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MythTV including support for the Plextor ConvertX (which has linux drivers as well as a Mac flavored version bundled with Elgato's EyeTV)

*shrug*

e.

This is a welcome move in some respects, it certainly shows that VIA now considers the Linux user as a valuable customer base that must be supported.

However, there is already a thriving open source driver implementation for this platform: link providing code that was based on a version of VIA's code that they released to a limited number of open source developers a few years ago.

It is also worth noting that the "VIA Open Source" package still relies on a proprietary binary library to provide MPEG acceleration on their hardware. This library provides a completely non-standard API that applications must interface to to implement MPEG support. This is in contrast with the Unichrome project's solution, providing full source code for their MPEG implementation and implementing the standard and well established XvMC API in their driver.

The Unichrome project has also been responsible for implementing support for VIA MPEG acceleration in Xine, MPlayer , MythTV. Again this contrasts with VIA's solution to application support which has resulted in them producing forked VIA specific versions of Xine [VeXP] and MPlayer [VeMP] without involving the donor projects in the process or contributing back to them.

Along with many performance, feature and stability enhancements to the codebase the Unichrome project has also been responsible for reorganising and cleaning the codebase to a state that is now acceptable for inclusion in the base X.org source tree and resolving the security issues in the DRM code so that it can be included in the official Linux kernel.

It is, therefore, a shame that VIA decided to make this grandiose eye catching announcement, rather than just getting involved in the existing open source communities and simply helping and contributing to the Unichrome, Xine, MPlayer and MythTV projects. That might have been less eye catching or press release friendly, but it would certainly be a better way to win friends in the Linux community.

Check out mythtv - it strips out the ads for you, no more messing around for the same ad free goodness :-).

I notice in another reply you are saying you watch the shows using another machine - try the mythtv frontend. You can then stream them over your network, and watch them from another machine.

I know that TV execs consider it stealing (to not watch ads), so I am just giving a user experience report on Ads.

I know that the same is true for the internet - my interest in news online has increased 10 fold now that Firefox + adblock allows me to block the popups, popunder and flash garishness. (Even the ads on slashdot :-)

The bottom line here is that (IMHO) appreciation and uptake of content increases markedly when all the surrounding crap is removed. Simple is good. Pretty obvious really.

TV execs have often commented that people enjoy watching ads, and indeed prefer it. Rubbish. The same is true for the internet.

So dont do it - dont use popups.

(Yes - I know that TV, Newspapers, Radio live on ads. I am not trying to pass comment on the validity of the model, just on a single user experience).

Sorry, but any "Tivo replacement" has to have at least some basic/adequate support for this, and Myth just doesn't - or I haven't come across a wonderful external tuner FAQ yet. Either way, I'm sticking with Tivo.

um have you heard of alittle thing called Mythtv? Does that and more.
=P

I'd be happy to add my $0.02 to this discussion. Check out my blog entry on RoR that I wrote because of the blatant overlooking and shouting down of anyone with a negative comment on slashdot back when the second tutorial for RoR was posted.
<Disclaimer>:
I'm not against RoR or Ruby and I don't care much how good it is compared to any other language. I simply want good tools.<Disclaimer>
Regarding the tutorial, I did make one assumption, that it would work as the author (and others on slashdot) posited that it would with legacy databases. From my experience, it *DOES NOT* play nicely with legacy databases. I tried to hack up an app based around my mythtv database and see whether I could throw together a little interface for transcoding the recordings through RoR. After following all the documentation I could find (actually pretty scarce for figuring out how to work with legacy dbs) and finally managing to get my web app to act like it might be working, I discovered that it had been truncating the data in my mythtv database every time I loaded up the web app.
Now, to be fair, I know *very* little about Ruby and could possibly have caused this (unlikely), but according to everything I read, I hadn't actually ever instructed the Active Record to delete any data so I have no idea how it was that every table in my mythtv database was being truncated each time I loaded up the webapp.
For those who would call me a troll, idiot, or clueless, you may be correct on one or more of those counts, but you cannot call me a liar. I saw what happened and I intentionally ran a few tests to reproduce it and was successful with those tests. I didn't keep any of the code around and so you'll have to take my word on this one.

I've been using MythTV and really like it.

For those who want a fast install, check out KnoppMyth

Of course there's always Freevo

21.15 Can I run MythTV on my TiVo? 21.16 Can I run MythTV on my ReplayTV? No. While it is true that the TiVo runs the Linux kernel, and TiVo has released their changes to the kernel under the GPL, the TiVo is not a general-purpose computer, and there is no programming information available for the custom hardware contained within a TiVo. TiVo is under no obligation to release the source code to their application. The ReplayTV runs VxWorks, a Real Time Operating System from Wind River Systems.

Umm.. hello... MythTV?

As of March 19th, support for the Plextor *-402 series of MPEG4/DivX encoders has been added to MythTV! Finally we have a device that is supported extremely well under Linux and has fully GPL'd open source drivers. I may have once considered getting a Tivo, but I am a lot less likely now. I am not an employee of Plextor, just a happy purchaser of their goods.

