multimedia centre

toad · 2009-12-29 21:20:40

Hi,

I'm about to move and would dearly love to have some sort of multimedia centre in the living room. Thing is, how to best approach the subject? Is a tiny headless set up easiest which gets the vids off the server in the office? The quieter the better obviously. Same goes for power consumption.

I'd also like an easy to use interface which can be navigated with a remote.

Money is of course tighter than a cat's behind blabla, blabla, blabla.

Question is, has anybody got a set up which is capable of the above or am I asking too much?

Any hints, pokes, etc. in the right direction are more than welcome

jdarnold · 2009-12-29 22:21:39

Boxee plus a cheap computer with an ATI 4550 graphics card will get you everything you want. Haven't tried getting Boxee to work with Arch yet, though. I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 which it supports out of the box on my media computer.

Other interesting options are the D-Link Boxeebox or the tiny Dell Zino - http://goo.gl/j7iJ

toad · 2010-01-02 10:15:08

Thanks jdarnold. I haven't looked into boxee yet. They want me to register and it is closed source and I don't fancy it (at least not as long as there are other options available) So I looked around and found

- Linux MCE which is based on Kubuntu. This is a whole operating system built for home automation. A bit much perhaps and I've not managed to get it to work in virtualbox yet.
- Mythtv which is a bleeding nightmare to set up. One is literally clobbered to death with options and the music interface is most inconvenient even after tweaking
- xbmc which looks nice but I don't seem to be able to watch TV on it
- moovida is on AUR but I am unable to install
- geexbox which I haven't been able to give a go on virtualbox yet

The last one I found is freevo but haven't tried it out yet.

So far so good. There does not appear to be a lot of interest in this subject. I checked the wiki and there is nowt and precious few forum posts.

If this thread generates just a bit of interest I'll start a wiki page. If it dies, it dies

EDIT:

Just found the wiki entry on boxee: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Boxee-source

Installing it now

Last edited by toad (2010-01-02 10:21:08)

JuseBox · 2010-01-02 10:54:15

toad wrote:

Thanks jdarnold. I haven't looked into boxee yet. They want me to register and it is closed source and I don't fancy it (at least not as long as there are other options available) So I looked around and found
- Linux MCE which is based on Kubuntu. This is a whole operating system built for home automation. A bit much perhaps and I've not managed to get it to work in virtualbox yet.
- Mythtv which is a bleeding nightmare to set up. One is literally clobbered to death with options and the music interface is most inconvenient even after tweaking
- xbmc which looks nice but I don't seem to be able to watch TV on it
- moovida is on AUR but I am unable to install
- geexbox which I haven't been able to give a go on virtualbox yet
The last one I found is freevo but haven't tried it out yet.
So far so good. There does not appear to be a lot of interest in this subject. I checked the wiki and there is nowt and precious few forum posts.
If this thread generates just a bit of interest I'll start a wiki page. If it dies, it dies
EDIT:
Just found the wiki entry on boxee: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Boxee-source
Installing it now

Boxee was built from XBMC. Any scripts used on Boxee can be used on xbmc. The difference between the two in my opinion is that xbmc is slightly more stable in terms of a media center... Boxee builds the scripts for you and manages all that.... but to install the same scripts for xbmc Go Here. There is a guide on how to work through that. I personally run XBMC. specially now with 9.11 and the transparancy theme off the xbmc site its perfect. Check it out and good luck.

toad · 2010-01-02 11:13:20

Cheers JuseBox, but what are scripts and is xbmc capable of TV? I haven't found any reference to my DVB-T card whatsoever.

And the problem is, I don't even know what scripts are. I can watch TV out of the box using kaffeine, epg works no problem and amarok can play my music. I am quite happy, but am looking for something that can combine the above in a gui for a remote...

Unfortunately boxee-source install via yaourt failed

Tried freevo while I was at it but the config file is the length of an average phd and just as intelligible - at least to me.

