Help! Bailing out of window$ at last!

[Dee_Ann]

OMG...

I am sick of stupid windows.
My home theater pc is toast. It's as messed up as messed up can be.

It has been rebooting with BSDO's over and over for a few weeks, becoming ever more frequent. From a few a day to a few and hour to every few minutes to now, it just boots straight into a BSDO.

I'm done with it. Period.
Windows? Do. Not. Want.

What I want to do now is convert that pc into a Linux pc.
I already use Ubuntu Linux on my other home pc and it works great. It's very, very reliable and I never have any trouble at all with it. It's been running for MONTHS.

I know how to install Ubuntu Linux. That's easy.

My question is, once done, HOW can I then use that pc as a home theater pc like I was before?

What it has is a 2core pentium chip, 4gb of memory, an nvidia 9500gt, several hard discs (I know Linux can read them, I've done that before) and most of all, a satellite tuner card and a TV tuner card.

The satellite tuner card is a Happage WinTV Nova-S-plus
and the TV card is also a Happage Wintv HVR-1250 tv tuner

I have the remote controls for them both, actually the remotes for both are identical. They have little eyes that plug into them so they can see the remote control.

When windows WAS working I could change channels between satellite and over that air TV smoothly from on to another, no problems, it was seamless. One remote, one program, like it was all one big happy family.

HOW can I use the satellite AND TV tuner in Ubuntu Linux.
And this is very important, how can it use the factory remote control senders that came with the tuner cards?

I also would like to be able to have it play back the videos I have stored from past recordings and be able to use the remote control to do that. The pc is in one room and cables run through the wall to the tv in the other room.
There is a little pyramid that I point the remote at and there is another one by the pc so it relays the remote to the pc through the wall.

I can not and will not put a keyboard and or a mouse in my bedroom. Not. Happening.

The remote control is crucial.

I want to stick with Ubuntu Linux because I'm using it on my internet pc and I'm mostly used to it.

Windows however, is NOT an option. I refuse to mess with it any further. I'm sick of it. Period. Done. Over. Bye bye.

Oh, and the other thing that may be a problem, the TV is a 32" 720 flat screen but there is also a square pc screen in the other room that I frequently watch tv on, it's one of the old, big, clunky kind of displays. On the windows it was a problem because they are at two different screen sizes and one is square, one is wide screen.
so it distorted images badly. That was very annoying.

It was after the ex came by and messed with it all for a week that I began having problems with the distorted screens. It would drive me crazy.

I do not know what he did to it all but after he left it was all different..

It ran well for a few months but just recently it started acting bad and just got worse and worse to the point that it's now 100% unusable.

So, windows out, Linux in..

I can get the Linux installed. But what do I do after that???

Thank you!!

 

[1ADAM12]

Windows to Linux

Don't know much about this so I'll follow this thread with interest.

You might want to start by downloading MythTV and/or VLC media players.

Google Linux drivers for your PCI cards.


Packages - MythTV

MythTV Windows Builds

NVIDIA DRIVERS 185.18.14 WHQL

 

[Jim S.]

Dee,

I don't know what the state of satellite card support for Linux is (it's going to be VERY dependent on what card you have!), but the most user-friendly HTPC suite seems to be About Mythbuntu | Mythbuntu

First I would try booting an ordinary Linux live CD on it just to make sure that you don't have any broken hardware causing all those crashes. Windows shouldn't crash that badly anymore unless you've got bad device drivers installed. (If you haven't changed any yourself, you should be aware that there's a really nasty virus going around called TDSS that replaces atapi.sys, the hard disc driver, leading to all sorts of problems.)

 

[1ADAM12]

Just downloaded mythbuntu and created Live CD. It has both MythTV and VLC software included.
It also works with Linksys which Ubuntu didn't.
My first post using Linux WiFi.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Um, dumb question.

What does this mean please?

Hauppauge HVR-1250 (8-VSB/QAM64/QAM256) -- NTSC not yet supported

I am looking at the page at the mythbuntu site to see if this is going to work with the stuff I have. I am NOT going to spend any more money on this stupid stuff.

I'm so blasted mad about windows that I'm struggling not to drag it all to the curb.

It looks like it might work with the satellite card but the tv card is iffy.

