freaking awesome HTPC application (psuedo OS) myHTPC

[blakerwry]

I found this while looking around for versions of the ATI MMC... got distracted I guess... anyway, this application acts as a launch pad for any HTPC runing win98 and up. Built in support for My pictures, music, and movies... also shows time/date/local whether... Has support for different plugins/modules as well.

Uses WMP9 automatically to play music and video on my winXP box... I don't know what current HTPC users are using, but this application is exactly what I've been looking for.

http://www.myhtpc.net/

http://www.myhtpc.net/features/

 

[Mercutio]

It looks really nice but it'll be a cold day in hell before I install WMP9.

 

[blakerwry]

i should have mentioned that the myHTPC app includes plugins that allow it to work directly with the ATI MMC... works OK with the TV wonder 7.9 MMC, but was designed to work best with MMC 8.5 and a radeon class card.

 

[Jan Kivar]

It looks really nice but it'll be a cold day in hell before I install WMP9.

Same here. I think that it's going to be a forced upgrade in Longhorn...

Jan

 

[blakerwry]

I don't think it requires WMP9 (doesn't mention it in the requirements) I think it will use your default media player for your system(or possibly just the version of WMP you ahve installed).. in the forums their was mention of using winamp and also using the ATI media player or DVD player.

If anybody here has an HTPC I would recomend you try it out and see if you like it. The easy to follow menus and high readability make it great for its purpose. Mouse, keyboard, remote, whatever...

 

[Mercutio]

Well, I gave it a shot. The weather app was broken for anything near my apartment. Considering that there's a small airport (= weather station) maybe a mile from my apartment, and another in nearby Gary, that's fairly unforgivable.

The Pictures, and movies subsections worked OK, but pictures in particular is VERY SLOW, even on a VERY FAST (2800-ish, 1GB of RAM and a 2000JB) machine.

It didn't offer to integrate with a DVD-playing app, and when I configured it to look for video on a DVD drive, it showed a folder view of the DVD.

Also missing - and this is criminal in this case - were on-screen volume controls.

It was, however, appropriately chunky for display on a TV screen. A bit too chunky, in fact. If I'm browsing pictures in thumbnail views, I think I can handle having more than 9 on the screen at a time.

I see I can customize it... if I felt like screwing around with HTML.

To sum up, in a single word: Blech.

 

[blakerwry]

Well, I gave it a shot. The weather app was broken for anything near my apartment. Considering that there's a small airport (= weather station) maybe a mile from my apartment, and another in nearby Gary, that's fairly unforgivable.

The Pictures, and movies subsections worked OK, but pictures in particular is VERY SLOW, even on a VERY FAST (2800-ish, 1GB of RAM and a 2000JB) machine.

It didn't offer to integrate with a DVD-playing app, and when I configured it to look for video on a DVD drive, it showed a folder view of the DVD.

Also missing - and this is criminal in this case - were on-screen volume controls.

It was, however, appropriately chunky for display on a TV screen. A bit too chunky, in fact. If I'm browsing pictures in thumbnail views, I think I can handle having more than 9 on the screen at a time.

I see I can customize it... if I felt like screwing around with HTML.

To sum up, in a single word: Blech.

There was an explanation on the site about the weather module, aparently the free website that offered wether info has gone kaput or is temp down... not a fault of the program.

The pictures are only slow because there is a default 5 second transition effect between pics, etc. This is a customizable option.

The volume controls are the number 9 and 3 on the keyboard. I guess they figure most people using the app also have remote controls or multimedia keyboards w/ volume buttons, one or the other is basically a req. on any HTPC.

Customization can be done through the XML interface, but also through the GUI application.. no need to get your hands dirty.


The program is still basically beta at this point, a final version (or atleast a major revision) is aparently coming soon. What I'm impressed by is the applications potential and speed at which it is moving. Some of the features already available are great(offline movie database, my music w/ cover art, etc) and more are sure to come. I'll definately be using it on my HTPC.

 

[blakerwry]

err.. 9 and 3 on the keypad... 6 and 4 are FF and RW.. 5 is stop.. it's all on the remote section of the config tool.

 

[blakerwry]

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R24 fixes the weather module by using The Weather Channel as the source of data.