EggXpert

This might help you

www.mythtv.org

Or do a google on Linux MCE

Also, before you build, here is a good read that covers the hardware and just about anything you need to know about HTPC.

http://www.linuxis.us/linux/media/howto/linux-htpc/

I am thinking of a HTPC project as well and this answered pretty much all the q's I had.

LinuxMCE is an Ubuntu based distribution that looks really nice.  (http://linuxmce.com)

Another that I've had a lot of success with has been Knoppmyth. (http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html) It's a lot easier to setup and has been working fine for me for about 3 months. All you have to do is download the Knoppmyth iso, burn it, and pop it in.

sol101:

Does anyone know of any good open source software equalivalint to Tivo or BeyondTV for windows?  If not is there a Linux Flavor that is dedacated to HTPC concept? I have 1.8 athlon with 768mb ram two cheap tuner cards but no software to run them. The software I have now blows.

Go Linux!   While I admit MCE is the most pleasing and very user-friendly among all HTPC's, linux has alot more to offer besides watching TV, playing music files, etc...and it's free!

aso3:

Go Linux!   While I admit MCE is the most pleasing and very user-friendly among all HTPC's, linux has alot more to offer besides watching TV, playing music files, etc...and it's free!

I was not aware, at the time of my original post, of Ubuntu's LinuxMCE.  My mention of MCE in my orig post , I was referring to Windows Media Center Edition.  Yah, yah...I know...read before you post..

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

and the user forums at

http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/ 

I've been using MediaPortal for about two years now, like all HTPC software it has its issues, but it is about the best I've used. It also is probably the most fully featured. There is an extremely active user/developer base with nghtly SVN builds for those who like bleeding edge. Features include but are not limited to, DVD/CD support, video and audio support via internal or user selectable external players, RSS news feeds, TV recording from multiple TV cards, analog and digital, TVguide support via xmltv and from digital streams, weather, broadcast and internet radio, IMDB lookup, background transcoding of DVR-MS files, files can be local, networked or Ftped, albumart and videoart support, and many other goodies to numerous to mention. Few screenies of my setup below.

GO MYTH!!

I used this guide (http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php) and I am not the most Linux capable.  This will get you up in a weekend (depending on internet speed)

I have a Athlon XP 200+ with 512 MB ram and 80 gb hd

It is not slow in any stretch of the imagination

Free and eazy 

I use gbpvr. Its free and its for windows. I used to have MCE but got a new OS and now i use this since its free

http://www.gbpvr.com/ 

I agree with the post above  - although GBPVR is freeware, not Open Source it is an excellent, well supported HTPC package.

• I have been using GBPVR for about a year. It is very good, and was easy to set up and learn.
  
• It supports a wide range of community generated skins and plug-ins. Installation of these extra features takes some effort, but is pretty straightforward.  It has decent Wiki Documentation.
  
• The latest version provides client/server capabilities for those with a  home network.
  
• There is a very responsive and friendly user forum if you run into problems, or have questions.  The Forum provides a lot of really helpful, focused, and accessible expertise.  I wish I could say the same for the way the Eggxpert forum is evolving.
  
• I started using GBPVR temporarily after experiencing sound and recording problems with the Beyond TV OEM package that came with my Theater 550 Pro Tuner card.  SnapStream said it was the the responsibility of their OEM partner to provide the support. The OEM partner, of course, had no idea (or intention) and no training to do any actual support.  It ended up a recursive "not my responsibility, can't do anything about it", call the other guy, experience.
• I have been using GBPVR ever since, and have un-installed the original Beyond TV OEM package. 
  
• The basic Beyond TV application seemed to have a reasonable set of features and a good user interface.  The initial Beyond TV OEM support experience, however, was too negative to risk paying for an upgrade to the full package at that time. I switched to GBPVR, as a fall back, and it was a very positive experience from from the start. 
  
•  Since then, I have updated  GBPVR (at no cost) a couple of times, and am still happy with the package.  I therefore did not find the repeated upgrade offers from the original vendor compelling enough to make me replace it.
  
• There is probably a lesson there for any vendor who ships OEM cripple ware when there are reasonable alternatives available, but history says nothing will be learned from it.

Regards

        Barbicane

My Main System
HTPC-Main Level - (Built from mostly NewEgg hardware components): | Athlon64 3500+ | Biostar TForce4 Ultra MB | 2Gig Corsair Twinx2048 3200 | eVGA geForce7600GS 256 Video Card | ATI Theater 550 Pro TV Tuner | Samsung Spinpoint SATA 250Gb & Western Digital SATA 80Gb| Kingwin ABT520 PS | Thermaltake Tenor Case | Snapstream Firefly Remote || Windows XP Pro SP2 | GB-PVR 98.08 (freeware - great support community) | Ubuntu 7.04 (Dual Boot) | Video editing and authoring software tools - a mix of commercial (Roxio) and freeware |
 

So... what exactly would I need more than what I already have if I wanted to turn my pc into a Media Center. I own a 52' HDTV, Home PC that has ASUS nVidia 650i SLI Mobo, 512 VGA Card 7600GS, 2GB RAM, Windows XP Pro, 160BG WD HDD, Samsung DVD Combination Optical Drive, and, not that it matters, a PS3 as well.

