DIY network media player. Computer as a media center for playing HD video

If you have an old system unit gathering dust under your table that you would hate to throw away and have no one to give it to, try turning it into a home media center. By installing the necessary software, you can find a worthy use for outdated hardware

Tens or even hundreds of gigabytes music files, a couple of seasons of your favorite TV series, a lot of photographs and other multimedia “trash.” Isn't it a familiar picture? Most often, this data is scattered across hard drives, and only the computer owner himself can quickly find the desired movie or music album. Only the most pedantic users keep all this “stuff” in strictly ordered collections on a separate medium. Others reason something like this: “What’s the point of sorting files or even just copying data onto one disk? It's a waste of time".

Still, you shouldn’t rush to conclusions. If you separate multimedia data from a regular computer by moving movies, music and photos to a separate media center, the benefits of such reshuffling will be obvious. When watching a movie, you will never be distracted by ICQ knocks or pop-up antivirus notifications. Relatives will stop contacting you with requests “Show me a photo of where...” or questions “What disk do you have “Doctor House” on?” The computer will not be occupied in your absence, and it will be more pleasant to watch a movie on a large diagonal TV, sitting on a soft sofa.

And if you assemble a media center based on a miniature board of the Mini-ITX form factor with passive cooling, then instead of a buzzing system case you can get a compact, neat and completely silent HTPC, with the ability to watch Full HD video and support Wi-Fi.

The word media center itself is generally incomprehensible to many. In fact, this is an ordinary computer that uses a very convenient and simple shell, understandable even to veterans of the Battle of Kulikovo. Such a computer may also be called an HTPC, which stands for Home Theater Personal Computer. It can be used together with a TV and even a remote control remote control(in most cases purchased separately). The media center can perform different functions, he will replace music Center, DVD player. In addition, the media center will support absolutely all formats, it will be “omnivorous” (unless, of course, the hardware of such a computer is too old) and will even be able to play data over a local network.

MediaPortal 1.2.2: portal to the world of media

One of the important advantages of the MediaPortal shell is the presence of Russian language support. However, in the application configuration window you can see that all program options are in English - this is an unfortunate localization omission.

Settings can be done in standard mode or in advanced. The second option allows you to try out some experimental program options, the stability of which the developers do not yet guarantee.

I was amused by a funny message from the creators of the application - on last stage Installing MediaPortal, a message appears on the screen that this product distributed free of charge and (hereinafter quoted) “...if you purchased this program on ebay - you are a fool." There were probably precedents.

MediaPortal supports everything analog cards for receiving TV with hardware support for MPEG-2, as well as all digital tuners, which can run on BDA drivers. Before starting the shell, the tuner must be configured, and you don’t have to look for these parameters in the media center interface. Fine tuning channels, as well as the choice of broadcasting standards and other broadcasting settings are “hidden” in the media center configuration window, which opens separately from the shell itself.

We tried several DVB-T tuners and noticed that scanning frequency range happens noticeably faster than on “native” software. The recording of TV programs is very convenient and thoughtfully implemented. To prevent your hard drive from becoming clogged with gigabytes of old TV shows, you can specify maximum time storage of recorded files, after which MediaPortal will automatically delete them from the media. Stream saving occurs without delay and does not slow down the system at all.

The image can be scaled by changing the aspect ratio of the picture. In addition, the frame cropping feature allows you to manually specify the number of pixels from each side that you want to exclude.

The center can use several deinterlacing filter algorithms, but in fairness it must be said that we turned it off every other time.

The program conveniently displays information about the content being played. The screen displays the playlist, album art, track information, and so on. A 3D interface can also be used.

By default the program contains only basic set functions, many of its capabilities are implemented using plugins. To search for add-ons and manage them, a special manager is used that allows you to download required module and run its installation wizard. We found this not very convenient, and the size of the plugins could also be smaller, because loading almost hundreds of megabytes for a small option is overkill.

XBMC: multimedia for any platform

XBMC Media Center is a free cross-platform solution for organizing a home theater. It is worth noting that the stability and functionality of this shell very much depends on the chosen platform. For example, the Live version of XBMC in our case turned out to be much faster and more stable than a similar application for Windows. This media center got its name due to the fact that XBMC was originally created as an application media center for the first generation Xbox.

The media center can work with devices with touch screen, any models of presentation consoles are supported. With it you can watch CDs, listen to music, use dynamic lists playback and so on.

