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Build Your Own Linux Home Theater PC
Vic writes "If you have ever dreamed of building a home theatre PC, Extremetech has details on building a Linux-based system, and covers all the details of this epic journey. They did get the unit to run lots of features such as CDs, video, TV, weather, media libraries, guide viewing and show recording." From the article: "To paraphrase one forum quote seen during the research phase of this piece: 'Buy the beer first, this ain't gonna be easy.' But there is some good news here too. Getting a Linux-based HTPC has probably never been easier, though that is admittedly damning with faint praise. So here then is the tale of our ongoing adventure toward building a Linux-based HTPC."
"but the beer first, this isn't going to easy"
Wait, I thought that when it came to the GPL and FOSS that beer was supposed to be free. Where'd I go wrong?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
all that and more...
at a fraction of the price.
I've been running media centre pc 2005 on our plasma screen for a while now... and although its good at tv, its complete rubbish when it comes to web interfaces, remote control and most of all the music library! It can take over 5 minutes to load, and there no option to organise on directories instead of media tags!
This is all well and good, but until someone manages to get an HDTV-ready HTPC, it's not worth it. Get a HD-ready PVR from your local cable/satellite company, combine with Xbox Media Center, and you're all set :)
Wasn't there an article about HTPCs a few weeks back (though it didn't specifically focus on Linux)?
gcc: no input sig
I find it interesting that very few of these articles attempt to cover HDTV or digital TV. There is more than one DTV card supported in Linux and an article containing this would prove much more valuable that just the "here's how to setup a box with a PVR-250/350" story that I seem to see everywhere.
:)
Where's the cutting edge stuff!?!
Just get a modded xbox. It's very easy to use and no headaches. I had it modded and the dude pre-loaded xbox media player. Plays pretty much anything. With the newer xbox 360 coming out, expect older xboxes to take a price dive around the holidays.
We've been down this PVR road many times here on /., and I don't know that this article's really adding anything that hasn't been said multiple times in other articles, but it's worth repeating that if you're going to build a Linux-based PVR system, do not plan being bale to use your ATI AIW card.
It just ain't going to cut it under Linux (blame about why this is goes back and forth, but the end result is that it just won't work). Instead, plan on investing in a Hauppage card. The 350 is a good place to start.
The first paragraph of the article states:
Linux is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the recent history of personal computing. In some ways, it's similar to the original homebrew PC movement of the late 1970s and early 80s. Equal parts cool kids club and grass roots revolution, Linux in its many different forms has proven itself a force to be reckoned with. A highly configurable OS that can both scale up to big enterprise iron and down to handheld devices, Linux can do almost anything. It even powers the most well-known PVR on the planet, TiVo.
I think there is something bigger here that merely Linux which is, after all, just a kernel of the OS. The kernel as well as the rest of the significant components are driven to development by the will of the community that finds interest in their own ends. They don't do this to win a popularity contest. They don't do it in order to bring anyone down. Mostly, they are doing it "because they want to." (And the only way to stop that is to take away their freedoms)
I think the project is cool and I will, one of these days, take it upon myself when I have the beer and other money to throw at it. But there is opportunity here for the entrepreneur!
The fact is, only a tiny portion of the public will do this for themselves... the rest of us will want to BUY it...
...just wait until you try finding something decent to watch.
I am a happy Mythtv user.
/. add-on bracketry)
I watch TV much anymore, but I wanted to muck around with it, so I bought a WinPVR-250 card.
I stuck it in my file server, and watch it on my desktop. Both are running Debian, of course.
For debian/ubuntu users check out this line:
#Mythtv
deb http://dijkstra.csh.rit.edu/~mdz/debian unstable mythtv
I am sure you know what it is for.. (minus the
The only tricky part was that the guide was off by one hour (found a quick-n-easy SQL one-liner on the internet to fix that) and setting up MySQL so that it would accept remote connections (this is disabled in Debian by default).
I found out that it will happily run in a window and is fairly desktop friendly, which I didn't know they had it setup to do. My desktop resolution is 2 monitors at 1280x1024 and I run mythtv at 800x600. Nice picture and a pleasent distraction while mucking around with work or whatnot.
