HTPC - Specialised Software or Not? - Discussion

Johnboy1951

Hi,
Just want to get some other opinions because I seem to be inclined to move away from specialised HTPC OS and use a standard OS for my HTPC.

I recently built a HTPC box (not yet complete as I have not set up a remote) and ran Openelec on it dual booting with PCLinuxOS. I did the dual boot initially as the box is quite capable of running a full OS and thought I might like to do general browsing and email etc while using the TV,

Now I find myself using the main OS for everything.
Mostly I use it for playing videos from another server PC on the LAN and LiveTV from a Satellite card and a DTT USB dongle.
When XBMC goes final with Ver 12 which includes LiveTV, I might use that, but in the meantime I am using Kaffeine for Live TV.
In fact I find Kaffeine much less 'fiddly' to use than XBMC for LiveTV.

I have not attempted to set up 'art' for the files so for a lot of people I suppose this would be a big negative when using Kaffeine .... but maybe it could be set up for that too, I don't know.

Certainly the main OS set up does not have (presently) the 'good looks' of XBMC as an interface, but that will change when I try the new XBMC release.

Sorry that this post seems a little confused ..... probably because I am ..... as I appear to be more comfortable with the abilities provided in a full OS rather than the very limited functions provided by the likes of Openelec.

I wondered if others have met with this ... comparison ... and would ask why they chose one set up in preference to the other?

I am left with the feeling I am missing something by not using a specialised HTPC OS, but I honestly cannot find any reason to do so.

Yes I appreciate that some HTPC hardware might not be capable of running a full OS, but I also believe that most any hardware that is capable of decoding and displaying HD content will also be capable of running the full OS.

OK, having rambled a lot let me ask a specific question ......

why do you use a specific HTPC OS in preference to a general OS ?
does that specific HTPC OS do anything that cannot be done equally well (without a LOT of hassle) on a general OS?

I would like to hear of others' experiences ..... it might help to sort out my confusion

Thanks.

PogMoThoin

I use XBMCbuntu, it's closer to a real distro as it's based on lubuntu. The requirements aren't much higher than OpenElec. Being Ubuntu based there is a wealth of info available for it. I can quit XBMC to a login screen and login and use it as a full desktop OS. Not that use it that much, I usually just run XBMC and ssh in to make changes. I feel this would be closer to your own needs Johnboy.

I use OpenElec because the only thing I use my HTPC for is watching movies/tv from local shares. Its handy that I could run SAB, Sickbeard etc on it but I prefer to do all that from another machine anyway. So my HTPC is just a basic playback system.

If I wanted to do a bunch of other stuff then yeah, of course I would use a full(er) OS.

Johnboy1951

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I use XBMCbuntu, it's closer to a real distro as it's based on lubuntu. The requirements aren't much higher than OpenElec. Being Ubuntu based there is a wealth of info available for it. I can quit XBMC to a login screen and login and use it as a full desktop OS. Not that use it that much, I usually just run XBMC and ssh in to make changes. I feel this would be closer to your own needs Johnboy.

That is the kind of set up I will test when the final Ver 12 of XBMC is released (with LiveTV) ..... except I will use PCLinuxOS in place of Lububtu.

Presently PCLOS (KDE) is using ~200MBs so it is quite reasonable.
If required I could use LXDE or even something lighter, but it does not seem to be necessary.

PogMoThoin

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

That is the kind of set up I will test when the final Ver 12 of XBMC is released (with LiveTV) ..... except I will use PCLinuxOS in place of Lububtu.

Presently PCLOS (KDE) is using ~200MBs so it is quite reasonable.
If required I could use LXDE or even something lighter, but it does not seem to be necessary.

Why not try it now? You can run it live from a usb key. XBMCbuntu is on Release Candidate 3, I only got around to installing it the other day and it's very stable and has Live TV. I'm not sure why you'd bother with PCLinuxOS when this ships as a complete package, boots straight to XBMC and has the benefit full support of the Ubuntu and XBMC communities.

Johnboy1951

Deleted User wrote: »

I use OpenElec because the only thing I use my HTPC for is watching movies/tv from local shares. Its handy that I could run SAB, Sickbeard etc on it but I prefer to do all that from another machine anyway. So my HTPC is just a basic playback system.

If I wanted to do a bunch of other stuff then yeah, of course I would use a full(er) OS.

Thanks!

I decided against using a separate backend ...... for the moment anyway .... and am quite pleased to be able to make more use of the HTPC box than just as a front end.

I would probably use something lightweight ... maybe a R-Pi for the front end ...... if I decided to use a separate backend.

It appears from the two replies that I am not so odd in my choice after all.

I appreciate the replies

Access

I am trying out a Pi at the moment and its painful to setup to be honest... Its a bit buggy and slow, but is getting better with each release. its also a steep learning curve and you do need a good wired network near the tv to connect to as wifi dongles suited to the Pi mostly suffer from low range. Its getting there though... slowly!

My normal setup in the living room is an old dell optiplex SSF running XP and starting into XBMC Eden. Yes, I know... XP? but the main reason i do is that i also just internet browse on it (keysonic RF keyboard with mouse pad), watch netflix, kids painting programs and NES/SNES/Sega games on emulators, so its not just a dedicated XBMC machine.

All my media is on a 3TB NAS in the attic wired to the router, but sending media to the Dell in the living room via wifi. (but will prob run cable to the PC in near future)

I have no need to move from a full windows OS, Mainly because i use a lot of applications and programs outside of XBMC on the same machine.

Johnboy1951

Thanks Access .......

I set up the Pi here the other day, with Openelec.
A little on the slow side to set up - due to hardware limitations.

But it quite happily played HD videos over the LAN.

I also tested the Deb wheezy Pi image.
I did not get on with it, TBH, so I did not test it very much.

I tested setting up TVheadend but it seemed unable to do both front and backend so not a lot of use in that respect. I had a DTT dongle plugged in at the time.

It seems there are more people using full OS with HTPC functions than I thought.

Thanks.