central media server

[VJ]

Hello,

My idea would be to put up a central computer which could have for instance a number of TV tuners, large storage facilities (for video and music). The computer located near the TV then can be a relatively simple device (which means it can be quiet): it just has to stream the data and present it. It might not even be necessary to put a full computer, devices like the Squeezebox could be used for audio only.

What software is there to achieve something like this (I believe Windows home server did this...?)?


Jörg

[VJ]

If I understand correctly, it can be done using Windows Media Center (e.g. when the server is running Vista Ultimate with media center), and then some Windows Media Center Extenders (or a Windows Media Player in Vista or XP) as client.

If so: suppose one has a server with TV tuners running Vista and a simple xp computer. Can one change TV channels of one of the tuners in the Vista machines using the xp computer?

What are the alternatives to Windows Media stuff?


Jörg

[az]

Mac Mini + external big HD + EyeTV Diversity (or other EyeTV products if this isn't for DVB-T).

Not cheap, but very quiet, power efficient, and with the best image quality and reception.

As a receiver, use an Apple TV or anything that can play back MPGs.

[VJ]

I can't argue that it is solution without Windows...
but I was hoping for a more open system...


Jörg

[WxDude]

Linux + Mediatomb

Hi,

Another option would be to use Linux + Mediatomb ( http://mediatomb.cc/ ).

Mediatomb is a GPL UPnP MediaServer. You can configure it to do on the fly transcoding
in case you have devices that can not play your preferred media storage format (eg. music
in FLAC format - playback device can only handle streaming MP3/WMA). Most of the
configuration is handled by scripting.

I am planning on building a Mediatomb server myself as soon as I get a hard drive and
some time.

I am going to be streaming to a DirecTV HR21 HD DVR box. From reading the net,
Mediatomb has been the only streaming media server that has consistently worked
with the DirecTV boxes through various software changes. Just about everything else
(including Windows Mediaplayer Streaming which the DirecTV boxes SHOULD work
best with) has had problems from version to version.

Just a option

- Wx

[degrub]

KnoppMyth may be the easiest.

client -server based

http://mysettopbox.tv/

[MultimediaMan]

BeyondTV will also do this under Windows XP.

[VJ]

Another option would be to use Linux + Mediatomb ( http://mediatomb.cc/ ).

Interesting!

It doesn't seem to support TV tuners, etc. at the moment... but it is indeed something worth following. Thanks!


Jörg

[WxDude]

I forgot that you were looking to use TV tuners on the server. You'd definitely want to
consider MythTv for that. Setup a MythTv backend (server) with your TV tuners, and then
any number of MythTv frontends (with a Tivo like interface) to access your media. I know
a number of people on the AVSForum Linux HTPC forum use Mythbuntu (Ubuntu integrated
MythTV) for building their boxes.

Something like the Squeezebox might not work with MythTV. But I don't see why you could
not use mediatomb on the MythTV backend so long as you have a beefy enough system.