I can think of off the top of my head. The Popcorn Hour is the most popular brand, but really it comes down to features, remote, and aesthetics. I think the HDX 1000 is the best built of the bunch at a slightly higher cost, but the Popcorn Hour is the most widely supported and purchased.

The NMT's mentioned above also have a growing GUI scripting community. At this point they have it almost as easy to manage as Media Center's "MyMovies/MyTV" addons.

I wasn't interested in them at all until I saw these enhancements.

YAMJ: http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/wiki/MovieJukebox
My Lil Movie JukeBox: http://www.treasure-cove.net/moviejukebox.htm#c1

The NMT's mentioned above also have a growing GUI scripting community. At this point they have it almost as easy to manage as Media Center's "MyMovies/MyTV" addons.

I wasn't interested in them at all until I saw these enhancements.

YAMJ: http://code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/wiki/MovieJukebox
My Lil Movie JukeBox: http://www.treasure-cove.net/moviejukebox.htm#c1


Now that is more like it. I had not seen those. I have been familiar with most of the media tanks, but everything I saw showed an ugly blue interface that just listed everything via text

A couple of questions, is there an easy way to seperate out TV Series from Movies? I would prefer to not see both when I am scrolling. Also, will they read existing XML files. Right now I use mymovies to create all my XML data and download cover art. I really like how it works, and I would like to keep it working.

Also, any idea what the wait time is for the Popcorn hour at this point?

Now that is more like it. I had not seen those. I have been familiar with most of the media tanks, but everything I saw showed an ugly blue interface that just listed everything via text

A couple of questions, is there an easy way to seperate out TV Series from Movies? I would prefer to not see both when I am scrolling. Also, will they read existing XML files. Right now I use mymovies to create all my XML data and download cover art. I really like how it works, and I would like to keep it working.

Also, any idea what the wait time is for the Popcorn hour at this point?

I've mostly been playing with YAMJ as it does not require external software like the other option. It sets up Genre's, so you have a "TV Series" and "Movies" option when viewing the front-end. From what I've seen so far YAMJ is better for dealing with TV Series in a NMT only environment and is just as good as Lil Movie JukeBox when it comes to movies. It is also more easy to script as it has a simple command-line:

MovieJukebox <Root Media Directory> -o <NMT HTML Output dir>


My Lil Movie JukeBox uses Movie Collectors front end, which can import MyMovies XML output. In an odd twist, the Movie Collectors software will also function as a plug-in for Media Center, so you can use My Lil Movie JukeBox to export the data for remote Popcorn Hour's and have the same data in a main "Media Center PC."

http://www.collectorz.com/movie/windows-media-center-mce.php

I think for the A-110 the wait is about 3-4 weeks.

I do like the look of YAMJ.
Is it easy to set it up?

davdev, instead of dropping the HTPC, have you thought about using XBMC Linux/Windows?

I do like the look of YAMJ.
Is it easy to set it up?

Run the commandline posted above, pointing it to the directory with your movie files. If the IMDB scraper picks a few wrong movies, create a few simple .nfo files with the correct IMDB links and place them in your movie file directory (about 4 or 5 .nfo's for my collection of 120 or so movies). Rerun YAMJ. Done.:D

Here is MixMan's Mayhem 3 skinned version of GBPVR playing on the PCH.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=pTXH4PtX4qM

Although that is a demo of the main ui and concentrating on audio and album art similar functions there all also video libraries, livetv and all the things you get in VMC and more.

Martin

Here is MixMan's Mayhem 3 skinned version of GBPVR playing on the PCH.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=pTXH4PtX4qM

Although that is a demo of the main ui and concentrating on audio and album art similar functions there all also video libraries, livetv and all the things you get in VMC and more.

Martin

I really like GBPVR, it is a fantastic solution if you are using a main Windows PC to control your content. However, I just want to play back stored media from a Linux NAS...so having to have a windows system puts this as "How AppleTV should have been done" in my book, and a great solution for those that need the features. Just not for me, which is why I forgot to mention it. No slight was intended!

None taken. In general I believe in native apps, and that is what I want to write for the PCH too, but for a whole house solution of audio and video with 3 or 4 TV's/monitors I think a front-end and back-end solution is best.

Here's another demo showing the UI with the added mymovies.xml integration and a few other video features. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCnZBvgM2b8

Martin

None taken. In general I believe in native apps, and that is what I want to write for the PCH too, but for a whole house solution of audio and video with 3 or 4 TV's/monitors I think a front-end and back-end solution is best.

Here's another demo showing the UI with the added mymovies.xml integration and a few other video features. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCnZBvgM2b8

Martin

True enough, though I just host the YAMJ output on my unRAID NAS and will point the PCH's at that. That way all of them will have the exact same look/feel without having to keep the local storage on them synced.

