Is LinuxMCE a viable linux-based front and backend? The demo video looks amazing - I especially fell in love with the "follow me" feature - but I can't comprehend how this would work together smoothly. Is the platform more trouble than it's worth?

Is LinuxMCE a viable linux-based front and backend? The demo video looks amazing - I especially fell in love with the "follow me" feature - but I can't comprehend how this would work together smoothly. Is the platform more trouble than it's worth?

LinuxMCE is pretty awesome, but it is *VERY* hardware-specific, and very limited as far as trying to add software and use it for anything other than just what it was designed for. If you decide to use it, there is hardware (and technical support) designed specifically for it --> http://fiire.com/

Well, firstly, as a media center, can it playback any video format I throw at it? My movie collection is filled with avis, wmvs, TS's, MKVs, ISO's, VIDEO_TS's, etc... I also have a few direct HD DVD rips, but I can convert the to TS if necessary. So, can LinuxMCE playback all these? And how do I managed my movies inside LinuxMCE? For VMC, I just MyMovies. Is there a similar backend for LinuxMCE?

Well, firstly, as a media center, can it playback any video format I throw at it? My movie collection is filled with avis, wmvs, TS's, MKVs, ISO's, VIDEO_TS's, etc... I also have a few direct HD DVD rips, but I can convert the to TS if necessary. So, can LinuxMCE playback all these? And how do I managed my movies inside LinuxMCE? For VMC, I just MyMovies. Is there a similar backend for LinuxMCE?

It's been a while since I've used it -- I know that it uses MythTV, but I can't remember if it has a separate video player or if it just uses mplayer. It seems like it does have a separate video management system, though IIRC.

Have you looked at XBMC (http://xbmc.org/)? Awesome interface, and the only thing I haven't been able to play is VC-1. Check out the Aeon skin for it, too --> http://www.aeonproject.com/gallery.html

Well, firstly, as a media center, can it playback any video format I throw at it?

It has been a while since I have messed around with LinuxMCE. Is it able to play shows that were recorded using Vista's media center?

unless you are doing home automation don't use linuxmce. It's VERY complicated to setup correctly. XMBC or Boxee are much better choices for just video options. Also there was still a lot of bugs with it when I last tried using it about 6 months ago

Hello, I am one of the LinuxMCE core developers.

Yes, LinuxMCE can play back all of those video formats mentioned. We use a combination of libxine and MPlayer as our core media players, wrapped in our messaging buss protocol.

LinuxMCE is not just a Media Center, however. In fact, our media management facilities, while complete, comprise only about 20% of the entire system. LinuxMCE is a smart home platform, the first of its kind, allowing you to unify lighting, media, climate control, telecom, and security under a single system that can be controlled by a house-wide user interface. As such, it has much tighter hardware requirements than most media centers, and requires considerations of hardware and network setup. Read our FAQ on our wiki (I am sorry, AVSForum will not allow me to post URLs yet!) for more details.

-Thom

LinuxMCE is a smart home platform, the first of its kind, allowing you to unify lighting, media, climate control, telecom, and security under a single system that can be controlled by a house-wide user interface.

Which is what I love about it! Has anyone been successful with running it in a VM?

Have you looked at XBMC (http://xbmc.org/)? Awesome interface, and the only thing I haven't been able to play is VC-1.

in what container? it plays VC-1 correctly inside a .mkv (all my hd-dvd archives), and should for wmv and wmv-hd as well.

in what container? it plays VC-1 correctly inside a .mkv (all my hd-dvd archives), and should for wmv and wmv-hd as well.

Thanks, I really don't know -- it was one of the mplayer vdpau samples from nvidia (the one from M$, I believe). The system I'm working on is quite transient, so I apologize if I've given anyone the wrong impression.

The good news is that vdpau may be worked into xbmc before too long as a developer seems to be quite close...