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    Best Software for HTPC?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by theneighborrkid, Oct 21, 2010.

  1. theneighborrkid

    theneighborrkid Notebook Evangelist

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    Bought a nettop with Atom 330 and nVidia ION and have it connected to my TV and am trying to figure out the best setup....
    I have a lenovo mini wireless keyboard, xbox 360 controller, and a tivo remote I can try to use with it. I think the 360 controller might be the best since I can't find a way to reprogram the keys on the tivo remote. I know of Windows Media Center, Xbox Media Center, and Boxee as options for software choices... Here is what I'd ideally like to use it for...
    Streaming the daily show, netflix, hulu, and south park (and some other web streams but not sure how easy that would or wouldn't be)
    Playing back movie files on my computer
    Adding shortcuts in whatever program to access some light games (which is why I'm leaning towards the 360 controller)
    espn3 would be great
    possibility of xfinity???
    So what would you guys recommend and how do they support what I'd like to be able to do, and what software do you use?

    Thanks!
     
    theneighborrkid, Oct 21, 2010
    #1
  2. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    olyteddy, Oct 21, 2010
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  3. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    I'd add Hulu Desktop.
     
    swarmer, Oct 21, 2010
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  4. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Actually Zinc does a pretty good job as a front-end for Hulu and X-finity (FanCast). It also searches the networks' sites and a bunch of others. When I do watch Hulu, I usually just use the browser version.
     
    olyteddy, Oct 22, 2010
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  5. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    newsposter, Oct 22, 2010
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  6. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    If you're serious about it as a media center, I'd look into getting an MS media center remote. You can get compatible ones for $20 or so. I actually just use the IR receiver from a cheap remote for my Harmony with my media center PC.
     
    Pitabred, Oct 22, 2010
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  7. theneighborrkid

    theneighborrkid Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for all the responces guys. I really appreciate it. I've been trying out zinc and so far I really like it. Just need espn3 and maybe a few other things. I realized it'd be great to use a xbox 360 controller with chatpad, although there are no pc drivers for the chatpad. I'll look into zinc some more and a few others. Thanks again everyone!
     
    theneighborrkid, Oct 23, 2010
    #7