I don't understand all that front and back end stuff, that's greek to me.
I have a feeling that I'm in over my head now. Basic Linux was easy to install and all I use it for is email, chatting and surfing. But this looks pretty complicated.
It was the ex that made the windows stuff all work in the first place.

I have a strong feeling we're gonna be without satellite for a good while.


edit: Uh oh.. I just downloaded the mythbuntu but it's for a CD. I can't put it on DVD? I have LOTS of blank DVD's but I have zero CD's...
Is there a DVD version of the mythbuntu I can download somewhere??

 

[qwert1515]

When they say NTSC they usually mean "Analog TV".

 

[Dee_Ann]

When they say NTSC they usually mean "Analog TV".

Grrrrr.... So that means I can't watch one of the channels I most want to watch?

I was about to buy a new antenna so I can watch KPLC which carries this TV and cool stuff like Outer Limits, Mr. Ed and Patty Duke...

In the windows pc it was supposed to be able to get those channels IF I had the right antenna. Wow... This is really such a huge disappointment.

I'm starting to really understand why people get pizza tv or cable. There is no easy way or cheap way to do this stuff..

 

[qwert1515]

Most, if not all OTA channels are digital now (Using 8-VSB modulation) "Hauppauge HVR-1250 (8-VSB/QAM64/QAM256)"
QAM64 and QAM256 are used for digital cable TV, but you can only pick up "clear QAM channels" (Unencrypted channels) unless your tuner and cable TV provider supports a CableCard, then you can pick up most of your subscription channels. You would have a problem with analog if you were going to connect the tuner to cable tv for the basic analog channel or to a FTA receiver's channel 3 or 4 output (Instead of the RCA, S-Video or HDMI output).

 

[turbosat]

Dee, it sounds like your windows install got some really nasty virus or trojan, or combination of such. I'm a linux user for several years now, but never have gotten into tv cards or heavy multimedia use in linux. I'd suggest saving the files you want to save from windows, re-install the OS, and see if you can't get it back to where you had it. Playing around with a live-linux cd called puppylinux for the last 2wks, works great and will easily mount your windows partitions, allowing you to copy files and save them to another partition. And when you power it down, it saves all your files and configuration info to another hard drive. You can burn cd/dvds with it too, so copying your data from windows, then burning to cd or dvd would be easy. Linux is great , but I don't think its up to par with the Windows world when it comes to satellite card support yet.

 

[Dee_Ann]

ok,

I do not have cable and do not plan on having cable. I only want to receive local OTA channels and FTA channels.

On the windows before it died, I had two tuner cards in the pc, one is for FTA satellite and one is for OTA local TV.

The OTA channels I am able to pick up on my home made antenna are apparently digital only channels. I can get KFDM, KBMT, KBTV, KVHP and a number of local church channels. They came in pretty good most of the time but my antenna is really a horrible botchwork nightmare. I had no earthly idea what I was doing and more or less was trying to copy antennas I saw in the forum. I did not at all understand what I was doing and the antenna *just barely* works.

But, the channel I am really interested in is KPLC-DT3 in Lake Charles, LA and is about 60+ miles away. I think that it is not a digital channel.

To be honest, I do not understand all the new "digital" channels since they turned off the old channels. I had a number of old TV's that worked great and now only tune in static. Way to go on saving the environment...

I ended up getting a new flat screen TV last year and I still can't figure out how to use the stupid thing. I've just had it connected to the pc and the pc just put satellite and stuff on it. All I had to do was turn the TV on, the pc did everything.

Now that the pc is dead we are having to watch TV using the TV as a TV and not as a big pc screen. It works but it's stupid. I hate the remote control and I can't even figure out how to go to different channels except by the up and down buttons.

Anyway.. So I was planning on buying a great big, tall antenna to put up outdoors so I can get KPLC (this tv). There are other channels listed in the area I would like to check out but I can't find them because my home made antenna isn't digital I guess. Or whatever the new thing is. I don't know..

But as for going back to windows? I would rather not. I hate it. It's expensive, causes nothing but trouble, can't be relied upon, etc...

My pc I use online is running ubuntu linux. I installed it myself. It was really easy to do. I only use it for basic things but it never, ever crashes, can't get viruses, spyware, popups, or any of that other nonsense. It runs and runs and runs and I never shut it off and it never messes up. It just works.

