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LD
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 Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:55 am Post subject: MEdia Center PCs - what do you recommend |
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Fact is, when I finally get my own place again I plan to get a Media Center PC to take over my entertainment area stuff. Obviously whatever I get will have windows stripped and linux with a MythTV front end setup. But here's the big question. What do you guys use for media centers if you have them hooked up to TVs? If I were to get a Dell XPS210 would that provide me the nice minimal size for a media center and still have all the hardware I need for 7.1 and tv-out setup?
Thoughts, advice, tips, tricks, and pitfalls are appreciated.
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rtyall
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:06 am Post subject: |
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Build your own and get what you want from it, that way you can go down the mini ITX/micro ATX route if you wish, or build a Midi tower.
You can choose a TV card to go in it that works well with MythTV, etc, etc. |
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abaelinor
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject: |
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hauppage pvr 150/500 are recommended cards for mythtv. i just have basic stereo out. my main hd is 40 gigs which hurts (only like 28 hrs of recorded stuff), but my samba box (bc my myth case doesn't have space for 2 hds) has a 320 gig slave nearly full of media.
even this is godly awesome.
when i finish school i'm going to redo my mythbox as a set top and make it even more awesome. |
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georwell
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Build a front/backend system, with the frontend being diskless. You can make the backend a huge load mother fucker and keep the frontend compact and small. |
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flysideways
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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First, the idea of a media center pc is so, well, marketingspeak. Your physical arrangement can be relevant. Are the tv and stereo in a different room from your normal computer? Computers today are powerful enough to capture, transcode and playback media all at the same time. As long as you avoid windows, it doesn't do well multitasking. My mythtv backend is a socket 754 2.4GHz amd64. It has two channels of ntsc from a pvr500mce and two channels of atsc from an Avermedia a180 and a Kworld atsc110. The media is stored on a four disk software raid0 array. Because that computer is almost always on it's also the one that I use for browsing and such. I use it through a monitor on my desk. The dvi port of the video card has a cheap dvi-hdmi cable going to a hdtv. This box can and does capture, playback and get used for computing at the same time. It also serves other computers in the house that have frontendonly mythtv installs. One of them is in a different room connected to a tv we got in 1990. HDTV looks pretty good on it. The important thing is to consider that you will want to leave the computer that does the capturing on most if not all of the time. Older hardware can work well for a backend that only records and serves files.
What video formats do you intend to use. Over the air tv, cable tv, satellite tv, dvd, xvid, youtube? There are many ways to satisfy each format.
Television: There are cards available for both ntsc and atsc that work well in mythtv. For ntsc, the pvr500mce has the added benefit of giving you two tuners at the cost of only one pci slot.
I can even watch the mytntv stuff on the laptop but it chokes on 1080i. There are newer ones that won't though.
That Dell looks good for a frontend but won't take any cards. Seems sort of a shame to commit that much computer to nothing but playback. What is your intention for a capture machine? |
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Zepp
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I want at least one of the hdtv cards from http://pchdtv.com/ if i build a mythbox. Then maybe a pvr-250 (?) or pvr-500 aswell. Then all I need is several of those 500 gb hds in raid 5. |
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| georwell wrote: | | Build a front/backend system, with the frontend being diskless. You can make the backend a huge load mother fucker and keep the frontend compact and small. |
++
IMHO, build a good server w/ some massive amounts of disk space (maybe 1T+), and then run that to a diskless client in a microbox near your TV/Stereo w/ I'd suggest either a DVD+/-RW Dual Layer w/ CD-ROM, or just a CD and a DVD-ROM if you don't plan on doing recording to disk.
If that doesn't work, or thats a little pricey for you, I'd look as adding a second (or third) hard drive to your system, and still use a diskless client so you don't have to keep walking around all the time.
Well, thats what I'd be tempted to do anyways. With the micro-towers, you need to take out something to make coolable so that they don't fry everything, and the hard drive is fairly easy to remove. I think if you pack in enough RAM, you could just load up the kernel from the server into the client, and so if the server dies, you don't have to reboot the front client.
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atrus123
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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I have a little Pentium III with 256mb ram and an old Gforce 3 card. The TV tuner is an ATI-Wonder-Pro, which works well enough for a low-cost alternative to the Haupauge hardware.
My setup works well with Kubuntu/MythTV, but it did take some fiddling to get the tuner card working.
I have a complete howto on my blog, if interested.
