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Componants for HTPH

1K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  waterhead 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I'm new to this as well, just booted up my machine yesterday. In case your interested, here's what I have:


Old case, for now. Plan to buy htpc case at some point.

Asus H87M motherboard, i3-4340 Intel processor

8mb RAM

120 gig SSD

Running XBMCbuntu, still got quite a bit to figure out with that. I also have HDHomerun tuner, but can't seem to figure out how to load software so the computer can see it. Lot's of potential, just need to get it all figured out.


I'm using the onboard graphics, seems great so far on 100" front projector.


88
 
#3 ·
I'll try and answer both poster's questions.


Assuming we're talking Linux, then onboard graphics are not suggested. Onboard GPUs are limited to AMD and Intel. AMD has powerful onboard graphics, but their drivers suck for Linux. Intel drivers are okay, but the GPUs are pretty weak and still have some work to be done before they're fully integrated with all the software options out there. So, the safest suggestion is to always use a Nvidia discrete graphics card. Doesn't need to be an expensive card, just an Nvidia card (200 series and above).


As for the HDHomerun tuner. The best piece of software to utilize that is MythTV. The tuner works natively with MythTV. Though MythTV can be a bear to setup properly, the tuners work very well with it. I have two HDHomeruns, and a Homerun Prime running into my MythTV setup.


There's a plugin in XBMC that will retrieve data from MythTV (i.e. your recordings). I don't use XBMC and have only experimented briefly with it, but it works. If you're running an Ubuntu flavor, it's pretty simple to install MythTV.
 
#4 ·
The Nvidia graphics cards are definitely your best bet for less hair pulling experience with Linux barring you use Nvidia's proprietary graphics drivers. As vor Mythtv and XBMC, I use them together with no problems at all on the Gotham version of XBMC...works great!
 
#5 ·
Ok, thanks for the replies. I'm looking at nVidia card, but for now will use the onboard graphics. I don't understand Ubuntu at all.....I think I need to load Intel drivers but have no idea where to start. Any ideas?


Also for the HDHomerun, there are tgz files that I need to unzip but have no idea on that either. I finally found out how to get out of the XBMC area to what I guess is the Ubuntu interface, but being a decades long Windows guy I have no idea how to find what I need.


Thanks!
 
#6 ·
Start over!!!! You're confusing yourself.


XBMCbuntu and Mythbuntu, etc are all Ubuntu with XFCE desktop loaded then XBMC, MythTV, etc loaded on top of that.


Because you're new, you should download Xubuntu. http://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/ and load that on your system.


It's Ubuntu with XFCE desktop. It's a full featured desktop operating system. Then you can load and unload, tweak, and mess around with whatever you like. You'll get familiar with how Linux/Ubuntu does things, and you'll work in a more modular manner that gives you control over each feature you want to utilize.


You need to learn how to use the Package Manager (Synaptic? or the Software Center). Get familiar with the command line ("apt-get" instructions). These are all pretty easy things, but right now with the prepackaged XBMCbuntu you've got a lot of layers and no real reference point of where you are.


Start simple with Xubuntu. Since Xubuntu is just a flavor of Ubuntu, you can Google things like "HDHomerunPrime drivers Ubuntu" and get answers. Usually the answers come in the form of command line instructions, but that's actually simpler and makes instructions much easier to understand.


Still not sure why you need drivers for the Homeruns. Like I said, MythTV picks them up immediately. Keep it simple for now. Use MythTV as the Homeruns work natively with it. (Understand that Linux does things differently. Not every component needs a driver. Many come with the Linux kernel).


Seriously, install Xubuntu. Go to the Software Center, install MythTV and XBMC. Play around with both.
 
#7 ·
Thanks. I'll definitely look at all that.


The reason I was trying to load HDHR drivers is because I couldn't get mythtv to work. I kept getting an error message something about the backend not working. I thought it might be that the computer was not seeing the tuner.
 
#8 ·
MythTV has two interfaces, the backend and the frontend. The backend is the nightmare to get set up and there's a lot you have to do before you use MythTV. Detailed instructions are in the link below.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:Detailed_configuration_Backend


MythTV can be highly customized (as with just about anything in Linux), but with that flexibility comes complexity. The link above isn't very intuitive either, so I'll try and help out a bit. All the information you need is on the menu to the right so make sure you go through all of it to at least get familiar with it.


In a terminal type mythtv-setup


Get your General Settings done. Mainly your IP's need to be set. For one machine just keep the IP local (127.0.0.1)


Capture Cards (Those are your Homeruns. They have to be designated. Each tuner needs it's own. (Homeruns have 2 tuners I think)


Input Sources (Antenna, Cable, etc. If you're running OTA, create one called Antenna and attach your Homerun devices to it. Can't remember if you need one for each Homerun device or not.


Then you have to do a channel scan. You'll need a Schedules Direct account. It's $20.00 per year. That gives you your channel guide. You don't have to do a channel scan for each device.


