Linux XBMC PVR - Which way to go?
#1
Hi all,

I've used XBMC since the days of XBMP!

I've always had a combination of XBMC(or P on the old Xbox) and MythTV.

Every few years it seems that I have another look at what's happening in the world of XBMC and it's moved on in leaps an bounds.

I'd really like to use XBMC as a live-tv front-end as well as everything else now. The videos I have seen on you-tube look fantastic and it's looking really quite stable (I had a play a year or so ago and it wasn't quite as stable as those videos make it look now).

I have a dual-core, dual-processor AMD 64 bit Optoron machine with 8gb of ram with two SLI nVideo DVI dual cards in (I used to run 4 desktops) and a dual-core (might be hyper-threaded instead) P4 with 2 Gb of ram.

Currently the lower spec machine is running XBMC (not Eden) and handles 1080p *quite* well, so it must have a reasonable graphics card in it.

I also have a Revo R3700 that is running MythFrontend and XBMC perfectly that I'll convert over once I can get the Live TV stuff working. All the films/music/pictures etc... are held on a SMB NAS drive on a gigabit network.

Can someone suggest what setup I should use to get a PVR through XBMC using this hardware?

Should I use the higher spec machine as a front-end or back-end etc....?

Thanks in advance. After reading a tonne of posts, I think I've over-read things and am now starting to confuse myself!
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#2
CPU don't play an important role. Video cards do. But an nvidia card younger than...say three years (supporting vdpau) will do. More recent ATI cards will also do. No need for dual sli etc. That being said (but you probably know that...) it seems reasonable to use the more powerful machine as backend, but that will obviously depend on what else you intend to do with those pcs. I'm a long time xbmc user also and I passed to the pvr version some weeks ago.
The current version I set up is working nicely. I compiled it because the most recent repo for ubuntu 12.04 has non working airplay, while the compiled one has everything I need. Live-tv, music, videos, airplay, everything works in the living room and streams elsewhere over a 100MBit + wireless network.
I tried Mythtv just once, and after a month or so of understanding its sooo friendly and usable interface, went back to live-tv-less xbmc.
So, maybe I didn't exactly understand your concerns, but I don't think performance may be a problem whatever machine you choose...or are you planning to have dozens of clients?
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#3

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I do have a few clients (4 generally, and 1 extra occasionally in our 'cinema room').

However, I figured rather than use the hardware I had (have) laying around, I'd bite the bullet and go for it full on. I have the Eden 11 PVR version now running on two clients and simply installed TVHeadEnd on the existing MythBackend server (another P4 HT machine) (and closed down the Myth service so that the card(s) were free)....and it's working wonderfully!
The TV Channel change response time is a tenth of what Myth is - I have a strange affection for Myth it was responsible for my moving from Windows to Linux all those years ago and I think after many years of struggling with setting it up, it actually taught me a hell of a lot about the inner workings of Linux! - however, that said, TVHeadEnd with XBMC is a much more WAF friendly combination.

Once time-shifting has been implemented, then I'll be back in the same position that I was with the MythFrontEnd but with a much nicer, faster and more comprehensive front end (XBMC).

Plus, to get two clients and one server set up (even though these are on Ubuntu 10.10 with no-longer-supported repos. with 404 responses, meaning I had to find the source for a few libraries and compile them myself), the whole process too around 35-45 minutes - impressive!

I'd read that the music no longer works in any of the PVR versions, yet this is working as before on both the front-ends.

In all, I was simply trying to decide on which position to have the more powerful machine (client or server), but as it happens, this point is now moot ;-)
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