media centre build

Fri Apr 23 23:21:29 BST 2010

I am intending to buy the following to act as a media centre probably running MythTV.
Any comments would be welcomed:

ASRock ION330HT Mini Barebone, Intel Atom 330, Nvidia ION, DVD-RW, HDMI/eSATA, Remote

Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 2GB PC-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 RAM, 240-pin DIMM, Non ECC Unbuffered, 5-5-5-18

2.5", Samsung 160GB, SATA 5400rpm, 8MB Cache, HM160HI

One concern I have is whether the 5400 rpm HDD is adequate or if I need a 7200 rpm HDD to record TV etc.

Adios!
Bryn Mitchell

________________________________
From: Chris Debenham <chris at adebenham.com>
To: bryn mitchell <bryn at mitchells.id.au>
Cc: ubuntu-au <ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com>
Sent: Mon, 19 April, 2010 2:47:47 PM
Subject: Re: media centre build

I previously used a Microsoft MCE remote (works out of the box) but recently moved to using a PS3 bluetooth remote so I don't need line-of-sight.
And yes, MythTV can record and play the same show.  Easiest way to go is just watch LiveTV and at any time you can press pause.  In the background mythtv will keep recording the video and keep it in a buffer ready for you to catch up later.
I find I hardly ever watch livetv anymore though, mostly I set it to record anything I want and then watch them 10-15 mins after they start so I can skip the ads :-) (mind you I generally don't watch things even on the same day - I'm generally a few days behind on my shows ;-) )

On 19 April 2010 13:19, bryn mitchell <bryn_mitchell at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> This is all good info Chris. Thanks.
> Two things I failed to ask is what type of remote do you use and does MythTV
> have all those tricky things as found on a commercial DVR such as the record
> and view the same show function (after you have used the pause function to
> go and get a beer from the fridge). I don't know the name of the function
> but it allows you to catch up to the current time in the game / show (I
> think by using the time in the add's).
>
> ________________________________
> From: Chris Debenham <chris at adebenham.com>
> To: bryn mitchell <bryn at mitchells.id.au>
> Cc: ubuntu-au <ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Sent: Mon, 19 April, 2010 8:12:38 AM
> Subject: Re: media centre build
>
> On 18 April 2010 21:57, bryn mitchell <bryn_mitchell at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>> Thanks Chris.
>> What OS and Multi Media applications do you use.
>
> I run MythTV on mythbuntu (http://mythbuntu.org/)
>
>> Do you;
> * access the Internet - yes - via mythnet
> * burn media (such as TV shows) to DVD - yes, via 'mythBurn' which
> integrates into mythtv
> * rip to MP3 - yes, mythtv can do this natively as well
> * view photo's - yes
> * edit home video - no, I do video editing on a different machine
> generally (one connected to a keyboard/mouse instead of just a remote
> control) but there is nothing precluding doing video editing on this
> machine as it is faster than my actual desktop anyway :-)
>
>> Do you use a wireless network connection and if so what brand of card/USB
>> (I assume it's USB).
>
> I actually use wired gigabit ethernet (since I store most of my media
> on a separate machine) but as long as you are not streaming high-def
> content over the network then wireless is fine.
> I actually do stream standard-def over wireless to my laptop on
> occassion and it works fine.
>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Chris Debenham <chris at adebenham.com>
>> To: bryn mitchell <bryn at mitchells.id.au>
>> Cc: ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com
>> Sent: Sun, 18 April, 2010 6:20:55 PM
>> Subject: Re: media centre build
>>
>> I use an ASRock ION 330 for media centre duties (replacing a mac mini)
>> Costs about $350 - just add disk and a usb tuner or two and you have a
>> decent machine capable of playing High Def media via HDMI (I can play
>> 1080p without too much issue - generally about 40% cpu usage when
>> playing HD stuff - less for over-the-air HD stuff)
>> It only takes one internal disk, but add an external drive if you need
>> more space.
>>
>> On 18 April 2010 06:24, bryn mitchell <bryn_mitchell at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>
>>> I am going to get / build a media centre. I could buy a MAC Mini which
>>> seems
>>> just about ready to go out of the box or I could go thru the project of a
>>> Linux equivalent.
>>> I want to access the net, rip and play (thru a sound system) music,
>>> record
>>> and replay digital TV, play DVD's / Blue Ray, etc thru a Panasonic Viera
>>> wide screen plasma.
>>> This is something I would be happy to spend a couple of weeks on and off
>>> to
>>> complete but not a couple of months to get right. It also needs to work
>>> right every time or it will fall flat with the missus and kids.
>>> I have done some reading about Myth TV and it's variants and other
>>> applications such as Boxee and XBMC but my real sticking point is
>>> hardware.
>>> I got a quote from a local shop to build a box that would suit Win 7 and
>>> I
>>> assume that would also be adequate for a Linux equivalent but the cost
>>> was
>>> about $2500, about $1000 more expensive than a MAC Mini solution. For me,
>>> the real seller of a Linux system would be to do it on the cheap but as I
>>> said before I don't want to spend all my time (I am time poor) buying
>>> hardware and then buying more hardware because it doesn't work or
>>> endlessly
>>> trouble shooting a dodgy set up.
>>> Ideally I think my best scenario would be to buy a used PC and just add
>>> appropriate hardware such as a tuner card, graphics card etc but I don't
>>> know what to buy (or for that matter where to buy). Also fan noise etc is
>>> any issue I believe.
>>> Interested in any opinions,
>>>
>>> Regards.
>>> B. Mitchell
>>>
>>> --
>>> ubuntu-au mailing list
>>> ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com
>>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au 
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> ubuntu-au mailing list
>> ubuntu-au at lists.ubuntu.com
>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au 
>>
>>
>
>  

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