Lightweight, simple media center?

jsteel · 02-05-2011, 01:56 PM

I'm looking for a lightweight, simple media center solution to play my music and videos on my TV.

I don't want a media center distribution, but some software I can install on my usual distribution.

It's got to be easy to navigate back and forth between various media. If it used mplayer or vlc that would be great.

What would you recommend?

Thanks

hilyard · 02-05-2011, 10:10 PM

"I don't want a media center distribution, but some software I can install on my usual distribution."

What is your "usual distribution?"

jsteel · 02-06-2011, 03:25 AM

Whatever I happen to be using at the time. I don't like to be tied down.

Thanks

MTK358 · 02-06-2011, 08:59 AM

Who said it has to be a "media center distribution"?

You said you would just like VLC or MPlayer and that's it, then just install any distro and install VLC and MPlayer.

jsteel · 02-06-2011, 09:31 AM

Yes that's what I'm doing at the moment. But I don't find it very practical to switch between my file manager and VLC; there's a lot of alt+tab and right-click (folder) and open with VLC. Not the end of the world! But I can see media center software makes the task of playing/switching media more straight forward; far less clicking and button pressing and provide a more integrated appearance that guests can easily pick up and take control of.

fair_is_fair · 02-06-2011, 06:45 PM

XBMC. I would not call it light weight but it does access media files in a nice interface. Also available in a live cd.

jsteel · 02-07-2011, 12:09 PM

Thanks, I tried XBMC but when skipping back and forth/pausing unpausing it is a little jerky to resume playback. Does it use gstreamer? I usually find gstreamer to be a bit of a resource hog.

Gecko · 02-07-2011, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsteel

I'm looking for a lightweight, simple media center solution to play my music and videos on my TV.

If you're looking for something light and plug and play, there isn't anything out there.

XMBC is your best bet for linux, but it's not lightweight.

Really, if you want a simple solution, I'd suggest putting a few dollars down for something like a WD LIVE. It'll do exactly what you want, and is programmed to be a lightweight media center solution. You can get a cheap one for 50 bucks or less on Newegg or Amazon.

jsteel · 02-10-2011, 05:47 PM

I'd like to run a Linux computer; so I can use all my favourite software on it.

I have tried htpicker which was promising, but it's not so great as a music player. I've tried XBMC again but it's just too heavy.