---
layout: post
status: publish
published: true
title: XBMC won't leave me ever again
author: Julien Lengrand-Lambert
author_login: jlengrand
author_email: julien@lengrand.fr
author_url: http://www.lengrand.fr
wordpress_id: 834
wordpress_url: http://www.lengrand.fr/?p=834
date: 2013-02-20 14:26:45.000000000 +01:00
categories:
- misc
tags:
- xbmc
- xbmcbuntu
- media server
- samsung
- media
- media library
comments:
- id: 4808
  author: ! 'XBMC: Share your external drive to your other computers | loup2fu'
  author_email: ''
  author_url: http://www.lengrand.fr/2013/02/xbmc-share-your-external-drive-to-your-other-computers/
  date: !binary |-
    MjAxMy0wMi0yNyAxMDo1Nzo1MSArMDEwMA==
  date_gmt: !binary |-
    MjAxMy0wMi0yNyAwOTo1Nzo1MSArMDEwMA==
  content: ! '[...] &larr; Previous [...]'
---
<p style="text-align: justify;">After almost ten years without a TV, I finally bought a <a title="my TV on amazon" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-UE40EH5000-40-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B007IHYP5Y" target="_blank">101cm Samsung</a> last week-end.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Not that I feel the need for it that much, but being in the process of learning dutch I thought it might be a valuable tool.
See, there are not that many dutch movies out there, so the best way to listen to some nederlands at home is probably national TV :).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I bought the simplest TV I could find, without<a title="smart tv wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_TV" target="_blank"> Smart TV</a> or any tuner in it. But with such a screen, installing some kind of media server was now mandatory :D.
So I installed the last version of <a title="xbmcbuntu" href="http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMCbuntu" target="_blank"><strong>Xbmcbuntu</strong> </a>on an old laptop that was sleeping on a shelf for a year and connected it on my screen through HDMI.
Within 30 minutes, the distribution was installed and running fine. Ten minutes more and I had the <strong>remote control</strong> installed and set up on my android and could throw the mouse away.
Next step was to get an<strong> add-on to use Spotify</strong>, which was also really simple to find. My choice went to <strong><a title="spotimc" href="https://github.com/mazkolain/spotimc" target="_blank">Spotimc</a>. </strong>Just download the zip, put it on your media server and you're basically done.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I had no experience at all with media server in the past, and I must say that<strong> I am really impressed</strong> how well thought the whole thing can be.
When adding movies to the library, <strong>xbmc</strong> will automatically download the subtitles and covers for it. Better than that, it will display them nicely in the background as you browse through your library!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I already know which project I'll donate to next month :).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And as a bonus, here are some pictures to convert you too :)</p>


<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/posts/2013/02/2013-02-20-14.16.28.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-835" alt="XBMC movie library" src="{{ site.url }}/images/posts/2013/02/2013-02-20-14.16.28-1024x768.jpg" width="584" height="438" /></a>

<a href="{{ site.url }}/images/posts/2013/02/2013-02-20-14.17.21.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-836" alt="XBMC main screen" src="{{ site.url }}/images/posts/2013/02/2013-02-20-14.17.21-1024x768.jpg" width="584" height="438" /></a>
