Best way to stream movies with DVD covers & descriptions etc.

MonsterMoshi · 21 Apr 2012 at 18:02

Hi, so i have around 200 films that i have copied from my DVDs onto my computer which i currently stream to the other PC in my hours as well as PS3 and xbox.
I do this because its just massively easier and quicker when i want to watch a film this way.

Question im asking is what is the best way you would recommend for me to add things like title covers descriptions etc like, for example, apple TV gives you on each film? And how am i best to obtain the data for each film?
I know the Xbox can display this data using the media center application.

Thanks

uchuff · 21 Apr 2012 at 19:59

Jailbroken Apple TV with ATV(black) from Firecore supports streaming from SMB (Windows) or AFP (Mac) shares in what is effectively the standard interface. I have a bunch as h264 files on a NAS and it pulls in the meta data and cover images automatically from the Internet based on the filename. Silent box, simple interface, lovely.

The latest Apple TV 3 (the 1080p one) isn't jailbreakable yet I don't think, and afaik the latest firmware for the Apple TV 2 is a tethered jailbreak (I'm still running the previous firmware) - so might be more of a faff than you want.

MonsterMoshi · 22 Apr 2012 at 18:36

I was thinking more of a system based on the PC itself rather than the device connected to the TV's

R4z0r · 22 Apr 2012 at 19:50

Acer Revo 3700 with Ubuntu/XBMC - absolutely awesome system.

Lorddalron · 22 Apr 2012 at 20:04

R4z0r said:
Acer Revo 3700 with Ubuntu/XBMC - absolutely awesome system.

+1

I was going to go for this setup too prior to me going back to college and i new i wouldn't be able to put in the time and effort. The XBMC UI is awesome and you can select between a good few skins. Further set allows you to use the likes of imdb with where you have your films copied to to give you the cover art, movie description you are looking for. Check out xbmc on youtube to give you an idea on what you could have.

The revo's can be picked up for pretty reasonable cash. Check out avforums too for used ones.

wodgah · 23 Apr 2012 at 21:58

Just getting into this myself and im wondering why Ubuntu over OpenELEC ? again this is only from reading at this point but i believe OpenELEC to be easier to install and use and lighter ?
If im wrong would be great to understand why.