4 ms·

Build a Linux Media Center PC

21 points by jackfoxy 16y ago

voidfiles 16y ago
The only thing that sucks about linux media centers, is that you can't get Netflix streaming.
trun 16y ago
They really glossed over the sound, which is one of the more painful aspects of a Linux HTPC in my opinion. If you're planning on usual digital audio instead of stereo sound, be prepared for a rather nasty battle.
- aw3c2 16y ago
  Using OSSv4 might be a good option. Ever since I switched to it, sound has not been any problem whatsoever anymore.
- forkqueue 16y ago
  I didn't find this at all. Plugged optical out on the motherboard into the optical in on the amp, set mythtv to let the amp decode dd/dts itself and everything worked fine.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  It really depends on the sound chip. My emu10k1-based SBLive 5.1 used to be really awesome for digital out (with a small hack to reset the chip every time I switched from DD/DTS back to PCM), but it has gotten worse over the past 8 years. I eventually switched to 5.1 analog output, sacrificing Pro Logic decoding for stereo sources.
mooism2 16y ago
I'm trying to set up MythTV now, and am getting near the point of giving up and trying to use Freevo instead. They don't say how much power it draws. Anything that's on 24-7 needs to at least try to reduce power use.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  MythTV supposedly supports wake on lan, but I've got a file server that runs 24/7 to double as a MythTV box so I haven't tried it. Unfortunately, there's less and less on OTA HD that I'm interested in recording.
praeclarum 16y ago
As someone who used an Ubuntu box for a media player for 6 months, I have to say that Linux is _almost_ good enough. My major problems included: (1) Because there was no cooperation between the decoders and video cards, playing HD 1080p content at 60 FPS would skip a lot. Perhaps a beefier CPU would help, but the same machine running Windows had no trouble. (2) Samba, or at least Ubuntu's version of it, is very flaky. Some days it would see my networked drives, other days it wouldn't. (3) Moonlight does not handle DRM content from Netflix. If my TV or XBOX did not already handle Netflix, then this would have been a show stopper. All that said, I did run it that way for 6 months, so I guess it was "good enough".
- thwarted 16y ago
  (2) Samba, or at least Ubuntu's version of it, is very flaky. Some days it would see my networked drives, other days it wouldn't. The SMB client on your Ubuntu media player would have trouble seeing network drives? Make sure everything is in the same broadcast subnet and ethernet segment, and make sure that you aren't running NetBIOS ("Windows File Sharing") over anything other than TCP/IP, not NetBeui -- this shouldn't be a problem with more recent Windows versions, but every so often it pops up. Also, you might have luck if you disable nmbd in your samba clients and let a Windows machine be the master browser, especially if your media player linux machine isn't always on. But I guess this is all moot if you've moved onto some other solution. Maybe this will help someone else.
  - praeclarum 16y ago
    It's very helpful thanks. Honestly, I am disliking the WIndows experience more than I disliked the Ubuntu experience, so I will probably give it another go. To be thoroughly honest, I don't know if it was Samba acting up on me or if it was the Ubuntu file browser (Nautilus?). Every couple days or so, I would have to click the refresh repeatedly for about 30s in order to get it to see the network shares. Was that Samba's fault or GNOMEs? I don't have the knowledge to say either way. Thank you for the information.
    - thwarted 16y ago
Cabal 16y ago
I've been using Linux for 15 years and *NIX for longer, and I really wanted MythTV to work, but the Wife Acceptance Factor was too low. Windows Media Center won out, due to: 1.) CableCARD support. Expanded analog has left in my area, and ClearQAM doesn't cover enough channels for our use. HD-PVR is a very unfortunate kludge that I wasn't interested in undertaking. 2.) Netflix streaming support. We had it on the PS3 already, but wanted it everywhere. Most of our TV watching is done in the office. 3.) Ease of use, east of setup (even with Mythbuntu and a Logitech Harmony).
fudge 16y ago
We've had a MythTV box running in some form or other the last 6 years, so my kids have always had access to instant recordings and movies on demand. It took quite a while for them to realize that not all TVs work like this, it wasn't just daddy being an ass when they wanted to watch Dora on their grandparents TV.
- Calamitous 16y ago
  Heh. I've often wondered how my son (now 2 years old) is going to view media and electronics as he grows up. "What do you mean you can't watch LoTR on your phone?" or "You have do put in a different disc for every movie?" Man. I need to get out of this rocking chair and chase those kids off my lawn.
wookiehangover 16y ago
My solution is to run a linux media server that broadcasts over UPnP to a PS3 using MediaTomb. Streaming is top notch, it even transcodes filetypes that the PS3 can't handle natively. Anyway, it's way less complicated than a MythTV setup.

