# OS for HTPC



## King Wookie (Jul 31, 2009)

I'm looking at getting a HTPC up and running soon, and as far as OS goes, there seems to be Vista and Linux. 

How viable is Linux for a HTPC, where blu ray playback would be required, as well as running a TV tuner card in PVR mode. Also I'd be looking to use it as a music server as well.


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## Dippyskoodlez (Aug 2, 2009)

For a TV tuner, you have to use Gatos. I'm not sure about blu-ray. 

Music server, depends on how you're serving it.


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## BroBQ (Aug 2, 2009)

I wouldnt use anything other than Media Center. Windows 7 Media Center actually has support for ClearQAM which is a hugh plus


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## King Wookie (Nov 5, 2009)

Hmm, seems I'm having to revive this thread.

Spoke to my lady about it, and she's keen on going linux. (she will be building the machine with me)

Looks like Ubuntu may be a good kickoff point, and as I'll have all the hardware bits within the next few weeks, I'm looking for some wise insight.

Anyone?


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## [Ion] (Nov 5, 2009)

King Wookie said:


> Hmm, seems I'm having to revive this thread.
> 
> Spoke to my lady about it, and she's keen on going linux. (she will be building the machine with me)
> 
> ...



Ubuntu is a great choice IMO, I had a computer set up with Ubuntu (3.2ghz P4, 1.5gb RAM, 200GB HDD, Geforce 6800 Ultra) that I used as a sort-of media center.  I didn't have a TV card, but I used it play videos and music, and it worked great.  Very little set-up involved.  I still prefer the media center in Vista/7, but if your wife is set on Linux you really can't get any better than Ubuntu


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## Deleted member 67555 (Nov 5, 2009)

You wont have Good, if any, Blu-Ray support with Linux
If you do go Ubuntu I'd suggest WinAmp+VLC+Limewire,
and don't forget to enable the restricted repositories https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu and Universe repositories
Just follow the GUI directions or copy and paste


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## freaksavior (Nov 5, 2009)

windows 7 is great for my dads htpc.


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## wiak (Nov 5, 2009)

Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate will do nicely, they all have media center, they all support vista based drivers for Tuners etc, they all have built in h264/mpeg2 decoders, they all support blu-ray, you should check out TotalMedia Theatre 3 Platinum it has plugin for media center so if you put a blu-ray in the drive it will automaticly open inside media center

you can also have a litle bit fun with open media libary
http://code.google.com/p/open-media-library/


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 5, 2009)

get mythbuntu, it is ubuntu with mythtv already installed and configured and ready to go.


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## Zedicus (Nov 5, 2009)

XBMC for a full installable distro
my media system if you want something on top of your distro ( i think there is a *buntu package for it)

myth is great but normally over kill for most peoples needs.


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## Zedicus (Nov 5, 2009)

freaksavior said:


> windows 7 is great for my dads htpc.



you must not have noticed, you are in the LINUX form.


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## W1zzard (Nov 5, 2009)

does a htpc with linux support everything windows does? codecs? bluray? audio?


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## Easy Rhino (Nov 6, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> does a htpc with linux support everything windows does? codecs? bluray? audio?



i believe not out of the box. you have to add a few repos to the package source and download some codecs but it only takes a few minutes to do that.


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## Zedicus (Nov 6, 2009)

a lot of it is easier to get going then in windows.  entire sets of codecs are 2 clicks away instead of having to hunt down codec packs on random websites.  

the worst part is getting use to it. its the same as switching to a mac, or switching to pc from some other os.


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## Zedicus (Nov 6, 2009)

http://xbmc.org/
http://mymediasystem.org/

xbmc has a bootable cd you can check out with a install option from in it.  its the way to go if your system is even half way new.  mymediasystem is also great and more compatible.

look, all OS's can do the same thing  any more, one is not better then any other for everything.  and you can do anything in any of them.

also if youve messed with setting up mythtv or anything and thought it was waaay overkill for the average user, check out these. theres others in linux to if these dont fit your bill.  but in general these are the 2 most popular other then the mythtv series.


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## Papahyooie (Nov 6, 2009)

+1 for XBMC! I used it back in the day on my xbox and now use it on my HTPC. Not sure of blu-ray support tho as all my media is on hard storage. Maybe rip all your blu-rays?


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## DrunkenMafia (Nov 6, 2009)

I just put win 7 on my HTPC and love it.  The media centre works a treat with good sound support for my auzentech...  it does take up a heap of space though


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## Mussels (Nov 6, 2009)

windows 7 works great on my HTPC


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## King Wookie (Nov 6, 2009)

Thx for all feedback guys.

