[marcvangend]

Hi, I will soon start building my first HTPC. I have a nice combination of hardware on my wish list and now I'm reading up on all different XBMC packages that are available. I just don't know which one to choose.

I'm planning on building a Linux-based system with an AMD Fusion A4-3400 CPU. I will start without a dedicated graphics card, because I want to see if the integrated GPU is good enough for me before investing in additional hardware.

Another thing that's important to me, is PVR functionality. My cable/internet provider offers IPTV, which means that the tv signal will be coming in through the NIC.

I already took XBMC for a test drive on my lap top by installing XBMC Live on a USB drive. I even upgraded it to xbmc-pvr using the steps described in http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=104700, which seemed to work fine.

So now what? The more I read about XBMC, the more different versions there seem to be. Abbreviations like XBMC Live, XBMCbuntu, XBMC-pvr, YaVDR and OpenELEC are all over the place. Some builds seem optimized for the AMD Fusion platform. When I follow the "Eden-pvr Beta1" link on http://xbmc.opdenkamp.eu/, I arrive at a pulse-eight site where I can download a shell script.

I honestly don't know which distro/package/built I need... Can anyone help me figure out what to choose? Thanks.

[gollumscave]

Hi there Marc.... Yes there are many versions and soon you will understand the difference between them...
Here's my attempt on helping you out a bit....

XBMC is the name of the main program. This is what you want. The program however can run on different platforms like windows or a linux distro.
Some of these linux distros are customized by individuals or support groups. You just try one or a few of them and see which one you like best.

XBMC again is just the main program. If you download 10.1 or beta 1 and beta 2 you have the original program in its original package. This program will run on MS Windows and you will need a license for windows if you wish to use it legitimately. If you have a dedicated machine, a machine running ONLY XBMC, it might be a waste of money to buy a windows license for that. This is where Linux comes in.

XBMC Live is a version from the original xbmc team which is XBMC + a replacement for windows which is running in the background. It is based on ubuntu I think but am not sure which version. It's also not important...

OpenElec is the same thing, except it uses a very very small version of linux. It therefor installs very very fast and boots up in a matter of seconds. Nearly everything that is not used directly by xbmc is stripped from the program.

XBMCbuntu is the same as OpenElec/XBMCLive but with a complete ubuntu OS install underneath it. So if you wish to run other things simultaneously with XBMC in the background it is recommendable to be using this.

There are also images from xbmcfreak.nl and many others. If you are planning to use windows, just download the latest version from XBMC.ORG.

There are also nightly builds available. This is the latest available version without being tested! The latest bugfixes are in this release and the latest additions, regardless their effect, so they might break a working installation. Only use the nightly versions if you know the risks and can live with this.

If you not wish to use windows, have a look at the live-cd. If this does what you want, then just stick with it. If you wish to explore other options, you can try the openelec version which works great and can be installed on a new system within 1 minute, including creating a bootdisk and starting up for the first time. It really is that fast...

Now without starting a war, PERSONALLY, i have bad experiences with AMD/ATI. Strange crashes, special packages or procedures that need to be followed to get things working properly, etc... again, this is just my PERSONAL opinion and I am sure there are other people who feel the same thing for intel/nvidia setups. It does not mean AT ALL that AMD/ATI is a bad idea when you want to run XBMC. It might work perfect for you. It just does not for me, nor do I want to know/learn on how to get it to work.

I have written a guide a while back which might help you setup your personal copy of XBMC. Look for other posts of me, or search on [WIP] will probably reveal it...

Good luck!

[wsnipex]

for ATI GFX look here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=116996

[marcvangend]

gollumscave, wsnipex: thanks for your replies. It really helps to have an overview of what's available and the "XBMC PVR Xvba" seems to come really close to what I want.

The speed of OpenELEC sounds very appealing, but if I understand correctly, it does not allow me to "run other things simultaneously with XBMC in the background" - right? The thing is, it's hard to imagine which "other things" I will need in the future. (Maybe I want to run MythTV as PVR backend one day, because TVheadend does not support timeshift. Would that qualify as "other thing"?) If I start off with OpenELEC, will that make make my system less flexible on the long run?

[gollumscave]

OpenElec CAN run other things in the background, but everything not essential for the basic operation has been stripped from it. So you have to add those things again when you want to add them.

Try to give an as accurate as possible description of what you want to do besides basic XBMC functionality... You mentioned PVR support, what else? Remotes? sharing over samba? NFS? ZFS support? NZB/Torrent support? Sickbeard, couchpotato, headphones, sabnzbd, vpn streaming,mysql database, so many things are possible.. If you have the picture of what you want in your head, you can choose the best suited package.. Personally I like the ubuntu 11.10 server install, and add what you want from the command line. It stays small and is very flexible...

[marcvangend]

Try to give an as accurate as possible description of what you want to do besides basic XBMC functionality...

Hmm, I guess the main requirement should be "flexibility" because I expect to run into a lot of need-to-haves and nice-to-haves once I start using the machine.

Apart from that, I want to:
- use a remote (Logitech Harmony)
- connect to my NAS (Synology DiskStation) with SMB or NFS (whatever works best)
- pause live TV (timeshift), preferrably with an "always-on" buffer so I can rewind whatever I'm watching at any given moment.

And by the way, it should be simple enough for my kids to operate

[gollumscave]

well for flexibility i don't recommend xbmc live or openelec. I am sure i am stepping on someones toes here, just my personal opinion.

What hardware do you have? There is an excellent guide here on a working version of XBMC on ubuntu 11.10 server which works perfect for me. The things in your "besides that" section are all possible with the normal xbmc version, however you need to find a build with PVR support.

Here's a link to a guide that has helped me a lot:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=114368

I used this as a basis for my own system. I had no prior linux experience but it's really not that hard....

and here's a link to xbmc with PVR support:

brb (can't find the build with PVR support... I remember seeing a link on a wiki of xbmc somewhere. It was a german link, but it had a stable ubuntu oneiric pvr version.... am not sure if it was renniewaldock or something like that... try googling it...)

[marcvangend]

I'm using the AMD A4-3400 on an Asus F1A75-M motherboard, so the Intel guide is not a 100% fit for me. Still, I can learn a lot from it so thanks for the link. From what I've seen so far, the HowTo by wsnipex seems the best match for my situation, so I'll start with that.

Perhaps the most important thing for me is not to expect to get everything right the first time. Once all hardware arrives, I'll just start playing with it and see what happens :-D