Today I want to share with you guys a very cool program that you could be using to display your media on your media center TV or PC. I recently switched my media rig to this setup and am very impressed with its look, speed, extensibility, and ease of use.XBMC Media Center (formerly named Xbox Media Center) is a free and open source cross-platform media player and home entertainment system software designed for the living-room TV. The graphical user interface allows the user to easily manage video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disk, local network, and the internet using a remote control or keyboard and mouse. I like to use the Mobile Air Mouse application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it works great!
It is a popular alternative to Microsoft's Windows Media Center and Apple's Front Row, similar to MediaPortal and MythTV, it also has a skinnable and user-configurable interface and plugin support.
XBMC was originally created for the first-generation Xbox game console but has since evolved as a native application for Linux, Mac OS X (Snow Leopard, Leopard, Tiger, Apple TV), and Microsoft Windows operating systems. There is also a bootable Live CD and Live USB version referred to as "XBMC Live". In addition, source code from XBMC is used as a application framework platform for others projects to base their media center software on, and today at least Boxee, MediaPortal, Plex, and Voddler are separate derivative products that are all known to initially have forked (copied) the GUI (Graphical User Interface) and media player part of their software from XBMC's source code.
To install XBMC visit their website and pick which version you need for your system. You will then download the .exe file and install it like any other program. The recommended settings are fine. You do have the option of installing all files to one location for a portable solution, but then you have to grant admin rights every time. If you do want a portable solution you should download the "Live" version of the software to a CD, DVD, or flash drive.
Once you have installed XBMC you can then launch the software and set the weather application to display your local weather information by entering your zip code. Then you can go to photos, music, and videos and add a source location that XBMC should look for your media. In most cases it will be on a networked location so be sure to share the drives holding your media on your computer. If you don't know how to share your network drive just google it (it's very easy).
Below are some screenshots and a video showing what XBMC looks like and is capable of. Try it out, it's free, easy, and you can have it up and running in less than 20 minutes. Enjoy!
