[mythtv-users] Myth / Pluto / LinuxMCE choice - advice needed

[Paul Simpson]

First up, apologies if you monitor the various forums closely and are
upset by the cross-posting, but I'm in a real quandry and am trying to
guage as wider audeince as possible  :D

Right, I am based in the UK and, at the moment, I have a home network
(cat5e wired as well as a wireless access point for the laptops) with 3
desktop machines and two laptops connecting to a Linux server for firewall
and file / print services. (Linux From Scratch 6.0) My home entertainment
consists (at the moment) of 1 TV in the living room connected to a Sky
digibox and then portables in the bedrooms with no "off air" feed used for
watching videos and the kids PS2s. I have a reasonable amount of Linux
experience, but by no means would consider myself to be a guru!

I stumbled across Myth about a year ago and have been keeping an eye on
it. A posting there lead me to Pluto which in turn brought me to LinuxMCE.
I'm now trying to decide how to proceed in dipping my toe into the water
with this!

I have literally hundreds of questions and would ideally like to actually
see one (or all three!) options working, so if you live in the Midlands of
the UK and wouldn't mind giving me a demo (I live on the Leicestershire /
Northamptonshire border) thet would be great ;-)

Anyway, Ultimately, I want to have a box in the basement which will
probably replacve the current Linux server. As well as doing the whole
file / print thing, and provide internet access, I want it to act as a
Pluto / LinuxMCE core / MythBackend. Around the house, I'd like to have
network booting fanless ITX based systems connected to the various
televisions. In the kitchen, I'd like to install an LCD panel with a
touchscreen to watch on and I have plans for a waterproof display I've
seen for the bathroom!

Ok, my server machine / core will obviously be on all the time, however
I'm a bit of a scrooge and want to get as much "bang for my buck" (as they
say in the US) as I can. Am I better getting a meaty machine, or having a
moderate spec and the having some extra machines with WOL to use to do the
actual capturing? What about the whole hardware / software encoding issue?
I hope to use the multiplex streaming when it becomes available to allow
me to get as many channels as possible with as few LNBs and capture cards
as I can get away with. What about disks? I'd rather not have a whole bank
of disks powered up all the time if there is a system which allows them to
be powered down when not in use. I understand that there is a Myth add-in
which allows you to set up a "wish list" of films and programmes. Will
this work with the EPGs available in the UK? How much detail does the EPG
in the UK have? 5 of my "customers" are children, so they will want to
build up libraries of everything from "Bob the Builder" and "Pingu" (2
year old) to "Spongebob Squarepants" (9 year old) whilst I want to end up
with every eposode of "The New Yankee Workshop". WAF is very important to
me, not least because I have to get the cost of all this through the
financial committee (AKA my wife!).

The final question is, I guess, the biggy. Which should I go for?
Ultimately, I want the integration of Pluto / LinuxMCE, but from what I'm
seeing that is a road frought with hazzards. Would I be better sticking
with Myth only for now? Or is even Myth still a little shakey? I really
can't afford to throw money at hardware unless I know I've got a
reasonable chance of ending up with a working system which is useable by
all the family.

Thanks for reading this and I'm looking forward to reading everyone's
thoughts.--
Paul