<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 2:17 AM, David Runneals <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:david@runneals.com">david@runneals.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Hello Geeks,<div>I was looking for a good os to put on a media center box (it's an old Dell Optiplex Desktop)... Was wondering if there is a good OS you would recommend for it. I have OTA programming only, and no cable. I would like to be able to save shows and watch them on my laptop and TV later & for it to play DVDs. I also need it to have a decent web browser for netflix and pandora. I assume I would need to get a tv tuner & a graphics card with HDMI out.</div>
<div><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Your need for netflix pretty much limits your choices to Windows or Mac OS. I recently went through this when I built a Boxee for my wife (which, btw, is a great media center front end). Netflix requires silverlight, esp a certain DRM component that is only available in the official silverlight from Microsoft. Therefore the mono project's moonlight port won't work.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I have two TVs so this is my set-up:</div><div><br></div><div>Main TV:</div><div> * Mythbuntu with one tuner (SD) configured to be a backend and a frontend</div><div><br></div><div>2nd TV</div><div> * Windows XP running boxee and the Mythtv app (the nighly version) found here: <a href="http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=18699">http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=18699</a> note that some days it doesn't work</div>
<div> * This computer connects to the mythtv server over the network using Samba so that movies in the /videos folder show up as normal movies in boxee, the mythtv app is only needed for watching recorded programs</div><div>
<br></div><div>Boxee has a nice interface that is easily controlled via a remote control. I picked up a USB sensor on e-bay and then just use my cable box remote to control it. Any remote can be made to work pretty easily.</div>
<div><br></div><div>By the way, I've found that if you're hooking up to a flat panel TV then DVI or HDMI are the easiest ways to get the full native resolution of the TV.</div></div><br>-- <br>Matthew Nuzum<br>newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, <a href="http://identi.ca" target="_blank">identi.ca</a> and twitter<br>
<br>"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." -Benjamin Franklin <br><br>