UPGRADE!
I broke down my overpowered and ignored PC in favor of a Mac Mini, upgraded to a larger desk with more storage, purchased 2 new 23” LED monitors and a VESA mount for my desk, and got a more comfortable chair. Something tells me that I won’t be ignoring my desktop computer anymore.
Time to be productive!
Oh, I’ll be selling a lot of computer parts in the next few days too, if anyone’s interested. Mint.com is yelling at me already.
<nerd>
My love for this program has no end. The above pictures are screen shots from my TV in my living room, which is hooked up to a beautiful Home Theater PC that I built late last year. This HTPC has been running an awesome program called XBMC (originally standing for Xbox Media Center), which is what you are actually seeing in the screen shots.
My HTPC is set to automatically download all of my favorite TV shows’ latest episodes the night they come out. I snag all my shows in 720p HD quality unless the show isn’t offered in HD. Every 2 hours my computer checks the internet to see if one of my favorite TV shows has aired and downloads it if it finds one. Every 15 minutes XBMC checks for these downloads and when it finds one it scrapes theTVDB.com for information on the episode (including a synopsis, user ratings, a thumbnail, actor info, etc) and catalogs it. Aside from the initial setup of the program, I don’t have to do anything anymore aside from logging on to a website and adding a TV show if a new series begins that I want to watch. I can just plop on the couch, pull up my remote (which happens to be my iPhone) and watch TV in HD without paying a retarded $60+ a month bill.
In addition to this, I have a catalog of around 150 movies in this program. Most of these movies are also in 720p with 5.1 surround sound. XBMC scrapes theMovieDB.com in the same fashion as it does with TV shows. I also have NES and SNES console games cataloged into XBMC and I can launch them with my remote and then play them via a SNES controller plugged into a USB input.
I’ve been running this setup for several months now and I am geekfully happy about it. The only reason I’m posting about it now is because I just finished adding the NES / SNES feature and I’m still all giddy about it. From my couch I now have the following options:
- Watch a bluray or DVD from my physical collection of 100+ movies.
- Watch a bluray rip from my digital collection of 100+ movies.
- Watch an HD rip of current television shows.
- Play any of the following consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
- Play any of the following emulators: NES, SNES
- Listen to music via iTunes and the iPhone Remote app
Andddddddddddd…
</nerd>
