Here's a place to discuss GeexBox as a media PC/ media extender.

http://www.geexbox.org/en/index.html

I'm suprised how little discussion there is here about GeexBox.

I've been following GeeXbox for 3-4 years now. In the past 12 months, it has made big gains in capability and stability.

It's probably the smallest full function set-top-like media distro out there.

Just download the ISO builder, set your options, burn to CD, and boot from the ~12MB CD.

I hope to discuss video and audio related issues here- custom resolutions, aspect ratios, tearing issues, SPDIF out issues, etc- the usual avsforum PC topics.

From the GeexBox site:

"This new one is a really good candidate for your HTPC multimedia distribution choice. It comes with an improved hardware support, providing dozens of new drivers (a lot of new WiFi controllers, DVB card chipsets and new remote controls). It also comes with a massively upgraded and more stable MPlayer, which features native decoding of various audio/video formats/codecs that used to be available through non-free Win32 DLLs only (such as Windows Media Video, Flash ...). Also, GeeXboX now has some decoding speed improvements (use of SSSE3 instructions from Core2Duos has been added) and the OSD menu has been completely rewritten to provide a lot of new attractives features. Oh, and did we mention ? It can plays decrypted EVO files from HD-DVD ?"

Is there any way to run it as an app without building a cd? That is the onyl way I could run it on an atv.

Is there any way to run it as an app without building a cd? That is the onyl way I could run it on an atv.

The whole point of GeeXbox is to turn a PC into a set top appliance- so no, it can't run as an app, though you might want to try it under a virtual machine...

GeeXBox is really cool. It's one of those projects that should have a higher profile than it does. I'm not using it because I had problems with VESA on the EPIA based system I'm using as a media player. My TV's picture alignment controls couldn't get the picture centred.

Is there any way to run it as an app without building a cd? That is the onyl way I could run it on an atv.

It is based on Freevo, so just install that instead http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

It is based on Freevo, so just install that instead http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

To be more precise, GeexBox 2.x will use Freevo 2.x sometime in the future.

http://freevo.sourceforge.net/download/live.php

For now, Freevo 1.x and Geexbox 1.x are separate projects. Geexbox 1.x is a bootable, complete OS/media player, while Freevo 1.x installs as an app into an existing distro.

Can't believe the lack of activity in this thread...

Anywho, I've been experimenting further with GeexBox 1.1

The ATI Remote Wonder (first edition) with the USB radio receiver appears to work better than the RealMagic remote (serial port IR receiver).

The Realmagic would produce double inputs (key bounce?) when using the direction arrows to navigate the Geexbox on screen menus- i.e. press down or up and the selection would jump two items instead of one. The ATi Remote Wonder does not have this issue.

Also, I have several Packard Bell remotes and matching receivers, and couldn't get them to work, even after selecting the Packard Bell Fast Media remote in the ISO builder GUI. The ISO builder does not have a selection for the PB Fast Media receiver- is the RealMagic receiver compatible with the Packard Bell Fast Media IR remote?

On the video card front, I've been testing several Fx5200 and Radeon 9550 cards, all with passive heatsinks and Svideo out to a SD tube TV with Svideo input.

The first issue I had with one of the Fx5200 cards was a rolling black and white image on the TV. I immediately suspected that the card defaults to PAL vs NTSC.

I tried another Fx5200 card and a Radeon 9550, and both appeared fine and worked perfectly via Svideo NTSC out, just like a set top box, no driver or ISO builder setting or other Geexbox setting required. Just be sure to only connect the composite/Svideo, no VGA/DVi connected or the card won't auto-set the Svideo properly. Of course, the VGA or DVI should work fine to a current plasma or LCD HDTV, too.

So, a word of warning- many generic Fx5200 cards out there from the geeks.com of the world may be PAL by defualt. It appears that you can change a line in one of the Geexbox config files to tv_out=NTSC to force NTSC, but I have not tried this.

A third issue- since I'm building hard-drive-less GeexBoxen, and want them to act like DVD/media set top players, I don't want the GeexBox boot CD to auto eject. The plan is to use two optical drives- one dedicated to the Geexbox CD, and a DVD-ROM drive for media burned to DVD/CD.

If effect, you treat the GeexBox CD-ROM like an "EEPROM" of your Geexbox set top box, with a CD-RW holding the "BIOS" or "firmware" of the Geexbox.

After googling, I found the following:
To disable auto eject remove eject command from 10_eject

though I have not tried this yet.

So, I am nearly done with what I consider the "perfect" Geexboxen for several SD tube TV's- Svideo out, silent, fanless operation, using old leftover hardware like P3 600Mhz cpu's, and set top like remote control...

Can't believe the lack of activity in this thread...Don't need another SD-only solution or one that requires more tweaks to work with HD - the author says the next release will support HDTV's natively.

Don't need another SD-only solution or one that requires more tweaks to work with HD - the author says the next release will support HDTV's natively.

That's true, but the number of people using SD content- DVD, SD .avi's/mkvs- FAR outweighs the numbers using HD content.

