HTPC

[revolutn]

So I wasn't really sure what forum to stick this in.

Let me lay my ground'rules'

I'm sick of DVD players that will read some of these discs and some of those but not that one etc. Plus I want to be able to view streaming or downloaded video right on the t.v. if I want to.

So I'm going to repurpose an older but capable desktop pc.

My question is wtf to actually load on it to give me BASIC HTPC .

Should I go Media Center 2005?

MythTV?

All I really want is basic HTPC I won't be doing full blown DTS HDMI etc.

I want to be able to watch just about any format I can download and if I record something via the VIVO for it to be in a format I can easily burn to dvd or whatever, so Media Center and it's DRM recording gives me pause.

I many years ago had setup from bare metal, a full blown VDR box based on gentoo using a DVB-s card but those were different times.

I want something I can install and load up in about 4 hours from start to production usage not 4 weeks of tweaking and compiling.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Rev

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

The best, simplest HTPC software is Vista Media Center, with Win7 a further improvement if you're willing to use the RC until release. To use an HTPC to it's fullest you are looking at a fair bit of tweaking and experimenting, there's just no way around it. Reading up here will save you some time and headaches:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26/

 

[country2]

^^^^ I agree. I just built one for the bedroom using Vista Ultimate (MCE) I really had no issues setting it up for recording on my Dishnetwork reciever or anything. I use the ATI TV Wonder HDTV that BB had on sale a few months back to capture from my satellite and my mobo I'm using (ASUS P5N7A-VM) I have it hooked up to a lcd monitor via HDMI cable. I did have to buy a ir blaster for it to change channels and a good mce remote along with a rf mini keyboard.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Yep, Win7's Media Center will have support for the majority of formats and codecs you'll run in to. I'd guess the only additions you'll need are a splitter for mkv and codecs for ogg (who makes ogg/ogm file anymore anyway?).

 

[revolutn]

Thanks.
I think I'm gonna give Mythbuntu a try and if that doesn't pan out I can go with W7's Media Center once it's RTM code, won't waste time on the RC1 code right now since it will time out eventually and I just want to set this box up once and run it.

 

[Fox5]

If you don't need TV capture functionality, I would recommend using Boxee. It's the best media center program I've used and integrated with tons of streaming video websites.
XBMC is amazing too, but doesn't integrate with streaming video sites. It's fantastic if you have an original Xbox to re-purpose though, as the xbox version has tons of custom apps for it.