Finally, just before Xmas, XBMC released version 10.0 of this excellent open source media centre software, codenamed “Dharma”. I have finally gotten around to upgrade it on my media centre box. Some of the main new features I have been looking forward to is the option to use a MySQL server for the database instead of a local SQLite database. Now I can update content from my PC and have it accessible on my media centre box. I also have a database I can integrate into my media manager website which I have been working on for a while. All this is probably not what most people are after, but there are much more. The addon system have been significantly improved, the software now properly remembers files you have watched even if they’re not in the library and many more minor improvements and bug fixes. Still, XBMC is much as we’re used to, and why not? It’s an excellent piece of software!

I run XBMC on a custom built PC in a ChiefTec media centre box, all of which I wrote about in an earlier post. Such a box can be built fairly cheaply, it doesn’t require much hardware, I have pretty much just picked cheap items. Computers these days are made for computer games, playing video is piss easy, even HD. All my media is stored on a server in another room, but there isn’t necessarily a need for that since the ChiefTec box has room for 3 hard drives. Anyway, the system runs on Ubuntu Linux 10.04, which is also free and incredibly easy to set up. The box i use also come with a iMON remote control, which was a bit tricky to set up in Linux, but is fairly easy to configure in XBMC when that’s done. I have finally a setup that I am very happy with

Here’s a few screenshots (I use the skin Transparency! instead of the default skin):

Update 16.03.2011: Comments have been disabled, because this post receives an immense amount of spam.

Well, I had already bought new hardware for my Media Centre PC  a couple of months ago, but this week my good old Silverstone HTPC box died (or the PSU did). I looked a bit around and landed on the Chieftec HM-03B box and a 400W PSU. The box is just fantastic. Has plenty of room, though it only takes a micro-ATX mainboard and low profile expansion cards. The HM-02 box is taller and probably takes the full size expansion cards, though I didn’t really care as I don’t need any additional cards. Anyway, the box comes with a display, a volume and selector knob and a remote. All connected through a single USB cable which fits onto one of the USB connectors on the mainboard.

In addition to the box, I run this setup of an ASUS M4A785D-M PRO mainboard, with a AMD Athlon II X2 240 CPU. Now I’m a long time fan of both AMD and Asus, and generally only buy their hardware. In any case, the Asus mainboard has a ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphic chip and a 7.1 HD audiochip built-in. The GFX card uses shared memory, which is not a problem as I run 2GB of Crucial DDR2 PC5300 RAM. The mainboard has VGA, DVI and HDMI connectors, so I bought a HDMI cable as my now ageing 32″ LCD TV supports 720p. I have to say it was amazing how much difference the HDMI cable made compared to the VGA. The picture suddenly became crystal clear.

With the addition of a Blue ray drive and a used SATA-II HD, my setup is complete. It is installed with Windows XP. I had a spare key around, so I saw no reason to run any heavier OS. I don’t run Windows Media Center, can’t stand the software. Instead I run XBox Media Center (aka XBMC) which I will write a review of on its own later.

Links:
HTPC Box: Chieftex HM-03B
Mainboard: ASUS M4A785D-M PRO
CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240
Software: XBMC