[wplug] I dream of summer and MythTV

[Lance Tost]

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004, Beth Lynn wrote:
> http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInfo
> 
> It's all so exiting but I fear it may be just hype.
> 
> Has anyone played with MythTV?

I asked this same question several months ago but didn't get much 
feedback.  Since then I've upgraded one PC and swapped some parts around 
and I now have a server in the basement acting as my mythtv backend and 
two frontends (dual-headed X) -- one frontend gets displayed on the TV in 
the living room directly above, the other frontend gets displayed on a 
monitor in the basement gym area.

Depending on your spare hardware, you can easily spend as much or more on 
this as you would a tivo or replaytv but it has some advantages (as well 
as disadvantages).

I also have another linux box up on my third floor that'll be another 
frontend once I get around to setting it up.  No TV there, just a monitor 
for now.  Anyone have a cheap pci graphics card with tv-out they want to 
sell me?  Or an NVidia AGP card that allows both the VGA and tv-out to be 
active at the same time?

Pros:
 - plays mp3s (or ogg vorbis if I had em) at no additional cost
 - you can rip your cds to disk (I haven't tried this under myth yet since 
most of mine were already ripped)
 - I can rip my DVDs to disk and have all my movies available on any 
frontend (assuming I have enough disk space)... a pefect rip is over 
5GB... Using DIVX or XVID, that can be cut down to around 650MB keeping 
pretty good quality
 - I could burn shows to dvd if I had a dvd burner
 - I can play old-school games on any fontend via xmame or other emulators 
I haven't messed with (nes is one)... thinking about getting a wireless 
gamepad.
 - I can have limited access via the web to record new shows and manage 
existing recordings
 - I can record as many stations simultaneously as I have capture cards 
(currently two)
 - mythtv-users mailing list is *really* active... it's still being 
heavily worked on.
 - Nobody knows how many times I watched the Janet Jackson boob shot over 
and over again
 - If you know C++, you can contribute any features you want to it

Cons:
 - There are still some glitches -- the occasional hang or choppy video.  
Most of this though seems to be due to the minimal support of my AverMedia 
M179 card by the ivtv driver.  It'll mature eventally.  For now, Hauppauge 
PVR-x50 cards may be a little more stable.
 - Takes a fair bit of Linux knowledge to get functioning properly
 - makes you watch too much tv (but so would a tivo)
 - Interface can be klunky if you don't have a good remote with the right 
buttons -- most remotes can be learned by lirc though

-- 
Lance Tost <ltost at pobox.com>