Trying to organize and make things easy..

[itschris]

okay... I'm sick of my complaining she can't ever listen to music because it's too complicated. Thinking about it, it is kinda stupid the it's working.

I have a computer in my office and have my music organized... pretty much but could some additonal thoughts on it later.

I typically access my computer through my LG bd player using the DLNA home cast thing. It works fine... my music shows and I can select what I want. The problem is, I want to create playlists because I have a lot of music that has just one song in it. There's no way it seems to access a playlist or make one. So... it plays one song, then stops. It's fine for when I take the day off and just sit on the couch listening to music all day, but not when I just want music playing.

I have playlists setup in Windows Media Player, but I think the only way to access them is through my Pioneer Elite Home Media Gallery which is just this awful text based menu gig.

Idea? Do I really just have to get another computer and just hook it up HDMI to my system?


On a side note... I have a lot of one-off ITunes stuff. The LG DLNA won't play those. They show up, but they won't play I'm I guess their ITunes. Is there a program that I can just point to my ITunes folder and convert all that stuff to MP3 in another folder?

 

[jinjuku]

My wife uses Windows Media Center. No problems.

 

[Trev]

I don't understand. Can you explain a bit more about your Setup?

My HTPC runs off my TV, but is a full OS that doubles as my gaming rig, with wireless kb and mouse.

I'm thinking you've got a media server? Orrrr... you've streamlined your OS to only have a media skin through like media center?

 

[sholling]

I'm not a fan of DLNA because it's so limited. Unfortunately not many media players deal very well with playlists so I use network shares and if I want to access a playlist I use my HTPC.

 

[itschris]

I guess my issue is that I my computer with all my songs and what not is in my office and I have no way to hook it up to my receiver.

I don't really understand what DLNA even is, but I just know that my LG player uses it and I"m able access my PC through the HomeLink feature. I don't have to use that. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to get my music and playlists to the system. My Pioneer can access playlist from Windows Media Player, but it's just one model too old and has the ugly worthless txt based screens.

I have no problem using Windows Media Center at all. I kinda like it, but again, I can't think of way to access it without a second computer. Im just wonder what other options there may be. I know there's all kinds of new "boxes" out there and am wonder if one would work or help me bridge my computer into my system easier.

 

[sholling]

Im just wonder what other options there may be. I know there's all kinds of new "boxes" out there and am wonder if one would work or help me bridge my computer into my system easier.

DLNA is a media server built into some application and into some network devices. The problem is that the DLNA standard is like the proverbial menu at a Chinese restaurant where device manufacturers and programmers pick and choose which features to include in their product and few include the whole thing. What it does is relieve devices like your Blu-Ray player's media player from the hard work of keeping track of what you have on your computer and leaves that to the DLNA media server software which then presents your device with a list of artists, albums, and songs available for playback. If the implementation of DLNA on your computer doesn't support playlists you're out of luck using them. But even if it did the version of client in your Blu-Ray player probably doesn't. DLNA is popular because it's a standard and it's cheap to implement in a client device and idiot simple for users looking for very basic functionality but it's too brain-dead and limited for my taste.

I've used an older version of the Western Digital TV Live ($90-100 for the current version) and claims to support playlists but I never could get playlists to work the way I wanted - but I have not played with the latest version and both the server and client (WDTV Live) have to support them for it to work. I'd look at one at a local store before laying out any money.

 

[itschris]

I have 2 or 3 laptops laying around the house. I'm wondering if one of them has an HDMI output... I have to check. If not, do I just have to get a new computer to hook up to the receiver?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I can't 100% confirm, but why not some simple like Squeezebox?

 

[trnqk7]

If you are just wanting music and you have either a wireless network setup or an ethernet connection near your home theater stuff, just get an AppleTV, Roku, etc. I have the AppleTV and it works great. Lots of people love the Roku, I understand it's a bit more flexible on playing video files...at any rate, they'll access your existing pc. In the case of the AppleTV, it sees your playlists and you can use them if you want-just leave Itunes open on your pc. It's so simple that my parents and my in-laws both use it as well. It's not as fancy as a HTPC or running Windows Media Center like my brother in law, but it's much simpler from the get go.

 

[itschris]

I've looked at the Roku unit in the past. It seems pretty cool. Can it access only my Itunies music? I have over 500 ripped CDs in WMA and another 300 or so in FLAC. Can it access those as well. The website doesn't really give all that much info and nor does it show the interface.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

the best integration with itunes I ever saw myself was with Sonos....
I basically installed sonos desktop client - pressed the button on sonos controller and magically the itunes was all nicely populated with sonos music library (which is stored on small NAS)

I imagine AppleTV will support itunes pretty deeply

 

[sholling]

The Roku is a great internet media player but a very-very limited network media player. It has some limited ability to play some music formats but it's very limited. The WDTV Live is not as good of an Internet video player (fewer channels) but is a much-much-much better tool for playing music and video stored on your home network.

 

[itschris]

Well I think I'm gonna be squared away. I found two laptops with HDMI out on them. And both have Windows 7 and Windows Media Center. The one I want to use that has the bigger hard drive ... was just knocked off the couch and I broke the screen. I figured out how to take it apart and already ordered a new screen for $100 so I can't complain.

Once I get the screen, I'll just copy all my music over, hook it up to my system, get a wireless keyboard and mouse and I should be good to go.

I tihnk I just need a decent remote to get everything working and I'll be set. I've put off the remote for a long time since everything was close , but not quite. I have to start looking into that again. I'm looking for a good RF remote that's easy to use. That'll be the next step.

Thanks guys.