Yet another HTPC thread

modu · 2007-04-15 20:32:50

Hi, there is probably a thousand posts on this forum about this topic, but I dont have time to read all of them atm due to hectic work.
But I want recomendations on what software to use to build a simple mediabox. What I want it to do: I simply want it to play videos that I have, either from the computer itself or mounted trough the network. I do NOT want to record anything at all. And remote access to control it would be a big plus too, like a web interface or ssh, I'm not to picky.
Tried MythTv with MythVideo earlier today, but that seems to run way to slow on the box (see specs below), but it might just be me doing something wrong and I will give it another shot after work.

Specs:
AMD Athlon 1300 MHz
384 SDRAM
Radeon 9200

Edit: I dont want to run the myth-live distro based on knoppix either, as I have other services running on the computer when its not playing videos.
/modu

Last edited by modu (2007-04-15 20:38:49)

iBertus · 2007-04-15 21:06:11

Have you tried freevo? It's the only other full HTPC solution I know of besides MythTV. Most of these solutions seem geared towards PVR functionality. Since you don't want that functionality it is possible all of these are too heavy for what you need.

sash · 2007-04-16 03:07:21

With this specs your HTPC should run Mythtv without any trouble, esp if you restrict the requirements to just playing video. The big plus for you using Mythtv is Mythweb which also fits your requirements.

clarence · 2007-04-16 03:19:27

More ram never hurts. Mythtv playing an avi on my box uses about 14mb. But with everything else running (misc-daemons apache mysqld firefox liferea gnome desktop etc) it uses about 500mb. Perhaps try a lightweight desktop like openbox as well.

modu · 2007-04-16 04:03:11

Biggest problem I had with MythTV was how slow the interface was, switch between menues took around 30+ sec, and I think that is alittle to slow for just going trough a menu.
Running fluxbox on it atm.

nogoma · 2007-04-16 13:43:03

I have a media box I used to run MythTV on, but after moving to NYC where I'd need a separate cable box to run it, it just became a music/downloaded show watching box, so I nuked it, installed Arch (from kubuntu), and it runs pretty barebones. I use ssh/screen to control it mostly, and mplayer from the command line to watch shows (using my laptop as "remote control"). I use mpd/ncmpc for music, and have rtorrent running to acquire shows. I know VLC has a pretty simple web interface, and there are web interfaces for mpd, I believe. All in all, it's a pretty smooth setup; I also use tools like cdw/mkisofs/cdrecord to drop discs from the machine. Basically, IMO MythTv is fantastic, but really overkill if you're just looking to listen to music and watch videos, but not record anything. Once the tv aspect is out, I can't think of a single task that's easier w/ MythTv (and most are actually more cumbersome!).

pelle.k · 2007-04-16 17:59:12

I run freevo 1.6.3 (it's got fewer dependencies and quirks than 1.7.0), using TV-out only. version 1.6.3 is no longer in the AUR, so i would be happy to provide you my own PKGBUILD.
I'm using openbox as a WM (login with this method http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Aut … on_startup . Use the "C" method and modify it to also execute startx), even though freevo can "be it's own window manager". Xorg is _highly_ recommeded though, as you get accelerated video output.

Then I bought a cheap'o ir remote (usb receiver), and it "acts" as an extra keyboard, with keycodes sent to xorg (most ir remotes work this way). Some of the keycodes already mapped to "real keys", and some that i've mapped with xmodmap.
It mounts DVDs and CDs automatically through freevo (no setup...), and i just had to point it at a samba mountpoint at my download server to watch shows that i download regularly.

Too bad my "media" computer is unable (too old) to suspend with powersave, since this can be done (as well as shutdown) from freevo!

Last edited by pelle.k (2007-04-16 18:04:46)

paulr · 2007-04-16 19:12:57

MythTV shouldn't be that slow ; there's two Howto's on the Wiki (one of which, the step by step one, I writted).

If you have low power hardware Freevo may be better because MythTV uses QT and MySQL, Freevo doesn't Taking 30 seconds to do stuff suggest a severe shortage of RAM or a cockup in the system.

I am working on a Freevo 1.7.0 document for the Wiki, not there yet though.

Last edited by paulr (2007-04-16 19:13:19)

daedalusman · 2007-04-16 20:10:42

You might want to check out LinuxMCE. It seems easy, I might be checking out myself here this summer. Check out the demo video on the website.

modu · 2007-04-17 19:47:16

Used the howto to set it up paulr, very nice work.

If I manage to find some time this weekend I'm gonna try several of the things mentioned in the posts here. Hopefully at least one of the mentioned solutions will work good for me.
Thanks peeps

Zer0 · 2007-04-17 23:57:55

daedalusman wrote:

You might want to check out LinuxMCE. It seems easy, I might be checking out myself here this summer. Check out the demo video on the website.

LinuxMCE looks excellent, I recently saw this video and was impressed.. Out of the box! I'm going to try it soon myself

Arch Linux

#1 2007-04-15 20:32:50

Yet another HTPC thread

#2 2007-04-15 21:06:11

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#3 2007-04-16 03:07:21

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#4 2007-04-16 03:19:27

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#5 2007-04-16 04:03:11

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#6 2007-04-16 13:43:03

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#7 2007-04-16 17:59:12

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#8 2007-04-16 19:12:57

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#9 2007-04-16 20:10:42

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#10 2007-04-17 19:47:16

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

#11 2007-04-17 23:57:55

Re: Yet another HTPC thread

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