Plus, Geexbox currently supports up to at least 1024x768 resolution, and other higher-than-SD resolutions. Yes, the developers plan to add 1280x720, 1350x768 and other 16x9 resolutions common on current HD displays.

But I don't think this diminishes the value of the current Geexbox 1.1- it is far more capable than the Philips 642 or similar Xvid/Divx DVD players and extenders, and can be built for about the same cost or less depending on the amount of old parts you have lying around.

People that cling to their SD setups are living in the dark ages. With SD OTA programming about to disappear in a little more than a year, they will be dragged kicking and screaming into the present.

People who use HD are no longer "early adopters". Digital broadcasting has been around for a long time. Plus, the picture is so much better, it makes SD programming seem as if you are looking through smoked glass.

I know, there is a lot of old SD programming in the vaults. That can't be changed, but you can't continue to live in the past.

No one I know relies on HD for any day to day viewing or purpose. Occasional eye candy or special sports event, yes.

I work with engineers and my wife is a high school teacher.

Many co-workers have canceled all subscription TV- sat, cable- and rely on OTA SD, SD DVD's, and darknet downloads (nearly always SD) for their needs.

All the teachers I know rely on SD sources, and have zero need (and never will) for HD.

As for philosophy, I like to support SD for the freedom to choose how and where to use it, without DRM (CSS on SD DVDs notwithstanding) and laws like the DMCA and related issues. For example, if HD disc formats replace DVD, say goodbye to the days of buying a disc player (current SD DVD players) and never having to update the firmware or "phone home" via an Internet connection just to play a newly purchased disc. BD+ and AACS updates will probably be required by playback software and set top players going forward, especially BD+ updates to thwart the AnyDVD's and HD Fab Decrypters of the world. PowerDVD on Windows already demonstrates the updates required to play purchased media going forward. With SD DVD, they can NEVER require an update to your player on new discs going forward- they can't hold you hostage. With HD disc media, you grant the IP holders a new power. Similar situation with encrypted digital programming sources.

My wife and all the teachers she knows relies on SD analog cable for educational programs (History, TDC, TLC, CNN, etc).

My mom thought that a clean analog cable program we were watching was HD on my 42" LCD panel! Clean SD (analog noise-free or compression artifact free) simply isn't *that* bad.

The shutting off of OTA analog isn't a big deal. The shutting off of analog cable- now THAT's a BIG deal for me. That would render useless the 6-7 PVR150 cards I now use to DVR all the analog cable programming we want.

...and I'll take a good quality, calibrated SD RPTV or tube TV over any DLP or average LCD any day of the week ;).

The shutting off of OTA analog isn't a big deal. The shutting off of analog cable- now THAT's a BIG deal for me. That would render useless the 6-7 PVR150 cards I now use to DVR all the analog cable programming we want.
It's my understanding that the bandwith needed for one analog cable channel can be used for several digital channels. So, with the demand to add more channels, what do you think that cable providers will do? I don't know that this will render the SD capture card useless, as digital programming can be SD too.

I would start planning the changes now. Don't buy anymore analog equipment or cards. A HD card is no more expensive than a SD card. And the digital stations usually offer more content, by way of extra side channels. I think if you put one OTA digital tuner in a box, you will be pleasantly surprised. That's what got me hooked. I was recording the Star Trek: Enterprise show while I was at work. The picture quality was stunning, compared to the SD versions I had recorded.

It's my understanding that the bandwith needed for one analog cable channel can be used for several digital channels. So, with the demand to add more channels, what do you think that cable providers will do? I don't know that this will render the SD capture card useless, as digital programming can be SD too.

I would start planning the changes now. Don't buy anymore analog equipment or cards. A HD card is no more expensive than a SD card. And the digital stations usually offer more content, by way of extra side channels. I think if you put one OTA digital tuner in a box, you will be pleasantly surprised. That's what got me hooked. I was recording the Star Trek: Enterprise show while I was at work. The picture quality was stunning, compared to the SD versions I had recorded.

I've had the myHD cards since the first one in 2002.

The PVR150 card's tuners would be useless if all analog cable were to switch to QAM digital cable, SD or HD. I wouldn't mind SD digital cable, but it's usually *inferior* to SD analog for two reasons: (1) SD digital cable is usually encrypted, rendering all PC based cards useless. (2) SD digital cable is usually over compressed, with obvious digital compression artifacts, making the picture *less* quality than a clean analog cable counterpart!

The trade of incremental eye candy for media use liberty and much bigger file sizes is not worth it to me. I still use the myHD MDP130 card on an XP box (no Linux driver yet) for special sports events from the OTA stations sent unencrypted over my cable line. I plan to sell it to get the Linux compatible HD HomeRun.

The ability to split and run analog cable to a large number of PC and non-PC based encryption-free recording devices that *I* own (not cable/sat company DVRs required due to encryption) trumps ALL competing arguments for me. And those sat/cable company provided PVR/DVR's will disable analog output of recorded programs if copy protection flags are set, so you can't record the PVR/DVR output to a DVD if you want to.

