help building a media computer
 

In the past I have used a combination of Debian and CentOS for media computers. I am getting ready to rebuild one of my computers that has a bad HDD in it. As I have not messed with either distro in a very long time (been playing around with Sabayon http://www.sabayonlinux.org) but DO NOT want to use that as my media computer. It is to much bleeding edge and requires more upkeep then I want to put into a media box.

I will be playing all kinds of media from DVDs to movies I have made into AVI format to Dvix videos, as well as MP3 and other sound file types. I know the RH line of distros does not by default have access to many of the "3rd party" codecs required for this type of endeavor, but have they blocked them completely and if not how hard/easy is it to gain access to all of those codecs that will be required to play my kids DVDs and what not?

Same question for Debian. If I remember correctly Debian has access to everything, but new repositories need to be added to the sources.list for apt to find and install them. I no longer have an accurate list of repositories for either CentOS, or Debian.

just some added fyi here is what i did several years ago:

http://www.ssma.us/debian_media.html

so i have done projects like this, but not for a very long time.

I use Debian on my media box and it works well. I had to get MythTV and codecs from debian-multimedia (these are unofficial packages). I stick with Etch (stable) since I don't want lots of updates. But I do notice that everytime Myth or Mysql gets updated, it breaks the mythtv login to the database. It's a quick fix, but a bit annoying.

As to CentOS, I don't know. But I would assume you could find the codecs in some unofficial repository there too.

This is more of a which distro question, but I'll keep it here as long as it doesn't spiral that route. I think you'll see a lot of people using Ubuntu (and by extension, if you go the MythTV route, mythbuntu) and Fedora since they seem to be the current popular distros. I prefer Gentoo, but I will try to refrain from beginning the spiral ;) Ultimately I think the majority of the binary distros have 3rd party repositories that have all the media-related builds in them. Jarod Wilson wrote up a nice (somewhat outdated now, but for the most part the information you are looking for still applies) how-to on getting Fedora setup for MythTV (even if you don't go that direction, it will have many of the same underlying requirements and libraries) that might be useful: MythTV-Ology.

Good luck!

-Chad

could you provide a link for the unofficial repositories for the codecs. thanks.


masterC ill check out that link.

Just look here: http://www.debian-multimedia.org/

add debian-multimedia to your sources.list as directed.. then update, import the gpg key, and off you go..


aptitude update
aptitude install debian-multimedia-keyring
aptitude install w32codecs libdvdcss2 lame etc...

/bow

knowing were to go to learn things is more then half the battle.

many thanks for the link.

There's a newer distro called linux mint out, its a modified version of ubuntu that has most media codecs pre installed, its pretty easy to get set up as a playback machine.

thanks my LUG mentioned that as well. i for one am NOT on the *buntu bandwagon. i have played with it in several vs. and do not like it. i prefer to stick with the pure Debian. anything *buntu can do, Debian can do and without the missing "linux" stuff that the *buntu team has chosen to remove from its distro.

Fair enough. I wasn't sure if you wanted anything overly powerful; it's worked great for me as a stable media playback distro that I didn't need to screw around with to get most playback stuff working, and that sounded like what you were looking for.

unless your already sold on debian, I have had good luck with centos 5 after adding the atrpms stable and testing repos to get mythtv installed then disabling testing repo after myth is in. Then installing vlc got some extra codecs.

follow up. i ended up installing Debian stable 4.1 from DVD. i was lazy and just let the DVD/internet do the basic desktop install for me instead of doing a base install and apt-get install everything in the world i want. i still DO NOT like gnome and prefer KDE, but meh, Gnome was the default and for now it works so ill no touchy touchy.

Thanks to the link above for the debian-multimedia.org i was able to add their repository and apt-get all of the extra features that i wanted needed.

yesterday was our LUGs install fest so i was able to gather help and move data off of dieing HDDs and put it on the new one as well as get 2 other drives mounted into fstab so i have access to those movies too.

next step is figure out how to crack the bloody protection on my wifes Pirates of the Caribbean I II III DVDs so i can burn them to the HDD in avi format. already tried DVD::RIP and that was a total failure have also tried DVDShrink in windows it failed too.

heck wife watches those so much that i have already had to replace #I & #II 3 times each. oh well.

thanks for the help.

Try DVD decrypter in Windows (its connected with DVD shrink, but I'm not sure installing DVD shrink by itself installs DVD decrypter). I've yet to run into a DVD that it won't at least make an ISO of, and you shouldn't have any trouble getting the raw .vob files off of it.

can not remember if that is one of the programs i have run or not. trying handbrake now (OSx application), but it is going to take 3 bloody days... not sure that is worth it.

amazing that when it comes to pirat^h^h^h^h^h Backing up DVD's, I hear that Windows is the best platform..

I'm just happy to play a movie I rented form netflix.. personally if it's a good movie I'll just put it in my rental queue again.

If your DVD's are "wearing out from use" then your DVD player must be defective. The player should not contact the disc surface when the movie is playing, so there should be no wear on the media itself. Either that or you don't put them back in the cases when you are finished with them, and you just lay the movies on top of the entertainment center so they get all scratched up (this is why I won't loan my DVD's to my nephews any more..I saw how they took care of the movies they borrowed from me. ) CD's and DVD's will last a pretty long time (almost indefinitely) if cared for with the same compassion as you used to use for your Vinyl LP's.

but hey I'm just a S.O.B. when it comes to caring for the media I've purchased, just ask my nephews..

that being said, a friend who does back up his DVD's uses AnyDVD on Windows.

Try Linux Mint as the distro, works really nicely on my lappy(Presario 2175). As for DVD back up.... I've heard Acidrip works well.