Unfortunately, XBMC Media Center does not provide the ability to work with a tuner, but it does have big number no less than others useful options. The official website of the project contains a repository with free add-ons. With their help, you can very quickly and easily configure the media center in accordance with your preferences. For example, you can integrate support into the center shell popular services- Flickr, Facebook and others. You can also use a variety of add-ons to access online video content. For example, by installing the National Geographic add-on, you will be able to watch some popular programs educational channels at any time convenient for you.

XBMC can automatically download weather forecasts for several days for the region specified in the settings.

Of all the shells mentioned in this article, we liked the XBMC interface the most - it is convenient, fast, beautiful, looks good on a panel with a large diagonal and, most importantly, is visual. No need to deal with configuration files or use “shamanic” commands with a tambourine in hand: just set it - and it works.

LinuxMCE: from media center to smart home

Some large corporations, such as, say, Samsung or Sony, are already demonstrating prototypes today. smart homes" The idea is to connect all electrical equipment, from air conditioning to TV, into a single managed network. A man comes home computer system identifies him and the corresponding program turns on - his favorite music starts playing at a given volume, the lights in the room where he is located automatically turn on, and the screen home TV lights up helpful information, For example last news or received email.

So far, such a concept looks fantastic, but its presence in every apartment is a matter of time. After all software solutions tools that would allow you to do all this already exist, and LinuxMCE is one of them.

The LinuxMCE distribution is universal. This is no longer just a media center, it is a powerful platform that allows you to control great amount devices that support data exchange via TCP/IP, X-10, Z-Wave, EnOcean, INSTEON, PLCBus, EIB/KNX, 1-Wire protocols. With LinuxMCE you can quickly connect and execute automatic setup Plug and Play devices such as network players, cameras, IP phones, tuners and others.

The “heart” of the system, organized on the LinuxMCE platform, is a separate server. It monitors connected devices and enforces instructions that should be used under certain conditions. For example, if the cameras detect a decrease in light, the system can turn on the lights, and so on. You can also link security alarm management to platform functions.

To control such a system, you can use a media client, the role of which can be played by a tablet, laptop, smartphone - the same interface, called Orbiter, will be used everywhere. On the official website of the project you can see a large list of devices that make it possible to remotely control the functions " smart home» via this interface.

On this moment LinuxMCE looks rather unusual; not everyone will like the design of its shell, and you will also have to tinker with setting up the distribution. But what are all these difficulties and disadvantages compared to the fact that the media center itself will learn to determine your position in the house - it will turn on the light when you go to the kitchen, or automatically continue showing the video from the moment at which you left.

Conclusion

Previously, the attitude towards music and films was completely different. Many apartments had a record player vinyl records, reel-to-reel tape recorder, later a video recorder appeared, etc. The very ritual of watching a film or listening to audio recordings was more reminiscent of a cultural event - you had to go to the closet, take the cassette from the shelf, open the colorful case and take out the recording on the media (by the way, even the term “media” was not so common then), insert it into player, perhaps rewind the film, turn the volume control, press the Play button.

Today things are different. A person instantly finds what he is interested in, making a minimum of effort. He doesn't get up from the couch, he doesn't need to go to the closet. He simply presses a mouse button or takes his iPhone out of his pocket. He watches a movie or listens to music, but he forgets the plot and melody ten minutes after watching and listening.

To some extent, the blame for this lies on the conscience of marketers who are trying to implement the idea of share your multimedia wherever possible - from mobile phones to wristwatch and disc burning applications.

The media centers described in this article to a certain extent provide an opportunity to bring back a half-forgotten ritual. Of course, you won’t have to insert any cassettes anywhere, but at least you will be able to take a break from the computer for a while and, having configured software, you can feel the pleasure of being able to conveniently select and watch movies or TV shows.

Tens or even hundreds of gigabytes of music files, a couple of seasons of your favorite TV series, a lot of photographs and other multimedia “junk”. Isn't it a familiar picture? Most often, this data is scattered on hard drives, and only the computer owner can quickly find the desired movie or music album. Only the most pedantic users keep all this “stuff” in strictly ordered collections on a separate medium. Others reason something like this: “What’s the point of sorting files or even just copying data onto one disk? It's a waste of time".

The word media center itself is generally incomprehensible to many. In fact, this is an ordinary computer that uses a very convenient and simple shell, understandable even to veterans of the Battle of Kulikovo. Such a computer may also be called an HTPC, which stands for Home Theater Personal Computer. It can be used in conjunction with a TV and even a remote control (purchased separately in most cases). The media center can perform different functions; it will replace a music center or DVD player. In addition, the media center will support absolutely all formats, it will be “omnivorous” (unless, of course, the hardware of such a computer is too old) and will even be able to play data over a local network.

