Best Media Center Program?

[ukulele_ninja]

Hi all!

Im putting together a moedia center Linux-Box and was curious what everyone thought the best software to use was. I already had a mini run-in with LinuxMCE and did not like it. The community forums were rude and unhelpful and the software itself was cofusing and difficult to setup.

The main features I want are as follows:

PVR support/ ability to watch and record tv from a tv tuner
Playback ISO files- I have a large collection of dvds backed up on external HDDs and I want to be able to play them in their ISO format
Clean Easy to Use Interface- I want an interface that is easy to navigate and appealing on the eyes. I would like my ISO's to display the images from the dvd boxes and etc..

These features would be nice, but not as important:

Support for more than 1 device- Eventually I want to have a central Box somewhere in the house that can sync up to set-top boxes on all th tvs in the house.

Orbiter Support, or mobile phone support- I have a blackberry and it would be awesome to be able to use my phone as a remote control via bluetooth or schedule recordings etc via the internet.

[dyous87]

You should check out Mythbuntu. It is made of of MythTV which is a home brew PVR application package, and Ubuntu. I believe it has most of the feautures you are looking for.

http://www.mythbuntu.org/

[MetalMusicAddict]

For playback I've been rather impressed with XBMC (http://xbmc.org). Ubuntu PPA builds HERE (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=185738).

[dyous87]

For playback I've been rather impressed with XBMC (http://xbmc.org). Ubuntu PPA builds HERE (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=185738).

Hmm that looks like an interesting program. I just installed it and it looks very promising and slick however it doesn't seem to play nicely with compiz, on my system anyway.

[PatrickVogeli]

that would be mythtv. I have a box running it and it's absolutely nice. The TV stuff works well, good image quality, lots of features, stable. You can have mythtv download movies information from imdb, cover included.

As for playing the iso backups, this may help: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/188327?search_string=dvd iso audio;#188327

[ukulele_ninja]

For playback I've been rather impressed with XBMC (http://xbmc.org). Ubuntu PPA builds HERE (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?p=185738).

I was looking at this one and it is really slick looking, but from what I saw it didnt support pvr features. When you checked it out dyous did it have pvr options?

Mythbuntu looks very promising too, can I load this through Ubuntu or would I need to install it as its own OS?

[dyous87]

No it does not appear to have PVR setting as far as I can tell. The user interface is also a little clumsy I think.

As far as Mythbunut goes, it is a custom distribution with MythTV already installed over Ubuntu to make it easier.

An existing Ubuntu installation can however have Mythbuntu added to it in this way:
http://www.mythbuntu.org/existing-ubuntu

David

[ukulele_ninja]

Fired up MythBuntu and it is AWESOME! Exactly what I was looking for.

[dyous87]

:cool: Great!! I'm glad to hear that! And glad we were able to point you in the right direction.

David

[Gargamella]

Well even if it's just at the beginning, I would like to see developing Entertainer project, because I am preatty sure it has the best GUI concept.

http://www.entertainer-project.com/

You should use something which is not in a such early stage, but I think people should know about it... so check it out

CHEERS

[Layman's terms]

ukulele_ninja,

As an Entertainer developer, I appreciate Gargamella's kind words, but of the three main features that you're looking for, Entertainer only really supports the third one (IMO). But, Gargamella is correct in that it is a project that is still under heavy development and is relatively young compared to other media center projects.

If you're interested in playing around with it, I would suggest looking at
http://wiki.entertainer-project.com/wiki/StartUpGuide .