I have planned to set up a Home Theatre PC for years now but never done so, for several reasons.
There are many options but let’s start with my choices; basing it on Linux or Windows.
Mythbuntu is a Linux distribution that is supposed to facilitate a HTPC via a plug and play installation. For me, the actual installation went fine. Linux has developed a lot since the first Red hat I tried where you had to partition and set up swap disks manually. However I ran into the Linux wall anyway; my TV card (Twinhan 3030 DVB-T) was not properly supported. It might be that someone out there actually got it to work, but I am not amongst them!
Mythbuntu has got so many cool features; accessing the installation remotely via web, setting your recordings. So you can for example from the other part of the planet access the machine via f.ex. your mobile and tell the machine to record the film that will start in a few minutes on Channel X. Pretty kewl…
So, Mediaportal under Windows XP was my choice. It’s also a very nice free option (assuming you call Windows “free”). It’s a packaged HTPC environment that works really well. At the time of writing Release Candidate 2 is available. There are quite a few stability issues, why it’s quite obvious that this is not a professional level piece of software but it will get there, I’m sure!
So installing a HTPC to watch DVB-T (terrestrial Digital Video Broadcast) is naturally nice. I can record the programs but in order to take full advantage of it, you need the card for your TV provider. In my set-up, I have a standard “Boxer” (Swedish DVB-T provider) box for the family usage. The Twinhan card has a slot for a CA module in which I can insert the card. This works as well, however given the position of my HTPC, it’s not very practical to use one card for two installations. There is always the option of a “twin card” (my provider sends me two cards) which gives me the option to pay twice for watching the same channels just because I have more than one place to watch.
Resource: Media Portal – plugin
The solution to this is “card sharing”. A legally shady area, where you have a server reading the subscription card and clients accessing it. You can do it in your house, but as the protocol between the client and the server is IP, then there is no limit in the proximity requirements. You can hence access a card from the other side of the globe if you have someone giving you that access.
The server can be installed in a HTPC, but a commonly available option is the Dreambox, which has the server software in place. It takes a bit of tweaking to get it operational but I’m sure you can find guides if you want to.
The client software that seem in fashion is WinCSC. I can’t find any official site for it, likely because of it’s shady purpose.
Additional resources:
Forum (you can also get WinCSC from here)
I haven’t managed to installed the WinCSC yet, but will let you know as soon as I have an operational system.
