A few snags, but in the end these are the "simple" steps I took to get it setup with auto-login / auto-start Kodi

  • Install base Fedora 21
  • Install MATE desktop
  • Disable firewall
  • Install openssh server and enable via systemctl
  • verify lightdm is installed
  • disable gdm
  • enable lightdm
  • enable autologin through lightdm (google it)
  • in mate desktop in control panel, set start programs and add kodi executable

 

Using VLC 1.1.11
  • "File" -> "Convert/Save"
    • Switch to "Disc Tab"
    • Check "Show More Options"
    • Up caching to 1000ms or even 10000ms
    • "Convert/Save"
  • Change Destination file
  • save it as a "something.mp4"
  • profile "H264 + AAC" to use as a base
  • encapsulation is "MP4/MOV"
  • codec is MPEG-4
    • bitrate 4800 kb/s
  • default audio is fine
 
This let me rip a DVD that had heavy copy protection on it that I've owned for a long time and got tired of always hunt it out of a drawer. 103 min movie converted in less than 30 min on a i7 with 8 gigs of RAM. I'm not sure of the exact time unfortunately. The resulting file size is 2.89 GB

 

It looks like this is the package to use/implement. As always just when I think I've come up with a pretty cool idea for something, someone else has already done it. Which is actually cool because then I don't have to go to all the work of figuring stuff out. I'll be posting information about hardware and some of the do's and don'ts that I find over the next couple of month's. Hoping to build one around mid-summer for a few hundred bucks. Anyone who's got information about how it actually works on their system please share!

This weekend I downloaded the pre-packed DVD setup of Mythdora, as suggested from a website I found, rather than trying to go through the pain of installing Fedora and all the components, drivers, etc of MythTV. And to be honest it's pretty cool. Once the DVD finishes with it's install, you proceed to setting up the MythTV portion itself. Being a person who is tech savvy, I was still at a loss for most of the options which are filled in by default. This ended up leading to some problems as I'll detail below. However, for the amount of time(bout 2 hours with install and fiddling) and effort(not much) I put into it, I felt like it gave me a decent return and a nice base to start from.

Now for the problems.

The first thing I noticed as it was sitting on my desk all hooked up like a normal PC is that none of the menus are mouse sensitive by default. Arrow keys are the method of input. (unless you happen to have an IR receiver and remote and then the directional keys on that are used I believe) The first thing I tried was watching some cartoons, the ideal reason to have a tv tuner in a normal PC. Not sure where the problem lies, it sees the tuner card, but gives an error about attempting to access it. Ok. So I tossed in a DVD. Select "Optical Drives" and the movie starts. Hurray! No problems there. Put some mp3's and divx movies on the machine, unplug it and haul it downstairs to the TV/stereo. To my surprise the card actually activates the TV on boot (you see the Dell BIOS splash screen even) and then watch the boot up process. I was very happy. Then when MythTV itself comes up I noticed the screen is off. Only way to describe is if you moved the image on your monitor way to the right and down(on screen controls) so you could only see about 50-75% of the actual screen. As TV's dont come with these kinds of tweaks, I'm not sure what to do. Tried another video card and it worked better, but had issues itself. 

My final judgment on my first test and attempt at a LMC, Mythdora is a nice start. 

Machine Specifications:

Dell Dimension 4800

  • P3 866 CPU
  • 512 megs ram
  • NVidia GeForce 3 (128meg) AGP card, also tried NVidia 6200 FX (256 meg)
  • ATI TV Wonder PRO card
  • Panasonic 37" Standard CRT TV connected via S-Video


Problem synapsis:

  • When hooked to s-video(GeForce 3), TV picture is shown off screen (down and to the right) showing only 75% of display.
  • When hooked to VGA out(6200 FX), Windows on the machine stop responding after about 30 seconds of interaction. Video never plays.
  • TV Tuner card does not work with software as setup by default.
© 2017 Chad Jorgenson. All Rights Reserved.