[Techtalk] follwup on mediaserver fun

[Carla Schroder]

I'm baaack!

Allrightythen, my media server she is up and running, and this is what
I did. I got myself a nice little ZaReason MediaBox
http://zareason.com/shop/MediaBox-5440.html  It runs Lubuntu. 

My home theater setup is rather a cobble. I have a Sony Blu-Ray player
that also supports Internet services, so I get Netflix, Amazon Video,
Pandora, and so on through it. (It even has NPR, but the interface is so
sucky it's nearly unusable.) I have a nice older Onkyo stereo receiver,
which is old enough it has tape inputs and outputs and no HDMI. Tape
ports are good as line-in and line-out, so I route audio through the
receiver with normal RCA cables. 

My teevee is a nice 42" Vizio. It has two HDMI ports,
so the MediaBox and Sony are each connected to those. I really don't
need the Sony anymore, except for playing Blu-Ray disks, which I
haven't done yet. But you never know when one will appear, I suppose.

I have wired Ethernet to the Sony and the Mediabox. They both support
wireless n, which I will test someday. I have to upgrade my wireless
router, which is only a/b/g.

I got a slick little fancy remote control for the MediaBox, SMK-Link
Wireless Ultra-mini Touchpad Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BZNE2U/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i01
Because when I was researching normal TV remote controls I noticed they
were expensive and had tiny little screens and were limited and hard to
program, and what I really wanted to do was use the MediaBox like a real
computer. So, with the SMK-Link I can operate the MediaBox just like a
normal PC, and play music and movies with XMBC if I want, or VLC, or
Web surf, or play optical disks, or USB sticks, or whatever I want. All
without moving my bum from the couch :)

So there I am, all couch-potatoed and content.

Carla


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Ace Linux guru                         +
carlaschroder.com                      +
Everything mortal has moments immortal +
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