The day analog cable is shut off is the day all Holy Hell will break loose among the teachers of the country...

The day analog cable is shut off is the day all Holy Hell will break loose among the teachers of the country...We've gone off the GeexBox topic here already, and I'm with Rgb for the most part. In my home theater I'm HD and SD ATSC OTA with MyHD-120 and SD DVD. But, in the rest of the house we use analog cable. But what I'm wondering now is, does anyone know what the cable companies are planning to do once the analog OTA is shut off? I mean they could continue to convert the digital to analog, like some are doing right now, or they could drop analog all together. Requiring the user to rent their digital STB with an analog output of some sort for those who want to continue using the old sets.

It seems on this forum, there are several broadcast engineers that are willing to discuss the transition. But, I can't find even one cable operator/engineer/tech, or whatever, to talk about what their plans are. Does anyone know?

It seems on this forum, there are several broadcast engineers that are willing to discuss the transition. But, I can't find even one cable operator/engineer/tech, or whatever, to talk about what their plans are. Does anyone know?

When/if analog cable is shut off, I will immediately cancel the cable TV subscription, as it will be useless to me.

Even if they remove the encryption on digital QAM cable, I would still need to buy all new tuner cards, and copy permissions flags still might be an issue.

The PVR150's of the world are invaluable, as they ignore any record permissions flags (which have been reported as being set by many analog cable providers on many stations), which are respected by front ends like Windows MCE, either preventing recording and/or archiving to DVD.

AFAIK, most current set top DVD recorders won't act like your good old VCR either- they will be commanded by copy permissions flags to not record a program, even if you set the recording manually like an old VCR.

Going forward, the *only* way you'll be able to maintain the use rights you've always had with VCR's is to build your own recording device like MythTV. Commercial recording set tops will take control from you.

...back to the thread subject...

Anyone using Geexbox to play HD material?

But what I'm wondering now is, does anyone know what the cable companies are planning to do once the analog OTA is shut off? I mean they could continue to convert the digital to analog, like some are doing right now, or they could drop analog all together. Requiring the user to rent their digital STB with an analog output of some sort for those who want to continue using the old sets.


I've searched all over the net for this answer, too, and I have never found an "official" word.

My belief is that every cable carrier will decide market by market what to do.

From a practical standpoint, if they tried to shut off analog cable by some near term date, they'd have to the following:

- Provide a set top box to every analog-only customer who's using the tuners built into their TV's and VCR's. This would either cost the cableco money out of their pocket (means it's cheaper to keep sending analog cable), or they could pass the cost along to the customer, a double whammy- the customer could get hit with the box cost (rental at minimum), plus an increase to the digital tier, unless the cableco makes the digital tier the new base rate, unlikely in the near term.

Then, they'd have to explain to all their customers why they can't record to their VCR's or set top DVD recorders or third party DVR's. And explain why those TV's in the exercise room and kids rooms, fed from a simple 3 way splitter, no longer have a picture. It would get ugly *real* fast.

Comcast has already converted Chicago to digital, doing away with analog expanded basic. From what I could tell there was no large amount of wailing here (for reasons unexplainable to me). And I don't think you could get as many STBs as you wanted, it was like 2 extra with no fees IIRC.

I'm with you - when they get around to converting the ATL to digital only, they better be providing me with STBs for free permanently, or I better be able to buy them on the cheap. And even then I will be hating them because they suck power, slow channel changes, and are used as a vehicle for more ads to make money for them.

http://www.multichannel.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6450122

Don't need another SD-only solution or one that requires more tweaks to work with HD - the author says the next release will support HDTV's natively.

Time to resurrect this thread, with renewed interest in media-playback-centric (i.e. no tuners) front ends with the release of XBMC for OSX

http://www.osxbmc.com/

To answer slowbiscuit's issue, HD-resolution capable versions of Geexbox have been available since May of 2007!

http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8700

Has anyone tried the HD resolution releases?

There has been a steady stream of development releases
http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9621

Lots of releases in the development forum
http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=14&sid=6c55df3511b285512eef62989fee2344

No one I know relies on HD for any day to day viewing or purpose
where the heck do you live? Bosnia?

:D

where the heck do you live? Bosnia?

:D

No, in the Real World of Real People ;)

My point was, the majority of video material most people rely on is SD- analog or digital cable/sat, DVD, avi Xvid downloads, Flash video feeds from $Youtube's of the world, NBC.com's of the world, Hulu.com, etc.

Plus, I elaborated on the SD issue in the post you quoted from.

Yes, someday the majority of video feeds (broadcast and web) will be 720p or higher, but we're many years from that.

In my experience, "most" people are unwilling to pay the premium for HD tiers if reasonable cost and quality analog cable is available, or are just using Hulu and network websites to watch shows (which are SD), dropping the cable portion of their "triple play".

Smart people are also ditching subscription cable/sat for Netflix SD-DVD subscriptions instead, since they then have access to premium networks like HBO/Showtime and hard to find material, at a pace they control.

