Linux PC as Multimedia Center?

Hi

I dont mean to sound like a newbie so forgive me if I do, my knowledge of linux is very limited.

I want to turn my old PC into a multi media centre capable of watching TV with the aid of a video card as well as recording to the hard disk.

I wish to be able to download movies from the net and be able to watch from a different location via a windows server that I am also working on at home.

I can see that there are many options open to me with varying degrees of difficulty, but to be honest I dont know where to start

Looking at the many topics in all the forums I feel like a rabit caught in the head lights of a car not knowing where to go.

Any suggestions, recommendations, or just a polite stop waisting our time would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers all

Steve C

You might want to look at MythTV. There should be packages available for any distro you go with. The initial setup is a bit daunting but all it requires is patience as there are HOWTOs all over the net to guide you.

The real trick is getting a decent tuner card supported by Linux. There are plenty of them but it will take a bit of research. I would recommend having a look at a distro called Mythbuntu which should get you pointed in the right direction.

Yes, be very very careful about which TV card you select. And bear in mind that even if Linux is supported, chipsets on cards can change very rapidly. So something which is apparently supported can suddenly have an incompatible chipset.