Also nice for when you want to watch TV with your laptop.
If I had a second chance at a card (bought it a while ago) I'd get one of those plexor's that use the go7007 drivers.
Plexor GPL'd the drivers themselves and they look nice. Much more capable then the WinPVR stuff.. Can encode in mpeg4 (divx-style) as well as mpeg2 and others, were the WinPVR can only do mpeg2.
I may actually buy one still.
One tip: when you find a show you want to watch, hit the 'r' button to start recording it. I find that when I let it pause for a couple hours and I come back to finish watching the show to many times I accidently change the channel and loose my buffer.
I started a project like this last fall, but abandoned it after i determined that it wouldn't pass the most important test of all. If my wife wouldn't be able to use it, it was worthless.
Not like she's a retarded spider monkey or anything - she's a graphic designer and uses OS X (left myself wide open for that one, i know) but if she's got to use three different remotes and a keyboard, there's no way in hell she's going to use the damn thing. I don't need her calling me at work to walk her through how to watch a DVD or listen to music.
Plus, if it's really easy and slick, then she'll be a lot more accepting of the equipment purchases that i tell her about.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
When are we going to see a Linux distribution specifically geared toward home theater PCs?
Sure, I probably should research this before posting, but if I did that, I wouldn't be a proper Slashdot reader, would I?
After fooling around with Linux and the VDR (HD recording software for TV) since 2000 and trying PCs for home theater, I quit all this. Too much hassle, 90% fiddling aroung and less than 10% real usage.
Now I got a MacMini here. Its small, quiet, comes with a good pre installed OS.
30$ for a remote control (BlueTooth -> SallingClicker)
and Im ready.
serves video, TV, audio, Internet (without virus probs) whatever.
Runs with or without a TV attached (use your mobile phone as a status display)
And most of all, it works ! Easy to configure and no maintenance required. Also uses much less power (25W, 40W max)
No real HD yet (only live via eyeTV from elGato and reduced resolution), but HD never worked flawlessly on my PC too.
This really was poor, a couple Linux N00b's try to get a HTPC together based on an almost automatic install of KnoppMyth and still can't do it due to lack of knowledge of Linux and fear of illegality to play DVD's.
/. for helping promote Linux by posting "news" articles written by total n00b's with no idea of what they are doing as this is even their admitted numerous attempt to do this.
Basically it is as simple as selecting the supported hardware, pop in the CD and go... these guys get tripped up tring to get a SUPPORTED remote to work and don't even know how to add two commands to the window manager so they don't have to go to the CLI to run Gedit!!! Morons.
This article did nothing, it didn't educate, it didn't enlighten, and it actually just spread more FUD about Windows MCE being better and easier. Thanks
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Don't they know that the difference between "Wouldn't it be cool if..." and a Darwin award is a couple of six-packs.
Downloading movies (yes, I mean mainstream movies with restricted licenses, not the few that are free) would be one of the killer apps for a Linux HTPC, but it seems there is no way to do it, even if I am willing to pay.
The evaluation of an action as 'practical' . . . depends on what it is that one wishes to practice.
FINALLY...I have been waiting for something like this. I'm too cheap to buy all the things you used to need. But I have a bunch of computers I can use.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
For this reason, I had settled on a Windows XP install with a Hauppauge PVR-250 a while back on my old computer. The main problems I have had to date with it:
Admittedly, I need some new hardware. When I do get around to installing a faster motherboard, proc, and memory I am going to install Linux anyways. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the Linux solutions out there are still too much in their infancy to pass "the wife factor" right now. My wife can't use the current system because it's too sluggish and doesn't *just work* 100% of the time. (It doesn't work at all if I don't manually update the channel listings once a week which can take 20-30 minutes!)
My main point is: if you plan on building a Linux-based HTPC make sure that you have some pretty decent spare parts laying around, because if you don't it's probably just a lot more worth your time and money to go buy a top-of-the-line Tivo right now.