Edit your channels accordingly. You can set your channels to any number you want, and in any order. However, this is a gotcha. For each tuner in your Input Sources, you have to make sure the starting channel is the same as your edited channels starting channel. For example, if MythTV scans channels and your first channel is 2.1, and you say, I don't want it to be 2.1 and you edit it to be a simple 2 instead. You'll have to go back and make sure the starting channel on each Input Source is set to 2 and not 2.1. (I've nearly punched a TV because of that).


On the Schedules Direct website you can enable and disable any channels you like so they're not scanned by MythTV. You don't want 10 channels in Spanish, Polish and Chinese. You can disable them so they never show up in your guide. Play around with it.


Run mythfilldatabase in your terminal. Then run mythbacked once mythfilldatabase is complete.


If you would like screenshots of any particular part, let me know. Once set up, it's awesome.
 
#9 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by minivanman  /t/1520647/componants-for-htph#post_24618014


Then you have to do a channel scan. You'll need a Schedules Direct account. It's $20.00 per year. That gives you your channel guide. You don't have to do a channel scan for each device.
You don't need Schedules Direct. Digital TV has it's own schedule info. MythTV will scan the channels and populate the guide with the info. Sometimes it is only 12 hours in advance, but that is all you need. If you catch the show you want when it shows on the schedule, you can tell it to record that show at any instance that you want. Otherwise there are sevaral ways that you can schedule recordings using such things as titles or key words.


I, for one, will not give my money to Schedules Direct because it defeats the purpose of the open source and freeness of Linux.
 
#10 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by waterhead  /t/1520647/componants-for-htph#post_24619163


You don't need Schedules Direct. Digital TV has it's own schedule info. MythTV will scan the channels and populate the guide with the info. Sometimes it is only 12 hours in advance, but that is all you need. If you catch the show you want when it shows on the schedule, you can tell it to record that show at any instance that you want. Otherwise there are sevaral ways that you can schedule recordings using such things as titles or key words.


I, for one, will not give my money to Schedules Direct because it defeats the purpose of the open source and freeness of Linux.

Didn't know that. Duly noted.


However, I don't see how paying for a service like Schedules Direct defeats the purpose of open-source. SD is a service, not software. I for one, have no problem paying for a service if it's something I value and isn't something I can do myself. That of course should be taken with a grain of salt because I'm one frugal SOB, and I try to do anything I can for as close to free as possible.


Of course that's a counter-argument where I have no intention of getting into a heated debate on the meaning of "open-source" and the merits thereof. I've donated more money to Linux developers (O/S's mostly like Mint and Arch) than I've ever paid to Microsoft in the 15 years I used them. I just think of it as buying them a few beers every now and then.
 
#11 ·
Maybe my reference to open source wasn't entirely correct. Schedules Direct is from the same developers as MythTV. The users (including me) had been asking for them to fix the (then) new digital OTA guide. It was broken, and didn't work. Instead they strike an agreement with Zap2it to sell the schedule info. They eventually fixed it, but the way the MythTV developers behave left a bad taste in my mouth. Even if many users ask for a certain feature, if it isn't "blessed" by the main developer Isaac, it is panned. The usual reply is: "It is open source. Feel free to download the source and modify it yourself". Not a very friendly bunch.


Also, I wanted to make a DVR for my brother. He lives in the country with no internet connection. An OTA guide is necessary for that.


OK, enough of my rant. I'll try not to go off-topic again.
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by waterhead  /t/1520647/componants-for-htph#post_24620083


but the way the MythTV developers behave left a bad taste in my mouth. Even if many users ask for a certain feature, if it isn't "blessed" by the main developer Isaac, it is panned. The usual reply is: "It is open source. Feel free to download the source and modify it yourself". Not a very friendly bunch.

I think this is enough on point to delve a bit deeper. I'm a huge MythTV fan. I'm not a fan of the developers or those that write their tutorials and documentation. It comes across as very arrogant and a kind of "Well, if you don't know, then..." It's definitely turned more than one person off of MythTV in favor of WMC.


I muscled through it myself because, like I said, I'm a frugal/cheap SOB, and I refuse to use a Microsoft product. I'm an open-source person, and I've found ways to get around just about everything. Some aren't completely free, but close enough. I just wish the Linux community would stop being so arrogant. That may not be fair because I do find Linux tutorials online, and forum help to be far superior to anything I found with Windows, but there's always some tool who's beating his chest and expecting users to have degrees in computer science.
 
#13 ·
There is one thing about the OTA guide data I should mention. After a short period, the show descriptions become mixed up. The titles of the shows is always good, so you will always get your show recorded. But, the shows description will be from a totally different show, sometimes from a different channel.


The only way that I found to fix this, is to clear the guide data from the database. This requires some knowledge of using mySQL commands from a terminal. But the show descriptions go back to being jumbled up again soon thereafter.


I never bothered to file a bug report, because the developers just say to use SD. Since it doesn't interfere with the automatic recording of shows, I ignore it.
 
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