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LD
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Joined: 23 Dec 2003
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Location: Middle of No-Where Granbury, Tx
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:50 pm Post subject: |
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| flysideways wrote: | First, the idea of a media center pc is so, well, marketingspeak. Your physical arrangement can be relevant. Are the tv and stereo in a different room from your normal computer? Computers today are powerful enough to capture, transcode and playback media all at the same time. As long as you avoid windows, it doesn't do well multitasking. My mythtv backend is a socket 754 2.4GHz amd64. It has two channels of ntsc from a pvr500mce and two channels of atsc from an Avermedia a180 and a Kworld atsc110. The media is stored on a four disk software raid0 array. Because that computer is almost always on it's also the one that I use for browsing and such. I use it through a monitor on my desk. The dvi port of the video card has a cheap dvi-hdmi cable going to a hdtv. This box can and does capture, playback and get used for computing at the same time. It also serves other computers in the house that have frontendonly mythtv installs. One of them is in a different room connected to a tv we got in 1990. HDTV looks pretty good on it. The important thing is to consider that you will want to leave the computer that does the capturing on most if not all of the time. Older hardware can work well for a backend that only records and serves files.
What video formats do you intend to use. Over the air tv, cable tv, satellite tv, dvd, xvid, youtube? There are many ways to satisfy each format.
Television: There are cards available for both ntsc and atsc that work well in mythtv. For ntsc, the pvr500mce has the added benefit of giving you two tuners at the cost of only one pci slot.
I can even watch the mytntv stuff on the laptop but it chokes on 1080i. There are newer ones that won't though.
That Dell looks good for a frontend but won't take any cards. Seems sort of a shame to commit that much computer to nothing but playback. What is your intention for a capture machine? |
Well it would be the front end, but it would also take care of certain record features. The 210 is enough of a system with enough things to plug into say for pics and such I would rather use it for some locale storage. I've never done a diskless setup before so I'd need a bit more info before I did.
Specificly, I want the front end to be able to access a samba share or other shared drive setup in the home network. Concidering the XPS210 has a nice setup that would be a decent use of hardware. Unless a diskless setup is easier then I think. Capture right now I'm thinking possibly having it as the media PC, however saving off to sambe storage handled by the main system. I'm not entirely sure yet as I do want both systems to be able to use DVD's without having to have them transcoded.
I'm still working on what really needs to be done.
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Last edited by LD on Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:48 am; edited 1 time in total |
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LD
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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I do have an old style XBox handy which I'm outmoding for the XBox 360. Would this be a decent thing to try the diskless setup with? Or am I better of just building from scratch.
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flysideways
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:50 am Post subject: |
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| The Dell page for the xps210 shows only pcie slots. Tuners are pci animals. There are some usb tuners but I know nothing beyond that they exist. I am not advising against the Dell. Keep in mind that for recording tv you'll be using a different box for the cards, not a problem. Make the box with the cards the master backend and the Dell a frontend. Even make it dual boot if you want. I've kept a frontend dual boot for two reasons. We play some of the windows games there on that tv and I'm too lazy to configure the SnapStream Firefly remote that's on that computer. It makes a good dvd player in windows. Mythdvd worked fine for me but our other tv already had a dvd player it gets used instead of the computer. Also, don't waste disk space on ripped dvds. |
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LD
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:57 am Post subject: |
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Don't really want to waste space like that. Would like the frontend system to have it's own dvd player so I can use that.
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:14 am Post subject: |
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| LD wrote: | | Don't really want to waste space like that. Would like the frontend system to have it's own dvd player so I can use that. |
Might also want a card reader there. Throw in a small laptop keyboard and you could do quick, general media work right there, then let it sit and idle the rest of the time.
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flysideways
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| LD wrote: | | Don't really want to waste space like that. Would like the frontend system to have it's own dvd player so I can use that. |
Sometimes I write even less clearly than I speak.
I too like the frontend with its own dvd player. Some people don't but their dvds are either ripped to the hard drive or in a computer in another room. |
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LD
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shickapooka800
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| Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:55 am Post subject: |
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ok it may just be me, but i have an ITX machine and i hate it. it is a VIA M10000 with the nehemiah proc.
it is such a shady piece of crap. sometime I boot and i get no keyboard (as in -- i can't get into BIOS screen at all).
for that price, i could have gotten some micro-atx celeron D machine and been happier (i have the space too -- its in a VCR case).
I am probably going to sell the board on ebay here in a bit.
OH and i almost forgot. that goddamn via-rhine 10/100 ethernet pissess me off to no end also. it had an auto-negotiation problem with my linksys switch and is overall a poor performer. (ok i know it is a problem with the switch -- damn linksys -- but still.... none of my other NIC's have trouble and i expected more i suppose).