Windows? Never works right. Crashes constantly. Costs money. Crashes constantly. Crashes constantly. Crashes constantly. Crashes constantly. Crashes constantly. etc. etc....

I can't understand how the world puts up with windows. No wonder there's so much computer crime, the stupid thing is about as stupid as stupid can get.

And the last time something like this happened, reinstalling windows made me lose EVERYTHING I had on the pc. It just said "Oh, you've got stuff you want to keep? Too bad, windows is wiping it all out now, just to annoy you and cause you grief. Please stand by while windows trashes your life......."

I just really am sick of it. I've lost too many things on windows, things I can't replace and it's cost me a LOT of time and money in the past (crooked repair centers)..

The linux may be over my head, at the moment, but I think I would rather learn how to make that work so I can finally have an end to the trouble, a big goodbye to windows. As for the pc getting a virus? I don't see how but that alone is more than enough justification for me to ditch that nonsense and change it to virus free linux.

So anyway...

So now I have this mythbuntu but when I try to put it on a disc it says it's for a CD. All I have are DVD's. Is there any way to install it without a CD? I have none.
I do have plenty of DVD's though.

It is "mythbuntu-9.10-desktop-amd64.iso" and is 593.9MB
no matter what I do it refuses to let me put it on a DVD.
I mean really. I didn't think they still make CD's. I haven't used a CD in years and don't know anyone else that has either. I thought iTunes killed those off years ago.

I am very much disappointed that the mythbuntu has no instructions about how to set it up. It looks complex and apparently is targeted to the propeller heads that eat that stuff for breakfast. And it doesn't even really show or tell what it even does or how it does it! They just assume you know what it does already and are there to get it and do it on your own because you are in the know already.

I have a Coolsat but it won't let me watch Fashion TV or any of the PBS channels. :rant:

And of course it doesn't let me record anything at all, doesn't tune in local OTA tv and won't change channels on a schedule. It's so, archaic. And basic. At least on the pc it was changing channels all day by itself on a schedule to my favorite shows and recording PBS History Detectives for me each Saturday morning. What I did NOT like about the pc is that it distorted the picture so it looked like the video was being sucked into the event horizon of a black hole. That was annoying. It only started doing that after I let the ex come mess with things for a week. :rant:
Before that the pictures were always pretty good.

I don't even know how to get the coolsat hooked into the bedroom TV now, the video cables are like, waaaaaaay different. Not even close.

My best friend, her ex boyfriend has pizza tv and it does tivo (I think that's what it is) and it more or less works kind of like the pc was working, only better with more options, I think. I just don't want the pizza tv. They don't have many channels I even like, they have a LOT of channels I do NOT like and they make you pay for a whole lot of channels I would never, ever watch, just to get the few that I might. It's like $100 a month to get the level that has the ones I do like. They won't let you buy only the ones you want, you have to pay top dollar for the like, golden calf package. Grrrr.... Not fair. So because of that, I'm just not interested.

The pc, like I had it, or close to like I had it, was pretty decent. I hated that it wouldn't show you what shows were playing or coming up so you had to go to Titantv to figure it out and that alone was a nightmare. After awhile you figure out what comes on when and just schedule the pc to change channels for you.
And it was doing the FTA and OTA channels as if it were one thing.
The ability to have it record anything at all, pause live tv, rewind, etc, that was really awesome! I could pause a show, drive to the store, come back and resume like nothing happened. And THEN, I would be able to fast forward through the commercials! That is my favorite part. I don't like commercials. Sorry commercial fans, I just don't like them. Commercials: Do. Not. Want.

So it's my HOPE that I can have the linux version of that do pretty much the same thing the windows was doing, just without the misery of windows.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention. I can't find the windows disc to reinstall it anyway. I think dumb-dumb took it with him when he left last time. I'm not going to go buy ANOTHER copy of windows. It's like a couple of hundred dollars now!! :rant: NO WAY!!!

Last time I took a pc in to a repair place they made me buy a copy of windows xp because I didn't know where the original was and they wouldn't even work on it unless I brought all the original programs in and the serial numbers for them.
I couldn't find a lot of it. They just ended up erasing everything and installing a new copy of windows xp for $129 (not counting the labor!) and I was left to start over from scratch. That was my online pc, not the TV pc.

