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Users / Newbie question on system setup

« on: November 21, 2008, 02:33:19 am »

Hi all,

I am very interested in giving LinuxMCE a try and have a few question
(most of which have to some degree been talked about in the forums). I
would also kindly ask that you all take a look at my purposed setup.
Please note that I have never setup or used any kind of Media Center
solution before and have limited Linux experience, but I am not afraid
of the bash CLI.

Here are the specs for my purposed LMCE server (Hybrid, 1 NIC):

CPU: AMD Athlon 63 X2 5000 Black Edition
CPU Cooling: I am trying to find a passive cooler (less noise)
MB: BIOSTAR TForce TF8200 A2+ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138113
Memory: 4 GB OCZ PC2 6400
Video: On Board GeForce 8200 (HDMI out to TV)
Sound: On Board Sound
Capture Card: Either PVR 150 or 500
HDD's: couple of SATA drives I have at the house
Optical Drive: Standard DVDR I have at the house
Remote: Standard windows MCE remote to start and maybe a Fiire Chief
later

This will be connect to my (US) Comcast cable provider via their
provided Scientific Atlantic HD DVR (sorry I don't remember the model
number). I have 2 questions here. I read in the forums that there are
known issues with HD contend due to Comcast encoding the signal and they
also don't use standard signaling for the channel mapping. I am not so
concerned about HD content, I just want to get all of my content. The
way I would like the system to work is to plug the DVR into the LMCE box
(via S-Video or IEEE or whatever) and be able to view all of the
channels that I pay for with Comcast, more than just 2-99 and be able to
record one show while watching another. I would like this to be done
through the LMCE interface TV guide and not the Comcast provided guide
on the DVR. Is this possible, and is this type of setup documented
fairly well so that someone with limited experience can set it up?

Here is my purposed network setup:

The reason I am going to ask about this is because of all of the LMCE as
DHCP/no DHCP, Router/no Router talk in the forums. From the outside to
the inside, there will be a cable mode providing connectivity to a DLink
wireless router that will serve DHCP to all of the PC's on my network
(bare with me). This will be only for PC's only (no offence to the devs,
but I don't want my banking information routed through a device that is
sniffing traffic out of the box) no PXE devices will be connected here.
Connected to one of the LAN ports on the wireless router will be DLink
wired router (LAN port on wireless router to the WAN port on the wired
router with the wireless router providing a static IP to the wired
router). Behind this wired router will be the LMCE and my NAS (DLink
DNS-323). The LMCE will be setup with one NIC in the standard
configuration (serving DHCP and routing traffic for UPNP support). All
devices that will connect to the LMCE, things like Media Directors, will
be physically connected to the LAN ports on the wired router. The wired
router will be set up with NAT so that the computers to the wireless
router will still be able to connect to the file shares on the NAS
(minimal script modification will be required here). I know that this
may seem a bit convoluted, but I really do want to separate the LMCE
server from the PC's in my house that users access. I can't see why this
setup would not work, can you?

The next concern that I have is access to Netflix Watch it Now service.
I have read that basically the only way that this will work is either to
buy a Roku Netflix player, or run a windows VM on the LMCE. Is this
true? Supposedly Netflix made the Roku code open source, could the LMCE
team use that code to make an update for LMCE, or is the DRM just too
much of a pain to work out?

Lastly (I swear) I have configured my NAS (Dlink DNS-323) with access controls, i.e. users and groups. Does LMCE have built in support for this? I would prefer not to have wide open file shares on my network.


Thank you all for your support