⇡ MediaPortal 1.2.2: portal to the world of media

Settings can be performed in standard mode or in advanced mode. The second option allows you to try out some experimental program options, the stability of which the developers do not yet guarantee.

I was amused by a funny message from the creators of the application - at the last stage installing MediaPortal on a message appears on the screen that this product is distributed free of charge and (hereinafter quoted) “... if you bought this program on ebay, you are a fool.” There were probably precedents.

MediaPortal supports all analogue TV reception cards with MPEG-2 hardware support, as well as all digital tuners that can run on BDA drivers. Before starting the shell, the tuner must be configured, and you don’t have to look for these parameters in the media center interface. Fine-tuning channels, as well as selecting broadcast standards and other broadcast settings are “hidden” in the media center configuration window, which opens separately from the shell itself.

We tried several DVB-T tuners and noticed that scanning the frequency range was noticeably faster than with “native” software. The recording of TV programs is very convenient and thoughtfully implemented. To prevent your hard drive from becoming clogged with gigabytes of old TV shows, you can specify the maximum storage time for recorded files, after which MediaPortal will automatically delete them from the media. Stream saving occurs without delay and does not slow down the system at all.

The center can use several deinterlacing filter algorithms, but in fairness it must be said that we turned it off every other time.

The program conveniently displays information about the content being played. The screen displays the playlist, album art, track information, and so on. A 3D interface can also be used.

By default, the program contains only a basic set of functions; many of its capabilities are implemented using plugins. To search for and manage add-ons, a special manager is used, which allows you to download the desired module and run its installation wizard. We found this not very convenient, and the size of the plugins could also be smaller, because loading almost hundreds of megabytes for a small option is overkill.

⇡ XBMC: multimedia for any platform

XBMC Media Center is a free, cross-platform home theater solution. It is worth noting that the stability and functionality of this shell very much depends on the chosen platform. For example, the Live version of XBMC in our case turned out to be much faster and more stable than a similar application for Windows. This media center got its name due to the fact that XBMC was originally created as an application media center for the first generation Xbox.

The media center can work with touch screen devices; any models of presentation consoles are supported. With it, you can watch discs, listen to music, use dynamic playlists, and so on.

Unfortunately, XBMC Media Center does not provide the ability to work with a tuner, but there are a large number of other equally useful options. The official website of the project contains a repository with free add-ons. With their help, you can very quickly and easily configure the media center in accordance with your preferences. For example, you can integrate support for popular services - Flickr, Facebook and others - into the center shell. You can also use a variety of add-ons to access online video content. For example, by installing the National Geographic add-on, you will be able to watch some programs from popular educational channels at any time convenient for you.

XBMC can automatically download weather forecasts for several days for the region specified in the settings.

Of all the shells mentioned in this article, we liked the XBMC interface the most - it is convenient, fast, beautiful, looks good on a panel with a large diagonal and, most importantly, is visual. There is no need to deal with configuration files or use “shamanic” commands with a tambourine in hand: just install it and it works.

⇡ LinuxMCE: from media center to smart home

Some large corporations, such as, say, Samsung or Sony, are already demonstrating prototypes of “smart homes”. The idea is to connect all electrical equipment, from air conditioning to TV, into a single managed network. A person comes home, the computer system identifies him and the corresponding program turns on - his favorite music starts playing at a given volume, the lights in the room where he is located automatically turn on, and useful information is displayed on the home TV screen, for example, the latest news or incoming e-mail.

So far, such a concept looks fantastic, but its presence in every apartment is a matter of time. After all, software solutions that would allow you to do all this already exist, and LinuxMCE is one of them.

The LinuxMCE distribution is universal. This is no longer just a media center, it is a powerful platform that allows you to control a huge number of devices that support data exchange via TCP/IP, X-10, Z-Wave, EnOcean, INSTEON, PLCBus, EIB/KNX, 1-Wire protocols. With LinuxMCE, you can quickly connect and auto-configure Plug and Play devices such as network players, cameras, IP phones, tuners, and more.

At the moment, LinuxMCE looks rather unusual; not everyone will like the design of its shell, and you will also have to tinker with setting up the distribution. But what are all these difficulties and disadvantages compared to the fact that the media center itself will learn to determine your position in the house - it will turn on the light when you go to the kitchen, or automatically continue showing the video from the moment you left.

