Media center tribulations.

 6/17/14 Okay, where do I even begin? So last time I was talking about 7zip and unzipping ISOs. Well I have been doing some research and it looks like you can build a Linux based server with Debian. It actually looks relatively easy to do. So let me backup. I want to build a Raspberry Pi for my roms and emulators. Then I read that you can put xbmc media center on a Raspberry Pi to stream movies over your network.

 I found a retropie and xbmc os image I want to use. You can access xbmc from within emulation station. So I want to build my Pi'dOne with that. It would have a few of my roms on it, but mostly be a streaming box. On the GameCube I want that one to be the all in one portable emulator, that plays all of my roms. The GameCube is going to take a long time to build because I want it to be as perfect as possible. The PS1 won't take as long because I am only using it as a case for the Raspberry Pi. 

 Now back to the Debian server. I bought a 2 terabyte internal hard drive not too long ago for my movies, pictures, roms, emulators and music videos. I have been trying to share that drive on my network and it's proving to be a pain in my ass. I need a device that I can put my media on that can be accessed by my computers, Xbox, PS3, tablets, laptops and whatever else. So if I can't do that from my computer now, I need a different device. I did do research that said you could use a Raspberry Pi as the server. I want to experiment with Debian and xbmc first to see how I even like the program. 

 6/18/14 I downloaded the xbmc for windows, I installed it this morning and set it to find my movies. I configured a couple of settings then I had to leave for work so I don't even know if it works or if I can stream from my PS3? There's another program called PS media server. It does exactly what it says. It serves media from your computer to your PS3. There's a plug in for ps media server for xbmc. I want to see if my PS3 can see the xbmc install first before I try any plug ins. 

 6/18/14 I started trying to install Debian on a throw away computer that still worked. I got it going after a couple of re installs. I got xbmc loaded on it, but it was version 11 or 12. I transferred one of my movies to then debian desktop and xbmc wouldn't display it. It said it was playing, but there was no video. I googled how to install vlc media player. I opened vlc, selected the movie, after a stutter or two the movie played just fine. So what the hell!? I have tried Linux in the past and have had mixed results. I have tried puppy Linux, Ubuntu and now debian. I am capable, at least I thought. I don't know what I am going to do at this point for Linux 

 6/19/14 This morning I installed ps media server. Configured the shared drive. I put the plugin file into ps media players files. As I was sitting at the computer, ps media server found my Blu-ray player. I was shocked and I went to the bedroom where it was, turned it on, found ps media server and played a couple movies!!! Holy shit!!! It worked, it really worked. 

 6/23/14 I covered a lot of this on my weekend review, but I'm going to backtrack a little and go from there. This has been such a mess trying to figure all of this out.

 So yay, it works with the couple things I threw at it. I even got surround sound out of my movie files since I figured out the sound settings. So as I'm going back to shut down the ps3 I see this

 H-I folders are gone. Where did the letters for the folders go? The files themselves are still there but the lettering is gone.

 So I go to my computer and xbmc is running correctly. So what gives?

 I still haven't scraped data, cause I didn't want the scraper to change my file names again. I don't even know where to begin to search for letters on my ps3 files disappearing. I guess this post has turned into more than just a midweek update. It's spanning close to two weeks now. I will keep working on it. There is proof that my time and effort is worth it. I found another "setup guide" for sharing from Windows Media Player, so I will try that too. I will update the actual midweek update later. Till next time.