The blu ray is not going to happen immediately, so we will probably start off exploring what can be done with Linux. If we don't come right later on, hello Win 7.

The plan is to do HDMI off a 9600GT, but have to look at the audio issues.


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## Zedicus (Nov 6, 2009)

i know ripping a blue ray can be done on linux, theres no reason why you shouldnt be able to play one.  there has been blue ray asa  data disc support on linux since before bluray drives were officially released. 

as a side note, ATI has better linux support then nvidia does. and incase youve been under a rock, they have for a while now.


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## Boyfriend (Nov 6, 2009)

I don't know any software (player) which can play Blue Ray under Linux. I will recommend SimplyMEPIS. Unfortunately, their site is currently down. The Live CD also support installation and is based on Debian+KDE. It is much stable and come pre-configure for most basic tasks. It also have multimedia codecs and players (two or three) installed for all major multimedia file types. You are good to go as soon as you insert Live CD. I have used it and found it working for my basic tasks. Other distributions might need to search codec manually after installation.

I will also recommend Windows 7 over Linux. Windows 7 includes everything you might need for HTPC. It's Media Center is great and works flawlessly. It is also faster and better than vista. Cyberlink PowerDVD 9 integrates into Media Center to enable support for Blue Ray. I am using it and love it.


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## Zedicus (Nov 6, 2009)

as of april 2007 linux has had hd-dvd and bluray playback support.  give me a bit and i will see if it takes anything special to set up.


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## King Wookie (Nov 6, 2009)

Zedicus said:


> as a side note, ATI has better linux support then nvidia does. and incase youve been under a rock, they have for a while now.



I have the 9600GT, and not the funds to go shopping at the mo.


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## Snipermonkey2 (Nov 6, 2009)

Im not sure if any one posted this but this is also a spin off on Ubuntu 

*http://www.medibuntu.org/*


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## FatForester (Nov 6, 2009)

I'd say Linux should be good for a basic HTPC / file server / media streamer, but if you want something with good hardware support I'd go with Windows 7. Last time I tried running my X-Fi in Ubuntu it could barely do stereo, much less 5.1. I'd have to stick with Windows at least for the audio support since Linux has a multitude of audio stacks to deal with that all change depending on what program you're using (in my experience anyways). I haven't tried multichannel audio / optical over my onboard in Linux before, but I can't imagine it being that much better. I wish you the best of luck with Linux though, if it does what you need it to then I'd say it's a win-win!


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## Zedicus (Nov 6, 2009)

heres the skinny.   x-fi is mainline in ALSA 1.0.21
the driver has been open sourced and was recently mergeable. if it doesnt work now i would imagine it will very soon.  also the ALSA stack is the defacto standard now.

as for blu-ray. theres a few options some very intensive to set up. some fairly easy.  the good news is that mplayer has a SVN version which has BUILT in NATIVE support.  i will not even geustimate at time lines for an official release but if you can grab SVN you can use it now.

heres some links to the harder ways.
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-691564.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD


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## Deusxmachina (Nov 10, 2009)

Last I knew, XBMC can't record TV.  If you're sticking with Linux, I'd plan on some version of MythTV.


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## Zedicus (Nov 10, 2009)

actually XBMC can record. there is a simple packaage that adds this via a pluggin.  actually by now it may be built in to the main installer.   

not to be a d!ck but things in linux change so fast that statements that start with 'last time i knew' or 'when i tried it last' or 'back when my friend was using it' are usually wrong.

also there is a mythtv plugin for XBMC too.


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## RejZoR (Nov 10, 2009)

While Linux is free, you're quickly screwed over stuff like drivers. Like in your case for X-Fi.
Windows on the other hand doesn't really have those problems.


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## Zedicus (Nov 10, 2009)

actually the windows support of the x-fi cards was just as bad.  now they are universally supported on pretty much everything.  creative even opened sourced the driver to linux developers.

did you even read this entire post or just start regurgitating FUD?


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## King Wookie (Nov 10, 2009)

Weell, it's a moot point now.
No more lady in my life, so no need for a HTPC. 

I'll use the bits to build a pc for a little girl to help with her studies.

But thank you all for your input.


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## xfire (Nov 11, 2009)

King Wookie said:


> Weell, it's a moot point now.
> No more lady in my life, so no need for a HTPC.
> 
> I'll use the bits to build a pc for a little girl to help with her studies.
> ...


