What I Use: Digital Ecosystems

[McBainUK]

After reading this article on Supersite for windows blog, it got me thinking about my own environment (below). I wonder if improvements can be made... What stuff are you guys using and how well does it work together, and with your use of NextPVR?

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[B]eBook[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Amazon Kindle Do not used any eBooks at the moment. [B]Games[/B] My choice(s): PC, PS3, Wii Possible alternatives: XBOX 360 I prefer PC gaming as I like the types of games. [B]Apps and games: PC[/B] My choice(s): Steam, Origin Possible alternatives: ? [B]Music: Streaming[/B] My choice(s): Rdio Possible alternatives: Xbox Music Pass, Spotify I use Rdio at work but not on my phone (Android app is very slow) or on the HTPC as I would perfer a 10ft interface instead of a browser with mouse & keyboard. [B]Music: Purchases[/B] My choices: Amazon MP3, Xbox Music Possible alternatives: Many Prefer to to own music on CD but sometimes buy MP3s when the offer's good. [B]Music: Locker[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown Not sure on the UK options and the benifits of this kind of service. Currently, all music is stored on the HTPC server and shared with the house. Selected albums are copied to my Android phone for playback in the car and on the move. [B]Photos[/B] My choice(s): Stored on HTPC with acces via NextPVR and network shares Possible alternatives: SkyDrive Don't like the idea of sharing photos of friends and family on 3rd party servers. Although SkyDrive would be nice as it means they are viewable everywhere and easily shareable. [B]Home movies[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: YouTube [B]Movies: Rental[/B] My choice(s): LoveFilm DVD and BluRay rental Possible alternatives: Many I like the quality and "movieness" of BluRay/DVD. [B]Movies: Streaming[/B] My choice(s): LoveFilm Possible alternatives: Netflix Only for occiasional use as LoveFilm instant seems low quality picture. Also, it only runs on the PS3 or a browser, both have no r/c. [B]Movies/TV shows: Purchase[/B] My choice(s): Not bought online Possible alternatives: ? Use NextPVR to watch and record shows. [B]Movies/TV shows: Broadcast[/B] My choice(s): NextPVR Possible alternatives: TV, WMC, XBMC I use NextPVR to watch and record TV shows. [B]Audio books[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown [B]Podcasts[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown [B]Cloud storage: Documents/sync[/B] My choice(s): SkyDrive Possible alternatives: Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, many others Like SkyDrive for the ammount of space and works well with my PCs. [B]Cloud storage: Backup[/B] My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown

[whurlston]

Other than using my YouTube plugin for kids videos and the rare times I want to hear a particular song that I don't have, all my media is stored locally with some backups on personal servers. I used to use Netflix (of course) but not for a while.

[pcostanza]

I'm pretty much all over the place. Ipad for books and other portable reasons,
I use NPVR and Media Center for recording/watching all my shows....have Netflix for SWMBO. In my man cave I have 2 large desktops with nice monitors (building another next week). I use Xbox as an extender for the TV upstairs via my cablecard tuner (using Powerline adapters).
I don't buy much music anymore but usually buy from Amazon and iTunes.

All my music, video and pictures are stored on two backup drives for redundancy.

[ACTCMS]

As an old Mainframe man. I've always been commited to the closed Data Centre (AKA the attic) approach. My domain server, routers, switches and NPVR servers are all kept up there in the dark controlled from my office (kitchen) laptop. Mrs ACTCMS has her own laptop The TVs in the house are served by 3xNMTs and 1xMVP. Our video, home movie, music and photo collections are all held on the domain server. All home movies, music and photos are backed up in several places including two offsite. Any movies we've not already recorded from live TV, we'll source from LoveFilm as DVD rentals. So we are pretty much covered when at home. I should add that all our PCs and laptops (except the domain server) are recycled from clients surplus to requirements stuff (and cost ziltch).

If I really want to listen to music when I'm away from home, I'll take my 4 year old Technica mp3 player and I always carry the traditional keyfob with photos of the grandchildren. So apart from electricity, I suppose we have a pretty low carbon footprint...

Alex

[psycik]

I've got a "server" with 9tb space for collected media and music, photos and backups (also runs as a virtual machine host) - it runs plex to serve up all the media. NextPVR based system is in the lounge with 1.5tb space primarily for playback and recording. This also has plex on it so I can transcode recordings for the iphone.

I've also got a popcorn hour in the bedroom for playing recordings and also using my plex plugin.

Then I've got an atv2 mostly for playing with, airplay from iphone (plex client mostly), netflix and it has a plex client and xbmc client as well.

Next I have an ATV3, mostly used for any itunes downloaded content, or airplay from plex again.

Lastly I have a raspberry pi, will probably give that to my brother in law so he can access content on his NAS - I'll get another one when a native plex client is produced for the raspberry.

Bit messy. The next pvr machine is the primary playback device of either its recorded content of stuff in plex (using my plugin).

[bgowland]

I'll keep it simple and follow the layout of McBainUK...

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eBook My choice(s): Kindle app for Android Possible alternatives: Don't know I rarely use it but I have a few software development eBooks - you never know when you'll need to look up something when sitting in the corner of a pub. Games My choice(s): None I used to get seriously addicted to games but managed to break the habit. The same goes for whiskey - I like it too much so avoid it at all costs. Apps and games: My choice(s): Android (but just for apps, not for games) Possible alternatives: None worth considering Music: Streaming My choice(s): WinAmp but only for Internet radio - specifically Radio Jackie (The Sound of South West London). Having recently moved, it's nice to keep in touch with what's happening where I used to live. Possible alternatives: Dunno Music: Purchases My choices: Amazon MP3 Possible alternatives: Many I rarely buy music these days but sometimes I'll get the odd choon or a full album as a paid-for download. Music: Locker My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown Photos My choice(s): Not used really - my wife's the photographer, there are some on the NextPVR server. Possible alternatives: Flickr After moving I did take some photos of the area and uploaded them to Flickr so friends and family could see them. It's not something I'm really into though. Home movies My choice(s): Not used Movies: Rental My choice(s): Virgin Media (cable) on-demand movies but very rarely I'm generally happy to wait for old movies to come around again on Film4 Movies: Streaming My choice(s): As above Movies/TV shows: Purchase My choice(s): DVD usually only given to me as birthday / Christmas presents because I'm terrible to buy for and I just bung DVDs on my Amazon wishlist Possible alternatives: ? Movies/TV shows: Broadcast My choice(s): Virgin Media cable TV either live or recorded on a 1TB Tivo; NextPVR (recordings only) Audio books My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown Podcasts My choice(s): Not used Possible alternatives: Unknown Cloud storage: Documents/sync My choice(s): Dropbox Possible alternatives: Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive Cloud storage: Backup My choice(s): Dropbox