⇡ Conclusion

Previously, the attitude towards music and films was completely different. Many apartments had a vinyl record player, a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and later a VCR appeared, etc. The very ritual of watching a film or listening to audio recordings was more reminiscent of a cultural event - you had to go to the closet, take the cassette from the shelf, open the colorful case and take out the recording on the media (by the way, even the term “media” was not so common then), insert it into player, perhaps rewind the film, turn the volume control, press the Play button.

To some extent, the blame for this lies on the conscience of marketers, who are trying to implement the idea of share your multimedia wherever possible - from mobile phones to watches and applications for burning discs.

The media centers described in this article to a certain extent provide an opportunity to bring back a half-forgotten ritual. Of course, you won’t have to insert any cassettes anywhere, but you will be able to break away from the computer for a while and, having configured the software, you will be able to feel the pleasure of being able to conveniently select and watch movies or TV shows.

That's all, now in our system one remote control controls only MediaPortal and the TV, and the keyboard and mouse are used in other programs.

There is really one more small detail that bothers me for a long time annoying. When I was working at the monitor, the mouse cursor kept trying to get out onto the TV and this was very annoying. Unfortunately, Windows is terrible at managing multiple monitors, and standard means nothing could be done. So I asked a friend to write a small program that would limit the cursor to one screen, which he soon did, for which I thank him. True, later I discovered a wonderful project - . It not only has a program with which you can limit the cursor, but also several others that make working with two monitors much easier. For example, the DisMon program will allow you to run games on a second monitor (in our case, a TV), even those in which this feature is not provided by the developers.
Well, along the way, we solved another problem - launching games on any of the installed screens. If you don’t like the DisMon program for some reason, you can use another one - UltraMon, but keep in mind that this program is not free.

It is worth noting that when playing on a TV, you also need to somehow switch the sound to it; this can be solved by choosing the HDMI output as sound device by default before starting the game. In order not to spend a long time crawling through the system settings each time, you can use a wonderful program that allows you to do this with one click of the mouse on a shortcut.

There is nothing special to describe with television. Insert the DVB card, install the drivers, configure it in the MediaPortal server. There are of course many subtleties and pitfalls, but if you talk about it, you’ll have to write a separate article.

At the end I will describe to you mine home system for clarity.

The first room contains one of the personal computers.

Configuration:

Motherboard: Asus F1A75-V Pro
Processor: AMD A4-3300 APU with Radeon HD Graphics (2500 MHz)
Video adapter (integrated): AMD Radeon HD 6410D (512 MB)
RAM: 3 GB
Disk drive: Western Digital 1 TB and 750 GB
Power supply: 350 W
Monitor: Samsung 19"
TV: LG 32"
Operating system: Windows 7 x32

His tasks:

Act as a personal computer in the first room. Surfing, watching movies, internet videos, music, etc.
To carry out this task, a monitor, keyboard, mouse and sound speakers are located in the first room next to the system unit.
Serve as a media center in the second room. Watching movies, TV series, TV programs, as well as communicating via Skype.
For this purpose, in the second room there is a TV and a remote control receiver, as well as a webcam. The TV is connected with a fifteen-meter HDMI cable that runs through the entire apartment, and the cable is the cheapest, even without ferrite rings. Remote control receiver and camera are connected USB cables. Two passive cables of five meters each are connected together (I couldn’t find ten meters). It is worth noting that the Microsoft Remote Control receiver has a five-meter cable.
Responsible for receiving satellite television and subsequent broadcasting of streams to clients, using running server MediaPortal.
The signal from the satellite is received by two DVB cards, to which cables from one satellite dish are connected.
This computer also serves as a media storage and torrent downloader. It works around the clock, non-stop.

There is another one in the third room Personal Computer.

Configuration:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 445 (3200 MHz)
Video adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1024 MB)
RAM: 6 GB
Disk drive: Western Digital 640 GB
CPU cooler: Scythe Ninja Mini (no fan)
Input devices: Keyboard, Mouse, remote control
Power supply: 450 W
Monitor: Asus 24"
TV: LG 32"
Operating system: Windows 7 x64

Tasks:

Act as a personal computer in the third room.
Next to the system unit there are a monitor, keyboard, mouse and sound speakers.
At the same time serve as a media center for watching videos from YouTube and Vimeo, films and TV series.
To do this, in the same room there is a TV connected by a five-meter HDMI cable and a remote control receiver.
The computer is also actively used as a gaming platform.
If the game is conveniently controlled with a gamepad, then I play on the TV while lying on the couch, if with a keyboard and mouse, then I play while sitting at the table in front of the monitor. If, for example, someone is watching a movie on TV, and I’m playing at the same time, then instead of speakers I use headphones so as not to interfere with each other.
If you want, you can watch TV or record programs.
The MediaPortal server running on the first computer is responsible for this; the second computer connects to it as a client via the home network. By the way, at home I have a 100 megabit network and this is enough to watch not only SD, but also HD movies.