21 points by jackfoxy 16y ago

The only thing that sucks about linux media centers, is that you can't get Netflix streaming.

trun 16y ago

They really glossed over the sound, which is one of the more painful aspects of a Linux HTPC in my opinion. If you're planning on usual digital audio instead of stereo sound, be prepared for a rather nasty battle.

aw3c2 16y ago
Using OSSv4 might be a good option. Ever since I switched to it, sound has not been any problem whatsoever anymore.
forkqueue 16y ago
I didn't find this at all. Plugged optical out on the motherboard into the optical in on the amp, set mythtv to let the amp decode dd/dts itself and everything worked fine.
nitrogen 16y ago
It really depends on the sound chip. My emu10k1-based SBLive 5.1 used to be really awesome for digital out (with a small hack to reset the chip every time I switched from DD/DTS back to PCM), but it has gotten worse over the past 8 years. I eventually switched to 5.1 analog output, sacrificing Pro Logic decoding for stereo sources.

mooism2 16y ago

I'm trying to set up MythTV now, and am getting near the point of giving up and trying to use Freevo instead. They don't say how much power it draws. Anything that's on 24-7 needs to at least try to reduce power use.

nitrogen 16y ago
MythTV supposedly supports wake on lan, but I've got a file server that runs 24/7 to double as a MythTV box so I haven't tried it. Unfortunately, there's less and less on OTA HD that I'm interested in recording.

praeclarum 16y ago

As someone who used an Ubuntu box for a media player for 6 months, I have to say that Linux is _almost_ good enough. My major problems included: (1) Because there was no cooperation between the decoders and video cards, playing HD 1080p content at 60 FPS would skip a lot. Perhaps a beefier CPU would help, but the same machine running Windows had no trouble. (2) Samba, or at least Ubuntu's version of it, is very flaky. Some days it would see my networked drives, other days it wouldn't. (3) Moonlight does not handle DRM content from Netflix. If my TV or XBOX did not already handle Netflix, then this would have been a show stopper. All that said, I did run it that way for 6 months, so I guess it was "good enough".

thwarted 16y ago
(2) Samba, or at least Ubuntu's version of it, is very flaky. Some days it would see my networked drives, other days it wouldn't. The SMB client on your Ubuntu media player would have trouble seeing network drives? Make sure everything is in the same broadcast subnet and ethernet segment, and make sure that you aren't running NetBIOS ("Windows File Sharing") over anything other than TCP/IP, not NetBeui -- this shouldn't be a problem with more recent Windows versions, but every so often it pops up. Also, you might have luck if you disable nmbd in your samba clients and let a Windows machine be the master browser, especially if your media player linux machine isn't always on. But I guess this is all moot if you've moved onto some other solution. Maybe this will help someone else.
- praeclarum 16y ago
  It's very helpful thanks. Honestly, I am disliking the WIndows experience more than I disliked the Ubuntu experience, so I will probably give it another go. To be thoroughly honest, I don't know if it was Samba acting up on me or if it was the Ubuntu file browser (Nautilus?). Every couple days or so, I would have to click the refresh repeatedly for about 30s in order to get it to see the network shares. Was that Samba's fault or GNOMEs? I don't have the knowledge to say either way. Thank you for the information.
  - thwarted 16y ago

Cabal 16y ago

I've been using Linux for 15 years and *NIX for longer, and I really wanted MythTV to work, but the Wife Acceptance Factor was too low. Windows Media Center won out, due to: 1.) CableCARD support. Expanded analog has left in my area, and ClearQAM doesn't cover enough channels for our use. HD-PVR is a very unfortunate kludge that I wasn't interested in undertaking. 2.) Netflix streaming support. We had it on the PS3 already, but wanted it everywhere. Most of our TV watching is done in the office. 3.) Ease of use, east of setup (even with Mythbuntu and a Logitech Harmony).

fudge 16y ago

We've had a MythTV box running in some form or other the last 6 years, so my kids have always had access to instant recordings and movies on demand. It took quite a while for them to realize that not all TVs work like this, it wasn't just daddy being an ass when they wanted to watch Dora on their grandparents TV.

Calamitous 16y ago
Heh. I've often wondered how my son (now 2 years old) is going to view media and electronics as he grows up. "What do you mean you can't watch LoTR on your phone?" or "You have do put in a different disc for every movie?" Man. I need to get out of this rocking chair and chase those kids off my lawn.

wookiehangover 16y ago

My solution is to run a linux media server that broadcasts over UPnP to a PS3 using MediaTomb. Streaming is top notch, it even transcodes filetypes that the PS3 can't handle natively. Anyway, it's way less complicated than a MythTV setup.