Linux/Mythbuntu PVR, is this possible?

[DoubleCheese]

I've got a spare PC and fancy a project putting together a PVR/HTPC. I'd like to make use of my unused Sky dish and get a Satellite card to receive, watch and record Freesat broadcasts.

Hardware wise it has a Barton 2500 CPU, 1Gb RAM, 80GB HDD (have more to add too), onboard audio, ATI 9800SE AIW graphics card with remote etc. The TV is a conventional 28" Panasonic widescreen CRT. Will be upgrading this in a few months to a 32" HD LCD.

I'd also like to be able to stream video and music media wirelessly from another networked PC or NAS later on down the line.
I'd like the machine to also access and download iPlayer programs.

Is this possible with Mythbuntu and what else would I need?

 

[BillytheImpaler]

It's perfectly possible. It might struggle a bit with high-bitrate 1080p playback, but that's ok if you're using less demanding content than that.

You'll need a DVB card to capture the satellite signal. I don't know enough about them to reccomend one. You might want to ask on the Mythbuntu section of the Ubuntu forums.

Since I'm in the U.S. I've never used iPlayer. It would appear that it uses Windows Media Player DRM which is diffucult to emulate in Linux. If your client pretends to be an iPhone it feeds you a regular, old-fashioned, un-DRM'd MP4. there are some scripts floating around to trick it into givingyou that version. That's what I reccomend since it gives you unfettered use and doesn't require some crappy Flash plugin or anything.

There also seems to be some work here that might interest you: http://bbciplayerlinux.sourceforge.net/index.php/Main_Page

 

[tophee]

Do you want it to be specifically a media centre? You can do all those things with Mythbuntu, I am going to suggest what I use as an alternative: KnoppMyth. Knoppmyth is a dedicated pvr and although iplayer isn't supported out of the bag, it's relatively easy to add, I think. I'm sure at some point I saw a how to on adding it.

 

[GarethDW]

iPlayer works fine..... here's a screenshot of it running under Firefox on my Xubuntu box (excuse the horrible compression from saving it as a JPG and uploading it to PhotoBucket)

 

[BillytheImpaler]

iPlayer works fine..... here's a screenshot of it running under Firefox on my Xubuntu box (excuse the horrible compression from saving it as a JPG and uploading it to PhotoBucket)

Still, a flash client sucks since it doesn't integrate with any Media Center software well. Pretending to be an iPhone and getting the source file that the Flash client is presenting to you is a much tidier way to do it, methinks.

 

[GarethDW]

Yeah, you're right... might have to have a Google to see if it's just using a specific user agent or something as simple as that.

edit: ok, just looked at the BBC's site as I've not really bothered learning about the iPlayer before and seems it's only compatible with XP and Vista (no surprises there!) but surprisingly enough not with Media Centre versions of Windows or 64-bit versions of XP. Don't think there's gonna be an easy way of having a *nix box spoofing a Windows box as you need their proprietery app installed, which I didn't even know existed until now. I guess it's kinda like Joost...?

ps - think the name isn't anything to do with Apple and their iPhones... just a coincidence.

 

[DoubleCheese]

Can anyone recommend a Satellite HD PCI card that would work with this? Preferably twin tner so I could watch and record different channels simultaneously.

Also, Billy, I've just read that ATI All in Wonder cards are not supported by MythTv (Myttv.org). Do you know if this stands, is there a work around....? I'd like to have the ATI AIW card (or another card) capture from my cable box..somehow

 

[BillytheImpaler]

If you don't have the card yet why not just buy one that is known to work well with Myth?

Also, you might want to drop a note to ATI asking them why they don't have working Linux drivers for the card you want.