We have some bright sparks that set their pvr to record, automatically upload and torrent the file, and the rest of us don't have to set up all the esosteric hardware. We just have to subscribe to an rss feed and watch whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want.
Right now, I'm running a via-1000 mb with Freevo, and no tuner card. Plug it right into the tv, set up NFS and SMB shares to my fileserver and just wach TV.
The hard parts of this project are mainly the packaging of all the software components, the identification of compatible (and tolerably performing) hardware, and configuration of each with the other. The more people who publish their successful paths/configs, and others who edit that research result into HW lists and .deb/RPM packages, the less beer we'll have to drink while struggling through it ourselves. And the more beer we'll have to drink while kicking back to watch the movies when it works. So try to drink only as much beer as lets you report your results.
--
make install -not war
no way will I have this done in time to record the Enterprise finale tonight.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
So they spent enormous amounts of time to build a HTPC, and what's in the list of things that don't work: CSS encrypted DVDs. Which is like every single one.
DRM is killing me. I'd love to run something non-Microsoft, but I personally do not want to sacrifice quality. I want to be able to play the highest quality that's available.
This means WMV9-HD @ 1080p for video and DVD-Audio for audio. (okay, I'm sure some of you will want to debate this, go ahead. Anyone that I show WMV9-HD to is simply blown away.)
One of the most unfortunate things is that you can not run WMV9-HD without using Microsoft binaries. In theory this is something that can be solved, because if I understand it correctly, WMV9 is standardized and it should be able to implement a decoder from the specs.
BUT, the standard most certainly does NOT cover the added DRM layer that a lot of WMV9-HD content has. And Microsoft has no intention to solve that problem. What we need is a DeCSS variant to remove the DRM from WMV9.
I'm unaware of any DVD-Audio playback capabilities under Linux, but again, this is certainly something that's technically possible. Except for, you guessed it, DRM. At the moment there's only one combination available if you want to play DVD-Audio discs that are 'encrypted'; SoundBlaster Audigy (not the lowest end one) and Windows.
For this one, I'm working on a solution (hardware based). The problematic thing is that the encryption scheme allows for key revokation. I think this is specifically designed as a counter act to the Xing key discovery. If they find that we discover the SoundBlaster key (or maybe find some other way to use the SoundBlaster to get the unencrypted data), then they can revoke it, making new content unplayable on the SoundBlaster. This may sound as very hard to believe (it does to me), and I may be wrong. But I don't see how else it would work.
Check out byopvr.com yall. Tis a great site on building your own PVR with a good community to help you in selecting hardware, software, and getting it all working together. Check em out, I think you'll find the folks there are great and awesome info as well.
The xbox360 is going to dominate the living room, sorry to say to all you pro-linux folks. With specs like this the Linux home system has some BIG shoes to fill.
How fast do you think there will be a mod chip for it and someone has Linux on there? DAYS after the release, at worst. HOURS is probably more like it.
If anyone is interested in a much better guide (under Fedora):
Jarod Wilson's Fedora Myth(TV)ology
He does a nice job of keeping this guide up to date and complete. Some people may not like the RPM he uses (Axel Thimm custom packages) but they've worked nicely for me.
Terry
But then, my mom washed it, and it exploded.
Signature.
An ASP web page explaining how to have a Microsoft free home...
What would you pay for a dedicated backend/frontend system?
Would you be willing to buy a backend/frontend combo, and then buy additional frontend systems for additional rooms?
I'm looking for feed back, as I am working with a small group of people to develop exactly this.
I'm interested in your feedback.
think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
It's not a media center, it's just a computer with some added software to try and simplify things. The problem is that in many cases the simplification leads to an interface that is foreign to the user. It's somewhere halfway between a VCR or DVD player menu system and a GUI. Not good.
