agh98 0 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I am very excited to be building my new i5-based/win 8.1 htpc this weekend. I wrestled with the idea of plex, xbmc and mb for my front end, but have decided to try mediabrowser first and foremost. Before doing so, however, I just have a couple of questions. First, I see that many people appear to use makemkv and hand break to rip their DVDs/blurays. Is there built in integration to simplify the process for wife acceptance factor? My server and client will be running on the same machine. Second, I see there is a game browser for rom emulation which is awesome. Are the emulators likewise integrates and supportive of multiple browsers (eg wii and other Nintendo counsels). I'm guessing this uses dolphin or the like as the emulator? Finally, I plan on controlling the interface with my harmony simple remote. I am wondering if my PC xbox interface or the remote interface for the Logitech k400 keyboard I also bought can serve as an rf interface directly to eliminate the need to install an ir interface to interpret commands from the harmony hub and blaster. Sorry for all the questions. These are just few points that haven't been readily apparent to me. Thank you. Adam Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathsquirrel 741 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 First, I see that many people appear to use makemkv and hand break to rip their DVDs/blurays. Is there built in integration to simplify the process for wife acceptance factor? My server and client will be running on the same machine. You won't typically use the MB server or HTPC for ripping and encoding. I suppose some folks may do that, but encoding tends to use a lot of CPU so I offload that task to another system. The HTPC is for playback/games/browsing only at least for me. There is no integration I'm aware of between any MB components and popular ripping or reencoding apps other than supporting the end product of those apps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redshirt 1487 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 GameBrowser is purely a front-end. You will still need to install your preferred emulators and then associate them with each game system that GameBrowser has detected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agh98 0 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Thank you both. At least game browser serves as an attractive front end. Can it serve as a launcher for steam games as well? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redshirt 1487 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Absolutely, You'd just right-click the game in stream and create a desktop shortcut for that game. Then move that shortcut into a folder that GB is monitoring. Currently PC games, steam or otherwise, are only supported using the MediaBrowser-Classic client. MediaBrowser-Theater support will be added at a later time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agh98 0 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 That's great. As live TV/dvr functionality isn't a priority right now, the ability to launch games and spotify are my two plugin-type priorities. How are things going on the mbc/mbt front relative to Spotify? It's great that there is such an active user base and work in progress on the software. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianW 1052 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 For WAF you'd be wise to invest in an IR receiver for your Harmony, and then make sure you get the "Microsoft Media Center SE" profile. If you haven't bought the parts yet - consider an Intel NUC, the latest ones have an inbuilt IR receiver, and the entire unit is tiny, and uses very little power. Although it's definitely no use for media storage - I have all my media on a NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agh98 0 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Adrian, I already have the parts on their way. I considered the NUC and similar options, but want a bit more room for future gaming and the like. May do something like that for another room though. My harmony remote is rf only, and speaks with the harmony box which then blasts ir. My question was whether the rf signal could be received directly by the htpc via either the Microsoft xbox or wireless keyboard dongle rather than outputting ir from the harmony box to an ir sensor like flirc on the computer. I will have to investigate that piece a bit more. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianW 1052 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I've been considering upgrading my Harmony One to an Ultimate - but I'm concerned about placement of the hub. Where do you have your situated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaefurr 1337 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) Thank you both. At least game browser serves as an attractive front end. Can it serve as a launcher for steam games as well? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Absolutely, You'd just right-click the game in stream and create a desktop shortcut for that game. Then move that shortcut into a folder that GB is monitoring. Currently PC games, steam or otherwise, are only supported using the MediaBrowser-Classic client. MediaBrowser-Theater support will be added at a later time. If you do plan to use MBT, it currently has a plugin that launches steam in big picture mode so you can still get to your steam games. As far as ripping integration ive heard about something in the works, but no info beyond that. Edited April 1, 2014 by shaefurr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14917 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 My harmony remote is rf only, and speaks with the harmony box which then blasts ir. My question was whether the rf signal could be received directly by the htpc via either the Microsoft xbox or wireless keyboard dongle rather than outputting ir from the harmony box to an ir sensor like flirc on the computer. I will have to investigate that piece a bit more. Pretty sure that is not possible as Logitech is I'm sure using a proprietary protocol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agh98 0 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Adrian, I love my harmony. I have the base in my media cabinet. One ir output goes to an ir blaster that projects to my av receiver and TiVo. The other ir output goes via an extension cord to the face of my samsung tv. I don't have the ultimate remote, just the screenless basic model, but it has a great feel and is just as responsive as any other remote I've used. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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