It's all about software

With the system properly connected, next step is the software installation. I decided to try mythbuntu as it is supposed to be a self contained installer with all you need to do a mythtv installation from a barebone system. You can download the disk images here. In my case I chose New Mythbuntu Install and 64-bit version. I like to use my hardware to the max possible extent, that is why I chose 64-bit. I know this can represent a problem with drivers and software like flash in the near future. It is clear for me however that 64-bit is the way forward and that it will give me better results in the long run. The current version is Mythbuntu 10.10 and this is the one I will be using.

With the iso image downloaded, I need a way to create a bootable USB drive from the file. I am running Ubuntu in my office desktop, and there is a utility to do that in this system. This guide  here explains how to do it for the generic Ubuntu in other operating systems, but it can be used as is for Mythbuntu as well. So now I boot my system with the USB drive plugged, check the BIOS to make sure it is showing the USB drive as the boot drive and start the installation.

On the first screen I chose English and Install Mythbuntu. Even if you intend to change the language later, I suggest you do the first install in English. It normally works better this way. In the second screen I checked the download updates while installing and install third-party software boxes.

The next step is very important, as here you need to define your partition strategy. My decision is to use 20GB for the OS, 5 GB for swap and the rest of the drive for /var, where all the media will reside. I decided to create all partitions as primary, using ext4 file format. Of course swap has its own format.

Next step is to choose your timezone and keyboard layout. Choose your user name, machine name and password. I decided to check the log in automatically box, as this will be an HTPC.

Next screen is where you choose your installation type. A backend is a machine with capture card, so this machine is definitely a backend. In my case it will be my primary backend. Frontend are machines where you can watch media, so this machine is a frontend as well. So my choice here is Primary backend w/ frontend.

Time now to choose what services you want on the server. I checked all of them, I suggest you would need at least VNC and SSH in order to be able to lo in in this machine from a desktop or a laptop. I decided not to choose any remote control. The remote I have works as a keyboard and does not need lirc. I know I will have to do some work with lirc later, but will not do it now. On the graphics driver, I chose to use the proprietary drivers, this is the only way you can get most out of the ION GPU. For the HDMI connection you don't have to enable TV output, so leave it disabled. Sit down and wait for the installation to end.

The connections

With all the hardware in hand, I started connected the new equipment to my home theater system.  I have a Onkyo SX-TR705 received and a Sony Full HD LCD display. The receiver is connected to the TV with an HDMI cable and decided to also use HDMI connection between the Zotac Mag and the receiver. I know I will have a lot of work to make this connection work properly, with surround sound and everything, but I knew this would not be easy when I first started. The great advantage is that HDMI is one cable that will give me Full HD video and surround sound.

As far as network connections, I am connecting the Zotag Mag with an Ethernet cable to my router directly. Eventually I will use wireless, but for the initial setup I believe it will be better to use hardwired cables.

The Zotac also must be connected to the HD PVR. This is a simple USB connection from the pc to the DVR box. HD PVR connections are also ver simple. In my case, I connected the component video and stereo audio from my cable box to the PVR, using the included cable and then reconnected the cables that were connected to the cable box before to the HD PVR outputs. I intend to use digital audio capture in the future, but for now stereo is enough.


And that's it in terms of connections: power supply, HDMI cable out and network connection. Not bad actually, very simple setup.

So the decision is taken

After many years considering the possibility of building a dedicated home theater PC for my living room, I finally decided to go ahead and do it. I think the critical factor for that decision was the availability of some very slick compact PC models based on the Atom/ION chipset. Thanks to the Nvidia ION engine, these little machines can drive Full HD displays without overloading the CPU. It means in the end you can have an Intel Atom based low cost machine that can still deliver the graphical horsepower you need.

Next step was then choose what box should I use. My first idea was to use a Acer AspireRevo AR3700-U3002, I believe because the AspireRevo is the best known product in this class. However, doing some research on the web I found the Zotac MAG. It costs about $100 less than the Acer box, but does not include Windows. In my case, as the plan was to use a Ubuntu and MythTV, I did not want Windows anyway. As the Amazon reviews for the Zotac were quite good, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Bought it in Amazon for $268.00, not bad for a good looking PC with these specs:

Technical Details

• Zotac mini-PC with Intel Atom N330 and nVidia ION chipset
• 2GB DDR2-800, 160GB HD
• 6x USB 2.0, WIFI, Gigabit LAN, 8 channel Audio, VGA, HDMI, 1x eSATA port, SPDIF optical output
• 4-in-1 built in media card reader, included stand, VESA mount, AC adapter
• Low power usage, NO OPERATING SYSTEM

One thing that I also want my system to do is work as a DVR, and that is actually the whole reason for using MythTV. That means I need some sort of capture device to record the signals from my cable box. I wanted it to be HD capable, so I was not left with many choices, There seems to be good documentation on the web about these capture device and it is known to be supported in MythTV, so I decided to try the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR:

An interesting feature this box has is that it captures HD video from component video signal and has a pass-through function. That means you can avoid content protection mechanisms you would find in analog signals and at the same time maintain the normal connection between the cable box and the TV. These means you don't need to turn on the DVR every time you want to watch TV. For me at least that is a good thing and I am happy to see this feature is available in this product.
There seems to be good documentation on the web about these capture device and it is known to be supported in mythtv.

The last piece of gear I figured I needed was some sort of remote control to be able to navigate the system. The HD-PVR does have an Infrared receiver and blaster, but I was not sure I would be able to use it, as the driver for that part of the hardware seems to need work. I went ahead and for no basic reason bought the Wireless USB PC Remote Control Mouse for PC.



Not sure if this is going to work, but for $20 I thought it was worth trying. Let's see, next step is get all the gear and start putting the system together.