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My wife also wanted a TV in the bedroom, something that we had agreed never to do (I hate broadcast TV).

My solution: I gave her my old macbook and showed her how she can wirelessly stream the satellite tv channels from my dreambox 7025 (http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/english/products_dm7025.php) to the mac.

She changes channels through firefox and uses VLC to watch the shows. The EPG is much better when shown in the browser than when shown on screen.

At the same time, the laptop can be moved to any room that she wishes, she can surf the internet while watching tv, play games on it or simply work with it.

Also, she can browse my network where I have about 3TB of ripped DVDs and recordings from my PVR and watch it at will.

She loves the idea and she will never go back to the dumb box that feeds you what it wants when it wants it.

If you don't need HDVT capabilities, you might want to try the dreambox series by dream multimedia (http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/index_eng.php).
They run Linux and the top-of-the-line model even features interchangeable receivers in case you'll ever need to switch from cable to sat or vice versa.
The box is not quite cheap, but it's a nice thing to have if you don't want to set up a PC for this stuff--it just does what it's supposed to do.
The only problem I've been having is the menu structure, which is--as most of the time with utterly complex gadgetry--way too crowded to be even somewhat intuitive. Luckily, there's a web interface, allowing you to configure and organize movies from your PC.

If you consider how many non desktop devices run on 'Open Source' than you can still consider it hasn't reached its full potential. TiVo Inc, Sky+, and the BBC all sell a DVR although I'm not sure what's under the hood. The question is why Dell , Compaq and the rest haven't moved into this lucrative embedded market.

http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4612631999. html
http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/Bereiche/Produkt e/DM7020.php
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7385804211.html
http://freevo.sourceforge.net/about.html

This comparison would be completely different in Europe! In europe nearly every digital TV channel broadcasted over Cable, OTA or Sattelite is encrypted with one of many encryption standards (Conax, Irdeto, SECA, etc.).

Instead of a "CableCARD", which is used for viewing encrypted content in the US, a "Conditional Access Module" (CAM) is used in Europe, Africa and most Asian countries for all digital broadcast methods (DVB-C, -S and -T). Most TV companies supply set-top boxes with a built-in decoder and a smart-card, but the smart-card can also be used in other receivers or in a PC when you have the right CAM.
There are a lot of TV cards that can use CAM's and are very well supported by MythTV, for instance: http://http//knc1.com/gb.htm/.
Receiving HDTV or Encrypted content with MythTV is no problem in Europe at least.

The TiVo doesn't seem to exist in Europe, so I wouldn't be able to compare it to TiVo myself, since I never saw one. A very popular digital TV receiver / DVR in Europe is the Dreambox: http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/.
The Dreambox is an open platform, is linux-powered and doesn't have any "problems" with DRM or whatsoever. The only limitation the Dreambox and other set-top boxes have is a lack of raw computing power and that's why I prefer to have all my home entertainment on a HTPC.
And that's where the Windows (MCE) vs. Linux discussion comes back!

One of the interesting hackable Linux-based products on the European market (available in America, too, but only as a sat receiver version) is the Dreambox family of digital set-top boxes and PVRs.

Dreamboxes are DVB set-top boxes that can, depending on the model, ...

• ...receive over-the-air (DVB-T) terrestrial digital broadcasts (better known with the moniker "Freeview" in the UK)
• ...and/or satellite broadcasts (DVB-S)
• ...and/or digital cable (DVB-C)

...and record the MPEG-2 Transport Stream data either to an internal HDD, or to a network share (NFS, CIFS), without restrictions. The better models have two tuners, so you can record from two MUXes simultaneously. The firmware images are Linux-based and typically have a web interface, telnet server, ssh server, busybox shell, samba server, etc. There are various unofficial, enhanced firmware images for the various Dreambox models - with user-written plugins, etc. - and a thriving (if a bit too diverse and decentralized) user community.

The manufacturer (Dream Multimedia GmbH) is supportive of unofficial development. (Hackability is one of the main selling points of their whole set-top box product range.)

For example, DVB covers Terrestrial, Satellite, and Cable, but you have to buy AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CARD FOR EACH ONE.

That is an implementation issue. The DVB systems use a different modulation optimized for each medium, and you need a separate tuner for each of them.
However, the demodulated bitstream is the same and from the tuner on, the hardware is the same.
Receivers are available that have their tuners seated in slots, and that can accept a user-selected mix of DVB-S, DVB-C and DVB-T tuners.

E.g. this one: http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/english/products _dm7025.php

ATSC also has (long had) standards for broadcast, cable, and satellite transmission.

Yet on American DTH satellites, DVB is used by one distributor and DSS by another.

Sources?

http://www.ebu.ch/en/technical/trev/trev_295-huang .pdf

I have a dreambox 7020s and a 7025 (see http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/index.php). Both run on Linux within 64MB ram and with a quite slow mips CPU. Without hard disk b.t.w. (well, the disk is only used for recordings). As others have mentioned, Linux can be stripped down very much, and it has been done for usage in a number of appliances. Yes I would neither use GNOME nor KDE on a $100 laptop. twm would be nice :), or otherwise maybe xfce.

