[oldgit9]

hi all.
first of all, if i have posed this thread in the wrong section, then could the admin/mods please move it to the correct section.

as per thread heading, im new to XBMC and from what i have read, i like. but i have some questions as to my requirements for my install.

a little history about my build.
i have currently built a HTPC and i am (reluctantly) running win7 and Mediaportal. i really like MediaPortal and the "StreamedMP" theme that i've installed and more importantly, the wife can use it with little instruction from me. when i built the HTPC, i originally had a Linux build in mind. but i have no experience with Linux and with the time restraints i had at the time, i had to resort to using windows as my OS. but now, windows has gone back to it's old tricks i keep on getting (nearly on a daily basis) a blue screen of death and when the HTPC reboots, it refuses to read the SSD that the OS is installed on. to fix this, i have to open up the HTPC and disconnect all of the HDD's (x3) and then boot up and shut down, re-connect the HDD's and reboot. this only takes me around 5min tops to do, but for my wife, it's a totally different story.

my requirements for this build (other than the basic stuff)
to view, record, pause etc. live tv from DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S and DVB-S2 feeds (digital areal and FreeSat UK)
to play the odd Blu-Ray and DVD through the Blu-Ray drive.
to use my Harmony 300 universal remote.

my HTPC specs
Silverstone HTPC case with Soundgraph iMON VFD/IR Receiver
Motherboard - Asus P8Z68-V PRO
CPU - Intel Core i3-2100 3.10
Ram - 4GB
SSD - 60GB for OS only
HHD 1 - 2TB for TV Series and general downloaded content
HHD 2 - 2TB for Movies and for non-os re-write files/folders
HHD 3 - 250GB for music and photos.
Optical - Blu-Ray read, DVD read/write etc.
TV card 1 - TBS 8920
TV card 2 - BlackGold BGT 3620
Sound - on-board motherboard (HDMI to Amp)
Video - on-board motherboard (HDMI to Amp)

so....the burning question is, how to install XBMC?. ie. which Linux distro would be better for me, as a novice Linux user? which back-end to install? etc.

i know "use SEARCH" and the answers are out there. and i have to an extent. but im still a bit lost. basically, im asking for your experience more than anything. yeah i can read all sorts of different threads until i go blue in the face, but time is not on my side. i need to be able to do the install as quick as possible. as we use the HTPC as our main source of tv and my wife and kids can not go without for too long.

thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice given.

[oldgit9]

over 50 views and no reply or helpful suggestions

[Ned Scott]

OpenELEC (wiki), grab a "Frodo" version. OpenELEC even has tvheadend for your tuner cards.

[oldgit9]

OpenELEC (wiki), grab a "Frodo" version. OpenELEC even has tvheadend for your tuner cards.

thanks for the reply. sorry my reply has been some time. been working away.

thanks for the suggestion. i've had a really quick look at the OpenELEC web site. unfortunately, OpenELEC does not meet some of my requirements. i really need to use the universal remote (for the wife and kids mostly) and i will need access to the desktop for web browsing and to control Vuze. i know you can access the web through XBMC but i prefer not too...

im currently running ubuntu 12.10. i have tried different distro's, but ubuntu has been the most noob friendly i have found so far. but as any build goes, im still trying to iron out the kinks and trying to get some of my hardware to work as i would like with the OS. this is really my first time using a linux system. i have always used windows in the past.