Looking for, built, or in parts, an Inexpensive, file format/codec proof, HTPC "for Dummies"
Friend's Mother resigned from her medical practice, and is moving to Alaska for the Next 3-4 yrs, in a remote village hospital, inaccessible overland except for the winter.
not sure of the TV She'll have to attach it to, so, it would need to output to the old Composite (Y video, R&W R&L audio), as well as component(RGB), and possibly HDMI/VGA output.
I have in the neighbor hood of 2 TB of TV shows and Movies on my PC, as well as 2 1TB drives I could add to the HTPC Setup, and copy my files over to. ( in the Neighborhood of 2300 Hrs of Material)
It would need to be dead simple to operate. so simple your grandma could do it.
I like the layout @ Flow of Win Media center, but would prefer something opensource, that used something like a skinned VLC as the player, so it would just work, and play anything no matter the format. something truly "Plug and Play."
to sum it up:
small/Lightweight for transport to alaska, but large enough to add 2 Sata HDD, plus a boot drive.
need the hardware, and software to be bulletproof for video playback, and connectablity
and the software needs to be "so simple a caveman could use it"
and as inaxpensive as possible.
so your basic Holy grail of HTPCs. not asking much am I?
Friend's Mother resigned from her medical practice, and is moving to Alaska for the Next 3-4 yrs, in a remote village hospital, inaccessible overland except for the winter.
not sure of the TV She'll have to attach it to, so, it would need to output to the old Composite (Y video, R&W R&L audio), as well as component(RGB), and possibly HDMI/VGA output.
I have in the neighbor hood of 2 TB of TV shows and Movies on my PC, as well as 2 1TB drives I could add to the HTPC Setup, and copy my files over to. ( in the Neighborhood of 2300 Hrs of Material)
It would need to be dead simple to operate. so simple your grandma could do it.
I like the layout @ Flow of Win Media center, but would prefer something opensource, that used something like a skinned VLC as the player, so it would just work, and play anything no matter the format. something truly "Plug and Play."
to sum it up:
small/Lightweight for transport to alaska, but large enough to add 2 Sata HDD, plus a boot drive.
need the hardware, and software to be bulletproof for video playback, and connectablity
and the software needs to be "so simple a caveman could use it"
and as inaxpensive as possible.
so your basic Holy grail of HTPCs. not asking much am I?