And no, the typical avsforum member/poster- some with umpteen set top boxes, rented PVR's and doodads festooned with a labyrinth of Firewire, HDMI, DVI and Svideo/composite loopback cables and IR senders to circumvent copy protection/encryption/recording restrictions- doesn't represent "most people", the kind who might want to own/use a Myth/Geexbox or XBMC PC if someone built it for them.

I don't know where this HD-elitism came from on AV-science, but the spirit of the forums is to optimize your source, whether it's VHS, Laserdisk, SD-DVD, BluRay, Xvid/x264 home media server encodes, over-compressed and artifact ridden Comcast HD channels (;)) or web feeds.

But what I'm wondering now is, does anyone know what the cable companies are planning to do once the analog OTA is shut off?

In the intervening months, I've learned that my provider, WOW, plans to keep analog cable with "no current plans" to shut it off. I suspect we have at least 5 years left on analog cable, maybe more. This is WOW in SE Michigan.

Then, they'd have to explain to all their customers why they can't record to their VCR's

Why couldn't they? Sorry, I'm not familiar with the tech, but even with a STB, there must be an analog loophole? Or are these STB's all HDMI? Somehow I doubt it because not everyone has a new TV. There must be a composite cable dangling somewhere, which means you can hook up your VCR or other capture device. Or not?

Why couldn't they? Sorry, I'm not familiar with the tech, but even with a STB, there must be an analog loophole? Or are these STB's all HDMI? Somehow I doubt it because not everyone has a new TV. There must be a composite cable dangling somewhere, which means you can hook up your VCR or other capture device. Or not?

I was thinking about unscrambled analog cable fed directly into recording devices (VCR's, DVD recorders, DVR's and PC tuner cards) with cable-ready tuners.

Many people don't want the expense (rental fees) and/or complication of set top boxes, IR senders, and composite/Svideo loopback cables.

Too many set top boxes, DVR's, PVR's and DVD recorders may add Macrovision or use the CGMS-A flag to disable the composite outputs or recording

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CGMS-A

No, in the Real World of Real People

Where's that? Here in sunny Florida, where I live, everyone of my neighbors that I know personally (20-30) has gone Hidef... I watch the network shows in Hidef, DiscoveryHD, HistoryHD, ESPN-HD... hell, on Monday nights I drag my HD Projector out by the pool and we (neighbors) watch MNF in HiDef :eek:

That's my world of real people :D

my provider, WOW, plans to keep analog cable with "no current plans" to shut it off. I suspect we have at least 5 years left on analog cable, maybe more.That is the plan here as well. They are already converting the OTA HD broadcast to analog, and plan to continue providing analog cable. They are not, and have no plans to, provide any QAM in the clear.

It may not be true, but I read somewhere, that the FCC is allowing three additional years for cable to covert to digital after the OTA analog cut-off.Has anyone tried the HD resolution releases?I have not. I'm still interested in giving it a try, but haven't had time to play around with it.

Any HTPC option for me must handle HD very well. I'm not familiar with geexbox, but I checked out XBMC on OS X a couple months ago and it looks like it has a TON of potential.

The UI is really nice and smooth, it handles HD material pretty well (it could be improved, and accelerated playback would be nice, but it's not bad now). It also has tons of plugins, including some support for MythTV playback, which makes it quite a nice flexible frontend. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Any HTPC option for me must handle HD very well. I'm not familiar with geexbox, but I checked out XBMC on OS X a couple months ago and it looks like it has a TON of potential.

The UI is really nice and smooth, it handles HD material pretty well (it could be improved, and accelerated playback would be nice, but it's not bad now). It also has tons of plugins, including some support for MythTV playback, which makes it quite a nice flexible frontend. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Try the latest development releases
http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9621

They support HD resolutions.

Use the ISO generator app to select the options you want, then create the ISO, burn it and boot the PC with it. It's that simple.

I have found geexbox to be an extremely handy media center application for many of those "non-primary" rooms in the house.

I've created several geexbox machines for use in my own home. One is coupled to a 17" DiamondTron CRT for the kids to watch their cartoons. We have a large collection of "classic" shows, like the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, He-Man, Thundercats, etc which the kids just love and are as much (if not more) entertaining that the cruft that is out there now.

We are OTA only, no cable, no dish. Other than PBS (love Nova, Antiques Roadshow, britcoms, and Doctor Who) and the odd show on Fox (mainly Sunday night's animation block) and of course Days of our Lives for the SO we have very little use for broadcast television on a daily basis.

I have a MythTV backend with 4 Air2PC cards I picked up for $50.00 *total* including shipping. This is more than enough to grab anything OTA. We have a Myth frontend coupled to the "main" TV, a 27" SD job using S-Video. The rest of the house uses Geexbox for the simplicity (just plays videos).

I realize that this doesn't jive with the "typical" AV consumer out there, but SD capability is extremely useful in many instances.

Couple this with the fact that a geexbox can replay the 400+ Xvid movies I have stashed on a fileserver in the basement, we have plenty of tube entertainment.

