FreeBSD Media Center?

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xy16644

Not sure where I should post this question so hope I have made the correct choice!

I was wondering, is it possible to build a Media Center using FreeBSD 8? I know you get XBMC but this is built on Linux and I really like FreeBSD and would like to stick with it. Are there any options for building a FreeBSD Media Center?

It would be great to use FreeBSD/ZFS/a nice GUI with a remote control.

Just curious if this is possible...;)
 
Remote control is going to be tricky though. Everything else shouldn't be a problem.
 
A remote control is possible if you shop carefully. It's been a while since I used one in FreeBSD, but FreeBSD compatible remotes do exist...

I don't know of any FreeBSD based media setups that are as easy to get running as the linux ones. You will probably have to piece it together using the same software components manually.
 
aragon said:
I don't know of any FreeBSD based media setups that are as easy to get running as the linux ones. You will probably have to piece it together using the same software components manually.
Click to expand...

I suspect the linux kernel is a bit easier to tune for media playback as well. If I were looking for a mildly challenging hobby though, the FreeBSD media center idea would probably be a good one.
 
Thanks guys. I currently run a Windows 7 media center which to be honest is pretty good but I would like to replace it one day with an open source free solution.

I think I need to do some more research regarding this. One thing I was thinking of doing was using XBMC on a machine as the "front end" and then having a second FreeBSD machine with all the storage (using ZFS!). Don't *really* wanna do this as its two machines to look after. Thats why I want to do everything on a single machine if I can.

I'm sure if I look hard enough I can find a FreeBSD solution or someone here must have tried it out! ;-)
 
Personally, I think Linux makes a better media centre, as there's a lot more choice on Linux (XBMC, Boxee, MythTV, etc). There's also better remote control support.

However, the "media centre" shouldn't have any storage, and should instead either stream movies or mount filesystems off a central storage server. FreeBSD + ZFS suits this purpose really well.

This is what I have setup: laptop with S-Video-out running Kubuntu, mounting an NFS share from the FreeBSD server. The FreeBSD box does all the downloading, and the Linux box does the display.
 
xy16644 said:
I think I need to do some more research regarding this. One thing I was thinking of doing was using XBMC on a machine as the "front end" and then having a second FreeBSD machine with all the storage (using ZFS!). Don't *really* wanna do this as its two machines to look after. Thats why I want to do everything on a single machine if I can.
Click to expand...
Maybe you can run FreeBSD under VirtualBox on XBMC? A bit hacky, but better than 2 systems.
 
phoenix said:
This is what I have setup: laptop with S-Video-out running Kubuntu, mounting an NFS share from the FreeBSD server. The FreeBSD box does all the downloading, and the Linux box does the display.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats what I was thinking. Have an XBMC machine which mounts an SMB share on the FreeBSD machine (that has all the storage running ZFS).

Not *too* keen on virtual machines to be honest but it does get rid of a 2nd physical machine!

Theres lots to think about on a project like this...:)
 
If you have an extra ~$400 CDN, my ideal solution would be to use spare parts for the FreeBSD storage server, and then buy the Acer Revo for the display side. It's a dual-core Atom with an nVidia ION chipset (nVidia 9400 video). Has a 160 GB harddrive, 2 GB of RAM, and HDMI-out. Comes with Windows 7, but can run just about anything you want to load onto it. It even includes a VESA mount, so you can hide it behind a flat panel TV. :) It's virtually silent, and fits in nicely into an entertainment centre. It even comes with a weird little wireless remote thingy. There even enough processing in there for casual gaming purposes.

The only reason I haven't done this yet is that we don't have any HDMI-capable TVs (still using CRTs), or devices of any kind. :) And HDMI-to-Component and VGA-to-Component adapters are still over $100. :(

I haven't found a more HTPC-ready box yet.
 
If you just want something that plays movies and such on your TV get a Popcorn Hour.
Use your FreeBSD machine as storage and bittorrent client ;)
 
Interesting... I was just juggling with the idea of having XBMC and FreeBSD+ZFS on the same machine... two ideas came up:

1. (assuming it works) XBMC running on top of FreeBSD's Linux binary emulation layer. Everything else falls into place.

2. XBMC running on a Linux-based Xen dom0, FreeBSD as a domU with direct access to the underlying non-boot hard disks to build ZFS pools. XBMC running on dom0 gains access to files on domU ZFS via NFS/Samba (via Xen's virtual network bridge).

Crazy as they may sound, I'm actually more inclined to the above than two separate machines, and I'm a big fan of ZFS. :e
 
It's nice to see some interest on xbmc.

I have already created an xbmc 9.11 port some time ago that passes configure and starts compiling but it needs lots more patches and reimplementing of some code parts (a weird shared object loader that is system specific). I think it is not impossible to get xbmc running natively on FreeBSD and the xbmc developers are very helpful so it probably just needs more time.

http://svn.bluelife.at/index.cgi/blueports/browse/multimedia/xbmc

Back to the actual question for a media center. If you do not have the need for a full PVR solution but just a media center you could also use Enna. There is no port for it yet but it is also on my todo list and should be a lot easier to port than xbmc as it is build on top of the enlightenment libraries and is very lightweight. It also supports lirc for remote controls.
 
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