- BOXEE MEDIACENTER SOFTWARE
- BOXEE MEDIACENTER BLUETOOTH
- BOXEE MEDIACENTER DOWNLOAD
- BOXEE MEDIACENTER MAC
In order to configure Flirc properly you’ll need three things: the Flirc dongle/software, the remote you want to use with your media center, and a list of the keyboard inputs and shortcuts the media center software in question uses.
Clearly the folks behind the Flirc project are into helping build a high quality media center experience all around. You can link literally any IR-based remote to any media center system that has a USB port that will accept a keyboard input.Īs an aside before we continue on with the tutorial, FLIRC also makes a really awesome Raspberry Pi 2 / B+ case (~$16) that features an integrated aluminum-body heat sink if you’re looking for a good media center case for your Pi it’s not just good looking it’s also quite efficient at keeping your board cool. You don’t need special drivers, you don’t need to edit the keymaps of your device (if you’re even able to), and you don’t need a special remote. The cleverness of this solution lies in the fact that it’s universal. Then when you have the FLIRC dongle plugged into your media center and you press the remote button the media center is tricked into thinking the FLIRC USB dongle is actually a keyboard and that you’ve just pressed the “Home” key. You can take a button on your media center remote and map it, via the FLIRC system, to represent the “Home” key on a traditional keyboard.
So let’s say the media center software you’re using is keymapped for the “Home” key on the keyboard to return you to the home screen of the media center software. Rather than acting as a “dumb” IR-to-USB bridge that simply passes the IR commands along to the host operating system the FLIRC unit is actually a programmable device that uses USB HID (Human Interface Device) standards to emulate a keyboard. Further, it requires you’ve already purchased an IR dongle of some sort (which can run you anywhere from $10-20).įLIRC, on the other hand, circumvents the entire problem in a rather novel way. It’s not a light task, however, and certainly not a task for beginners.
BOXEE MEDIACENTER BLUETOOTH
You see there is a fundamental problem when it comes to linking your typical universal or TV remote to a media center system like a Raspberry Pi running Kodi/XBMC, an Amazon Fire TV, a computer running Plex or Windows Media Center, or the like: these devices are either optimized for their own special remote (such as the bluetooth remote that comes with the Amazon Fire TV) or they are optimized for keymaps that map onto a keyboard (like Kodi/XBMC and Windows Media Center).ĭon’t get us wrong, it’s more than possible to dig into the guts of many media center software packages (like Kodi/XBMC) and remap the keys. The Flirc unit is far more clever than a simple storage unit though and works as an absolutely ingenious solution to the problem of linking IR-based remotes to media center software. At first glance it would be remarkably easy to confuse the Flirc unit with an actual thumb drive as the clear case, visible circuit board, and the IR receiver points (that look much like LED indicator lights) all strongly echo the design of thumb drive storage.
BOXEE MEDIACENTER MAC
Since it's based on XBMC it's Intel Mac and Leopard only.Flirc ($20) is a tiny USB dongle about half the size of a traditional thumb drive. You can sign up to be notified when the open beta is available.
All in all, Boxee looks like an interesting entry into the media center competition and its social networking features set it apart from more straightforward implementations like Plex.īoxee is presently in a closed alpha test, but they're expecting to open a public beta by the early autumn.
BOXEE MEDIACENTER DOWNLOAD
Even when playing local content it will download things like album covers and descriptions from the internet. It also interfaces with various streaming sources, both for audio and video, including last.fm, revision 3, YouTube, etc. Once installed, Boxee scans your hard drive for videos, music, and pictures. You can also share your media activity with friends and vice versa. Separate from the OS X branch of XBMC (now called Plex), Boxee focuses on a social networking experience by allowing you to get (and give) recommendations to friends who are also on the service. Boxee is an interesting new media center application for the Mac based on the XBMC.
0 kommentar(er)