The best part about all of this is the hardware is basically "future proofed". I can upgrade to a nice HDTV screen when I am ready to retire the SD-CRT. They all have VGA and DVI (via HDMI) so the conversion will be fairly smooth, just need to change the resolutions in the config.

All of the secondary geexbox machines are already running native VGA to a computer monitor (with speakers).

With the Mythbox transcoding all that I record OTA to MP4 and shunting it to a locally accessible fileserver, all of the geexbox machines have access to all of the videos without all of the complication that my kids just don't need.

My daughter (the oldest) is nearly 3, and has no trouble playing/pausing her Scooby-Doo on the geexbox. She will never know what commercial TV is really like (thank goodness).

Thanks for creating this thread, it is good to know others out there aren't chomping at the bit for the latest and greatest. Mature software/hardware certainly has its place, and I for one am very glad for it!

I have found geexbox to be an extremely handy media center application for many of those "non-primary" rooms in the house.


Thanks for creating this thread, it is good to know others out there aren't chomping at the bit for the latest and greatest. Mature software/hardware certainly has its place, and I for one am very glad for it!

You're my new hero ;)

You're the exact kind of Linux/Myth/Geexbox/HD/SD/OTA/fileserver user this thread was made for :D

But seriously, I think your story, which reflects my home network, usage profiles, and sources (with the addition of analog basic cable, only at the wife's insistence), reflects a lot more typical media PC users than many forum members admit.

Heh, there is always a fine line between "retro" and "old fogey".

I lived my childhood in the 80's (32 now), with no cable TV except at my Grandpa's house. We also weren't terribly well off either, not poor but not rich by any means. My father was very creative in making use of good used materials without looking like he was building a patchwork house. Always wanted to "do it right the first time". That doesn't always mean buying new. Heck most of the furniture in my 1920's home is twice my age! Made of REAL WOOD, not some particle nonsense.

I am also very much engrossed in home efficiency and family self sufficiency. I don't buy tomatoes, most squash, corn, or potatoes since we grow enough in the garden. I've worked out a side deal with a local guy with timber for our fireplace in exchange for a little computer work. You'd be suprised how much firewood you can trade for a pair of 512MB DIMMS!

This whole philosophy, coupled with my need to tinker with things as any boy does brought me to Linux way back in 1995. I get a real charge out of making something out of used parts that is on par with a professional retail product. Getting some nice walnut to create a 19" cabinet/case for a myth frontend, fits very well with my mid-1990s Yamaha stereo rig. Not made in china (well the wood anyway).

My equipment at my home was all used, motherboards, cases, monitors. Most were obtained for free as cast-offs from others who wanted to update their "gaming rigs". Just two weeks ago my 27" CRT died, and I found a better one on Craigslist for $50.00! Granted I won't be salivating on the 1080p goodness of HDTV in all of its glory just yet, but I can wait until one of those 32" LCDs drop below $200. Even the ATSC cards are obsolete tech-wise, but perfectly usable if you have a good strong signal from the tower.

Sure I could have saved myself ALOT of time and effort by purchasing MCE and BeyondTV, but it would not have been nearly as fun or rewarding. And who really needs a copy of MCE for a 3 year old and her 15month old brother to watch Scooby Doo?

Granted, tech is my leaning, so I'm not only interested in the destination, but also the journey. You can't have a really good discussion including linux without discussing the journey.

Sometimes this makes me feel like I've lost touch in the latest tech arguments. I sure love my FLAC audio, but I also love sipping warm tea listening to some old vinyl too. Speaking of that, I've heard it could be the wave of the future in music. You purchase a digital music file for your mobile device, and get either the CD or VINYL<!> to listen at home. Maybe Retro isn't such a weird thing after all!

...blah, blah, blah... Scooby-Doo ...blah, blah, blah... Scooby-Doo ...

...blah, blah, blah... Scooby Doo...

You must now share your entire Scooby Doo collection with the rest of us via torrent. :D

where would an appropriate place to discuss this be? I am assuming this is a torrent-free forum? Could be wrong tho. ;)

where would an appropriate place to discuss this be? I am assuming this is a torrent-free forum? Could be wrong tho. ;)

I was just playing, but I think you're right.

P.S. I always read my private messages...

Does AVS have an IRC channel? You can send files over the IRC, and I tried it by sending myself a mp3 file. I don't know about video files though, they are much larger.

With all the talk about the Popcorn Hour frontend media player box, Geexbox was here first by many years and is very similar in capability, except for the BT client...

With a little more work, Geexbox could beat PCH and XBMC handily...

I would be one of those people that love Geexbox for what it does, and especially for the fact that it doesn't try to be all things to all people.

GB was never really intended to be a "primary" media center OS, much like a Live CD was never intended to fully displace a hard drive install for the majority of users. GB allows you to play videos in a relatively pain-free way with very little interaction with the system.

Booting off the iso at a friends house and popping a CD with XVID AVIs in the drive in its place was a real eye opener for them, especially since we were using his hozed (at the time) MCE system.

