- Waaait what is a media center, and why should i care?
- It's software that's basically a smart tv equivalent where you can view all your media/subscriptions in one place.
- In some ways it's better than a smart tv because it has generally more software than a cheap tv and you can repurpose your existing device.
- The one drawback is that it will require some setting up.
Hardware
- You can use any 64bit intel/amd processor equipped laptop/pc from tha last 10 years if you are sticking to hd content.
- You can use an android box or phone with hdmi out or a cheap Single Board Computer like the raspberry pi.
Software
- The star of the show is kodi, which is a dedicated media center app with an extensive addon ecosystem.
- It can be installed directly on windows, android or on linux, macos.
- On the other hand if you are using dedicated hardware for this purpose i would advise to install a Just Enough Operating System which is a stripped down linux system with kodi acting as the systems "desktop", they have dedicated controls for wifi and bluetooth inside the kodi interface.
- JEOS are:
Addons
- Sooo inside kodi, software is distributed as addons they can be installed from repositories and user repositories can be installed via zip files.
- You can basically watch every streaming service with right addon, most of it can be found in the slyguy repository, but you can find every kind of content under the sun.
- Kodi comes included with a base repository with a lot of addons, also libreelec has its own repo with useful addons like a chrome browser.
Connectivity
- You can remote control it with android apps like yatse, kore, the Official Kodi Remote ios app or with the built in web interface.
- Kodi includes a SMB file server, and you can cast to it using airplay, or you can share videos with kodi through the remote app.
Sooo
- I hoped i managed to spark some interest in you. Stay curious!
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