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LD
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| shickapooka800 wrote: | ok it may just be me, but i have an ITX machine and i hate it. it is a VIA M10000 with the nehemiah proc.
it is such a shady piece of crap. sometime I boot and i get no keyboard (as in -- i can't get into BIOS screen at all).
for that price, i could have gotten some micro-atx celeron D machine and been happier (i have the space too -- its in a VCR case).
I am probably going to sell the board on ebay here in a bit.
OH and i almost forgot. that goddamn via-rhine 10/100 ethernet pissess me off to no end also. it had an auto-negotiation problem with my linksys switch and is overall a poor performer. (ok i know it is a problem with the switch -- damn linksys -- but still.... none of my other NIC's have trouble and i expected more i suppose). |
I usually have good luck with via-rhine ethernet adapters. And I've never had any issues with linksys routers. BUt here's my concern on a diskless install.
What if I want the front end to be able to run a DVD video without having to go to the main system for it? Is that feesable with a mythTV frontend?
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:53 am Post subject: |
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| LD wrote: | | shickapooka800 wrote: | ok it may just be me, but i have an ITX machine and i hate it. it is a VIA M10000 with the nehemiah proc.
it is such a shady piece of crap. sometime I boot and i get no keyboard (as in -- i can't get into BIOS screen at all).
for that price, i could have gotten some micro-atx celeron D machine and been happier (i have the space too -- its in a VCR case).
I am probably going to sell the board on ebay here in a bit.
OH and i almost forgot. that goddamn via-rhine 10/100 ethernet pissess me off to no end also. it had an auto-negotiation problem with my linksys switch and is overall a poor performer. (ok i know it is a problem with the switch -- damn linksys -- but still.... none of my other NIC's have trouble and i expected more i suppose). |
I usually have good luck with via-rhine ethernet adapters. And I've never had any issues with linksys routers. BUt here's my concern on a diskless install.
What if I want the front end to be able to run a DVD video without having to go to the main system for it? Is that feesable with a mythTV frontend? |
Hmm. If you put in enough RAM and load everything to RAM, possibly. I don't really see why not..
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LD
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 12:56 am Post subject: |
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| Dralnu wrote: | | LD wrote: | | shickapooka800 wrote: | ok it may just be me, but i have an ITX machine and i hate it. it is a VIA M10000 with the nehemiah proc.
it is such a shady piece of crap. sometime I boot and i get no keyboard (as in -- i can't get into BIOS screen at all).
for that price, i could have gotten some micro-atx celeron D machine and been happier (i have the space too -- its in a VCR case).
I am probably going to sell the board on ebay here in a bit.
OH and i almost forgot. that goddamn via-rhine 10/100 ethernet pissess me off to no end also. it had an auto-negotiation problem with my linksys switch and is overall a poor performer. (ok i know it is a problem with the switch -- damn linksys -- but still.... none of my other NIC's have trouble and i expected more i suppose). |
I usually have good luck with via-rhine ethernet adapters. And I've never had any issues with linksys routers. BUt here's my concern on a diskless install.
What if I want the front end to be able to run a DVD video without having to go to the main system for it? Is that feesable with a mythTV frontend? |
Hmm. If you put in enough RAM and load everything to RAM, possibly. I don't really see why not.. |
BUt howmuch would be enough? We talking a gig? 2? 4? How much ram to get MythTV on, playing live TV, and able to play DVDs?
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:25 am Post subject: |
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That I don't know, you'd have to look. I'd chance a guess at ~2 would be more then enough, but I don't know MythTV and all that.
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LD
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Another reason I would prefer a small HDD on the system.
Maybe a small 10 gig laptop hdd if that's possible to hook up.
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:43 am Post subject: |
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| LD wrote: | Another reason I would prefer a small HDD on the system.
Maybe a small 10 gig laptop hdd if that's possible to hook up. |
May try to go (if you use a small box) with a USB external that you could hide. They have them down rather small, and they are relativly fast for most cases. Just a suggestion, though.
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Zepp
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:35 am Post subject: |
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| you could run the os off a compact flash card probably too, would be silent that way too. |
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LD
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:40 am Post subject: |
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| Zepp wrote: | | you could run the os off a compact flash card probably too, would be silent that way too. |
That sounds cool but I'd like that part internal.
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Dralnu
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| Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| Zepp wrote: | | you could run the os off a compact flash card probably too, would be silent that way too. |
They have a limited write life, which could be a problem.
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