The only big caveats are remote control capability (takes more than 30sec of work) and video out capability of the "host" system. The latter is becoming less and less of an issue with more digital LCD sets out there in the wild which almost always have VGA input.

I could never understand why you would want a torrent client running on your media system. I personally have a backend fileserver (and almost always have) which is much better suited for this type of task. This doesn't need to be as complicated as it sounds (566 Celeron, one 40GB boot drive, two 1.0GB HDD for data). With Popcorn it sounds like trying to move a piano with a Honda Civic. It's doable, but wouldn't a truck be better and easier considering the task involved?

The only big caveats are remote control capability (takes more than 30sec of work) and video out capability of the "host" system. The latter is becoming less and less of an issue with more digital LCD sets out there in the wild which almost always have VGA input.



If you pick a remote and receiver supported in the ISO builder, then setting up a remote is trivial. Yes, adding a remote/receiver to lirc that is not included already takes more work, but it's not hard to find remotes and remote receivers that are pre-supported by Geexbox.

For Svideo out, I've found ATI 95xx/96xx cards to be excellent for Svideo/composite out, as well as Nvidia FX5500 and up. Both work like set top DVD player Svideo/composite outs, with no extra effort required to make work, just plug and go. Just be sure to boot with the Svideo cable connected- you might have to disconnect all other outs (VGA/DVI) to make the card default to the Svideo output in hardware.

http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10082

ben
Developer
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:41 pm

Post subject: GeeXboX 1.2-beta1

As usual, it took way longer than expected but there it is: GeeXboX 1.2-beta1. Why Beta release ? Honnestly, this version should now be pretty stable. However, too few tests have been done by users on forum recently and we wanted to confirm the good feedback we have before releasing the final 1.2.

So what has changed to take so much time ? As told at 1.1 release's time, the major change is X.org inclusion. This was a lot of work but this allows GeeXboX to fully support wide screens and all of the new HDTVs monitors. Everything is autodetected and configured and it should detect the best resolution that suits your monitor. Along with X.org, come all of its video drivers. Say bye bye to VIDIX (as good as it was) and welcome XVideo. This brings video acceleration (but still no GPU offload) to nearly all video cards in the wild (whether it is Intel, nVidia, ATI, S3, SiS, VIA ...).

Alos come many kernel and internal changes. The whole distributions is now modularized to best detect your hardware and load ony what is needed. Many drivers have been added and installation has been completely reworked for better usability.

This version also has been optimized for various platforms like EeePCs, EasyGate and bring official support of MacIntels computers. It also introduce a new port to x86_64 architecture which brings a small performance boost regarding to the 32bit edition.

Unless major bugs are encountered, you may expect the final 1.2 release to come pretty soon. In the mean time, the more you test this beta version and report bugs, the fastest it'll be issued.

Detailed Changelog (relative to 1.1 release):

System:
- X.Org 7.4 inclusion (default, change it with generator).
- Support for SMP and multi-cores.
- Update to Linux 2.6.27.4.
- Update BusyBox to 1.11.3.
- Update to SysLinux 3.72.
- Use of initramfs instead of initrd.

Toolchain:
- Update to GCC 4.3.2.
- Upgrade uClibc to 0.9.30-rc3.
- Upgrade glibc to 2.7.
- Use glibc as a default when building with X.Org.

Ports:
- Port to x86_64 architecture.
- Port to PowerPC 64bit architecture.
- MacIntel support.
- Optimizations for EasyGate platform.
- Optimizations for EeePC 700.

Player:
- Update MPlayer to r27662.
- Enable ASS support.
- Add MonkeyAudio decoder.
- Add GOOM audio visualization.
- Fix for CDDA playback.
- Add TV selection menu.
- Add de-interlace filter for DVDs and TV streams.
- Use of keypad for DVDNAV controls.
- Add support for extended PLS netstream entries.
- Enhanced DVD Navigation Menu support.
- Fix somes issues with encrypted DVDs playback.
- Use per stream type configuration profiles.

Video:
- Add widescreens and HDTV screens support.
- Add X11 video acceleration for most graphic cards (Intel, nVidia, ATI, S3, SiS, VIA ...).
- TV-Out is no longer available when booting with X.Org enabled.
- Some Intel VESA driver fixes.
- ATI VIDIX driver color fixes.
- Restore VIDIX support on PowerPC.

Drivers:
- X.Org hardware autodetection.
- Dozens of new WiFi, Ethernet, DVB ... drivers supported.
- All drivers are now modularized (no longer built-in): only useful ones are actually loaded.
- Add kernel drivers auto probe and load mechanisms.
- Fix many PATA devices issues.
- Add support for 16bit PCMCIA cards.
- LIRC 0.8.4

Networking:
- Upgrade to Samba 3.0.32 (better support for MS Vista shares).
- Add support for Plan9 network shares .
- Add NFS v3/4 support.
- Add PXE boot from Samba.
- Allow for defining static samba mounts

Installator:
- Introduction of configurator: post-install reconfiguration utility.
- Use of libparted instead of old fdisk for disk partionning.
- Enhanced install to USB process.
- Provide faster boot methods for install to HDD.