Dumb-dumb built the TV pc and I don't know where any of the stuff for it is, I just used it. He built it, I used it. Like a toaster or something. I didn't mess with it, I just watched it. Now I don't have a clue where the stuff is he put on it.

Ok... Put the caffeine down and get some rest now. I'll resume my attempts to figure this out tomorrow.

Thanks guys and sorry for the caffeine fueled rant...

 

[1ADAM12]

Video capture card - MythTV

Did a google search on the card you listed and came up with some information.

VLC is a simple yet powerful Media player.

 

[Jim S.]

But, the channel I am really interested in is KPLC-DT3 in Lake Charles, LA and is about 60+ miles away. I think that it is not a digital channel.

To be honest, I do not understand all the new "digital" channels since they turned off the old channels. I had a number of old TV's that worked great and now only tune in static. Way to go on saving the environment...

I ended up getting a new flat screen TV last year and I still can't figure out how to use the stupid thing. I've just had it connected to the pc and the pc just put satellite and stuff on it. All I had to do was turn the TV on, the pc did everything.

Now that the pc is dead we are having to watch TV using the TV as a TV and not as a big pc screen. It works but it's stupid. I hate the remote control and I can't even figure out how to go to different channels except by the up and down buttons.

Anyway.. So I was planning on buying a great big, tall antenna to put up outdoors so I can get KPLC (this tv). There are other channels listed in the area I would like to check out but I can't find them because my home made antenna isn't digital I guess. Or whatever the new thing is. I don't know..

If the channel is named -DT, it's digital. Any remaining analog channels would be named -TV.

There is absolutely no such thing as a digital antenna vs. an analog antenna. That's all just marketing BS. The only legitimacy it ever had was that digital TV is allowed on a slightly smaller range of channels than analog TV, so a proper antenna for uniform reception over the entire band doesn't need to have elements for the upper range of UHF channels. Also, there were a LOT of "digital" antennas made that don't have elements wide enough to properly pick up VHF channels because there was talk about doing away with VHF, but that didn't happen.

 

[zamar23]

Dee

What I would do first? Download and burn one of these Windows Service CDs or DVDs, start XP from it, run some programs to see if your PC hardware works OK, then run a couple of good antivirus packages from that CD a couple of times each, a couple of anti-malware (adware & spiware) and anti-rootkit programs to clear the bad stuff out from your PC, run PC and Registry cleaners and optimizers, look yourself hard at your hard drive content to clear the dust and uninstall long unused programs, run a drive defragmenter. In a couple of days you'll have a new Win XP PC. Of course, you can check then if upgrade to Win 7 is possible for your hardware configuration. Remember, merely reinstalling the OS won't clear PC from viruses, but in most cases formatting hard drive is not required at all.

The advantage of this approach in that you'll learn a lot more about general PC maintenance stuff that will serve you better in a long run, and will keep using your existing sat setup that in Linux for a newbie may be a little hard to master, since not all software peaces are of equal quality and stick with each other as they should, provided you know what and how should stick. In other words, keep your Ex's work intact, it may be the best thing you can do.

 

[turbosat]

Dee, the CD iso is a copy of a CD, I don't believe it will work on a dvd. If you can find the DVD-iso of that same program you will be set.

 

[dougbrown]

Dee,
I've been doing something very similar to what you are trying to do, so I'll toss in my 2 cents here.
First off, congrats on setting up the Ubuntu on your own, yes it is easy but that doesn't detract from the achievement. Second, good for you, dump Windows!
I am running Ubuntu 9.10 on my HTPC and I'm pretty happy with it so far, but it is still a work in progress. I use it for watching videos from Hulu, You Tube, and other sources. I also have the hard drive from my old DVR in it and access the recordings with VLC (a great program by the way, it will play just about anything). Then I also use it for Skype to communicate with our daughter who is in Taiwan, we get full screen video of them on the 46" TV, it's great.
Getting to the tuner cards, Kaffene ( a media player for Linux) has built in Sat-Card support, although I have not gotten that far yet. My HD-TV card was made by ATI and they have no Linux support what-so-ever. (If any one is interested in a low mileage HD card for Windows ) But it is true that your options will depend on your hardware. Getting the remotes to work in Linux with a common interface will be the hardest part in my opinion.
I've tried Mythbuntu, and I didn't like it, too much overhead just to make everything simple and in one interface. I have a wireless mouse that I use (my setup is in the living room) and I'm happy selecting the application that I want to use at the time e.g Firefox for Hulu, VLC for DVD's or recordings, Skype for telephone.
I'd say you should be able to come up with a solution that works for you and one that doesn't require Windows.

