One last check before I move to the “Dark Side”…
Have been fighting with this for almost a month.
Our PVR died, a Topfield 2400 series, and I have been thinking for ages that when such an event may happen, I would change tack, and create a full Media Centre, on a decent PC.
So obtained the PC, then had to decide what distro/programs to install.
So far I have been through Mint/striaght Ubuntu, and now Opensuse (my preferred distro anyway), but I am at the point now where I am going to chuck it all, and fork out for Windows, or even go back to a standalone PVR.
If this was just for me, I would have had it up and running weeks ago, but unfortunately the main user is my darling, and she is a bit more particular than I!
Have been concentrating on using MythTV backend as the PVR, and XBMC as the frontend. One of the main reasons for XBMC is that it does Aust. Catchup TV, that works well…
My issues:
1/ The remote. Found that, yes, got the remote working well, on Ubuntu, out of the box. This was using Lirc. All just seemed to come together. But… on opensuse (13.1, x64, KDE, fully patched) have tried both with and without Lirc, but can’t seem to get anywhere near a properly configured remote. I am in a bit of a quandary, as to how the flow, for example, without Lirc, gets from the remote, through a config file (ir-keytable -r), and then forwarded to XBMC. Seem to be able to get some of the codes working, but others just elude me… (sorry about the very technical talk!)
2/ My other issue is the whole putting the device to sleep/wake up for recording, thing.
Has anybody any suggestions for a relatively ‘foolproof’ fix for any/all these issues (nicely…)?
Sorry to bring this up, but previously have done similar for others in Windows (which I DON’T want to do), and it IS pretty foolproof.
Thanks.
No input…?
Trying MythBuntu. Will let you know…
I suspect there aren’t too many users here using openSUSE for an htpc - it’s probably a bit of overkill (in my opinion)
Have you tried openelec?
Was after something that could be used as a server, too… as it will be on a lot of the time…
Will give openelec a look.
Thanks for the suggestion.
John.
Well, I do have a very small atom CPU from Dell I bought in 2009 still running openSUSE 11.3 and XBMC 8 or 9, I think. It’s been working nicely, considering it’s limitations, for 5 years, connected to a (now very old) digital TV.
In lieu of a dedicated remote control I use a small wireless keyboard. I’ve also enabled the XMBC remote app in a couple android phones/tablets, and it works, but we’re used to the keyboard. There are many nice & cheap ones to choose, and it has it’s points when you’re doing something not select-and-OK, like naming shares and such.
Now, the VR function is a nightmare. I first tried mythtv, but the complexity and consequently the time required to get it into working order, getting a capture board that would work, etc. I just installed XBMC.
The media server is a separate computer, that also serves a bunch of laptops/mobiles and a WD LiveTV box in another room, which is nothing special but nice.
If I really want recording, I use a cheapo Aquarius digital tuner box that I had to buy for that old digital TV (it’s that old, yeah). It can be time-programmed to record to USB drives, and doesn’t do a bad job but tends to split the files too much.
So, not an all-in-one solution, but it works for me - and much, MUCH more importantly, for my wife 
Still playing with Openelkec, and it looks quite good (except it has thrown a bit of a turn - that’s another story…)
Thinking if it will do the trick, I may set it up dual boot with Opensuse…
Testing…
On 2014-09-30 14:16, hornetster wrote:
>
> No input…?
> Trying MythBuntu. Will let you know…
I’m considering doing my own media center, for ages. My stumbling block
is, for the moment, hardware: a suitable box with digital TV tuners (I
want two, at least). And I want the box smallish, cheap, and silent. Ah,
also low power drain.
Mythtv seems the obvious thing to check.
The point of using a general distro, so that the machine is used for
other, server type, things, is a good one. Why have, say, both a file
server and a multimedia server, on separate machines, on home? Doubles
the bill…
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
On 2014-09-29 09:46, hornetster wrote:
> 2/ My other issue is the whole putting the device to sleep/wake up for
> recording, thing.
I saw, long ago, a writeup on the mythtv site about waking the machine
on time. I may be able to dig it up.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)