With the coming addition of XBMC .nfo support, it will be even more easy to keep the interface up to date using the scrapers that already exist :).

I just got the YAMJ on the popcorn hour and like it alot. Just make sure you have your video file labeled exactly what it should be or it won't pull the correct coverart.

I just got the YAMJ on the popcorn hour and like it alot. Just make sure you have your video file labeled exactly what it should be or it won't pull the correct coverart.

I agree, I just got my iStar last week and got it running with YAMJ in no time, it's great.

If you find the program isn't picking up the right movie info or coverart, you can specify those yourself.

In the same folder as the movie, you can create an 'nfo' file with a link to the imdb site in the file. You can also put your own 'jpg' coverart in the folder too and YAMJ will use it instead. You just need to make sure the files all have the same name, so your folder would look like:

Casino.Royale.mkv
Casino.Royale.nfo
Casino.Royale.jpg

In the nfo file you would simply have the link to the movie info, ie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381061/

Delete all currently create files in the 'Jukebox' folder for the movie and rerun YAMJ.

All I can say is WOW!!!

I gave up 6 months ago on my hunt for a streamer with a front end that looked professional (I HATED the simple text descriptions also). MAN a lot has changed since I lost hope!!

I just ordered a HDX-1000, and I am going to put my little movie front end into it....

I feel like a kid at Christmas!!!!

The NMT's mentioned above also have a growing GUI scripting community. At this point they have it almost as easy to manage as Media Center's "MyMovies/MyTV" addons.

I wasn't interested in them at all until I saw these enhancements.

YAMJ:
My Lil Movie JukeBox:

Just for confirmation, if I get any NMT such as Popcorn Hour, HDX etc., I will be able to use the cool and awesome looking interface of YAMJ/My Lil Movie Jukebox? Or is it for a specific brand and model only? If so, which one? Thanks in advance.

Just for confirmation, if I get any NMT such as Popcorn Hour, HDX etc., I will be able to use the cool and awesome looking interface of YAMJ/My Lil Movie Jukebox? Or is it for a specific brand and model only? If so, which one? Thanks in advance.

It should work on any NMT. All the various jukeboxes are really doing is pulling together a set of HTML pages that the NMT reads and displays instead of the standard file browser.

I also recently gave up on HTPC for networked and disc based HD media playback. I tried PS3; excellent disc based Blu-Ray player, mediocre "video jukebox". I bought an NMT (Popcorn Hour). Very happy with the PCH A-110 :)

Before I bought it I spent a couple of weeks trying various front ends. I settled on YAMJ. It's actually a lot easier to set up than you might think. It's command line based and that makes a lot of people think it must be complicated... but it's actually very simple. It's also incredibly well designed under the covers which results in a lot of flexibility.

I was one of the folks who "campaigned" for the adoption of the XBMC nfo standard in YAMJ. The current beta release has it in there for movies and it's working very well. That should come out as a release shortly. I think the release after that should see the XBMC TV Show nfo standard implemented.

I am using XBMC Media Companion to manage my movie and TV show collection with "beta 13" of YAMJ. With the "RobinsjExcal" skin the UI is actually quite nice, somewhat reminiscent of XBMC skins. I have 1080p content with TrueHD and DTS-HD MA audio streaming off my NAS via a very nice front end.

And the firmware updates for the NMT have been regular and surprisingly rich in features. There's a regularly updated thread on the NMT forums that show what's being tested in firmware releases.

I had a very functional "SD HTPC" in my living room for many years. All the coolest stuff came from the Open Source efforts imo. With all the HDCP crap in the HD space, it's pretty much killed a lot of the small company / open source innovation. I'm very happy with the NMT purchase and REALLY happy to see a thriving open source community making some great stuff for the platform.

egg

I got my PCH A-110 this week, exactly 12 days after I place the "pre-order" on the PCH site.

Yes,

A PCH-A-110 with moviejukebox.

Hey all.
I'm one of the developers for YAMJ. And I noticed on our Google/Analytics site that we were getting a lot of hits from avsforum, so I thought I'd stop by and see what everyone was discussing here.

I'm glad to see the interest in YAMJ. Feel free to ask away if you have any additional questions. You obviously already know about the project site here code.google.com/p/moviejukebox/ , but I encourage you to specifically check out the wiki pages there for additional instruction on usage, and especially encourage you to check out and use the Issues page to request additional enhancements or log defects.
We've been adding a lot of new features lately. Such as more enhanced TV series recognition, XBMC xml NFO file usage, meta tag reading, plus a lot of extra movie data for future skin development.

Was nice to drop by.
-altman.matthew (aka sTyLeS)

Cheers Styles :)

And thanks for the outstanding YAMJ efforts.. great product!

egg

Hey there, eggo. Fancy seeing you here. :)