 

[freezy]

What version of windows?
what motherboard?
You said 4gb of RAM...same sticks or mixed?

 

[Sadie]

Dee, I think Turbosat has given the best advice although that won't help if you have lost the XP disc.
I have been playing around with Linux and Sat cards on and of for the last few years and its a pretty steep learning curve, I never got it working to my satisfaction the support such as it is consists of reading geeky forums, as bad as documentation is with windows programs it's worse in Linux and is one of the things that continues to hold Linux back.
Hopefully MythTV has improved since i last played with it but the version I tried (the are lots of versions) the sat tuner was developed in Europe and didn't scan a lot of our satellites well (more support for hacker sats but not ours). The last straw was unreliable motor control (a common problem with many programs), I guess we are a very small part of the satellite and TV world so the are not that many people working on it.
MythTV looks like a neat program if you could get it to work, I did download a copy of MythBuntu which should make it a bit easier to set up, one day I'll get around to trying it.
By far the easiest program I tried was Kaffeine, I was using PCLinuxOS but the should be a version of it for one of the Ubuntu desktops just check the repositories. Its been 2 years since I tried it but if I remember correctly when you started the program there is a DVB option and my Twinhan card was recognized, I forget how now but I had our sats scanned in and motor control working well.
After i installed MythTV, Kaffeine stopped working since MythTV hogged the sat card, I had to issue some commands from the terminal to dis-able MythTV.

Fun days

Any way it pretty well drove me back to windows for "reliable" sat reception. If you can find the disc you might want to consider setting up multiple partitions on your hard drive and dual booting, I have one installation of XP for sat stuff it has no internet access and a minimum of other programs and another for all the regular internet stuff and Linux on another partition with Grub as the boot loader.

 

[14karat]

Linux is a different world but if you stick with it through the learning curve, it won't let you down like winderz...
You'll probably want to stick with Kaffeine and/or VLC.
Myth is good, but for it to shine you want a back-end server with a ton of disk space (it holds all the recordings) in a closet somewhere, and small, low-to-no noise PC's in each room you want to view.
As far as the TV card, I had one working at one time but didn't use it enough to worry with so I yanked it for a 2nd sat card...
Not sure about the remote controls... just don't use them with the PC... I have a wireless (small format) keyboard with touchpad that I use...

 

[Dee_Ann]

Ok..

So I went and bought some blank CD's at Walgreens.

I downloaded and made a Mythbuntu CD. I have not tried it yet.
I also tried a few others that are supposed to run without actually installing it to the drive which at this point I do not want to do yet.

One was called Mythknopp (I think) and another one is Mythdora.
I booted them but I didn't understand the setup part of the Myth thing.
The front end, back end stuff is where I'm drawing a blank. I just don't get it.

The pc that I want to install on is a 2 core 64 bit. I think it's 3 ghz and there is 4 gb of memory. There are a few tera byte drives in it. It has an nvidia graphics and that goes to two screens, one is a pc screen at my home office desk and the other goes to a 32" Vizio 720 flat screen.

The tuner cards are happuage. One is a Nova-s-plus and the other I think is an HVR-1250. Or something very close to that. I'm tired.

As for windows, I do not want it. Sick of it. Done with it. Do not want it. No. Thank. You.

A few months back my ex came over and spent a week messing everything all up.
He changed all the stuff up, moved things around, installed new stuff, new windows, I dunno what else. I myself added in the tv tuner card and it was simple. I had no trouble at all installing it and it's worked pretty darn good.

I looked at some of the features of Mythtv and I like very much what I see it can do. I am also excited that it can display input from security cameras. I have a few cameras and that would be awesome to be able to see them on the flat screen in the bedroom.

