I used mythtv for a really long time. In my opinion, it's a great app for recording TV, but a not-so-great app for displaying a large video library, and a poor choice if you're interested in streaming audio.
Just like squeezebox server deals with between local music collections and online music streaming services (via mysqueezebox.com), I see the same trends happening in video -- new users are being pushed to streaming video sites - this pretty much means Hulu or Netflix. Other sites are selling video downloads mixed with streaming in a totally closed ecosystem - notably Apple. And lastly, you have everyone with their existing video content who want to be able to continue to easily access and play it. For the last category, access to local video content, I have to say that I've been using xbmc exclusively for viewing my local video files for the last few months and it's quite versatile. If you haven't used release 10 of XBMC or looked at it in the last year, you should definitely do so (just make sure you're on a powerful computer with accelerated graphics) xbmc has a lot of plugins, but the plugins are more of an addon to the ability to navigate and view videos, photos, and music. They feel like bolt-ons. boxee is attempting to integrate all content from a wide variety of 3rd party sources and local content so that the user can search for TV shows or movies, and not need to worry about WHERE / WHAT SITE is hosting that content until the end user makes the final decision to start streaming. Boxee is also integrating PAID content like netflix, etc. I think the squeezebox server / MySqueezebox.com duo could learn a lot by looking at how boxee integrates content from extremely diverse sources into a user-focused UI instead of separating everything by SERVICE. Google TV on the other hand is something more like an upgraded cable box/dvr with functionality like the XBMC video service plugins added in, but it doesn't the holistic view of available content that boxee has. -Ross -- rcampbel3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rcampbel3's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=38284 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=85259 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
