Finally cutting the ties of cable TV

So, I finally decided to cut the ties to cable TV. Being a geek, I never throw away old computer equipment, and I decided to repurpose an old laptop. I ended up making it a kind of HTPC.

Heres what I did:

There is an open source program called XBMC (xbox media center) originally this was a program for the original xbox to be an actual media center as well. It has since changed to be an open source program for multiple platforms, including android. So, I had a laptop with a broken screen, and placed that where my cable dvr was.

The win comes that with this, almost all shows showing now on every major channel, including cable are available in HD for free. With XBMC and addons made by bluecop (a developer) it actually pulls all of them and places them in a nice neat list that can be broken into channels, or altogether. This also gives me past episodes as well.

BUT THATS NOT ALL!

I have also rigged this to also run emulators of past video game consoles up to the PS1! this is all ran through the program, and played with a controller. I have also been able to put my previous pc games and play with the controller too. The controller that I am currently using is a ps3 sixaxis controller paired by bluetooth.

another amazing feature is that this is tv surfing has all of my media movies and tv shows that I have on my hard drive on my server all ready, and neatly placed netflix style with pics and art to go with. Oh, and it is all surfable with an actual remote control just like how TV is meant to be watched.

So, question: Who out there is doing the same thing? Any suggestions or tips for a newbie? If you are using XBMC, any good addons that are must haves?

And lastly, if you are interested in doing this, ask me questions. I am more than happy to help with my limited knowledge of the system and how I got it to work.

Good stuff. Tell me more. I cut the cable cord a couple of years ago and have just lived off ESPN3, icefilms(megaupload prior to shut down) & Hulu. This sounds pretty interesting but I ride the technology short bus.

if you have an old computer lying around, and apple tv, even an old xbox you can have xbmc. I have found ESPN on it, so whatever is on espn.com, you get all those games. like i said, hulu is able to be surfed on your TV ( the free one) and it is browsable. but the addon freecable puts all the tv websites like ABC NBC CBS fox usa food network syfy etc for you to browse through. then coupled with netflix (which if you are nefarious you can get for free by using a new credit card every month, but its seriously 8 bucks a month lol) you have tons of past TV and movies as well.

The first thing your going to need to do is find what you can use to run the box.

OH! i should mention you can run just that without windows or anything like that via their own linux program xbmc live. I chose not to because I wanted to play old consoles as well.

If you want to look into xbmc and get a general overview, here is some of the stuff you can do with it compiled by lifehacker.com and since i am a guy that gets it by someone actually helping me step by step a lot of times, I can help you set it up and get you working too.


Lifehacker.com guide to XBMC

XBMC website

Oh, i forgot to mention, you can use your gaming controllers, ps3 remote, as well as regular media center remotes MC remotes and all in one remotes with this. I also have to reiterate, IT IS FREE!

Ok, you got me. I am running Windows 7 with a 2nd computer I have from last year. This is where I have all my movies and TV shows (around 800 files that I usually run with Windows Media player). I see that I can add them to this application and that seems pretty straight forward. Now, how do I add all the other cool stuff? Excitement level rising

Some of those repos have some good stuff in them. Hurray for Xbmc!

Any suggestions on which repos i should pick up?