I think I will go with Mythbuntu because I am using ubuntu already right now on my internet pc and I feel comfy with it. It's easy to use, I installed it myself and I have no problems with it at all. It just works. And I want to use the 64 bit version because that's what the pc is and I want to get the most out of it. I'm using 64 bit on my internet pc and it works great.

I'm thinking that the Mythbuntu version is like all the hard stuff already done and setup for people like me that are clueless to the myth stuff. I think that's the general idea anyway.

Oh yes, I know about VLC. I have used it.

Oh, and I also downloaded a linux disc called knoppix and I could boot it and it saw the windows drives in the pc and ALL my stuff is there and intact. It won't boot into windows anymore (YAY!) and goes into an instant blue screen. But the knoppix shows me ALL my videos are there and I was able to play them and everything.

On of the reasons that I require the use of a remote control is that the flat screen is in my bedroom and the pc is in another room and a cable runs through the wall to connect them. There is no way possible to have a mouse and or keyboard in my bedroom. Not possible. I have used the happauge remote control forever and it's worked very, very well like that.

I looked into the possibility of a wireless keyboard. WAAAAY too expensive. $150 for a keyboard? Um, no. Not spending any more money, especially THAT much money when I have two remote controls that work perfectly as they are.

Getting up and going back and forth from room to room to change channels, volume, etc? Um, no.. I did that once when the remote stopped working (batteries died) and that was awful. No, no, no....

Oh, and I saw that there is an app for iPhones (I have one) to use it as a remote for mythtv. Ok, that's cool but not very practical because I make FREQUENT use of the mute button. It would be good for browsing my library of recordings and such and maybe some channels changes but for volume and mute, not so much.

Also, I called ding-dong about the windows disc and he said he installed the new windows on my home theater pc and he only has the one disc and I can't have it but he could make me a copy to send to me. I told him to never mind I don't want it anymore. Neither one of us could find the original xp disc I had. It's somewhere in a box most likely. Or my son took it when he moved away to college.

So that's fine with me. I really would rather just be done with it and install something that WORKS. Linux works. Windows, not so much..

So I'm more or less ready to start installing the mythbuntu but I need to do some reading still, I don't really know what I'm doing and the terminology is confusing me.
They ASSUME you know what you are doing and that you're a gear head already.
No, not everyone is. And the help files are pretty much not very helpful, they also assume you are a gear head. Grrrrrr....

I see they have a forum but I'm not too hopeful about finding help there. I've asked for help in other linux forums before and I rarely ever receive even a "buzz off" response. My questions simply go unanswered. I guess they don't like women trespassing into their little fraternity clan.

THIS is about the only forum where I have found people to actually be courteous and helpful. You guys have been really great and I appreciate you all very much.
Especially for putting up with my many rants..

Anyway.. So I'm reading and reading and trying to understand. It's slow going but I'm determined. I want to do this, very much so. I like the features that the mythtv site lists and I love that it's NOT windows.

Temporarily, I have my coolsat sort of working so I can get RTV in my home office but not in the bedroom. I can get OTA tv in the bedroom only, not at all in the office. I had everything in all rooms at one time. It even played on all the sets in the house before ding-dong messed with it last year. After he put the new windows on it it became a real pain to use it on even two sets. Meh... :rant:

Bye bye windows, hello Mythbuntu!

Nite nite all!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Linux is a different world but if you stick with it through the learning curve, it won't let you down like winderz...
You'll probably want to stick with Kaffeine and/or VLC.
Myth is good, but for it to shine you want a back-end server with a ton of disk space (it holds all the recordings) in a closet somewhere, and small, low-to-no noise PC's in each room you want to view.
As far as the TV card, I had one working at one time but didn't use it enough to worry with so I yanked it for a 2nd sat card...
Not sure about the remote controls... just don't use them with the PC... I have a wireless (small format) keyboard with touchpad that I use...

Wait a second. My dad wants something like that. He has a powerful pc upstairs but wants to watch videos downstairs in his living room. You're saying that you can use a cheapy pc down at the tv? My dad was asking me how to watch pc videos on his tv and I told him I had no idea outside of running a loooooong video wire to the tv like I have here.