[wplug] I dream of summer and MythTV

Vanco, Don don.vanco at agilysys.com
Thu Feb 5 11:42:26 EST 2004


wplug-admin at wplug.org wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Feb 2004, Vanco, Don wrote:
>>> 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).
>> 	Very true - a refurb Series One TiVo (and believe me that's the one
>> you want)  and lifetime service will cost you aboot $450 - easily
>> less than a decent video card and other required bits if you don't
>> have them laying aboot.... (although you will need to spend an
>> additional $60 for a network interface)
> 
> Well, it really all does depend on what you want.  I spent $100 on two
> hardware mpeg tuner cards because I wanted more than what a
> tivo can do.
> I could have spent $50, but I wanted the ability to watch
> live tv while
> recording or record two shows simultaneously.  I can add a
> third mpeg card
> for more flexibility.  As for a video card, you don't need the latest
> 256MB model.  Most any supported 32MB card will do.  I picked
> up a 32MB
> NVIDIA MX 400 card for $40 for one of my displays.
> 
> With the hardware mpeg cards, you can get away with way less
> CPU so an
> 800MHz or so would probably do for basic stuff (record+playback but
> probably not two record streams + playback).  256MB is plenty (and
> cheap)... so really you could put together a basic system
> with one tuner
> card and one display for a couple hundred bucks.  Plus you
> don't even need
> a monitor since you'll be attaching to your TV.
> 
>>> Pros:
>>>  - you can rip your cds to disk (I haven't tried this under
>>> myth yet since
>> 	You can rip elsewhere and send to TiVo vie the network...
> 
> So Tivo can't actually do this then.
	Well, no - it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive in it....

>> 	TiVo tools allow for easy "TiVo stream to DVD" (with full, albeit
>> rudimentary, DVD menu generation).  While no one will comment on it
>> openly - the tools to do this basically allow you to go from .ty
>> (TiVo stream) to .vob (DVD format) and vice versa.  The implications
>> should be obvious.... 
> 
> But is this something that it does out of the box?  A big
> selling point
> for the Tivo is most people that buy it want it to "just
> work".  If they
> wanted to hack and play around, then I'd suggest looking at Myth.
	Again, no - I know of no consumer product that allows you to remove
commercials on stored video (heck, you can't even program them to skip
automagically any more thanks to RIAA Nazis).
	TiVo does "just work" as a video recorder, but you can take it to a
much higher  level with a Torx driver half-hours worth of effort.

>>>  - I can have limited access via the web to record new shows
>>> and manage existing recordings
>> 	TiVo has a fairly rich web interface, including the ability to
>> "undelete" shows - some as far back as 60 days depending on your TiVo
>> usage....
> 
> Yes, MythWeb allows you to undelete.  You can also view your MP3s and
> Videos but as of yet cannot play/stream them.  I think that's planned.
	While it's compiled for PPC you might want to look at the mplayer
tree of TiVo - might be transposable to MythTV with a little work and a
recompile

>>>  - If you know C++, you can contribute any features you want to it
>> 	Likewise for TiVo hacks to some extent..
> 
> Of course, you void any support that you paid for when you
> hack your Tivo, right?
	Sure - as opposed the warranty that you get with MythTV??  99.9% of
the TiVo failures are recoverable - the other .1% are wasted TiVo due to
stupid user error where the user in question is likely to fry a home PC in
the same manner that they fry their TiVo..

>> Other thumbs up for TiVo
>> 	- intelligent show recording (start / stop time flexibility, season
>> pass management, priority, ability to ignore repeats or record at
>> alternate times based on "conflict)
> 
> Myth has these except I'm not sure what "season pass management" is.
	- get all episodes regardless of whether or not the time slot
changes
	- ignore duplicates in a 28 day time period (invaluable for most
cable channels that show the same episode 15 times in a week)
	- the above also allows for automatic conflict resolution (will look
to see which show being requested has multiple air times and adjust
accordingly)

>> 	- search tools (actor, channel, keyword, director, genre,
>> combination)
> 
> Myth can search on some of these.. not sure about actor or director
> though. 
	Likely has to do with database the service builds - on my DTiVo it's
1GB in size.

>> 	- tools for backing up your TiVo OS are excellent (there's a web
>> module!)  You can essentially recover the OS onto _any_ hard drive
>> (but depending on your backup you _may_ lose all content).  An OS
>> only backup will easily fit on a single CD
> 
> Hrmm... what good is a backup if you lose *all* content?
	Because you can then transfer the OS from a 15GB TiVo drive to a
120GB Maxtor drive.
	You _do_ have the option to backup ALL data (or just the streams for
that matter) - but it should be obvious that if you're backing up dual 120GB
drives you are going to need some serious space elsewhere (and yes, gzip
compression is fully supported)

>>> Cons:
<snip>
> I would have never stayed up to watch hours of MacGyver or
> Taxi before...
> now if TVLAND would just start airing The Geatest American Hero....
LOL
	Like for things like Lidsvillve, The Bugaloos, and pretty much
anything by Sid and Marty Kroft!

Don



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