Linux HTPC with OpenELEC, XBMC, DVB-T, PVR/DVR, HDMI-CEC, iPlayer and more

Stumbled across OpenELEC the other day which inspired me to create a new HTPC system.  I looked around for hardware and settled on a Zotac Nano AD10 box (here on ebay) with dual core AMD E350 (I wanted to try AMD having had a Intel Atom ION chipset HTPC for a while), 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD. What I liked about it was that it had eSATA and 2 x USB 3.0 ports, plus had a remote control that worked with OpenELEC and XBMC. All for £250. Sweet!  Here it is in action...
What it can do:
  • play all my Movies, Music and TV Recordings
  • watch TV & listen to Radio with crystal clear tuning
  • schedule TV & Radio recordings, including series
  • move TV recorded movies to my Movies folder (manual, currently)
  • use my TV remote control to control totally my media centre
  • one click launch for fullscreen iPlayer, ITVplayer and 4oD
  • autorip DVD*
Hardware:
  • HTPC : Zotac Nano AD10 2GB/320GB
  • DVB-T : Hauppage Nova Win TV USB stick
  • Drive : Seagate 2TB USB
  • HDMI-CEC adapter : Pulse 8 
  • TV : Samsung 46" LED UE46B7020
Here's what my system runs:
  • OS : OpenELEC
  • UI : XBMC
  • Live TV & Radio : tvheadend (stations from 3 x UK transmitters)
  • PVR/DVR : tvheadend (am not missing MythTV!)
  • HDMI-CEC control (so my Samsung TV remote controls the HTPC as well as the TV)
  • Recent TV : iPlayer, 4oD, itvplayer
The key mods I made to make the system how I like it:
  • more stations : added 2 extra TV transmitters
    • /storage/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/service.multimedia.tvheadend/dvbmuxes/
  • TV remote control works perfectly with some configuration tweaks
    • /usr/share/xbmc/system/keymaps/remote.xml
  • All my TV & Radio stations have nice icons, mostly from http://www.lyngsat-logo.com
  • autorip DVD is a "rip and push" script on an Ubuntu box using halevt, HandBrakeCLIm then scp over to OpenELEC
If anyone wants to know more on how to do this, ping me on G+ in the OpenELEC or XBMC Community and, I'll try to help.

Posted as "Zotac AD10 / DVB-T / Pulse 8 CEC / Samsung TV : full RC over HDMI-CEC, autorip DVDon the OpenELEC forum.

Comments

  1. Quite impressive! I have XBMC running on my HTPC too, so I must have this too! The HDMI-CEC setup, I mean.

    However, I can't seem to find the Pulse 8 in shops in my region. Could you comment on where you got it?

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  2. Hi,

    I have a similar set up with the Zotac ID-11 I've been running for 2 years connected to a Synology DS712+ via NFS. Works a treat. You can get the CEC adapter from either Amazon (http://is.gd/UWrYpf) or Pulse-Eight (http://is.gd/KCFFPj) directly.

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  3. www.pulse-eight.com it's an online shop

    ReplyDelete
  4. can anybody help? i have an issue with this adapter ive installed openelec too and in the the xbmc menue the adapter is listet but i cant control it...

    ReplyDelete

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