Does that mean I am too dumb to get an open source mediacentre working?

I might just get out an old hard disk for my laptop, stick it in and try and install MCE natively rather than on virtualbox.

JuseBox · 2010-01-02 11:19:46

toad wrote:

Cheers JuseBox, but what are scripts and is xbmc capable of TV? I haven't found any reference to my DVB-T card whatsoever.
And the problem is, I don't even know what scripts are. I can watch TV out of the box using kaffeine, epg works no problem and amarok can play my music. I am quite happy, but am looking for something that can combine the above in a gui for a remote...
Unfortunately boxee-source install via yaourt failed
Tried freevo while I was at it but the config file is the length of an average phd and just as intelligible - at least to me.
Does that mean I am too dumb to get an open source mediacentre working?
I might just get out an old hard disk for my laptop, stick it in and try and install MCE natively rather than on virtualbox.

Well I am not sure about supporting live tv, but what i do know is that using those "scripts" ( scripts are code developers us to pull video feeds from different sites. ei, hulu nbc, abc etc...) there isn't a need to have "live tv" persay. I have been cable free for well over a year using my pc as my main source with a 32 inch monitor with xbmc (w/ scripts) and huludesktop installed.

toad · 2010-01-02 11:26:00

I have heard about this hulu thingy but have not been able to check it further as it is not available in Europe I am still on terrestrial and therefore require live TV capability.

Your setup sounds nice, makes my 24" monitor seem tiny although it is bigger than my telly

JuseBox · 2010-01-02 11:31:14

Well yea I have my desk setup in the corner of my living room and if i want to go on the comp i use it as that or if i want to watch a movie... you get my drift.... Yea I didn't know you were out of the states i guess hulu is only usa atm.... So that def puts a damper on that. but i know with the scripts you can get just about anything hulu has + more. I would be interested about live tv card capibilities because my girlfriend wants to drop windows but currently using one of those cards and quite frankly i have no proper knowledge on that matter! So hopefully someone will shed some light soon!

hokasch · 2010-01-02 11:33:23

MythTv can be integrated into XBMC and supports watching and recording TV: XBMC Wiki.
Think about scripts and plugins (both exist, can't remember the difference) as modular extensions, adding specific features. They run from inside XBMC.

Edit: More info about available extensions in the Xbmc Forum (see the sticky). Once you have xbmc running, you can get the scripts + plugins from their repos with an included installer.

Last edited by hokasch (2010-01-02 11:45:39)

toad · 2010-01-02 11:37:30

Okay, I get the drift. I was hoping (stupid, I admit) for install and go like kaffeine or amarok. Instead wikis, configurations and the whole hoodlum. Bah - will have to wait until I can invest a day or two

hokasch · 2010-01-02 11:48:01

lol..
I forced xbmc onto an old xbox. my advise: don't.

JuseBox · 2010-01-02 11:51:17

hokasch wrote:

lol..
I forced xbmc onto an old xbox. my advise: don't.

Yea the new xbmc build don't work well with the older xboxes...

jelly · 2010-01-02 13:04:00

i am looking for a media center solution just for my movies, the main problem for me is that most of the solutions are big. While i am looking for a small and easy solution. Moovida failed too install

arch0r · 2010-01-02 13:53:05

hmm, but boxee doesn't include any tv tuning or support live tv!?

toad · 2010-01-02 14:06:26

arch0r - did you manage to install boxee from AUR? It wanted to have nothing to do with my box...

hokasch · 2010-01-02 14:11:13

hmm, but boxee doesn't include any tv tuning or support live tv!?

