Home Theater System of Choice

[wilbbe01]

I think your choice also depends on if you're going to rip dvd's as well as listen to music. I can't tell you how much better running your sound via HDMI into a receiver is. Prior to this I was running optical out via the HTPC to my receiver. It was OK, but not stellar. There is a noticeable difference. If what I've mentioned isn't important to you, then the other solutions mentioned might be better.

I really like your ideas as well, but I'm not sure I can authorize myself to spend such sums of money on a system like that. Solid state drive would be cool, but that alone is going to cost just as much if not more than the other solutions. Maybe in 20 years I'll be able to afford something like that.

Thanks for the suggestions though, much appreciated.

[wilbbe01]

Honestly we have a Sony BluRay player we spent $150 for through Amazon, and it does Netflix, Pandora, Slacker Radio, Youtube, Podcasting, and a ton of other apps, plus we can rent movies through Amazon which I think has more of a selection (and cheaper in many cases) than iTunes. Also Sony is saying Hulu Plus will be out as a new app later this year, so bonus there as well!

We have a second generation AppleTV, but honestly since getting our BluRay player with all the bells and whistles our AppleTV hasn't even been turned on in months. The main thing I used our AppleTV for is video podcasting, but I don't guess that'll be possible on the new AppleTV unless a secondary media server was running, which I don't care to use. The new AppleTV with no storage is destined to be a fail IMO, and I think the only people who'll use it are those without access to PPV or Red Box, which are few and far between now'days.

As for your solution, I'd say get a nice BluRay player, which I can't say anything bad about our Sony.

Sam

If hulu for sure existed this solution would be extremely tempting....maybe I will try LowSky's suggestion for a while and see how some of these standalone blu ray players evolve over the next year or so.

Thank you for your advice.

[djyoung4]

Check my signature. The top one is my home theater system connected to a 37 inch vizio and some bigger speakers. XBMC and mythtv running as well as rhythmbox for all my music needs. works for me

[addison.merchut]

So can anyone say anything about running HD content over a local internet? For example, if I want to store all my HD content on a headless server in my basement, and send it over my wireless network to another computer that I would use for my home theater in the ...movie room, what kind of hardware should I be looking into? I figured I would connect the computers via sshfs; mounting the server's directories on the HT's. Is there a better way to get the movies on to my home theater?

Also, would it really be convenient/logical to have the tv tuner card on the basement server? And good call on getting the card with 2 tuners.

Thanks,
AM

[Update] Just glancing through this thread; this may have the info I'm looking for.

[Dustin2128]

as soon as my graphics card arrives in the mail, I'm going to be rigging my old desktop as a media center, plugged into my TV. I'll be able to record anything that comes up on screen, and I'll even setup a buffer so I never have to sit through commercials. Mythbuntu is specially designed for that kind of thing.

[Spr0k3t]

Here's what I have on my media network.

Primary Media Center and Frontend:
- Antec Fusion Black 430 case
- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H
- Athlon 64 X2 1.4GHz
- 4GB mem
- nVidia 9500GT
- 80GB Primary (main OS)
- 1.5TB Live Media (Recorded shows, internet streams)

Backend Server (essentially nothing more than a NAS):
- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H
- Athlon 64 X2 1.4GHz
- 1GB mem
- Haupauge HVR-1600 X2
- 80GB Primary (main OS)
- 1.5TB X2 RAID

Second Frontend:
Details of this system are not important, just the ability to sit down and watch recorded video content, stream off the backend server, or hit the internet sites somewhere. This is my primary desktop. Mythfrontend is set up on this computer system. Would be nice if I could run myth in a resizable window or designate the output to a second monitor (which I'm sure is possible, just haven't dug that far into it). This system has a PCTV-5500 tuner... but it's dedicated for recording only and not used for live viewing.

Third Frontend:
Kids computer system. All content on the mythserver has been rated accordingly. That way my 6 year old can't go and watch something like chainsaw massacre without my password approval.

Fourth Frontend:
Laptop that has been converted over to a kitchen appliance and mounted with a swing arm to keep it out of the way while cooking. Stores recipes, notes, and connects with the Mythserver. This laptop is an old 1.3GHz with only a single gig of mem. The graphics chip is an Intel 915. The playback over the network is still very smooth with the compressed media.

Android Phone:
Connects to any of the mythtv connected computer systems to function as remote or control music playback.