Awwwww....... Don't worry more will come along
Ubuntu would have done just fine. 
This is for the PC for the little girl
http://edubuntu.org/


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## Deusxmachina (Nov 11, 2009)

Zedicus said:


> actually XBMC can record. there is a simple packaage that adds this via a pluggin.  actually by now it may be built in to the main installer.
> 
> not to be a d!ck but things in linux change so fast that statements that start with 'last time i knew' or 'when i tried it last' or 'back when my friend was using it' are usually wrong.
> 
> also there is a mythtv plugin for XBMC too.



Well, "last I knew" and also "last I looked at the 'About" page at xbmc," it didn't say anything about recording TV.  It can do it using plugins of other programs which people have had various levels of success with, yes.

But, my bad.  I was thinking of things such as this thread from two months ago where a moderator and developer say it's only a frontend and you have to have MythTV anyway.  http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49218

"Much as spiff said, xbmc is doing the frontend thing. A great deal of development is being put into making it, hopefully, relatively simple to connect xbmc to a dedicated tuner. At present, this mostly means myth-tv on linux, but eventually, hopefully, it should work with MCE and the MediaPortal tv-server."

Can XBMC frontending for MythTV schedule recordings from the EPG yet?  Sure is hard to find definite answers and how-to's for certain things on the XBMC forums.


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## Zedicus (Nov 11, 2009)

that i dont know.  maybe try posting for more specific info on their forums.  ive been watching and testing with xbmc for about a year but havent rolled it out into my home yet.  and honestly i do ZERO tv recording.  at some point soon xbmc will be replacing my custom rolled distro i built for my front end devices.  but even at that they were fairly simplistic,   browse the web (why record when most shows can stream from somewhere)  play videos, music, and emulators off of a huge file server.   

ive looked into doing tv recording a few times and set up mythtv once.  it just seams like way more work for no real gain then my way.  not to say my way is perfect for everyone, it just works best for me and my family.


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## ToTTenTranz (Nov 11, 2009)

By the way, anyone knows how to integrate blu-ray capability in the Windows 7 Media Center?

I heard PowerDVD would have a plugin, but I'm not sure.


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## Zedicus (Nov 11, 2009)

powerdvd ultimate is the one you want. it integrates with MCE in windows 7.
their MAY be free codecs out for windows, ive never looked into it.


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## Boyfriend (Nov 11, 2009)

CyberLink PowerDVD 9 Ultimate integrates into Windows Media Center under Windows 7. It works fine for all supported file types.
Check out this site to find free codec that also integrates into WMC. I personally prefer Media Player Classic-Home Cinema for all types of videos and music. It works great and also support remote control.


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## bpgt64 (Dec 6, 2009)

I find myself board with Window's 7, haven't had any real issues to work out.  I used XBMC back in the day with my OG Xbox, the ones you could Softmod...That was a media Center.  I need to cut my teeth on the Linux commands and I am thinking on installing Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10 to do so.

I am fresh out of college with no Linux experience, however it's been made apparent to me that I need to start learning some of the basics if anything.  However, I have been a bit concerned over the lack of Blu-Ray support for Linux, as my HTPC has a drive, and I would love to use something other than WMC...but I am not sure I'd get support for my TV tuner either with the Linux Distro.   

If there's a ray of hope that I would?   I would start the install and fun tomorrow.

My HTPC sits as the following;

AMD Athlon 64 7850 Black ed
Asus generic AM2+ Mobo
4 gigs of DDR2-1066
ATI HD 4670 512MB70
Xi-Fi Titanium XtremeGamer


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## i789 (Dec 6, 2009)

bpgt64 said:


> I find myself board with Window's 7, haven't had any real issues to work out.  I used XBMC back in the day with my OG Xbox, the ones you could Softmod...That was a media Center.  I need to cut my teeth on the Linux commands and I am thinking on installing Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10 to do so.
> 
> I am fresh out of college with no Linux experience, however it's been made apparent to me that I need to start learning some of the basics if anything.  However, I have been a bit concerned over the lack of Blu-Ray support for Linux, as my HTPC has a drive, and I would love to use something other than WMC...but I am not sure I'd get support for my TV tuner either with the Linux Distro.
> 
> ...



sorry you will not get blu-ray support, not because Tux the penguin cant get it to work, Sony demands large sum of money for license and NDAs and what not. However, if you dont care about doing it "legally", there are always ways


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## xfire (Dec 7, 2009)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD
and his problem was kind of solved. Read post 31.


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