So much for MythTV, I'm loving Boxee!!!

Okay, I wrote quite some time ago about my experimentation with MythTV & my pursuit of a HTPC (Home Theater PC). So, the initial requirement was to be able to play my DVD's, CD's & look at pictures on my 56" TV in the living room. MythTV met this goal, but also added quite a bit of complexity when you factor in the PVR functionality that it provides.

So, after weeks of playing with MythTV, I've been turned on to Boxee! Boxee is quite simply, a digital media player, that allows me to do the following:

• Play existing Movies - DVD, ISO, mpeg
  
• Play existing Music - CD, mp3
  
• Browse Photo slide-show
• Watch on-demand streaming media from CBS, MTV, YouTube & Hulu (right now via a hack)
• Listen to streaming audio via the internet
• Browse photos from Flickr & Picasa

All of the media options are available using a local Optical Drive (CD/DVD), local hard drive, or across your local network via SAMBA!

A great Blog post with a fairly detailed write-up on installing Boxee on Ubuntu 8.10 can be found at the OpenSourcePenguin.net. This is a nicely detailed piece, that doesn't waste time on a lot of unnecessary fluff.

I'll be following up with another post regarding using a remote & how the rest comes along!