And this results in two full-fledged workplaces located in the first and third rooms, plus two full-fledged home theaters located in the second and third rooms. Soon we plan to buy another small computer like Nettop-nT-330i and a TV for the kitchen, but it will work exclusively as an HTPC. The MediaPortal server supports as many clients as you like, so you can also watch satellite TV in the kitchen.

And finally, the pros and cons of such a system.

Pros:

Does not require significant costs. Of course, if you already have a personal computer at home, designed not only for work, but also for games and entertainment. A TV is also not a purchase, since it is obvious that any HTPC requires it. In fact, if you have at home gaming computer, you will only need to buy a remote control.
The system is universal and scalable. By purchasing one computer, you get a lot of possibilities. If you want to improve it somehow, then it will be easy to do, and you won’t need to change the entire device.
Omnivorous. That is, this HTPC will play almost any video and audio formats.

Minuses:

I would consider the “reliability” of the system to be a disadvantage. It's worth explaining here. If it is assumed that people who do not understand the intricacies of its operation will work on a personal computer, then minor problems will inevitably arise. Moreover, if they use MediaPortal exclusively (watch movies, TV and series on the TV), then there will be no problems. Here, of course, everything is decided by proper Windows settings, antiviruses and, of course, backups.
I also recommend using only proven hardware. For example, I started having problems only after I upgraded my “server” to new platform from AMD. The previous system on their 785G chipset worked stably. What was I thinking when I started the upgrade...
Also, the disadvantages include non-trivial system setup. If installing MediaPortal is quite an easy task that any user can handle, then setting up codecs, the remote control and especially the TV server may be an obstacle for some. Especially after it stopped working a while ago

Another option is to buy a media player instead of a computer. Them in Lately There are a sufficient number with rich functionality. There are even almost computers with the ability to work over a network, with the Internet... A media player usually has many different connectors and is easy to connect to any TV.

Even simpler - many new TV models can play files from flash drives and external hard disks. But TVs and media players will not be able to play absolutely all formats, they still need to be updated, and the functionality is not always enough, and...
And in general - a small media player box or a flash drive sticking out on the side of the TV - somehow everything is not solid, or something. I'm a preservative. For me, the equipment must be beautiful, stand in a rack above the amplifier (maybe along with a turntable and cassette deck) and... must be 430 mm wide. (many here will laugh at me, well, laugh ;-)

So, the decision was made, I will make a computer!
And I went in search of the building. There are many different HTPC cases on the Internet, and there are many correct cases in this world...
If you search on the Internet or come to your nearest store and ask about the prices of HTPC cases, I think you will be surprised at their “cheap” prices. A small mATX case with a 270W power supply costs about 3,000 rubles, which is 2-3 times more expensive than a regular MidiTower with a 350W power supply. But it’s still inexpensive, “usually” prices start at 5-6 thousand. I didn't want to pay that kind of money for the case...
But most importantly, it is very difficult to find a case with a depth of less than 340mm, and if you can find it, then the price will definitely not suit you: SilverStone GD02B-MT approx. 16,000 rubles!

A budget solution was found - for 1000 rubles via the Internet I bought an old (even working) CD player AKAI CD-37...

And... I stuffed all the computer hardware there...

A detailed report on how this happened is in the next part.

A lyrical digression or about connecting a computer to a TV...

Warning! Connect and disconnect the cable after first unplugging the TV and computer from the outlet!!! There may be dangerous voltage between the TV and computer cases! You can measure it with a tester... This is the specificity of ungrounded pulse sources power supply, and even on the “ground” of the cable collective antenna unknown what...
Let's start from the stove. There is a TV with a regular video input - the so-called “bells” that we all used to connect video cameras and then DVD players. If the computer’s video card had a TV-out video output, then you could connect a TV and everything seemed to be fine. At least for watching DVDs and DVD-Rips.

