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I want to use XMBC on my system. I am not worrying about the installation. I need help to quickly setup this and use it. I have right now 2 TV at my home with a HTCP. I had hooked a TV on the HTPC which works on Windows Media Center. Now I had sell of both the TV's and purchased a large 42" plasma. I need a good media center which can offer me easy interface and simple features. I loved the interface of XMBC. It is more rich and better than Windows Media Center. I need advice on quick setup.
I do not think you might require any major information on the setup. The setup is very easy. Just download and run the setup file. Once done the media center will scan your hard drive for video and audio files and will list the same on the screen. You can see the same interface on TV by hooking it to your HTPC. I do not know much about remote configuration. You can try this out with universal remote. It has a very simple interface which shows you where media is stored. You just need to navigate the same properly and done. It also detects audio and video files from a removable drive. The best thing you can do is get a 1Tb drive and add up all your content on it. Fix it on a NAS drive and configure it on the HTPC. Best for media streaming purpose.
I can put a bit highlight on using remote controls on XMBC. The best and compatible remote controls for XMBC is MCE remotes. This type of remotes are widely available and easy to use also. The reason to recommend this is the availability of remote. You can purchase the same from ebay also. The new version of XMBC offer you easy remote configuration. It comes with inbuilt settings. This remotes work on IR receivers. And if you need a better one then you can go for Logitech Harmony. This is a costly one but better with many features. There are also QWERTY remotes. Some manual configuration is needed for the same.
XMBC is really nice open source media center suite. First of all when you install this you do not need to configure any additional packages. XMBC smoothly plays all type of audio and video format. Also you can play any dvd directly on the player. The one thing which I liked about this media center software is library management. It offer a nice library manager to choose the best movie you want. There are flexible addons also. Do not forget to try them also.
XMBC has a wiki guide on web. The setup is not really very tough. You need to install the same on Windows and second most important thing is getting the display on TV which you are using. All settings to get dual display lies on the TV Tuner of HTPC. If the resolution differs check the display resolution of dual monitors. In my view you must have purchased a wide screen monitor in place of plasma tv. If you face a poor resolution issue on the second screen you can try buying a dvr or media extender. This media extender has option to display common content on various tv or monitors. It is much easier to use also.