[CJdamaster]

I'm making a new distribution of Ubuntu (along with scripts to install the application on other distributions) of which to integrate XBMC, MythTV and the Ubuntu Desktop (XFCE) in one package - Onebox as it is so far dubbed.

The aim of this system is to provide HDTV, videos, music, Internet TV, DVD and Blu Ray media with a single, quick and lightweight, set-top HTPC box. So far, this is going well. (See the rest of my specification here)

My biggest hurdle is getting it all to look integral. If you take a peek at Boxee, the renowned Internet TV box derived from XBMC, it looks and feels 'all together', and won't confuse users with all these different applications.

I've pretty much got the desktop system all cracked. This will be the PC-mode of the system which will allow you to do every day tasks like browse the web, check email, and administrate files with ease.

There is then the Media-mode, which will allow you to select TV and Blu Ray stuff and whatnot on the MAIN MENU.
Getting TV to work with XBMC is pretty simple, but using MythBox - possibly the best solution - means launching it from the 'scripts' menu. Erm... users would probably find this too complex from my experience. This system needs to compete with set-top boxes too! This means, to get scripts working on the main menu, some theming needs to be done (which is my next port of call)

Then you've got the fact that MythBox uses the Project Mayhem III theme. That's great and all, but I really think Confluence is the way forward (especially on the newest unstable release of XBMC!) So that needs to be themed, and I'm not sure where to start on that.

That leaves the following issues:

• Finding compatible cards to work with DVB-S2 or DVB-T2
  
• Adapting the O/S to be able to boot in 15 seconds and be pretty much ready for TV or PC mode - depending on the user's option configuration
  
• Allowing for scheduled recordings to boot the system
  
• Making sure that displays work on cases such as the Antec Fusion Black
  
• Displaying ALL information and operation interfaces in a friendly, neat and integral way
  
• (For me) Actually buying the components I'm looking for to test it on a real deployment
  
• Making it feel like a real set top box, but with a more PC orientated approach
  

This list isn't exhaustive, but at the moment, I'm just trying to find people who are interested in helping with this project! I'm going to be away for a week starting today, but if you're interested in helping make this open source media comprehensive, post below or email me directly.

[Malard]

Nice opener with ideas. Have you looked at existing solutions that community and development members are already providing, you may find that providing them assistance is better than re-inventing the wheel. For example XBMC-Live and OpenELEC may well cover all of your needs

[CJdamaster]

Yes, I looked into alternatives first. Mythbuntu was very promising to me because of its flexability. It's ultimately what my idea circulates around. However, that's just for TV.
XBMC has dazzling looks, and would be a brilliant alternative to Windows Media Center. They're starting to develop the TV integration, but without some of the abilities that MythTV has, it falls far short of a TV box.
Then there's Boxee. Brilliant; flush; clean. But that's only for Internet TV.

I've decided to do this not just to fill the gap between these three environments, but also to improve my experience with the OS and to give me a challenge. I really like challenges.

I'm hoping that my efforts to integrate all this can also apply to existing solutions such as XBMC-Live if no PC mode is desired, and to be eventually installed on top of a current system to configure it for some extreme media watching powers!

All I need is people to help me do the stuff I can't.

[Malard]

As I say, investigate the systems already available, XBMC-Live is based on ubuntu, and help out with those, we generally don't like to reinvent the wheel if we can help it, but we do like to refine it.

What your asking people to help you with is a gargantuan project that you can't simply ignore in a few months once you get bored. For such a platform to work it needs to be maintained and have serious investment.

I suggest you properly investigate all the solutions that already exist and see if you can invest time into those first to get some experience at the very least.

[CJdamaster]

Well what I am really doing is refining the XBMC scripts to be more flush, and adding a bit of graphical wizardry to ubuntu. Nothing I'm doing is really reinventing the wheel, I'm just reinventing it's presentation. The only coding I've had to do is a little bash scripting, which is why I've gotten so far in such little time.

The things I can't do are the repetitive themes like altering the Mythbox theme XMLs to use the Confluence style