Linux Media Center?

[Bernnie Federko]

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who knows whether it's possible to ditch windows Media Center edition and replace it with a Linux alternative? Is that possible? I had a machine built back in September, and I'm just wondering if there's a way to go open source accross the board (rather than going to Vista).

 

[Dialog]

A friend was doing it two years ago, I forget the package but i remember

a) there were limited hardware choices, simply less driver support for the program (at the time).

b) it rquired a fair amount of l33t admin upkeep and maintenance on his part, which he didn't mind. But it was indeed free and open source!

Have things changed in two years? I'd hope...

 

[lobo]

Most people use MythTV as an open source solution. But like Dialog said, you really gotta know your l33t speak when trying to a) set it up and b) maintain it. MCE2k5 or Vista is just too simple and works out of the box a lot easier than any Linux version.

Lobo

 

[Rajio]

yeah unfortunately mythtv is your best linux solution but its not exactly user friendly to set up and even once it's set up you cant just 'set it and forget it' .. theres still some mainttenance hat has to be done. its not remotely as user friendly as the windows (2k5 or vista) options. for all their flaws, windows really is the most viable and actually usable media center solution.

if you don't want PVR functionality you could always get a modded used xbox 1 (or a non modded one and softmod it which is supprisingly easy) and get XBMC on it, its a linux based solution that runs on modded xboxes and is actually the best non-windows solution. the only way it isn't he best solution period is that theres no PVR or live TV through it.

vista media center is a load better than 2k5 media center too - most notably for me the music interface is a huge improvement, it handles large music libraries much better too.

 

[Bernnie Federko]

this is all excellent info - thank you.

i'm currently running MCE 2k5 and beginning to explore where I want to go next O/S and application wise.

re: xbmc - i've got an XB sitting on my desk here, it shares the same display. i should turn it on and play it more... i'm wondering whether it's worth ditching MCE2k5 and going over to
MP (open source, linux based; started by the lead on MC extender app' for the xbox), or continuing on to VISTA.

I wannnnna upgrade. I wannnna play with my toys.

 

[Little j]

Also give Snapstream a look before you ditch windows completely. I was pretty happy with it, and you should be able to use your existing capture card/s.

 

[Rajio]

do you use it for live tv much? you COULD get recorded TV on xbmc if its recording on your windows box and the xbmc accesses the recordings over the network. or if you dont use it for TV at all (pvr or live) i say just go to xbmc since it does everything else pretty well. Otherwise try vista - beats mc2k5 for sure.

 

[Bernnie Federko]

i do use it a lot for live tv, about as much as playing torrents and PVR'd stuff.

 

[nonlocal]

I'm really curious about the Neuros OSD -- I know you're looking for something you can do with your PC, not an external TiVO-esque box, but this is open source, DRM free, and they encourage (and will even pay for) customer hacks.

http://www.neurosaudio.com/osd/osd.asp
http://open.neurostechnology.com/taxonomy/term/27

etc. Supports all media codecs, live tv, recording, playing to anything on your network, external HDs, etc etc etc. You can record video of gaming sessions and so on which is neat too. And of course anything you dream up can be modded in since it is open source and linux based... would buy one myself and give more of a review than 'this seems neat' but I'm serially poor.

 

[g0nz0]

why not use gbpvr? not opensourse, but runs great on xp