Generator:
- Add HDTV (X.org) related new options and configuration settings.
- Add GOOM audio visualization settings tab.
- Add NFS shares configuration tab.
- Add static Samba shares configuration tab.
- Automatic packages download at ISO image compilation.

Miscellaneous:
- Add AppleIR remote support.
- Add X10 RF MCE remote control support.
- Add ACPI multimedia buttons handling.
- Enhanced system information menu.
- Enhance VESA boot menu.
- Enhanced Web interface and better browser compliance.
- Add optional support for Video Disk Record

If you pick a remote and receiver supported in the ISO builder, then setting up a remote is trivial. Yes, adding a remote/receiver to lirc that is not included already takes more work, but it's not hard to find remotes and remote receivers that are pre-supported by Geexbox.

For Svideo out, I've found ATI 95xx/96xx cards to be excellent for Svideo/composite out, as well as Nvidia FX5500 and up. Both work like set top DVD player Svideo/composite outs, with no extra effort required to make work, just plug and go. Just be sure to boot with the Svideo cable connected- you might have to disconnect all other outs (VGA/DVI) to make the card default to the Svideo output in hardware.
Yes, the LIRC config is what I was referring to. I've only used serial dongles thus far, would like to try a USB/IR interface for a remote and see how plug-n-play friendly that really is.

I'm using a bunch of fanless FX5200 cards with S-Video capability in each of my machines. Even though all but one output thru VGA, I got a deal on a cadre of 4 for less than $10.00 each. Who could pass that up? Plus they work great for Myth frontends as well. I'm still in the AGP zone right now, waiting for the TV upgrade before I drop some coin for a PCI-E card.

Yes, the LIRC config is what I was referring to. I've only used serial dongles thus far, would like to try a USB/IR interface for a remote and see how plug-n-play friendly that really is.

I'm using a bunch of fanless FX5200 cards with S-Video capability in each of my machines. Even though all but one output thru VGA, I got a deal on a cadre of 4 for less than $10.00 each. Who could pass that up? Plus they work great for Myth frontends as well. I'm still in the AGP zone right now, waiting for the TV upgrade before I drop some coin for a PCI-E card.

Where'd you score the 4x FX5200 cards?

...fellow lowball deal hunter ;)

Fanless FX5200/5500 cards *are* great deals for front ends/Myth/Geex/XBMC's. They handle everything up through 1080p fine, assuming a sufficient CPU for the resolution you plan to use. (480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p)

Where'd you score the 4x FX5200 cards?

...fellow lowball deal hunter ;)

Fanless FX5200/5500 cards *are* great deals for front ends/Myth/Geex/XBMC's. They handle everything up through 1080p fine, assuming a sufficient CPU for the resolution you plan to use. (480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p)

craigslist, found somebody locally (des moines iowa) who was parting out some "old" machines, had all of these video cards in a pile. when I first saw them the pic looked like a few were older GeForce2 cards. My only concern at the time was the S-VIDEO out. My offer of $40.00 was the best the guy received.

I'll always keep my eyes open for more, since they are getting more "obsolete" for regular users all the time.

When the LiveCD version of XBMC hits the streets, competition among GeeXbox, XBMC and others like them should *really* start to heat up...

Guess I'm going to have to give XBMC a try. I've used Geexbox in the past and really, really, like it. Never found anything else I like as well, but, of my two media PC's that I now use, one won't play smoothly without GPU offload on the Intel GPU (which Geexbox can't do), and the other has enough CPU power, but an ATI graphic adapter. I never could get TV overscan from the ATI card with Geexbox.

Since I haven't tried in a couple of years, does anyone know if the current Geexbox can do overscan with ATI cards?

Since I haven't tried in a couple of years, does anyone know if the current Geexbox can do overscan with ATI cards?

Try the latest and report back ;)

http://www.geexbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10082

Movix is another liveCD set-top-like distro, but it hasn't been updated since 2005...

http://movix.sourceforge.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoviX

http://movix.sourceforge.net/

Try the latest and report backI'll have to do that! I'm not too confident though. The latest is focused more on VGA and HDTV, so I don't think there has been any additional development for TV-out. And rightly so, because who would still be using TV-out.:rolleyes:Movix is another liveCD set-top-like distro, but it hasn't been updated since 2005...I have a Movix file on my desktop...must have downloaded it a few months ago, and never got around to trying it out.:confused:

When the LiveCD version of XBMC hits the streets, competition among GeeXbox, XBMC and others like them should *really* start to heat up...

I'm happy to see that XBMC is moving forward with the speed and momentum it has now. I've just picked up an older Radeon 7500 with S-Video out that doesn't really like Geexbox (or maybe linux in general).

The card works well in Windows, so I'm gonna give this a try with the latest XBMC-win32 and see if it is usable.

I'm happy to see that XBMC is moving forward with the speed and momentum it has now. I've just picked up an older Radeon 7500 with S-Video out that doesn't really like Geexbox (or maybe linux in general).

