Re: Advice needed re TV internet media machine.
On Sat, 5 Jul 2014 15:06:04 +0100
Lisi Reisz <lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:
> Having just bought myself another doorstop (except that this one is
> too light even to stop a door) in the form of:
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/XstreamTec-MX-version-Internal-Included/dp/B00F0PZZIW
> I am doing what I should have done in the first place and asking for
> advice.
>
> I want to be able to stream media from the internet. My vicissitudes
> have convinced me that it will have to be a computer that I use, and
> I would, of course, like to use Debian, though I may have to consider
> LMDE. But I don't want to buy another brick, and I am not sure
> exactly what I will need (hence my trying and failing to buy a
> dedicated machine).
>
> What is the minimum oomf I will need? I have an old netbook, but it
> can't handle streaming from the TV channels, so I obviously need a
> bit of power. My desktop can do it, but I want to go on using my
> desktop as a desktop! If it is to be a media machine, it might
> perhaps be able to play DVDs and even record off air, but the
> important thing is streaming back TV programmes and Amazon Prime. I
> don't mind a series of separate machines, each doing one thing and
> doing it well. Unix anyone??? This machine is for streaming from
> the internet.
>
> Quiet wouldn't hurt, but is not essential.
>
> I am in the UK, which is obviously relevant.
>
Joel mentioned the Raspberry Pi, which is a very low-power [ARM]
device, which does the UK catchup channels pretty well, apart from the
occasional glitch when a provider thoughtlessly changes his protocol.
http://www.raspbmc.com/about/
RaspBMC is Debian based, and there is also a Wheezy-based Raspbian
available for the Pi which doesn't have the shiny media bits in it.
Switching OS is as simple as changing SD cards.
Your box looks more powerful than the Pi, so there shouldn't be
trouble. What isn't it doing? The XBMC interface on the Pi is very far
from being snappy, but the program material is clean enough.
The Pi, by the way, does not play DVDs out of the box, as the necessary
codec is not enabled, to minimise the purchase price. There's a one-off
licence fee to unlock it. I haven't done this, so I don't have details.
We haven't actually used the Pi for this for a while, as it was bought
as a catchup add-on to a Freeview TV, and we eventually gave in and
bought an all-singing-all-dancing Humax beast, which does everything
very well.
--
Joe
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