/dev/video > /mnt/video1/Pause.mpg' process running in the background. After a slight delay, Xine just starts playing the Pause.mpg file as it's being recorded. I can pause the program at any time and pick up where I left of or go back. When I exit Xine, I'm even asked if I want to rename Pause.mpg to save it for later. And ALL of the playback functions whether it's from the capture card, MPG, AVI or WMV files or a DVD can be stopped using the kb shortcuts. "Q" always gets you out of trouble by quitting Xine no matter what. Music playback and Photos are all handled by the software that comes with Fedora.
Considering how many people these days are VERY familiar with the W.I.M.P. (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) paradigm, there is no need to disguise what these boxes really are unless you are trying to create a very limited use appliance like a Tivo or iPod.
With that in mind, my home theater PC is just a Celeron (P4 family) running Fedora Core 3, Xine (which does nearly everything) and a Hauppaugue PVR250 card (which is perfect for this sort of thing). I wrote some scripts and created some icons to match and my wife finds this WAYYYY easier than the VCR menus system, the Windows ME based system we had before and you know why? She looked at it and said, "Oh, it works like a computer. This is easy'. I've been running like this since about February. It's perfect. Click on one icon and the system becomes a "TV". Hit "Q" (thanks to Xine's extensive kb shortcuts) and you're back to the desktop. Watch a DVD? Just pop it in the drive and Fedora's MagicDev application will launch my "playdvd" script which automatically starts a fullscreen Xine session and starts playing the DVD with full menu navigation support, etc...
Schedule a recording? Just click the scheduler icon and thanks to the magic of Gnome 2.x's Zenity add on, I have a series of nice GUI based dialog boxes that allow me to select the date and time of the recording as well as program name and recording length. It sticks all the info in cron and the show is scheduled. Pause live TV? Just click the "pausetv" icon on the button dock and Xine launches while I have a 'cat
My wife loves the new system since she feels it's the easiest I've ever set up. The real key is to put down the pretenses that this box is anything more than a computer. For my next trick, I'll be completely eliminating any TV or stereo gear from this setup. The TV gets replaced by a much higher quality display LCD computer monitor. The Yamaha 5.1 amp is getting replaced with an amp of my own design that will just be an amp leaving all the preamp features to Gnome's Mixer applet. Can't get any easier than that...
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
- Store music, movies, TV, photos? Check.
- Play back all these media seamlessly? Sort of. For some reason MCE treats music and video differently, which is strange since Windows Media Player does not. For example, you can create playlists and shuffle music; you can't do the same with video.
- Support a wide variety of codecs? Sure. Of course it doesn't support XVid or OGG Vorbis out of the box, but install the right DirectShow filters and away you go.
- DVD Movies? Check.
- Support DRM? You know it. Actively promote DRM is more like it.
- Serve to other client machines? You need to buy a Media Center Extender appliance, but yes. However, the extenders don't support all content formats.
- Simple GUI? Functions range from simple to almost aggravatingly childlike.
- Rock solid and stable? Believe it or not, I have seen very few blue screens on XP. If you have, you've got dodgy hardware.
- Go in and out of sleep states with no difficulty? I doubt you guys even comprehend this one. Mac OS X has a nice sleep function, but my MCE machine is pretty damn cool. You can hit a button on the remote and it will go into standby. The hard drives will spin down, the CPU goes into low-power mode, everything. But suppose you have programs queued up to record? No problem -- the machine will actually switch itself back on half way when it's time to grab those programs. The monitor doesn't even turn on. It just spins up the drive and starts capturing the TV program, then goes back into full Standby mode when it's done. Very slick.
- Run quiet? It's not silent, but the words "whisper-quiet" definitely come to mind. Most of what you hear is the hard drives. The noise is completely negated by TV at even a moderate volume.
- Can handle HD formats? MCE 2005 already supports current HD standards. You really think Microsoft won't be in on the party when new ones come along?
Say what you will about Microsoft, but their track record for this stuff is pretty all right. My main gripe is that it doesn't support simultaneous "computing" and "TV watching" functions as well as maybe it could. It works, but there are aspects of "dual-mode" operation that are a little clunky. I need to use this thing as a PC -- I can't afford a $1,550 set-top box.P.S. The machine I bought is a Sony VAIO RA830G desktop.
Breakfast served all day!