Help With a Linux TV System/File Server

Harvey616

Harvey616

Harvey616

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Joined
14 Jun 2010
Posts
737
Hello all :)

I am thinking of building a media PC to store movies, music etc and stream to the other computers within the house, I also want it to play and record TV, similar to Sky+ does. I am thinking of using a linux media center distro as it needs to seem like a seamless experience, as opposed to just using a PC.

I was wondering if you guys could spec me something, sub £300.

I don't need OS or any peripherals, but a wireless card or USB device is a must.

Thanks all :)
 
You've missed the linus forums by almost the entire length of the forum, hence no replies.

You probably want xbmc, or a prebuilt like a WD TV coupled with a NAS (network attached storage).

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to do this, linux is not the way to go. I have a file server sitting out of sight with an ethernet cable running to it, but it's entirely command line driven. Samba (file sharing with windows) keeps falling over too, so I wouldn't consider it fit and forget.
 
I posted here for advice on the hardware of it, and the Linux forum for advice on the software :)

I was considering using XBMC.

Thank you for telling em that, I will bear that in mind. :)

Any suggestions for hardware?
 
Well, my file server is an amd 7750BE with 1gb of ram, as that's what I had lying around. Some people use atom mini-itx boards and love them, others complain that it's far too slow. My amd chip is overkill.

For playing media back, I'm currently using an old netbook. So, amd box is wired into one of the all-in-one networking boxes that come free with broadband these days, and the netbook connects wirelessly. This is seamless for sd, but probably wouldn't work with hd.

So, hardware requirements depend heavily on what you want to play back. If it's standard definition, pretty much anything will do. If it's high definition you have to be a bit more careful, and won't want wireless involved. I note that you say a wireless card is a must, bear in mind this will do bad things for streaming performance.

Myth TV is worth a google, as the entire project is built around doing what I think you want to. I believe they have recommended hardware, but really pretty much anything will do for the file server side of things.
 
I was considering something along the lines of....
AMD Athlon II 3.0Ghz
2GB Corsair XMS3 1333Mhz
Nvidia 9500GT 1024MB
1TB Sammy F3 Drive

So to realistically have HD playback, I would need to have the PC plugged into the Router by Ethernet?

Would this system also work as a file server, for back ups etc?
 
I'm not convinced you'll need the grapphics card, but the 3ghz Athlon 2 is certainly better than the chip I'm using. For reliable HD playback, where it doesn't occasionally drop frames, plugging it into the router will go a lot better yeah. Running ethernet cable under carpet isn't so bad though.

The HD playback is the only remotely resource intensive thing you're planning to do with it, so anything which is powerful enough to cope with that isn't going to flinch at file sharing. Myth TV is probably the way to go, there's advice on tv cards littered around these forums but I know nothing about them myself I'm afraid.
 
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