A few questions

[PileOfMonkeyCrap]

Hey guys, I have a few questions regarding a jukebox.  I'm not new to cabinet building, but am new to juke software and the in and outs of running a touchscreen juke.  A few years ago I built a jukebox from an Atari mini cabinet and used a trackball and two buttons for controlling and navigating the front end.  Not the best solution, but it worked well with the spare parts I had on hand.  I had built it for someone and did not keep it though.

After building that juke, I had thought about building a wall mounted juke, but just never found the time.  But I fooled around with a real nice touchscreen jukebox during a trip to the bowling alley this weekend and it got me thinking about building a jukebox again.

I would want to build a cabinet that would sit on a counter next to my Megatouch Maxx Saphire touch game.  We have a counter in the rec room mounted on a row of cabinets that we use for storing board games, kid stuff, etc.

Right now, I plan on buying an 18" LCD touchscreen and use a spare Athlon Duron 1ghz PC to run the software.  I'm getting ready to remodel my kitchen, so I won't have time to build a cabinet for another few months.  So I was just going to place the PC under the cabinet and run the monitor cable through the rear of the counter to the PC.  The PC would be hidden and the monitor would look sharp next to the Megatouch.  Might even decide that a cabinet is not needed too.

Here are a few questions I have that maybe some of you can provide some answers or insight on:

1)  Should I bother with 5.1 surround or just stick with 2 speakers and a sub?  The sub would fit nicely inside a cabinet under the counter and I can mount two speakers anywhere.  No problem doing 5.1 either, but wanted to know if it's necessary.

2)  Not sure what juke software to use.  But all my MP3s are stored on a NAS, so I need to use software that has no issues with playing from a mapped network drive, etc.  I don't think this would be a problem, but wanted to make sure.

3)  Wireless networking?  Any issues that anyone has experienced?  I currently stream MP3s via mapped drives to the laptops and also my Buffalo Linktheaters via wifi and have had no streaming problems.  But not sure if adding album art or anything else I'm not thinking of would create issues.  I could run an network cable to the PC with minimal effort if needed, but would rather not since I do have a spare PCI wireless G card.

4)  Any brand of touch screen to stay away from?  Any brand better to buy?

5)  Is the PC I'm going to use powerful enough to handle the juke software?  Duron 1ghz, 512MB ram, on board video using XP Pro.  Can easily install a dedicated video card or more memory if needed.

6)  I have about a thousand music videos.  Is there juke software that supports playing a corresponding video for a song if one is available?  Does any juke software support music videos?

Thanks for any replies,

Rick

[Barry Barcrest]

Here are a few questions I have that maybe some of you can provide some answers or insight on:

1)  Should I bother with 5.1 surround or just stick with 2 speakers and a sub?  The sub would fit nicely inside a cabinet under the counter and I can mount two speakers anywhere.  No problem doing 5.1 either, but wanted to know if it's necessary.

Personally i think 2.1 is fine unless the videos you want to play actually have a 5.1 soundtrack to them.

2)  Not sure what juke software to use.  But all my MP3s are stored on a NAS, so I need to use software that has no issues with playing from a mapped network drive, etc.  I don't think this would be a problem, but wanted to make sure.

Depends if you are going for buttons or touchscreen. Check out the wiki for a full list, each one suits a different interface. Like buttons touchscreen, joystick etc.

3)  Wireless networking?  Any issues that anyone has experienced?  I currently stream MP3s via mapped drives to the laptops and also my Buffalo Linktheaters via wifi and have had no streaming problems.  But not sure if adding album art or anything else I'm not thinking of would create issues.  I could run an network cable to the PC with minimal effort if needed, but would rather not since I do have a spare PCI wireless G card.

I have run my juke (Running freebox) over wireless and have played videos without a problem.

4)  Any brand of touch screen to stay away from?  Any brand better to buy?

Well i don't know about bad screens but the ELO and 3M ones are the most populat and i have used both without any issues.

5)  Is the PC I'm going to use powerful enough to handle the juke software?  Duron 1ghz, 512MB ram, on board video using XP Pro.  Can easily install a dedicated video card or more memory if needed.

Depends on the size of your library but i run freebox dual screen on a P700mhz with 128mb ram running XP as the O/S. With a library of over 100,000 mp3's that copes fine, someone has even had it running on a P450mhz. The faster machine just means you can search quicker... I Think some of the other software like wincab has even lower specs, again check the wiki.

6)  I have about a thousand music videos.  Is there juke software that supports playing a corresponding video for a song if one is available?  Does any juke software support music videos?

Freebox, SK Jukebox are the 2 that spring to mind...

[PileOfMonkeyCrap]

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, I'm going to be using a touch screen only and do not want any other controls.  I'll be trying out your software because it does look pretty slick.  I'll stick with just stereo sound because most of my videos are not ripped or captured in 5.1, and this will be primarily a jukebox.  But I will be experimenting with the videos though since I do have a large collection.

My current library is about 30,000 tracks and slowly growing.  So my PC should be able to handle this fine. 

Thanks.