Media Scenarios

This page was written by Pluto and imported with their permission when LinuxMCE branched off in February, 2007. In general any information should apply to LinuxMCE. However, this page should be edited to reflect changes to LinuxMCE and remove old references to Pluto.

All the other scenarios are grouped by room. Media Scenarios, however, are grouped by the entertainment areas. Normally they are the same thing unless you chose to manually configure entertainment areas on the rooms page. Rooms for an explanation of Rooms and Entertainment areas.

For each entertainment area you can check off one of the quick shortcuts: TV, playlists, music, movies, videos, pictures, documents. That will create a button on the orbiter for that entertainment area. The TV button will turn on the TV in that entertainment area, and automatically tune to the current user's most favorite show. The other shortcuts will take you to a "browse" screen that shows you all the media of the given type (playlists, music, etc.), and let you pick the one you want.

To create a media scenario (or button) to do something else, like listen to the Radio, or maybe control a DVD player, go to the bottom of the page and type in the description you want to appear on the button, and choose the entertainment area it should appear in. The page will refresh, and then you will have a pull-down that lists all the media devices in that entertainment area. If you already added the device, but it's not showing up in the list, return to the page where you added the device, and be sure you specified that the device can be used in this entertainment area.<p> <p>After you choose the device, you will see a list of all the types of media that device can play. Choose the type of media you want to come on when you touch the button (DVD, Radio, etc.). If you don't see the specific type, just choose 'Other'.

Lastly choose the Remote Control you want to use to control the device. There are several standard remote controls Pluto provides, plus others contributed by third parties. You can also use a Pronto file, which is a very widely supported universal remote control. There are several tools available to create remote screens in Pronto format, and web sites devoted to them, like www.remotecentral.com. You can also mix. For example, Pluto's remotes tend to be very simple and easy because they are generic for many devices. You can use the Pluto remote for the basics, and also a Pronto remote that has all the less commonly used, advanced features. If you choose both a Pluto remote and a Pronto, then when you touch the media, it will first show you the Pluto remote, and there will be a 'Pronto' button to take you to the Pronto remote.

Pronto is a trademark of Philips.