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Looking to Replace My Cable With Netflix and Hulu Plus...

A

Arsynic

Senior member
...how do I get started?

Basically I want to replace my cable box with a HTPC that can stream Netflix, store movies that I download and run Hulu. Do I have to use Windows? Can I build this using Linux? I'm paying so much for channels that I don't watch that this project will pay for itself in 3 months. Please help me get started?
 
I am investigating this too, and while I am in no way knowledgble about it, I recommend checking out xmbc as the media center of choice. It seems very customizable and runs on all OSes, including as a liveCD built on top of Ubuntu.
 
I heard XBMC was pretty cool. But I like the interface of the AEON Project better. I'll do more research though.
 
For the hardware, unless you are sure about GPU acceleration I'd suggest using a CPU that has enough oomph for decoding. Windows 7 is fine, XP/Linux not so sure of. I couldn't get GPU acceleration working under XP for offline media, though Flash was fine.
 
If you want Netflix you will need either windows or mac. Netflix streaming is currently not available for linux as Netflix uses mircrosoft's silverlight with drm and microsoft is withholding the drm layer from the open source moonlight project. You could however install windows in a virtual machine under a linux install for when you want to stream Netflix.

Another option would be the Boxee Box I think they are getting netlfix and hulu streaming.
 
Okay, so I'll need Windows 7. Which version should I get for Media Center? Currently I use Professional x64. Would Home Premium do?
 
Yes, Home Premium should be fine. IIRC it even comes with Windows Media Center, which is functional and popular.
 
You could consider a Roku for Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon -- www.roku.com

It also supports an external USB drive for playing some video formats.

Pro: much cheaper, easier to use, lower power draw

Con: can't use a standard browser + Flash to play some content like regular Hulu that is blocked from playing on non-PC devices.
 
If you live in a populated area, an old fashioned thing called a TV antenna can get you lots of free (off-air) HD programming. A TV tuner would cost about $50-$100 for dual tuners.
 
You'll need Windows 7.

The way I do it:
Pop up the DPI settings in windows, and put all the icons you want on the taskbar.
So I'll have windows media center (mostly backgrounded just to do recordings), a link to the folder where the media center recordings go to, the hulu tv app, and then netflix can be done through boxee, windows media center, or I just go straigth to their site (it's faster and has better search capabilities anyway).

You'll need you put out some money for good input. I have a gyroscopic remote + mouse (from gyration), but it's not ideal since so much stuff is reliant on a keyboard. I've found a keyboard with a touchpad works well, I got a cheapie one for like $30, but it only has a range of a couple feet. You'll be paying >$100 for one with good range (Logitech sells a media center keyboard with touchpad). Lenovo also sells a media center keyboard remote with trackball built in.
 
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