If you only have room for a Ku-band dish, there's a ton of stuff to see. If you have the room for a C-band antenna, there's even more up there. It's a hoot to see reporters picking their noses and talking trash about the competition. There are occasional uplinks of keynote speeches from conferences, government channels, and a constantly-changing array of things ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime.

The big watershed was when I picked up a little motor and a Fortec Star PVR. I recorded all manner of amazing (if disturbing) feeds during the attack on Iraq, including Iraqi TV rallies. The motorized dish really opens things up. I have camera's-eye view footage from a robot camera belonging to Dubai TV being shot up by a U.S. tank's fire.

It's easier to get started now than ever before. There's a standard called DiSEqC for sending switch and motor control signals over the coax between the receiver and the LNBF. No extra wires are necessary for a motorized dish. Additionally, a newer technology called USALS or DiSEqC 1.3 or "Goto X" allows the easy installation of a motor. You orient it to your Southernmost satellite, enter the Lat/Long coordinates of your location in to the receiver, and the newer boxes find everything on the arc.

If you want something to hack on, there's a platform called the Dreambox, from Dream Multimedia in Germany. It's a receiver based on the PowerPC set-top box chipset, and there are dozens of user-contributed loads for it, with plugins ranging from web browsers to RSS readers to Shoutcast clients. There's also a web interface for controlling the box and nabbing screenshots.

There are also PCI card receivers like the Twinhan available that plug into your PC and can stream to things like a Roku box.

If you want to watch yourself, there's even a service called UONTV, which will take an FTP of your MPEG2 video content and uplink it to IA5 for as little as $30/half-hour IIRC.

I would encourage anyone curious about the world of MPEG/DVB to check it out. A good reference is Satforums. There's no discussion of cracking or unscrambling there, but there's a font of MPEG/DVB information to be had, and support for some of the best PCI receiver card software.

As you can see here the remote control for the Dreambox has a lot more keys.

Dreambox is a set top box that has supported DVB for years, and it supports DVB-T (Broadcast), DVB-S (Satalite) as well as DVB-C (Cable).

http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/Bereiche/Produkt e/DM7000_featurelist.php/

VDR has aslo been available for years to support the same standards under Linux. It is a full featured PVR with a robust plugin interface.

http://cadsoft.de/vdr/

North American viewers on the East Coast can take advantage of DVB-S & pick up a number of satalites that cover the Atlantic region. There is a wide variety of FTA programming available. My dad used to be a ham operator, I guess this is the new `ham` hobby.

You can buy/order the Dreambox, a Linux-powered DVB satellite receiver with a LAN adapter and an optional HDD. Not really useful if you don't have a parabol antenna, but otherwise really sweet.

Positive side-effect: you can upgrade programme keys via the Internet & watch all those nice channels for adult entertainment :) Problem, though, is that more and more programmes are scrambled in SECA2, which hasn't been hacked yet...

From http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/Bereiche/Produkt e/DM7000_featurelist.php

USB:
USB 1.2 connector

Uh... I've never heard of USB 1.2. Can someone shed some light on this mysterious standard? Also, is it full speed, high speed, ultra-high speed or l33t speed?

What amazes me about all those "big brands" PVR is the fact that they all miss lan connectivity to enforce a "hardware" copyright control on what is recorded.

In Europe the Dreambox is becoming a big hit ... let's hope they dont get sued too fast!

>- No install of Linux, software, libraries

Run that by me again, I seem to be misunderstanding...

>- no install of cards

uhhhuhhh...

>- Customer support if you cant figure out how to plug it into your TV (the truely braindead)

And RedHat doesn't offer any?

>- Comes with all the cables

So does a computer with a TV Capture board pre-installed...

You can buy a computer setup already for the brain-dead. I never really did get the TiVO thing... especially the monthly subscription deal. Blech!

The DreamBox DM7000 looks promising to me. What I'd like to have is a network ogg and mp3 player, and the DM7000 seems to have all the features I want, with hardware MPEG2/PVR functions thrown in to boot (and MPEG4 apparently on the way). It runs Linux, so retrofitting Vorbis and MP3 compatibility should be no big deal. Retail price is about $500 in my area, but I'm sure I can find a better deal on the 'net. More accessories (wireless keyboard) and pictures here.

Anybody have experiences with this one?

German c't magazine ran a cool (but pricey) DIY media center project in 2001, see this post of mine. They had plans to convert it to Linux, but it's outside my price range, mainly due to the large LCD screen.

I expect anyone with one of these,DreamBox DM7000 ,does!

Here

that's http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/cat/pictures.php 4 for the still Goat conscious

Perhaps its just a theme. I guess I'll find out on the next episode of 'Taken'.