BUT! Video card manufacturers and programmers did not make this solution correct. Why? Yes, because a video signal for a PAL TV must have 625 lines per frame, of which 576 are informational, which actually contain the image. And the frame rate is 25 per second (or rather 50 fields per second, but this is in in this case not that important). Since the aspect ratio of the TV was 4:3, it is not difficult to calculate that the screen size in “pixels” of a regular TV is 768x576! Therefore, in order to get GOOD image, you need to set the same screen resolution on your computer. But there is no such thing! There are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, etc. And the video input only works in these three resolutions, scaling them to 768x576! (even if you force the desktop resolution to 768x576 pixels - some driver versions allow this, TV-out will not work in it, I checked it myself various video cards). As a result, the image on the screen can only be called satisfactory when watching videos and in some games; it will not be possible to read text. I don’t understand why this was done, can someone explain? After all, it was possible to display not the entire desktop, but part of it, for example, or active window... It’s nothing other than copy protection, otherwise it’s terrible(!), you can record a protected DVD on a VCR... By the way, ordinary DV PAL cameras shoot in a resolution of 720x576 or 704x576, and for DVD PAL discs maximum resolution also 720x576 (yes, their pixels are not square, like that... regular TV anyway - it has an analog kinescope, it will draw a line instead of a dot and everything will be beautiful. But on LCD TVs there will definitely be artifacts from scaling).

But then LCD TVs appeared with an input for a computer. And computers appeared with HDMI output... (only DVD and BlueRay recorders with HDMI INPUT, such as copy protection, will never appear)
And if you are the owner of a Full HD TV with HDMI, you just need to connect the computer and TV with a cable, specify 1920x1080 (1080i standard) or 1280x720 (720p standard) in the video card resolution and enjoy a good picture.

But if you decide to connect your TV via VGA or DVI, then surprises may arise, especially with inexpensive HD Ready TVs. The fact is that most LCD TVs of this standard have a 1366x768 matrix and an aspect ratio of 16:9. (Try dividing 1366 by 16... or 768 by 9... Did you like it?

Why didn't they make the standard 720p 1280x720? Well, if the pixel were a little larger, so what? Nooo, we need to come up with something non-standard.) So, to display a pixel-to-pixel image, you need to set the same resolution on your computer - 1366x768. BUT! Many TVs do not support resolutions greater than 1024x768. As a result - scaling again, curve text again. Or black bars on the right and left... True, many TVs support a resolution of 1360x768, leaving 3 pixels at the top and bottom as dark stripes.

Anyway, Before purchasing, read the specifications and reviews O specific model on the Internet, or even better, take a laptop and come to the store to check how it will look.

The idea of making a home multimedia system has been around for quite some time. The prerequisite for the creation was getting rid of a large system unit and installation on workplaces laptop with a connected monitor. The first implementation option that did not start is a media server from an unused Android smartphone. This idea ran into hardware limitations (weak Wi-Fi module, small amount of built-in memory, slow reading/writing files via OTG) and software (lack of stable “server” software for Android system). Afterwards, the workplace was reorganized and there was nowhere to put the monitor. Then we could have stopped, disposed of it, taken the monitor to the dacha, connected the TV hanging above the computer to VGA port, and move the window with the movie running on the computer for everyone to see, but a 20", 16:9 format monitor, with a resolution of 1600x900, is preferable to a 15", 4:3 format TV, with a resolution of 1024x768. Having replaced the TV with a monitor, one could have stopped, but the TV was controlled by a remote control and it was used by household members who, with a computer, were like, “Oh, what is this?”

If you are interested in the idea, welcome to cat.

Note:

Initially, the project involved using an old netbook from which the display could be removed. Fortunately, it turned out to have insufficient memory for a multimedia device, only 160 GB, and the laptop has HDD for 500 GB. It could have been changed hard disks in places, but it didn't seem like the best idea.

For convenience, in addition, it was necessary to purchase an IR receiver with a remote control for the PC. Based on numerous reviews and feedback, I decided on Microsoft MCE Remote. Buying one in Russia, even in Moscow, turned out to be not such an easy task. There were none left for sale anywhere, and where they once were there was a price tag close to 3,000 rubles. Found on eBay required models, from 700 rubles for an IR receiver and remote control, but you would have to wait about a month. In the very first Internet flea market from TV advertising in Moscow, the only option was found, from Lenovo, suspiciously reminiscent of the Philips SRM5100/10 model, due to the lack of a choice of operating modes. Interestingly, the same remote control (without selecting operating modes) is included with ASUS EeeBox PC, but ASUS uses three AAA batteries instead of two. The price turned out to be quite affordable, 300 rubles. I managed to pick it up on time, snatching it in front of the person who asked to send it from Moscow to St. Petersburg by mail (if you are reading this, a person from St. Petersburg, then please excuse me). My location turned out to be more advantageous; the journey from the house to the seller took 20 minutes. As a surprise, I saw two remote controls, one of which turned out to be unused.

