Network boot and Bluray over network

[DeathMagnetic]

Hi, I'm currently part of a project at college where we're trying to set up a media server and thin client to play media on an HDTV. We're currently looking at what operating system to use and have come across LinuxMCE.

Unfortunately , I haven't been able to figure out whether or not LinuxMCE would be network bootable (a feature we decided on for ease of updates), and whether or not Blurays could be ripped to the server, then accessed from the thin client to be played back on the connected tv. This is anoter important feature as we want all media files to reside on the server so that upgrading with further thin clients is as easy as possible.

Thank you for your help and I look forward to any feedback you can offer me.

[totallymaxed]

Hi, I'm currently part of a project at college where we're trying to set up a media server and thin client to play media on an HDTV. We're currently looking at what operating system to use and have come across LinuxMCE.

Unfortunately , I haven't been able to figure out whether or not LinuxMCE would be network bootable (a feature we decided on for ease of updates), and whether or not Blurays could be ripped to the server, then accessed from the thin client to be played back on the connected tv. This is anoter important feature as we want all media files to reside on the server so that upgrading with further thin clients is as easy as possible.

Thank you for your help and I look forward to any feedback you can offer me.

Firstly welcome... thanks for taking the time to dig into LinuxMCE.

LinuxMCE is composed of a 'server' which is called the Core and 'clients' called Media Directors. Media Directors always network boot over the LAN from the Core and therefore do not require any local hard drive storage. Media Directors can have an Optical drive so that they can directly play CD's or DVD's - and they can also RIP those discs to some storage on the LAN (this might be internal to the Core or a NAS that has been added to the LAN). The UI that runs on Media Directors (and on the Core too) is called an Orbiter and this provides all of the UI features needed to interact with LinuxMCE. There are also standalone Orbiters (ie they have no Media Director functionality and just run the orbiter UI software) for other devices like Windows PC/Laptops, Nokia touch based tables & some mobile phones. What I have written here is just a very brief overview....there is much more to this system than i have described. Search the Wiki for more details on the architecture of the system and how the components relate to one another etc.

Currently BluRay support is not fully implemented due to the restrictions placed on Linux by the content providers - however DVD and CD's can be ripped and stored in LinuxMCE's media library and then streamed to any Media Director at full quality and depending on the video hardware used can be upscaled to 1080P.

Hope the above is of help to you.

All the best

Andrew

[jimbodude]

See also:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/FAQ#What_Does_LinuxMCE_Do_For_Me.3F
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/User_Manual