Nope. For XMBC, there isMythbox. Maybe this works for Boxee, too.

fastfret79 · 2010-01-02 14:32:27

For me, live tv and recording tv = MythTV
Anything else = boxee or xmbc

toad wrote:

Mythtv which is a bleeding nightmare to set up

I admit that when I first used MythTV it seemed really complicated to set up, but once you get your head around it, it's brilliant and nothing else seems to come close

I will have to check out mythbox - looks really good

Last edited by fastfret79 (2010-01-02 14:34:37)

arch0r · 2010-01-02 16:12:40

toad wrote:

arch0r - did you manage to install boxee from AUR? It wanted to have nothing to do with my box...

nope sry
i don't like mythtv's setup either. but i get used to it after hours of try and error . but i would like to use something less compicated without any mysql database (especially for me who just knows how to start the mysqld daemon and insert the mythtv database ) and more lightweight. also the epg/eit grabber for germany doesn't work ...

what does mythbox exactly do? is it just some kind of wrapper to enable xbmc to work with the mythbackend? because xbmc can be used as a mythtv frontend out of the box.

fastfret79 · 2010-01-03 10:49:23

arch0r wrote:

xbmc can be used as a mythtv frontend out of the box.

Can it? Obviously you could add your recordings directory as a video source but can you watch live tv, schedule recordings and get get a TV guide? That's what mythbox allows you to do.

I tried to install mythbox, but I don't think it works with the latest MySQL (where the sock file path has changed). Bug filed.

toad · 2010-01-03 10:55:34

@ frastfret79

sock file path can easily be adjusted in /etc/my.cnf

@ arch0r
I am also based in Germany - down South - and not only do I fail to get mythtv talk to my DVB-T usb dongle thingy but, as already mentioned, its music interface is pretty atrocious IMO.

But where did you see anything to do with TV in xbmc??? Any hints most welcome

hokasch · 2010-01-03 11:06:05

By coincidence, stumpled upon LinHES when skimming through the list of arch-based distros. Maybe they could be bothered to provide some packages for setting up MythTv on existing arch installs.

@Toad:
Prost, and enjoy the waißbierfrühstück!
TV on Xbmc: only with MythTv. The Wiki says it can playback LiveTV and recordings natively, but not schedule recordings. Mythbox is an alternative frontend.

fastfret79 · 2010-01-03 11:17:46

toad wrote:

sock file path can easily be adjusted in /etc/my.cnf

yes I know but then every other app that is looking at the new path won't work anymore

arch0r · 2010-01-03 11:52:01

toad wrote:

But where did you see anything to do with TV in xbmc??? Any hints most welcome

i'm also located in bavaria
grabbing epg data used to work with this grabber and the xmltv package: http://xmltv.info/xw/default/wiki/main
but i could't manage to get it running probably. it downloaded weird data and put it into the database but without any information of the channel or tv shows the music plugin didn't work at all

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Xbox_Fronten … TV_Support
you have to run the mythtv backend and enter the ip address of the backend/mysql database whatever as a video source in xbmc. but it didn't work that fine. i had to kill the pc several times because it became unresponsible after switching the channels quite fast

i stick to kaffeine pre again. imo the best app for watching tv atm + provides recording, time shifting and a perfectly working data grabber :>

toad · 2010-01-04 13:22:51

I still haven't given up on the mediacentre edition based on kubuntu. In the meantime I agree with arch0r - kaffeine is by far the best app out there. A true out of the box experience.

And prost!

anrxc · 2010-01-04 16:03:23

Okay, I get the drift. I was hoping (stupid, I admit) for install and go like kaffeine or amarok. Instead wikis, configurations and the whole hoodlum.

You missed the most important software when it comes to DVB. The Video Disk Recorder (VDR). Simple (as in Arch simple) and amazing software, infinitely expandable via plugins, that powers even many commercial receivers.

There are plugins that will manage your movies and music... but many people just combine it with other software like Oxine or My Media System to get the best of both worlds - VDR for watching and recording TV, and Oxine/MMS for other media.

You don't have to go the way of MythTV and other complex solutions... not even close.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-29 21:20:40

multimedia centre

#2 2009-12-29 22:21:39

Re: multimedia centre

#3 2010-01-02 10:15:08

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