2011-09-13, 18:19
Ok, I am getting ready to redo my media pc. I am moving back to XBMC as I only left a few years ago due to no easy way to get live TV in it. Now that there is a PVR branch it looks like I am coming back home!
Here is my situation, I have the following machines/hardware:
PC1:
C2D E8400 (dual core 3Ghz cpu), 8GB ram, 6 x 1TB drives, Nvidia 9400 onboard video that does audio over HDMI, etc
PC2:
P4 1.8Ghz, 1GB ram, 1 x 8GB drive, 2x Hauppauge PVR-500 tuners for analog cable tv (NTSC)
PC3:
Acer Revo 1600; Atom 230 single core cpu, 4GB ram, 250GB disk, nvidia ION video w/ HDMI out
Currently I have the tuners in PC1 where I had to "burn" 4GB of ram to get them to work as they cannot operate with more than 4GB ram. I was running WMC on win7 ultimate 64-bit.
I am wanting to move the tuners to PC2 where they can run under linux (ubuntu most likely) using either mythtv or tvheadend (if supported properly). Then I can use PC1 as the media server/main client and connect to the tuners that are in PC2 for the live tv and PVR functions. This should be fairly straight forward I think depending on which route I am able to go (mythtv or tvheadend). I will probably need to run windows on the main media pc due to I will need netflix support on it but that is ok with me, I can set it to reboot at an obscure time each night to do updates and such...
The main question is this: Which backend should I use that will support my old PVR-500's (they are NTSC if that matters). I want to use tvheadend due to it looking stupid easy to setup and I don't have to pay for the guide data. Although looking around it appears as though tvheadend only supports the PAL version of the pvr-500. I have used mythtv in the past so I am somewhat familiar with it also, although it has been about 4-ish years since I have used it.
The next question is this: Can I use PC3 as a second "client" elsewhere in the house? It would need to access all the live tv stuff plus the recordings and the stored media. I know the media part is as easy as a share on PC1 but the tv stuff is a little harder I suppose.
In the end I am doing this on a budget of $0. I am having to use only the hardware I currently have so new tuners is not an option. I feel this should be possible though, I just need a little guidance from someone who knows the intricacies better than I since I have not messed with this tv stuff in xbmc before.
Here is my situation, I have the following machines/hardware:
PC1:
C2D E8400 (dual core 3Ghz cpu), 8GB ram, 6 x 1TB drives, Nvidia 9400 onboard video that does audio over HDMI, etc
PC2:
P4 1.8Ghz, 1GB ram, 1 x 8GB drive, 2x Hauppauge PVR-500 tuners for analog cable tv (NTSC)
PC3:
Acer Revo 1600; Atom 230 single core cpu, 4GB ram, 250GB disk, nvidia ION video w/ HDMI out
Currently I have the tuners in PC1 where I had to "burn" 4GB of ram to get them to work as they cannot operate with more than 4GB ram. I was running WMC on win7 ultimate 64-bit.
I am wanting to move the tuners to PC2 where they can run under linux (ubuntu most likely) using either mythtv or tvheadend (if supported properly). Then I can use PC1 as the media server/main client and connect to the tuners that are in PC2 for the live tv and PVR functions. This should be fairly straight forward I think depending on which route I am able to go (mythtv or tvheadend). I will probably need to run windows on the main media pc due to I will need netflix support on it but that is ok with me, I can set it to reboot at an obscure time each night to do updates and such...
The main question is this: Which backend should I use that will support my old PVR-500's (they are NTSC if that matters). I want to use tvheadend due to it looking stupid easy to setup and I don't have to pay for the guide data. Although looking around it appears as though tvheadend only supports the PAL version of the pvr-500. I have used mythtv in the past so I am somewhat familiar with it also, although it has been about 4-ish years since I have used it.
The next question is this: Can I use PC3 as a second "client" elsewhere in the house? It would need to access all the live tv stuff plus the recordings and the stored media. I know the media part is as easy as a share on PC1 but the tv stuff is a little harder I suppose.
In the end I am doing this on a budget of $0. I am having to use only the hardware I currently have so new tuners is not an option. I feel this should be possible though, I just need a little guidance from someone who knows the intricacies better than I since I have not messed with this tv stuff in xbmc before.
