GregMS Universe

I learned today that Hulu’s content providers have asked them to block the media center application Boxee from accessing their content.

Honestly, what are the content providers of Hulu thinking? For those unfamiliar, Hulu.com is a joint-venture between NBC and News Corp. but has more content then just those. It’s unclear at this time which content provider has asked them to block Boxee, but blocking them is just plain stupid. While Boxee is in a way open-source, their Hulu application is closed, plus those who watch Hulu on Boxee still watch all the commercials one sees on their website.

So to sum up, Boxee provides a way to get more people to legally watch TV shows, and people still watch their ads. Why would Hulu content providers not want to be Boxee? The more places the better!

Well here is another question, why is it that CBS (another Boxee application) does not have the 1st episode of Jericho (from the 1st season). I would love to start watching the series, but when I can’t watch the 1st episode, how can I get hooked? They have the 2nd episode, and then they skip to the 6th. Does this make sense to anyone? Check it out for yourself: http://www.cbs.com/video/?showname=primetime/jericho#video

Wake up content providers!

On a side-note, for those missing Hulu on Boxee, Jake Marsh has created an app to help ease the pain. Just add “rss://thejakemarsh.com/boxee/” to your sources from within the Boxee app itself (not via the website). Or visit http://tvrss.net/shows/ for free downloads of all your favorite shows without commercials. Thanks once again Hulu content providers!

Boxee Press Release: http://blog.boxee.tv/2009/02/18/the-hulu-situation/
Hulu Press Release: http://blog.hulu.com/2009/2/18/doing-hard-things

Boxee Boxee, hulu, stupid

My Boxee Interface

Edit: As of 2/20/09, Hulu will no longer be not be available on Boxee. Hopefully this is temporary. Also the next Boxee update is scheduled to be released March 24th. The March 5th release date was postponed partly due to the Hulu situation.

Edit (4/27/09): New versions of Boxee for Linux, Windows, Mac and Apple TV have been released with a new Hulu Feeds app. This replaces the previous Hulu application and allows those like to me once again to watch Hulu content on our living room TV.

I talk a lot about my Boxee setup, so I thought I would do a write-up about each of the features I find most valuable from the Boxee application and explain in detail what each one is.

For those unfamiliar, Boxee is a free cross-platform media center application based upon XBMC. Boxee can scan your network for shared (or hosted) video, music and photo files. It then searches the web for album art for each file and organizes them within Boxee by media type (TV Show, Movie, Music, Photos).

The best part of Boxee is its ability to play Internet content all from within its own application. Instead of going to Hulu.com to watch the latest Battlestar Galactica, you can watch it from within Boxee and if you like the episode, you can recommend it to your other Boxee friends. Internet content current available in the Linux version of Boxee include Hulu, CBS, Joost, Adult Swim, Last.FM, Flickr and much more. Boxee is still in alpha testing but is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Apple TV.
Read more…

Boxee adult swim, apple tv, Boxee, cbs, flickr, HTPC, hulu, joost, last.fm, linux, mac, MythTV, twit, windows, xbmc

My MythTV Interface

I talk a lot about my MythTV (DVR) setup, so I thought I would do a write-up about each of the features I find most valuable from my MythTV system and explain in detail what each one is.

This is my MythTV front screen (using the Blootube-wide UI Theme). I can watch Live TV (which I almost never do), browse my Recorded Programs, watch my DVD/Video files, run the Boxee Application, listen to Music, or look at my photo’s.
Read more…

MythTV Boxee, interface, MythTV

This is my new Entertainment Center (02/14/09).
 

It is a Golden Oak 42″ Chocolate Oak Finish Del Mar.
On top of it is a 32″ Toshiba 32AV500U Television.
If front of the TV is Sony HT-CT100 sound-bar and to the floor on the right is the subwoofer.
Below the speaker bar is a Duel-tuner HTPC homemade DVR running MythTV 0.21 and Mythbuntu 8.04.
On the bottom shelf it is a PS2.
To the left is the Nintendo Wii with two Wiimote including Legend of Zelda, Wii Fit and Smash Bros Brawl games. The Wii Fit Balance Board is on the floor under the entertainment center.

Misc Golden Oak, HTPC, Misc, MythTV, Nintendo, PS2, Sony, Toshiba, TV, Wii

The Cowntown Computer Congress held a workshop a few weeks ago where I was able to create my very own battery-powered USB charger. If your not familiar with this, there is a project called MintyBoost that turns an ordinary Altoids can into a USB charger. The kit can be placed in many different kind of devices, but the Altoids container seems to be a perfect fit for the charging hardware and the 2-AA batteries.

Below are pictures of my finished charger. This was the first sodering I have done since I modded my PS2 several years ago.

Mods altoids, mintyboost, Mods

 This is the Home Theater PC I’ve build.
 

It is an OrigenAE X11 ATX Computer Case.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane Dual-Core. 2.6GHz (65W)
Asus M2NPV-VM GeForce 6150 w/ DVI+SDIF out
Rosewill RCX-Z1 CPU Cooler
G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) SDRAM Memory Module
Western Digital 500GB 5400-7200RPM SATA, WD5000AACS (For TV)
Western Digital 1TB Caviar 5400-7200RPM SATA, WD10000CSRTL (For Movies/Boot)
300GB PATA Hard drive (for Backup)
Lightscribe DVD-RW (SATA)
Aluminum Internal 17-in-1 Card Reader, CR101AL-BK 
Dual-pcHDTV 5500 Linux ATSC TV-Tuner
SeaSonic S12 430W ATX12V Silent Power Supply, SS-430GB
Mythbuntu 8.04 Operating System software (For DVR software)

Misc, MythTV AMD, Asus, G.Skill, Mythbuntu, MythTV, OrigenAE, pcHDTV, Rosewill, SeaSonic, Western Digital