Aside from the software you all listed, do I "need" a TV Tuner Card as well? And what else. I am extremely interested in doing this Media Center thing. All advise is welcome. Thanks.

Sniper671:

So... what exactly would I need more than what I already have if I wanted to turn my pc into a Media Center. I own a 52' HDTV, Home PC that has ASUS nVidia 650i SLI Mobo, 512 VGA Card 7600GS, 2GB RAM, Windows XP Pro, 160BG WD HDD, Samsung DVD Combination Optical Drive, and, not that it matters, a PS3 as well.

Aside from the software you all listed, do I "need" a TV Tuner Card as well? And what else. I am extremely interested in doing this Media Center thing. All advise is welcome. Thanks.

Especially if you have an HDTV and want to record and play HD, you will need an HD tuner card and more HDD space.

When looking at tuner cards if you can afford it always try to get cards that support hardware decoding of signals.  This will offload the video playing CPU load to your tuner card and result in far less strain on your systems resources.  Hope that helps!

---

Life is pain, anyone who says otherwise is selling something.

^---- 100% created using The Gimp [^.^]
*** Don't forget to Egg good posts! ***

Hi

TV Tuner Card:

• As a minimum you need a Tuner Card for your PC as noted in the posts above:
• It must at least have hardware based MPEG2 encoding
• If you want to record HDTV it should also have hardware based H.264 (MPEG4 Part 10) encoding
• A number of manufacturers make such cards, but in my opinion, the leaders (US bias) are Hauppage and the vendors/partners using the ATI Theater 550/650 Pro Chipset
• I assume you have your TV connected to your computer from 7600GS card
• Many recent versions of such Tuner cards have dual tuners (typically one for standard TV, and one for HDTV )
  

I have only standard TV and use an ATI Theater 550 Pro Card:

• Performance is good, but support is minimal.  All support must come from ATI.  They periodically release Driver updates, but have never, to my knowledge,  published a driver release note for the Theater 550/650 Pro.
  
• You apparently have to take them on faith - I download each new driver, but wait to install.  I typically run two driver versions back and only update when Google searches indicate an update is not likely to break my system. User community support for these cards is available in a forum that I find to be be a somewhat hostile and unhelpful environment.
  
• GBPVR community support seems to be more skewed more towards Hauppage Cards than ATI.  That said, I still find the community pretty helpful.
  
• If I had to do it again, I would choose a Hauppage Card, mostly because getting driver updates and support would likely be less aggravating

Large amount of Hard Drive Storage:

• As noted in the posts above, you will likely need to add additional hard drive capacity if you want to record HD
• Newegg has pretty good prices (~$69-85) on 250/320GB drives nowadays - if you have an open drive bay, add one.
• I also use slightly upgraded old computers (added drive, graphics card, on a home network) to offload recorded content until I want to deal with it (watch&delete, burn, etc)
• Note also that GBPVR also supports a Video client server capability (think upgraded old computer feeding bedroom TV)
  

Remote Control:

• If you want to watch shows on you main TV (live or recorded), that are delivered from your computer, you really need a remote control that works with your computer.
• Your choices are Infrared (IR) or Radio Frequency (RF) (there may also be BlueTooth in some regions, but I have not seen any here)
  
• Check Newegg - some of the Tuner Card packages include remotes  (generally IR)
•  I currently use a SnapStream Firefly RF Remote. The main advantages I see are:
• It allows a distance or up to 30ft and will work through obstructions such as cabinet doors and walls (IR requires line of sight)
  
• It is USB based, so I can move it between any computers on my network that have the driver installed
  
• There is a good FIrefly profile for GBPVR that can be freely downloaded from their Wiki SIte
  
• Firefly profiles are XML based and can be fairly easily modified to suit various application/personalization needs

Hope this helps
 

Regards

      Barbicane

With a old computer like that you need a Linux MythTV version that has been stripped of everything except the essentials so it will run efficiently.  I would recommend KnoppMyth.  Even though the Linux GUI and programs are minimal, the MythTV is full featured, and you never really deal with the OS on a dedicated HTPC anyway except maybe remotely from a windows computer using PuTTY.

 http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html

LinuxMCE! it si very easy to use and very stable. it is a free, open source add-on to ubuntu including a 10'ui, complete whole house media solution with pvr+distributed media, and teh most advanced smarthome solution available.