Linux based HTPC/Media Center/PVR

rogue-entity

Has anyone had any luck building a HTPC system using Linux as opposed to Windwoes? I would be interested in building a dreambox-like device, basically a PVR/Media Center system that would incorporate two DVB-S Tuners and a CI port for FTA sat (and later VideoGuard using the routines used by the Dreambox). I was hoping to either get a second unit for Irish DTT (when we ever get it) or a pair of DTT tuners for the Media Center.

mossym

check out myth tv, it's supposedly the best pvr going, if you can get it running on linux

quozl

I use mythtv on ubuntu. It's brilliant. I feel it gives you more than a Windows PVR but the downside is it's a whole lot more hassle to setup.

I'm using dual-tuners with ntl analogue cable, so I've no experience with DVB cards and I don't even know what a CI port is. There are guys in the UK using mythtv with their digital broadcasts so you could ask on the list what to use if you're trying to pick up british digital free-to-air transmissions.

The pvr-500 I use has s-video is as well as rf, so that might be a way to connect your digital box?

Your best bet is to ask the MythTV mailing list, as I doubt there's many boards.ie mythtv users with much DVB experience.

Tom Dunne

What you will find around here are a few of us who attempted the Linux route and just got frustrated.

Ok, in my own case, it was partly my own fault. I bought a USB TV card before realising there weren't any drivers for Linux for it. But having said that, I just found it incredible hassle to get any sort of media center running properly under Linux.

As much as I hate to admit it, I found Windows much more straight forward.

rogue-entity

Well, as frustrating as it can be with Linux, for me the rewards and advantages are worth it. Windows is too resource intensive and I dont want to pay for commercial software to provide features that I can get from decent OSS programmes instead.

What I was thinking of is a basic PC using as low powered a setup as I can use to keep noise and heat to a minimum. A 800-1GHz Celeron or Duron would do, add to that 512MB RAM, a 160GB HDD, a DVD Writer and a dual DVB-S Tuner with a CI slot. Then I would use Debian GNU/Linux and MythTV.

What I wanted to do is replicate the behavior of the Sky Box, so that I can pause & rewind live TV, record one programme and watch another (either live or recorded). I know that the plus box saves the live video stream to the hard disc in its raw state so that the card is needed to watch encrypted programmes. Is it possible to do this with MythTV and a DVB-S card? Because if it can be done then it would mean that little or no processing resources would be needed to record programmes to disc, only when playing them back or encoding them for DVD recording.

adrian.s

rogue-entity wrote:

<snip>

What I was thinking of is a basic PC using as low powered a setup as I can use to keep noise and heat to a minimum. A 800-1GHz Celeron or Duron would do, add to that 512MB RAM, a 160GB HDD, a DVD Writer and a dual DVB-S Tuner with a CI slot. Then I would use Debian GNU/Linux and MythTV.

What I wanted to do is replicate the behavior of the Sky Box, so that I can pause & rewind live TV, record one programme and watch another (either live or recorded). I know that the plus box saves the live video stream to the hard disc in its raw state so that the card is needed to watch encrypted programmes. Is it possible to do this with MythTV and a DVB-S card? Because if it can be done then it would mean that little or no processing resources would be needed to record programmes to disc, only when playing them back or encoding them for DVD recording.

Yip, this sounds feasible. Going with low powered hardware is fine so long as the decoding is done on the DVB card, that way the CPU doesn't have to get involved. With one DVB-S you can watch or record one channel at a time. When the card is in use recording you wont be able to watch live TV. The answer here is a second card which is probably a good idea any way. For the hard drive though, I'd consider going larger. At approx. 2.2 GB / hr at standard resolution, 160 isn't that big any more, particularly if you starting using MythVideo or MythMusic.

Bear in mind that you wont be able to de-crypt sky's signals using a DVB-S card. They use Videoguard encryption and only they supply the hardwarre to decode it (digibox). You can of course decode FTA satellite with a standard DVB card. If you have Sky, then you'll be using some form of IR blaster to control the digibox and take a feed from it into your PC.

There is one thing that I find pretty neat about Myth that would increase your hardware requirements somewhat and that is commerical detection. It's heavy enough on your machine so it might be useful to have enough CPU available to get this task done quickly. Sitting down to watching TV and then just seing the program magically skip 4 mins or so of commercials without any intervention is pretty cool! Which leads onto another topic, of transcoding. Myth can do all sorts of crazy stuff with your recordings like converting them to DivX, mp4, editing etc. These are areas if you think you'd like to dabble in, then maybe consider higher powered processors. I went with an AMD 3200 which is fine, but I have seen the processor quite heavily loaded, particularly in the 7 -11 PM slot when it's at its busiest recording. For basic recording and playback though, your setup should be fine.

And I'd just like to second another poster in this thread, it's definitely worth your while subscribing to the mythtv-users list, tonnes of info there and there are good few guys from Ireland active on it. It's also a very heavy trafficked list, so make sure you have good ways of organising your email.

HTH,
A.

Zaphod

For DVB stuff, VDR is well developed and has lots of neat plugins and support for EPG display on LCD.

Some impressive hardware options too:
http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/gallery/details.php?image_id=277
http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/gallery/details.php?image_id=272

GBox will run under VDR, so you're OK on the Sky front too.