Idea for a show

[shadore]

We all know that the current upcoming deadline for broadcast TV is looming, although only affecting people who watch over-the-air TV. I recently upgraded my home TV equipment to include a MythTv box for recording OTA HD broadcasts. This type of system may become more popular in the upcoming months due to the digital switchover =) I would imagine that the community that watches Systm would find it interesting to see the capabilities and the process of building a MythTv box.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the stability and ease of use of the system once it was setup properly, I have had a few technologically challenged people sit down and have no problems use the system.

Now before everyone complains that PCs are loud and do not belong in the living room, I was actually able to avoid that problem. I found a solution that was actually much quieter than my old Tivo, and it did not involve liquid cooling =P

In any case I thought it might make an interesting show =)

[mikecat93]

Hate to tell you but MythTV has been done on Systm before.
http://revision3.com/systm/mythtv/

[shadore]

Yea, but they briefly discussed it, and there is a lot more to setting up MythTv than what they showed. If you do a search in Google for MythTv, or Mythbuntu, my personal choice, there are still quite a few setup problems that people have run into. Installing MythTV is easy like they show, but the setup portion of the project was skipped entirely. Not to mention that Systm was from 2005! Quite a few things have changed in MythTv and the availability of HD tuners since then =P

I don't believe they have detailed the outline of what exactly is going to happen when all the TV broadcasters go "all digital" next year. I am starting to get that question from my clients, and they all seem to be very much confused at this point.

In any case, I thought the project could be a much more detailed show, but if there is no interest in free HD content, then ignore my ranting =P

[drandolph]

I've been trying to get one of our I.T. guys (name withheld for safety) who is a huge MythTV buff to do a follow up show to MythTV. Covering options,hardware, tweaks and so on. Why him instead of me or Patrick? Well ever time I come in the office and tell them what i did to my MythTV box they always say "Thats a good way but if you want a easier way...." or something like "well you know they have support for...." or even "you know you could automate that by just typing..."

In short I feel so smart when I do it but then after talking to them I am very humbled. So if you like the idea say so in the forums and post things you would like to see covered and I will keep pushing them to come on and do it right for you all.

BTW PC's belong everywhere, in the living room,bedroom,car,kitchen,shower. Ok maybe not shower, I'm addicted to the internet but theres some serious issues if i need a computer in the shower to surf the web during that 10 minutes. Wait maybe I need to put a computer in the show to track water usage, task list(Did i shave?Did I was...you know?, Did i remember to condition my fro) Maybe it could track how much shampoo and soap and shaving cream i have left and automatically add it to my shopping list?

[shadore]

You should mention that MythTV saves close to a thousand dollars a year! I only wanted the local stations, and a show or two that didn't air on those channels. In the long run, even if I purchase that show or two on iTunes, I am saving money after the first year, since I of course had to build a $800 machine ;)

[md2389]

I have to agree, I got really frustrated with MythTV when I tried it a couple weeks ago, and ended up just using XP and the software that came with my tuner card (not HD btw, Leadtek TV2000XP Deluxe if you must know....and nix DOES fully support it.) I would really appreciate a follow-up to that story with some actual in-depth material.

[shadore]

I am not sure what distribution you attempted, but I tried a few while building my box last week. I found that the MythBuntu distribution was by far the easiest to setup. I had to read up on the digital audio output, but that was about it. It almost worked right out of the box. I was using the HDhomerun dual HD Ethernet based tuner =)

[md2389]

I used the same distro they used in the episode. Knoppmyth. (Which IMO, has the absolute WORST post install setup GUI)

[shadore]

The MythBuntu distribution has a very nice graphical GUI for helping do the final setup. I am not an expert at Linux in the slightest, but the extra help from the Mythbuntu distro helped me get the box working 100%.