This weekend I discovered Miro, an open source Internet tv and video player that can be installed on Linux [1]. I have been looking for an application like this for a long time. I am now using it (instead of iTunes) to manage my video podcasts.I first added TeXtra, Geekbrief, and TikiBar as "channels", and then I discovered a few more video podcasts using Miro's "Miro Guide". I now plan to watch Google's engEDU series which features presentations made at Google about various tech topics.
It seems like I'm starting to watch a lot more video on the Internet. I would much rather be sitting on my family room couch while watching these videos instead of being at my computer desk in the office. I think I'm soon going to need a solution that will let me play these videos on my TV - preferably a Linux-friendly solution.
[1] There is an Ubuntu repository from which you can install and update Miro. Click here for details.
3 comments:
I have a computer hooked up to my TV and stereo system that works great. If you can find a desktop with at least an AMD Athlon XP or Pentium 4 and put a video card in it with an S-Video output, you can use your TV as a monitor. (The only reason I recommend Athlon or P4 is because I had a P3 and the videos were choppy).
Or if you have one of the new LCD TV's you can hook it up to the DVI (you might need a DVI to HDMI converter). I would also highly recommend a wireless keyboard and mouse so you can sit on the couch and control everything. Also I'm not sure if your house is wired, but a wireless PCI card/USB thingie would be another requirement.
I also got a good sound card (Soundblaster Audigy 2) and use it to play mp3s on my stereo. The sound is amazing and I always have my whole music library there and no fiddling with CDs.
Another nice touch for me is that I installed a USB IR receiver on the computer so my universal remote can take the computer in and out of standby mode, and also control the MediaPortal app that I put on to act as a media center front end.
I think for Linux they have MythTV which will turn the PC into a TIVO.
Also, although you'll need a Windows PC for this, the setup is GREAT for using with the new Netflix Instant Viewing feature. The quality is almost DVD quality. We watched the entire first 2 seasons of the Office this way.
Miro has a lot of interesting programming. There is also a new player, 100dimensions TV, which will combine the simplicity of TV with the breadth of programming found on the Internet. 100dimensions TV for computers is available now, although with still limited programming. 100dimensions for TV will be able to create a true Couch Potato experience towards the end of the year.
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