XBMC

[Deacon Dog]

Got it on a dedicated HTPC running Windows 8, but I don't like Windows 8 in general; it's slow booting up, and I'm having some problems getting it to open XBMC on start-up or recognize my HTML connection when the TV isn't on.

Thinking about going back to Windows 7 or even going with a Linux distro like OpenELEC or XBMCbuntu. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[RacerDeac]

For a dedicated HTPC, definitely do Linux.

What is a HTML connection?

 

[Deacon Dog]

Sorry, meant HDMI. At first, only the VGA output worked, so I changed the BIOS to automatically detect. Now the HDMI connection works if the TV is on and has HDMI selected when the computer boots. If not, I get "no signal" until a reboot. Very irritating.

 

[RacerDeac]

Sorry, meant HDMI. At first, only the VGA output worked, so I changed the BIOS to automatically detect. Now the HDMI connection works if the TV is on and has HDMI selected when the computer boots. If not, I get "no signal" until a reboot. Very irritating.

HDMI is a two way connection. Is the HDMI built into the main board or is it on a seperate video card? Surely there's a way to turn the HDMI on even if it doesn't detect a connection at startup.

That said, it's a HTPC...just leave it running so you don't have to wait for it to boot every time you want to watch a show. I always left mine running so it could record live TV, download Torrents and serve out media to the other devices in the house. If you're not using as to record live TV, act as a server, etc and you just use it to watch streaming content, you'd probably be better off with something like a XBox360 or Roku anyway.

 

[DCDeac]

Personally I'd use the PC as a pure media server and let a Roku or jailbroken AppleTV run XBMC and handle the HTPC side of things. Sooooo much less annoying than worrying about Windows patches and interruptions, boot times, etc if you go that route, or if you go Linux having to deal with drivers and poor hardware support.

 

[DeaconSlim2.0]

I currently just run XBMC on my desktop and use my TV as a secondary monitor...Apps for iPad or phone work just fine as remotes.

Hope to have a dedicated HTPC at some point though.

 

[RacerDeac]

or if you go Linux having to deal with drivers and poor hardware support.

I've done maybe 10-12 Ubuntu installs over the last 3 years without a single driver issue. It's just not a problem anymore.

 

[Deacon Dog]

Thanks for the advice Racer. Will probably stick with the HTPC since I plan to set up Live TV at some point. Will install over Linux this weekend.

 

[RacerDeac]

Thanks for the advice Racer. Will probably stick with the HTPC since I plan to set up Live TV at some point.

If you go that route, you won't care about boot times because you'll never turn it off. Might not be worth the effort to change operating systems if you plan to leave it up for Live TV in the future. The problems you have (boot time and HDMI connection) won't be problems if you're not turning it on/off every time. :thumbsup:

 

[DeaconSlim2.0]

Racer do you have your HTPC set up to automatically download torrents of new tv shows?

I've been trying to get a RSS feed to work automatically but it seems it either doesn't download the new episodes or downloads the wrong quality.

Having trouble getting this figured out with uTorrent.

 

[RacerDeac]

Racer do you have your HTPC set up to automatically download torrents of new tv shows?

Not anymore, now that so much is available via streaming. Ironically, back when I downloaded a lot of shows, I was already paying for them via cable but just preferred the HD downloads over the non-HD streaming recordings my Media Center could do for most shows. I'll occasionally download Mad Men or something like that, but nothing is setup to auto download anymore. I don't really recall what my setup was as it's been a few years now.