The card works well in Windows, so I'm gonna give this a try with the latest XBMC-win32 and see if it is usable.

Due to the OpenGl accel 3D needed for XBMC, I think the lowest ATI GPU supported is probably a Radeon 9550....

Has anybody here any experience working with one of these cards? Supposedly they are one of Nvidia's OEM variants of the GeForce4 MX440.

I've found a cache for a good price but there are some concerns:

1) only has DVI and S-Video, no VGA

this is an issue for me somewhat, just need to get a DVI adapter

2) will the TV-OUT work OK on this card with GeexBox?

Not looking for any kind of MP*G accelleration, just standard TVOUT capability to play Xvid files.

The forums, both @ Nvidia and MythTv are quiet on this issue. The appeal for me was that these are all low-profile cards with their low profile bracket already attached. Makes a great drop-in install for several older machines I'd like to hand out to family (I'm keeping my FX5200s).

The lot is going for $6.00 per piece, but the kicker is I have to buy the whole lot of 9 items. All cards are guaranteed to work AFA a video card goes, so that part is covered. I just have no use for these cards if they will not work with GeexBox, XBMC, and MythTV again just for Xvid viewing thru S-Video.

Any insight or experiences from the gallery would be greatly appreciated.

Can't say for sure about "Dell" OEM MX440 as I don't have that card, but what I do have is a Gateway OEM MX440. S-Video works OK with GeeXBox on that card. But, I have had issues with it on all but one of my motherboards. It will cold boot with all of them, but will not restart with the Asus or HP OEM Asus boards. Works fine with the MSI board I have it on now.

My current project is trying to get GeeXBox working with a Creative DXR3 card. Best TV-out I've ever seen, but I can't seem to get the GeeXBox to play nice with it.

Can't say for sure about "Dell" OEM MX440 as I don't have that card, but what I do have is a Gateway OEM MX440. S-Video works OK with GeeXBox on that card. But, I have had issues with it on all but one of my motherboards. It will cold boot with all of them, but will not restart with the Asus or HP OEM Asus boards. Works fine with the MSI board I have it on now.

When you say "restart" are you getting to the end of a video file and it leaves you with nothing but a black screen forever (until you reboot)?

I've run into this same problem with the VGA output on a particular motherboard I was testing (not S-Vid, actual VGA). Same motherboard worked fine when using a FX5200 for display (both VGA and with S-Vid). Never seen this before otherwise (my motherboards like me, mostly).

At least it is good to know that I might have a chance with these cards. Maybe I'll just get one to tinker with it. Cost more, but a good learning experience.

When you say "restart" are you getting to the end of a video file and it leaves you with nothing but a black screen forever (until you reboot)?No, that's not what happens with mine. I meant "restart" the OS. It never failed to boot, and as long as I would leave it powered up, I could watch videos or whatever just fine. It's just when I would need to restart the system for some reason, it just would not boot. Didn't matter whether I was using VGA or S-Video, the system just would not boot. I thought the card had overheating issues, but it plays just fine with the MSI board. No issues at all.:confused:

Geexbox 1.2 "final" released-

http://geexbox.org/en/index.html#geexbox_1.2

Detailed Changelog (relative to 1.2-beta3 release):

System:
- Upgrade to Linux 2.6.27.13.
- Use On-Demand CPU frequency scaling policy.

X.Org:
- Upgrade X.Org ATI driver to 6.10.0.

Player:
- Fix VCD playback issues.
- Disable GOOM audio visualization, was sucking down CPU too much.
- Fix some TV card bad color effects.

Installator:
- Simplify installator partitionning step.
- Unify disk install, using GRUB on USB devices too.

Miscellaneous:
- Fix a mounting issue when 2 hardware devices have the same name.
- Add support for disks with no partition table (Ex: Win32 formatted USB keys).
- Add a Win32 utility that allows installing GeeXboX to your current hard-disk without need of partitionning/formatting it again.
- Add USB network drivers to emulate a NIC.

GeeXboX 1.2 (for x86_32, x86_64 and powerpc computers) is available right here and now!
http://geexbox.org/en/downloads.html


The 2.x screenshots look to give XBMC a run for its money :D

http://geexbox.org/img/gx-v2-menu-full.jpeg
http://geexbox.org/img/gx-v2-music-full.jpeg
http://geexbox.org/img/gx-v2-music-play-full.jpeg
http://geexbox.org/img/gx-v2-photo-full.jpeg
http://geexbox.org/img/gx-v2-video-full.jpeg

Does this use a keyboard/mouse interface?

The one thing that *I* find missing in all these media environments is the ability to surf the web, and more importantly from a media perspective, watch Flash.

With Joost, Hulu, fancast, etc, you can almost cut the cord to any pay TV service if you are willing to wait a few days after broadcast to watch the. And at least in the case of Hulu, you can watch in HD (ok sure, it may qualify for HD-lite.. but "free" is hard to beat for shows that wouldn't be available w/o a pay service)