Mythbuntu / XBMC + TV ?

jellybeard999 · 4 Jan 2012 at 12:29

I'm fed up with 7MC issues and before I revert back to Vista for the time being, I thought I'd give the above a try.

I've briefly installed and used various distros, which would be simplest to get going with?

Machine spec:

E1400
nVidia GT520
Hauppauge Nova-T500
320gb HD
2gb RAM

Wants are:

Live and recorded TV
HD Audio bitstream
Bluray playback
Game emulation (SNES, megadrive, PSX etc)

The graphite/arclight skins look good for mythbuntu, and I've used the Windows version of XBMC and the front end appears to look similar, but couldn't get the tv working (via MPTV server), though I think this may be down to W7 as I have tuner issues there too.

Any pointers?

Essexraptor · 5 Jan 2012 at 13:06

IMO the kingpin starting point is compatibility with Myth and XMBC with your Nova-T500.

Therefore you'll need to dig about and check for issues (if any) drivers, updates and work arounds to get it working

You may be lucky - I just don't know

inSilica · 5 Jan 2012 at 13:20

I assume the Nova-T400 is compatible with V4L? I mean can you get it to work via any other app (on linux!)

jellybeard999 · 5 Jan 2012 at 18:15

http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-NOVA-T-500

Seems compatable it and it is a widely used card, so support shouldn't be a problem.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that my fileserver runs windows server; I presume samba will take care of this as I've had a standard ubuntu install accessing them fine from my netbook.

I've been advised to go with a ubuntu minmal install, xbmc and tvheadend - does anyone concur that's the best way to go? There doesn't seem much recent talk about mythtv, has it had its day?

dave-lew99 · 5 Jan 2012 at 18:41

Have you tried http://xbmcwmc.teknowebworks.com/

This way you can use XBMC for media playerback but still use WMC for TV - which it is actually quite good at.

I believe at the moment XBMC won't do bitstream of HD audio though.

Vampyre · 9 Jan 2012 at 15:20

Your Nova-T should be fine, I run two in my Mythbox. In my experience Mythbuntu is the easiest to deal with but blu-ray playback is going to be an issue, at the moment you cannot play blu-ray discs natively under Linux, there are workarounds but they are clumsy at best.

masterluke · 9 Jan 2012 at 16:19

Bluray playback is going to be a problem. AFAIK the DRM means that playback is still not a 1-click affair.

Qu3 · 10 Jan 2012 at 12:28

masterluke said:
Bluray playback is going to be a problem. AFAIK the DRM means that playback is still not a 1-click affair.

And the HD Audio with XBMC I think is an issue.

Your not going to get Blu-Ray support on Linux any time soon due the fact Blu-Ray DRM was pretty much build with the mindset that it'll never be supported on open-source software.