When finishing the hardware, you can add a cool USB hub, because the laptop has only 3 USB ports, one of which is USB 3.0, used to connect flash drives, and you need to connect a printer, scanner, IR receiver and mouse.

Full list of hardware used:

Laptop ASUS K46CM;
Monitor ASUS VE208N;
IR receiver Lenovo eHome OVU430006/01;
Lenovo MCE Remote RC1974511/00;
USB hub CBR CH 165;
Logitech M185 mouse;
Router D-Link DIR-615.

Software implementation

Installed on a laptop operating system- Windows 8.1 with WMC, which makes me think of using it as Windows shell Media Center, but WMC is not omnivorous; The interface also seemed overloaded. Without thinking for a long time, I chose XBMC, since the name was well-known and I had tried to install it before, but then I couldn’t figure out how to use the media center.
XBMC is free and open source source, cross-platform.

We install XBMC. After installation, the remote control is immediately supported, but the launch is performed on the main screen of the laptop. The standard interface language is English. We do the initial setup.

To change the language go to:

System > Appearance > International > Language

To output to a second monitor:

System > System > Video Output > Display Mode > select Full Screen #2

The shortcomings become immediately visible standard control remote control:

If the XBMC window is not in focus, then XBMC cannot be controlled;
If the XBMC window is not in focus, control is transferred to Windows;
You cannot launch XBMC from the remote;
Insufficient control settings, for example, you cannot call the context menu;
Impossible self-configuration remote control buttons to call an event in the player.

Also, we need a solution on how to control turning on/off the monitor from the remote control, while simultaneously turning on XBMC.

The point of departure for the search was the article “How to make a “two in one” from a home computer - home theater + personal computer”, which uses MediaPortal, which contains standard setting Require focus. To solve the problem of transferring control to Windows, the author manually edited the registry.

In the process it was found how possible without third party programs schedule the application to run on green button remote control with Windows icon. The point is that we set up quick start program to any key combination, and add the code for this key combination to the green button. You can read more in the topic “Reassigning MSRemote buttons and starting XBMC with the “GREEN” button” on XBMC Russia.

Another search led to two articles on how to completely (without a blinking diode) turn off the monitor using software methods. Articles on Habré, for different OS:

Run EventGhost as administrator. Let's add a plugin for managing XBMC.

Configuration > Add Plugin… > from Program folders Control select XBMC2

From the plugin settings, it is clear that, by intercepting the signal from the remote control buttons, EventGhost sends a command to XBMC. Therefore, let's go to the XBMC settings.

System > Settings > Services > Remote control> check the box Allow programs on this system to manage XBMC

Next, we finish setting up the XBCM2 plugin and in the EventGhost window we create a folder with the same name as the plugin. The folder and subfolders list control commands that can be passed to XBMC. I set up a folder /XBMC2/Buttons/Remote/. It contains macros for buttons that may be on the remote control. To assign a remote control button to execute a macro, you need to drag an event onto the macro. An event is dragged from the program log, and it appears in the log after pressing a button on the remote control, or even when something happens in the system. Thus, we click the buttons and assign them to the desired event.

All that remains is to find the following:

Launch XBMC from the remote control;
Switching display modes from the remote control.

Switching display modes, which will ultimately look like turning the monitor on/off, is most logical by setting the On/Off button on the remote control. This can also be linked to the startup/shutdown of XBMC, since XBMC will not need to be output to the laptop's main display.

To automate switching screen modes, let's create two *. bat file A:

Taskkill /im XBMC.exe %windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /internal
To switch to a computer where we first terminate the XBMC.exe process so that XBMC does not jump to the built-in display.

%windir%\System32\DisplaySwitch.exe /extend
To switch to advanced mode.

Let's create our own macro:

Configuration > Add Macro… > Window > Find a window > select XBMC

This event will check whether XBMC is open on our system. To enable a macro in the Find a windows setting, there should be a checkbox at the top called Stop macro if target is found (if we have an XBMC window running, it does not need to be turned on again).

