Hi folks,

Long term lurker, rare poster (My second in over 4 years) but this time I don't feel I can find all the answers to my questions with the search function.

I am building an HTPC that I intend to run with Linux. I have been playing with both Mythbuntu and XBMC and have yet to decide on one or the other. I really don't need the PVR functions of Mythbuntu, what I need the system to do is archive all of my DVDs and CDs in top quality so that I can throw all of the discs into storage. That means encoding and playback.

The HTPC will be connected directly to my AVR with a primary connection through an HDMI cable. I also need to be able to send analog audio to the AVR as the AVR can only send a separate audio feed to Zone 2 if the feed is analog (i.e. the AVR only has one digital "tuner")

I am leaning towards these basic components...

I have narrowed the pieces down a bit, this is what I am thinking

Case: Antec NSK1380 I need the short cube type case, as that is what will fit in its designated space. There are some mixed reviews on this case, especially with the length of the power cables. That being said, it does have room for three internal HDD which is one more than most others this size. I am thinking I would like to eventually keep three 1TB drives in a RAID array.

Chip: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz

MB: GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H nvidia geforce 9400 chipset

2 GB of DDR2 800

1TB Seagate NS class drive to start with (i already have this), will add two more once I am up and running.

Blue Ray drive - i believe that I will not be able to watch a blue ray directly (in Linux) bu that I should be able to encode and then play it back (?)

I have a Windows Media Center remote and receiver, I want use the IR receiver with my Harmony One remote.

I believe that the MB is sufficient enough for my video processing, but if not I have room to upgrade to a stand alone video card if needed down the road.

I am concerned about the analog audio, I am ripping everything to FLAC to assure good quality and would hate to ruin it with bad processing or an insufficient output. Do I need an Audio Card?


Any thoughts, suggestions or pointing out the obvious problem would be greatly appreciated?

I'm considering doing a similar build, definitely with XBMC (I pirate everything, and I don't even need cable).

Looks good to me, but I've never actually built a PC from scratch so I can't really say if you'll have any problems. Something you might want to look into though is audio playback on linux. I've used a couple different Ubuntu distros (9.04 right now), and on 8.10 I had a few crackling issues with sound, but that seems to be fixed with 9.04. I've heard that the pulseaudio soundserver isn't the greatest for high end audio playback, but I'm listening to it playing over my $1200 stereo and I can't hear anything wrong with it. I can definitely crank it without any issues. Just something to think about.

I've not been able to get analog and digital audio to work at the same time in Windows, but I'm not sure if it's a hardware or software issue. Linux may support both at the same time, not sure. I couldn't get ANY digital audio out with Linux when I tried it.

You can do analog and digital audio output at the same time in Linux. But your sound card and drivers must support it (same as in Windows). There are a lot of variables to setting it up (including the software you are using to output sound). I had it set up once upon a time a couple of years ago and I remember it was a pain.

If you are going to be ripping DVDs, get a quad core. I would highly suggest a Core i7 920 for the performance and the price. Use Handbrake. It's multithreaded and works great with the Core i7.

For regular DVD ripping a dual core is plenty. The drive read speed becomes the limiting factor. For Blu-ray get the quad core...

For regular DVD ripping a dual core is plenty. The drive read speed becomes the limiting factor. For Blu-ray get the quad core...

Actually in my experience the best way to back up a DVD under Linux is to use 'k9copy' to dump just the movie onto a hard disk as VIDEO_TS folder and then use 'handbrake' or similar software to transcode it.
The transcoding is much slower directly from DVD. when you transcode from hard disk the cpu is still the limiting factor, not the hard disk.

That's another issue I have with Linux, there is no easy DVD "backup' solution that will allow you to take a DVD and make a backup w/o using at least 2 programs. Is there an all in one program such as DVDfab for use with Linux?

That's another issue I have with Linux, there is no easy DVD "backup' solution that will allow you to take a DVD and make a backup w/o using at least 2 programs.

Obviously you don't know what you are talking about.
Why do you have to say 'it's an issue you have with Linux' if you haven't even bothered to investigate it first or simply ask?
This could be interpreted as trolling by some...

FYI, there are many easy DVD backup solutions (including k9copy and handbrake), I simply said that doing it the way I explained is faster than doing it straight from DVD with handbrake.

Actually in my experience the best way to back up a DVD under Linux is to use 'k9copy' to dump just the movie onto a hard disk as VIDEO_TS folder and then use 'handbrake' or similar software to transcode it.
The transcoding is much slower directly from DVD. when you transcode from hard disk the cpu is still the limiting factor, not the hard disk.

Thanks for the k9copy tip. I've just started backing up my DVDs and was copying first to the hard drive before using handbrake on them, but have already ran into several I couldn't manually copy.

As for the comment above that dual core should be enough, you'll have to pry my Core i7 Extreme out of my cold, dead hands ;)

That's another issue I have with Linux, there is no easy DVD "backup' solution that will allow you to take a DVD and make a backup w/o using at least 2 programs. Is there an all in one program such as DVDfab for use with Linux?

DVDFab HD works in WINE (with a few annoying quirks). I still use the free version since I haven't been able to find a native Linux app that handles all the flavors of Sony protection schemes.

Obviously you don't know what you are talking about.
Why do you have to say 'it's an issue you have with Linux' if you haven't even bothered to investigate it first or simply ask?
This could be interpreted as trolling by some...

FYI, there are many easy DVD backup solutions (including k9copy and handbrake), I simply said that doing it the way I explained is faster than doing it straight from DVD with handbrake.

I've tried K9 and it's much better now that they have the copy assistant (That's what I'm currently using). Sometimes I just want to make a quick backup w/o having to know all the ins and outs of the DVD file structure. Still has to be burned with K3b. I've posted on ubuntu forums about an all in one solution and nobody has come up with anything.

I've tried K9 and it's much better now that they have the copy assistant (That's what I'm currently using). Sometimes I just want to make a quick backup w/o having to know all the ins and outs of the DVD file structure. Still has to be burned with K3b. I've posted on ubuntu forums about an all in one solution and nobody has come up with anything.

Oh now I get it, you mean a backup to DVD? I thought you meant to hard disk.

Anyway k9copy can do that directly too as far as I know (never tried it, I only copy from physical media to hard drive), just select your dvd burner as output destination.