All of this is connected via gigabit switch with the exception of the laptop. The laptop connects around 54mbit solid. For blu-ray, that's what the PS3 is for. Each computer system in the house is set for connecting to the mythtv backend. I keep a backup of the data drives off site for safe keeping. I don't even touch my DVDs anymore.

The main part, having a central computer system to handle the recording/flagging/saving of the media files is fantastic. Watching live 1080p media on almost any computer in the house is awesome (slideshow on wireless). All this can be done with a single computer system though... just depends on how wild you want to take it.

[DemonBob]

Here's what I have on my media network.

Primary Media Center and Frontend:
- Antec Fusion Black 430 case
- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H
- Athlon 64 X2 1.4GHz
- 4GB mem
- nVidia 9500GT
- 80GB Primary (main OS)
- 1.5TB Live Media (Recorded shows, internet streams)

Backend Server (essentially nothing more than a NAS):
- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H
- Athlon 64 X2 1.4GHz
- 1GB mem
- Haupauge HVR-1600 X2
- 80GB Primary (main OS)
- 1.5TB X2 RAID

Second Frontend:
Details of this system are not important, just the ability to sit down and watch recorded video content, stream off the backend server, or hit the internet sites somewhere. This is my primary desktop. Mythfrontend is set up on this computer system. Would be nice if I could run myth in a resizable window or designate the output to a second monitor (which I'm sure is possible, just haven't dug that far into it). This system has a PCTV-5500 tuner... but it's dedicated for recording only and not used for live viewing.

Third Frontend:
Kids computer system. All content on the mythserver has been rated accordingly. That way my 6 year old can't go and watch something like chainsaw massacre without my password approval.

Fourth Frontend:
Laptop that has been converted over to a kitchen appliance and mounted with a swing arm to keep it out of the way while cooking. Stores recipes, notes, and connects with the Mythserver. This laptop is an old 1.3GHz with only a single gig of mem. The graphics chip is an Intel 915. The playback over the network is still very smooth with the compressed media.

Android Phone:
Connects to any of the mythtv connected computer systems to function as remote or control music playback.

All of this is connected via gigabit switch with the exception of the laptop. The laptop connects around 54mbit solid. For blu-ray, that's what the PS3 is for. Each computer system in the house is set for connecting to the mythtv backend. I keep a backup of the data drives off site for safe keeping. I don't even touch my DVDs anymore.

The main part, having a central computer system to handle the recording/flagging/saving of the media files is fantastic. Watching live 1080p media on almost any computer in the house is awesome (slideshow on wireless). All this can be done with a single computer system though... just depends on how wild you want to take it.

I have almost the same setup, minus the phone, and kitchen. I do however have Acer Revo's working as frontends for all the TV's.

[Johnsie]

Wow, I see alot of overkill here. You don't need a supercomputer to watch/store videos. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but I'm using a relatively low spec desktop and it's just fine. The reason I don't spend alot of money is that I don't really watch alot of TV, so the system spends alot of time idling. I think if I invested a little more in the system it would be alot better viewing experience, but as I said I'm not that into TV.

[DemonBob]

Wow, I see alot of overkill here. You don't need a supercomputer to watch/store videos. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but I'm using a relatively low spec desktop and it's just fine. The reason I don't spend alot of money is that I don't really watch alot of TV, so the system spends alot of time idling. I think if I invested a little more in the system it would be alot better viewing experience, but as I said I'm not that into TV.

It varies from user to user. Some of us do like tv, and have family whom have there favorite shows recorded every week. I record roughly 250 episodes of different shows a in a two week period on two tuners. Thats not accounting the amount of live tv that automatically records while being watched on the other tuners. You take into account that after the shows are recorded they have to be transcoded, and commercial flagged while other shows have started recording. It does add up.

I just re installed my entire setup from scratch when i upgraded to mythbuntu 10.04 at the end of July, and already have 1 month 20 days 11 hrs 38 mins of total recording time on the server. It adds up after a while. My mythtv is recording one show right at this moment, and it fluxes between 10% CPU and 15%.

[Spr0k3t]

To give you an idea, I don't watch TV very much. I only watch something I already know and have researched extensively about it. My collection of documentaries, movies, music, and TV shows I've enjoyed over the last twenty years are all archived and available at my fingertips. It's much better than cable, satellite, or even internet. When new movies come out that I want to actually see, I purchase them and add the main video to the collection. I have kids that enjoy certain TV shows and those shows are recorded for them without commercials. It may be major overkill, but the setup is near flawless for what I was after.

Oh yeah, I can schedule show recordings on my phone when I'm across town. Almost forgot about that one.