I am planning to set up a media server for my home. I am using Macs, but for a server I am thinking about building a PC and installing Linux and MythTV. Here is what I want it to do:

• Serve movies, pictures, and music to my computers and televisions over a wireless network.
• Function as a DVR.
• Efficiently put media on a small drive to take with my laptop when I travel.
• Work well with OS X, iTunes, and iPhoto.

I looked at some of the components for sale, and priced a PC with 1TB of storage, and the networking I require. I still have some questions, though.

• I need some advice on how the media should be served to the televisions. Should I make a "set-top box" for each, or something else? I don't want to spend a lot on them.
• Is there any Expresscard 34 enclosure that I could put a small HD in? Or a USB/Firewire one. Does MythTV have any function for semi randomly putting things on such drives?
• Do MythTV's databases organize data in directories, or just reference them for organization within the application. I want the libraries to be cross-compatible with iPhoto and MythTV.
• Can Linux work well with HFS+ drives?
• How can I easily rip a large number of DVDs? Is there anything like thee 300 DVD players that will automate this process for rent or less ideally, sale?
• Is there any way for iTunes Music Store media to work with Linux and MythTV?
• Can I implement Apple's protocols for sharing media with Linux?

You may be better off asking these questions on MythTV forums. I was thinking of building a media center myself and started reading MythTV docs but I'm not far yet. Looks like you can have one central server at one TV and diskless boxes for your other TV's. Linux can work with HFS+ and also knows Appletalk. Using NFS is your other option. I'm not sure about your DVD-ripping question. MPlayer can be used to decrypt and write entire DVD into a single MPG file very easily, with a single command. Sorry, do not have answers for your other questions.