Advice for replacing 10yr old DVD player with something media/user friendly

[THRobinson]

Our house is split in two, I'm on one floor, family upstairs.

Problem we're having is that I run an HTPC, and converted everything I have to MP4/MKV and store all my originals in the basement, out of sight out of mind. Works great and saves me a LOT of shelf space.

Problem is, can't watch my movies upstairs. DVD player is about 10yrs old, plays older DivX/XviD but that's about it.

Was looking at something like the LG BP330 but, I guess the past year or so Cinavia has taken over.

I was hoping for something easy and simple like another DVD/Bluray player, plays what they already have and can quickly drop a movie to USB and bring it up to watch. Looked at stuff like the WD TV, but no DVD drive and apparently the current model no longer has DTS decoding. Another HTPC I suspect would be outta my budget and too confusing for the family to use. And although I own the discs, I'm assuming the LG BP330 would probably not allow me to play anything.

The LG is about $88. That's pretty much my budget. Anyone got any suggestions? So far, seems that upgrading them won't really change the scenario.

 

[THRobinson]

Ya, when I smelled it and compared it to Goo-Gone... realized wow... stuff is good for everything. CPU cleaning kit, but works great for removing old thermal paste.

Found me a nice Dell desktop, just needs a 2nd hard drive, has a Win7 Pro OEM license which is excellent... XBMC has hardware acceleration for video, but, doesn't work on WinXP because I think you need DirectX10 or higher and WinXP stops at DirectX9. Just throw the HD5450 1GB card I have in and spend the next oh... 6 months... trying to teach them how to use it.

... though, will play with Ubuntu first for a week since, well, keep hearing about it but never seen it in action.

 

[danscan11]

Thats cool about the hardware excell. in xbmc Ill dl it as soon as Im done dling ubuntu. Let me know how u like it Ill do the same.

 

[danscan11]

Hey man I hope you get this check out this little linux product this should make it easier for you http/xbmc.org/download/
Its XBMC and a min. linux OS that when your PC starts up XBMC opens instead of just the OS.
Well still havent gotten my HTPC going yet. my mobo I ordered lets just say wasn't as friendly as I thought it would have been. For instance it has a PCIex16 slot, it has USB 3.0, BUT what it didn't have is a DVI-D or a HDMI port. Yes a VGA port only very confusing on how this amalgation of new and terribly old harware came from. So got another gigabyte Mini-ATX WITH HDMI, USB 3.0, 2 PCI-e slots and it only cost me $20.00 more so I can install both of my 7750's for kicks, use my ol' Sandisk 64 GB SSD, and plug in my other HDD's waiting to be stuffed to the brim with media. I was wondering if you might know this......
Ok for my primary rig I want my audio to come out through my Optical port to my receiver, Basically right now I have an HDMI running from PC to receiver to TV. I want my tv to be recognized by my OS instead of the receiver. I cannot get the Audio to work outside of the HDMI though I feel like I have tried everything. Would unplugging my receiver going from PC straight into the TV with HDMI telling my PC to use the TV speakers but telling my TV to use outside speakers work? Anyways any suggestions would be appreciated. I think I got my other sound issue figured out I wanted to use my receiver for both PC's, but since I would be streaming from the HTPC anyways its an invalid worry. I would watch stuff on the HTPC but mostly it would be for music and storage for streaming unless I was dling some stuff. I was telling the dude at RadioShack about my project while Iwas looking for an adapter for that mobo he told me about Mint for linux I might give it a go. Anyways thoght I'd share that ubuntuxbmc thing with you hope all is well on your side.

 

[THRobinson]

Got the Dell755 last night, small desktop, Core2Duo 3GB ram, should work fine after the video card upgrade. Has space for 1 more hard drive so, 500GB will go in for the movies and the 80GB for Win7x64/MSE/COMODO/XBMC. Should work just fine for a few years... will handle a Core2Quad so, soon as I see a Q9550 CPU for cheap I'll snag it.

Right now, used most people seem to want about $120-180 for a used Core2Quad CPU, managed to get one 2 weeks ago for myself for $60, Q9450 so... maybe in the summer snag another for cheap and well, for family use they should be fine.

UBUNTU was nice, played with it a bit, but, I think having all systems in the house running the same OS will just make it easier for networking. Use to build systems for a living, but, networking has never been a strong suit, so... gonna follow the KISS rule (keep it simple stupid).