Mok HTPC wiki:About
From Mok HTPC wiki
Mok is a PC based entertainment system (HTPC, home theatre PC) sitting in the corner of your living room.
- It is capable of functions like
- Movie (DVD, Divx) playback both from DVD and HDD
- MP3 playback including other formats like .ogg
- CD audio playback
- Movie playback from different formats like .avi, .mpg and divx
The fun began years ago when a set of LCD's were found (these LCD's are dug from carbage bins some two-three years ago). A vision of a Home Theatre PC around the LCD was born. After long hours of doing software (and hardware) for Mok, the whole product is somewhat ready. Don't worry if you don't have an LCD, there is an emulator for that one.
There has been a Mok V1 built with Visual Basic. That project was built by d'Arc and MNB. It used the same LCD, but via parallel port. Due to the limitations (read: annoyances) in VB we decided to rebuild Mok in Delphi. Also, other interested people joined the project and gave their feedback. We got the possibility to build a new LCD controller for serial port as well as custom boxes for the HW. This is now the version two of the project - that's why the name Mok V2.
This, V2, was supposed to be a quick hack to get the thing up and running with Delphi. Though, we're still doing new features and things because it's fun. Most probably this will be one of those 'never to be ready'-projects.
The name Mok is just a bunch of nice letters. Good suggestions on what it means can be sent to me. :-)
Contents |
Credits
Code : d'Arc and Scapegoat
Graphics : d'Arc
HW design : Protossi and JukSii
Box design : JA and d'Arc
Additional thanks for support : PV, MNB
Tester thanks : Ville, Olli, Kimmo
Big thanks and hugs to our families who have had the patience with all of us.
Features
- Movie playback both in hardware and software.
- Audio playback from different formats
- Support for third party applications
- Web enabled with connection to http://www.imdb.com and http://www.freedb.org
- Graphical user interfaces (GUI) done as separate modules
- Support for different LCD's
- TV interface
- Theme support
- For developers: SDK for support for other user interfaces
- For developers: SDK for support for other core modules
Movie playback both in hardware and software
Movie playback from various formats is of course supported. It does not matter if you have your movies on CD, DVD, hard disk drive or even remotely connected via your local network.
Both software and hardware playback is supported. Software support is for movie formats such as divx, xvid, different avi-formats, mpg. Sub titles in different formats are supported also. Hardware support can show movies in DVD format either from a DVD disk or from a directory on your hard drive. VCD, SVCD and mpeg1/2 movies are also usable from all medias.
Remember to install codec support.
Audio playback from different formats
You can play also different audio formats. Your music can either be compressed (eg. ogg and mp3) to save space, uncompressed (eg. flac) or real audio CD's. Radio channels and streams from internet can also be listened. You can also create your own playlists for easy listening. The media support is for CD, DVD, hard disk drive or even remotely connected local network drives.
Remember to install codec or plugin support.
Support for third party applications
Mok is capable of launching and running external applications. You can rip your dvd's, browse internet or play games with a single click on the remote controller. When you're done, press stop on your remote to close the application and return to Mok. If you close your application by other means, Mok will return back in to action.
Graphical user interfaces (GUI) done as separate modules
GUI functionality is done as separate modules, dlls. You have the possibility to run multiple GUIs; one for LCD and one for TV.
Theme support
All menus and backgrounds can be edited to your liking. You can either create them by yourselves or go and download some eye candy. Limited theme support is available also for LCD screens. Themes can also use content from internet.
All theme configurations, skinning, can be done in 'xml' files.
LCD support
An LCD screen has been previously the only way to use Mok. Now you can also use your TV via the LCD emulator. Both of them can be active at the same time. The emulator is a copy of the screen on the LCD. It features zooming to show the data in the size of your television. It's now much easier to see things from distance.
TV UI support
You can use your television as the main UI for all playback. The UI is fully skinnable and you can simply create your own themes.
Web enabled
If your HTPC is connected to internet, you can use anything found from the internet on Mok. This is mainly to be used with pictures, but any material is possible to download.
Parsing functionality is also supported. Mok can search through a web page to find a certain filename with wildcards (*, ?). With this you can for example get your daily pictures, which name changes on the target URL, to your theme.
For more information see <http://xxx>
SDK for support for other user interfaces
A simple SDK is supported for other people to create their own GUIs. This makes it possible to do drivers and support for other sized LCD's, touch screens and such. Download an example from <http://xxx>
A simple SDK is supported for other people to create their own core modules. This makes it possible to do drivers and support for other players. Download an example from <http://xxx>