The regular tool from EventGhost, called Start Application, does not have the ability to run *.bat files, so you need to add Python script execution to the created macro. Let's select the macro we created and proceed further:

Configuration > Add Action… > EventGhost > Python Script

The contents of the script to turn on the monitor and start XBMC are as follows:

Import os import time os.system("C:\Media.bat") time.sleep(2) os.startfile(r"C:\Program Files (x86)\XBMC\XBMC.exe")
Those. we launch the *.bat file, wait 2 seconds until the display mode switches so that XBMC starts on the second screen and launch XBMC.exe

In the image and likeness of the previous macro, we create a new one to turn off external monitor and XBMC
In Find a window you need to check the box Stop macro if target is not found, and the Python Script to turn it off:

Import os os.system("C:\Computer.bat")
In both created macros you need to move the event that occurs when you press the On/Off button on the remote control.

Using scripts command line has a small drawback: when the script is executed, the cmd window blinks. This can be avoided by writing a program that executes the script code on its own behalf.

As a result, we should get something like this view of the EventGhost window:

When using the functionality created by EventGhost, a problem arose that XBMC starts out of focus and the taskbar is always lit on top of the media center.

Because of this, I made the window move ahead of all others using the familiar Find function a window, with a check mark Stop macro if target is not found. I hung a green “Start” button on this on the remote control, together with going to the main menu, when controlling XBMC. I won’t go into detail about creating the macro; I’m attaching a screenshot:

On the colored buttons of the remote control, in the bottom row, I hung the following events:

The result is the final EventGhost configuration:

Let's save:

To configure the system, all that remains is to automate the launch of EventGhost at system startup. The only solution that worked was to enable the built-in account Administrator and launch cmd startup script.

Lusrmgr.msc

Users > right click Go to Administrator > uncheck Disable account

Any text editor, which can be saved in DOS-866 encoding, create a *.bat file with the following content:

Runas /savecred /user:Administrator "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\EventGhost.exe -h"
That is, run the EventGhost program, saving the password, as an administrator, with the -h switch (run to tray). Be sure to save in DOS-866 if you did not change the encoding on the command line.

Turn off EventGhost, run the resulting script, enter the password.
Place the script in startup:

Shell:Startup
The way will open C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, into which we will move the resulting script. When %user% logs in, EventGhost is automatically launched, with full rights. When using other startup methods, full access was not transmitted, including through the Task Scheduler.

Now turning on the computer will greet us with a blinking command line window, which will notify us that EventGhost has started.

In terms of startup, IR Server Suite would be better, since it starts as Windows service, but I didn’t really want to deal with its settings when EventGhost started working for me.

For more complete remote control from the remote control it is necessary to make some Windows settings, in power options:

%power plan% > Require password on wakeup > No;
USB Settings > Temporarily disable USB port option > Disabled;
Power buttons and lid > Close lid action > No action required;
Power Buttons and Cover > Power Button Action > Sleep.

We reboot the computer (using the button from the remote control, of course), check the operation of everything that we have configured and configure XBMC to our liking. For example, I included full support UPnP so that you can access your home media library from your smartphone or, conversely, run a media file from your smartphone in XBMC.

System > Services > UPnP > put a dot next to each menu item

Let's add the promised IPTV.
First, let's download the PVR IPTV Simple plugin for XBMC. GitHub page, download (Google Docs).

Install the add-on in XBMC:

System > Add-ons > Install from ZIP file> select the path to the downloaded *.zip file

Let's turn on the TV:

System > TV > General > set the dot to On.

Let's follow the installation instructions:

System > TV > General > Clear PVR database

Let's set up IPTV channels:

System > Add-ons > Included add-ons > PVR IPTV Simple Client > Configure

Specify the path to the *.m3u file. If you have a reliable online TV provider, then you can also specify the path to *.epg, which is the TV program, then you will add additional convenient functionality.
The required *.m3u format is as follows:

#EXTM3U tvg-shift=3 #EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="id1" tvg-name="Channel_1" tvg-logo="logo1" group-title="Group 1",Channel 1 http://STREAMURL #EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="id2" tvg-name="Channel_2" tvg-logo="logo2" group-title="Group 2",Channel 2 udp://STREAMURL ... !}
Although I also had this plugin:

#EXTM3U #EXTINF:0,Europa Plus TV rtmp://europaplus.cdnvideo.ru/europaplus-live/mp4:eptv_main.sdp ...
The main thing is to save the *.m3u file in UTF-8 encoding in order to correctly display Russian names of TV channels.

We assign any convenient button on the remote control to open TV channels in EventGhost (XBMC2 > Buttons > Remote > Live TV) and by clicking on it a list will open available TV channels.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to configure stream recording, which apparently is not supported by the plugin, since the record button is not active, unlike the other buttons.

Full list of software used: Add tags