Back in 2005 I discovered MythTV, a free open source software digital video recorder (DVR), at the time I had no Linux experience at all, after lots of trial and error I managed to get Debian Linux and MythTV working on a old Pentium 4 box equipped with a Nova T-500 TV card, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 graphics card, and a Keene Electronics RGBHV RGBS Sync Converter Transcoder connected to a CRT television. I could now record/watch TV, play DVDs, listen to music, etc from a single box! Today, I have swapped MythTV with Kodi, Tvheadend and Music Player Daemon and now use a HDMI display.
Frontend audio/video playback
Hardware
Raspberry Pi 3
IQaudIO legacy case [discontinued]
IQaudIO Pi-DAC+ [discontinued]
IQaudIO Pi-AMP+ 35W stereo output [discontinued]
Noctua NF-A4x20 5V premium quiet fan
Note: There are new updated versions of some of the hardware above.
Software
LibreELEC just enough Linux distro for Kodi
Music Player Daemon free and open music player server
Android client
Kore Kodi remote for Android
M.A.L.P. Android Music Player Daemon client
The Raspberry Pi 3 is my main Kodi frontend running LibreELEC connected to a HDMI TV. Music Player Daemon is provided by a LibreELEC add-on. The IQaudIO Pi-AMP+ is connected to a pair of speakers, sound quality is on par with expensive audiophile systems. My Slackware server provides all required media storage for TV recordings, movies, music and UK Freeview is supported using Tvheadend HTSP add-on which connects to my Slackware server running Tvheadend. I removed two side panels on the case and installed a high quality silent fan to keep it cool as possible. Kodi and Music Player Daemon can be controlled on my Android phone running Kore and M.A.L.P clients. This setup works extremely well, the only time I would upgrade is if I move into the 4k world by using a Raspberry Pi 4 instead.
Frontend audio only playback
Hardware
Raspberry Pi Zero WH
IQaudIO Pi Zero DAC [discontinued]
IQaudIO Pi Zero headphone [discontinued]
Plugable USB 2.0 OTG micro-B 100Mbps Ethernet adaptor
Note: There are new updated versions of some of the hardware above.
Software
Raspbian Lite Debian-based computer operating system for Raspberry Pi
Music Player Daemon free and open music player server
Android client
M.A.L.P. Android Music Player Daemon client
The Raspberry Pi Zero is a headless audio only Music Player Daemon frontend. This is connected to my amp and to a pair of headphones. This provides high quality audio for listening to music, podcasts and radio. My server provides the music storage and I can control Music Player Daemon using M.A.L.P. on my Android phone. There are no Ethernet ports on the Raspberry Pi Zero so I am using a USB Ethernet adaptor to maximise network bandwidth.
Backend server
Hardware
Gigabyte GA-H55-UD3H motherboard [discontinued]
TBS6285 quad tuner PCIe card [discontinued]
Lots of spinning rust drives, will upgrade to SSD eventually.
Note: There are new updated versions of some of the hardware above.
Software
Slackware Linux distribution
Tvheadend TV streaming server and recorder
Music Player Daemon free and open music player server
Android client
TVHClient Android Music Player Daemon client
My Slackware Linux server box is very old, it’s been running since 2010 and still going strong, no need to upgrade apart from replacing spinning rust drives with SSDs. I have installed a TBS6285 quad tuner PCIe card to provide UK Freeview television services, this works well with Tvheadend. I can schedule Freeview recordings using Kodi or TVHClient which runs on my Android phone. I also run Music Player Daemon which acts as a database proxy for cataloguing music file tags, this can be I/O intensive and takes away overhead from the Raspberry Pis. This box is very stable and can maintain very long uptimes.