theHTPC.net

Media Browser 2.5.2 (Apollo) now available.

Jan 162012

The Media Browser team has released version 2.5.2 as of last night. This release also officially marks the end of Microsoft Windows Vista Support – you will be required to have a Windows 7 system to use Media Browser from this version on. This release also introduces support for the movie.xml file, which will be replacing the long-time running standard mymovies.xml. It is expected the next release will officially end mymovies.xml support.

Please refer to the official announcement for complete list of changes, bugfixes and feature additions. Get Media Browser 2.5.2 here.

Splitting shared display out of UserSettingsPath in Media Browser.

Media Browser No Responses »

Jan 112012

I don’t know how many of you use the shared playstate and display settings in Media Browser, but I have for a long time. Basically, it allows you to place your playstate directory (for maintaining watched status and resume points) and display.db file (which holds your view configurations) within a share and then use the <UserSettingsPath /> element to set the path to that shared location. It works well, but I prefer not to lock my views to a single setting between multiple HTPCs. I just want to preserve my watched status and resume points. Easily done.

Movie reviews (1-9-12)

Movies, Reviews 1 Response »

Jan 092012

I’ll probably have left a movie or two out since I’m terrible at keeping track over long periods of time, but I have racked up a pretty good list of movies that I’ve seen since last time. I had a lot of time off during the holidays and my wife had an extended break from school, so we got to get in more than normal.

XBMC success! Then it is epic fail.

HTPC, XBMC 6 Responses »

Jan 042012

For the longest time I have tried to get something going with XBMC, but it’s usually some sort of file naming, directory structure, or metadata file format that gets in my way. After a few days of tinkering, I usually give up and wait until I can punish myself with it again. Well, as of late, I’ve been having some issues with Media Browser and it has made me make the hard decision to look for a more robust system to handle my shared living room and bedroom setup. For the kids’ and spare systems, which are standalone, Media Browser will stay. It’s easy to use and works well in that capacity, but I’ve continued to run into issues sharing playstates and display settings, so I needed an alternative. With the advancements in meta<browser>, I was finally able to handle file naming, metadata and image incompatibility in one fell swoop so I could give XBMC another real try.