PS2 Media Center

There is no need to reinvent the wheel and the easiest way would be to port the barebones and the GUI of XBMC http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc. The parts connected with video player, SHOUTcast and networking - from SMS Player and myPS2.
XBMC is written using clear C++, so there would be no problem understanding and porting it, substituting the DX part with SDL. Of course some parts require plain PS2 programming, but the use of SDL would allow a broader access to the project.

So, who would like to participate in this project? And how?

@user112: ...why on earth XBMC :)? Wouldn't it be more logical to make further evolution of myPS2 by adding SMS's player into it?...

SMS + MYPS2 would pretty much be the ultimate media center experience. Plus you would have FTP ability and the ability to stream media which would be overly awesome.

With all the respect... but myPS2 FTP ability ... isn't working correctly... I'd like to see more changes in SMS, like additional support for other video and audio types, and ability of viewing pictures...

I think a better platform is needed. Something extensible so people can easily write new apps to the platform. I mean, myPS2 is damn good, but it sounds like a solid rock that you can't model by your own :P

But anyway, I just like the way SMS works, and I like uLaunchELF, right now I don't need anything more than a homebrew Linux Loader (the Sony's RTE, oh, I don't have to say anything about the Sony's RTE)

I don't even know where to start:

SMS Player and myPS2:
- have no structure, there is no way they could be extended
- no one except their authors would be able to understand the code
- the code is PS2-specific - no one, except PS2 developers, would be able and interested in maintaining it
- myPS2 interface is hardcoded and have amateurish look
- no one, except a few people here, would get interested
- the resulted player wouldn't appeal to ordinary users
- the written code would be totally nonreusable
They could be hacked together, but that would be a dead end.

XBMC:
- great, structured, extensible code-base
- fully extensible interface with "professional look"
- ordinary users, who need things that just work right away, would get interested
- XBMC have lots of things that are very tedious to code, but very easy to port - like IMDb and CDDB lookups, TV and weather guides, etc.
- the project would draw interest as soon as there will be a working GUI
- many programmers would be able to contribute to the project, not just PS2-specific coders
- it would be possible to port the SDL port anywhere with little effort
And a lot more, it looks like we have a winner!

But it seems that there isn't much support here...

User112 im sorry if you take offence to this but i think you have no clue what so ever as to the limitations of what the ps2 can and cannot do.

Do you really think that if what you propose is easily done then it wouldnt have been done already? the bottom line is the ps2 is not the xbox, the ps2 didnt have native hard drive support among many other things the xbox has, plus the fact the xbox is more close to a pc which makes things easier on it.

We all faced the facts a long time ago that the ps2 is a million times harder to program with than the xbox its just the way it is. :(

I would say big props to EEUG who has already taking this project further than any of us could have ever imagined.

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Originally Posted by wallacee

User112 im sorry if you take offence to this but i think you have no clue what so ever as to the limitations of what the ps2 can and cannot do.

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Could you name the limitations that would make it impossible, one by one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wallacee

Do you really think that if what you propose is easily done then it wouldnt have been done already?

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Judging by the reaction - yes, I do!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wallacee

the bottom line is the ps2 is not the xbox, the ps2 didnt have native hard drive support among many other things the xbox has, plus the fact the xbox is more close to a pc which makes things easier on it.

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Doesn't every PS2 out there have a memory card and USB ports? And every slim PS2 - a network adapter?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wallacee

We all faced the facts a long time ago that the ps2 is a million times harder to program with than the xbox its just the way it is. :(

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Use SDL.

So you really think that there is no way that PS2 would be able to display a few bitmaps here and there, and play a couple of mp3s? It's not NES!
The hardest thing is MPEG4 decoding and it's already done.

Would we see something constructive here?

@user112: ...let's turn it this way :). What's the point of this discussion?

- "play a couple of mp3s"? It plays, I think;
- "MPEG4 decoding and it's already done"? Yes, so what?

"If you wanna shoot - shoot, don't talk" :) (If you want to program just do it). Otherwise this will lead nowhere. User interface is bad? OK, it's bad. Just make your own - I've made GUI kinda object oriented (in C), so, it's not that difficult to add new elements to it or replace existing drawing code by the new "advanced" ones. You need help to start? Just ask about things you don't understand. What else? Use SDL? Why? SMS is not compatible with anything except PS2 anyway (for the real high performance application the layer between hardware and software shold be minimal (with SDL it's not the case)). "...would be able to display a few bitmaps here and there..." it is also implemented and semi-transparent drawing is "free" in PS2. "Would we see something constructive here?" Am I writing "non constructive"? :)...