A while ago there was a discussion speculating that Apple might buy TiVo.

I'm wondering if Apple really needs Tivo. Why can't they do what they usually do (BSD-Darwin, KHTML-Safari) which is to take some free software (MythTV, which already runs on OS X ) and make it really easy to use with all the Apple shine. Given that Myth is already such a polished product that would seem like a good idea to me.

Can be found here.

Nothing like watching a great show and having to minimize the link for the latest viagra pill with your kids.
And to think, TiVo use to be a quality DVR...

I guess the pressure about the ability to skip ads and their lack of revenue convinced them to take this approach.
One would think that with the recent signing with Comcast that TiVo wouldn't have the need to pull something like this.
Given my choice in the future I do believe I shall stick with something more like MythTV

Actually the Air2PC card can decode cable HDTV. Assuming they're unencrypted of course. Supported by mythtv.

Its the software that does the skipping - Myth TV is my poison, and it works great :-)

http://www.mythtv.org/

Sad admission, but I have only recently begun watching 24 and I am pretty much set on purchasing the first season on DVD or renting it (which I would guess would be exorbitantly costly? Dunno, I've never rented an entire series before). At this point, I would venture a guess that you are correct that the cost v. bandwidth of said DVD rentals is probably superior for the consumer (unless you're a "prirate" of which group I do not subscribe) at this point...

My summation is that eventually (when, oh when?) media-moguls realize that if they will only offer the masses a subscription to on-demand viewing they will rake in more $$$ then they could begin to imagine, we will all win. Granted, they (those devils) will not be able to price it more then cable, etc. or you will still find yourself pirated, but can you imagine... Subscription + adverts (which we are all banally used to already) for on-demand? It's just money in the bank--with no headaches...

Myth TV anyone?

Thanks for that. It's nice to know where this all started, because... well, despite all of the talk and speculation, I don't see how it would make _any_ sense at all for Apple.

The true advantage TiVo has in the marketplace consist of (1) some patents on DVR tech and concepts, like Season Pass and such, (2) scheduling data to support that. Other than that, their service and tech are pretty straightforward things that almost any company ( or heck, open source project ) could duplicate with a bit of effort. This is why they haven't been bought out by Comcast or someone already ( that and, oh, they've said they don't _want_ to be bought ).

Anyway, while Steve is full of surprises, I don't really see where TiVo's services fit into Apple's game plan, unless Apple actually does have a handheld video device in it's plans. Personally, I don't think they do - Steve is right; except for the kids in the back of the mini van, I don't know many folks who wants to watch video on a portable. I'm not watching a bunch of movies on my laptop while I'm on vacation. Handheld video players aren't exactly flying off the shelves. Except via cable systems, we aren't yet approaching the bandwidth needed for even standard definition movie downloads at reasonable speeds. The market for TiVo-to-Go isn't really there, short of letting you burn DVDs of broadcast shows, which TiVo-to-Go doesn't do, and that's actually a pretty limited market, too. So why would Apple want to aquire a money-loosing division??

In short, buying TiVo makes way more sense for Microsoft than Apple, wouldn't it? But really, why would either company want to bother ? Wait a while and TiVo might actually end up being available for cheaper... or roll your own for cheaper... and I say that despite the fact that I frickin' love my TiVo.

Partnerships, sure, those make sense. But buying TiVo ? Why buy when you can partner and get TiVo-To-Go support for your platform ( the only thing Apple is likely to really be interested in ) for a whole heck of a lot less cash ???

Well you can run MythTV on OS X. Not sure about the hardware acceleration. Here's a good review .

I'm wondering if Apple really needs Tivo. Why can't they do what they usually do (BSD-Darwin, KHTML-Safari) which is to take some free software (Myth in this case) and make it really easy to use with all the Apple shine. Given that Myth is already such a polished product that would seem like a good idea to me.

Get a decent PC, make sure it's quiet enough, install Linux, then install MythTV.

Then either get a pcHDTV or better yet an Air2PC.

You're done. :-) Both cards do not bother looking at the broadcast flag and both of them either let you watch the shows in real-time or dump them to the HDD as MPEG2 files. Air2PC is currently better at receiving digital cable, but pcHDTV is supposed to do that as well pretty soon. Both cards receive HDTV OTA with no problems.

pcHDTV 3000 from here

Air2PC from here or here

2. When you're ready, build a computer for MythTV. Use this guide, look here for HDTV tips, and ask questions on this mailing list. You can also search for answers on the mailing list archive.

3. You say that Myth isn't all you want. I think you're wrong. Here's what it can do:

It can record analog content from cable, satellite, and over-the-air broadcasts.

It can record digital content from over-the-air broadcasts, including HDTV.

It can record unencrypted digital content over firewire from some digital cable boxes.

Using free tools that come with MythTV, you can cut commercials and export any recording from MythTV to a number of different formats, including Divx, Xvid, VCD, SVCD, and DVD.

4. Here's what it can't do:

Myth can't record encrypted digital content from digital cable or digital satellite. Keep in mind that no PC-based solution can do this. The only possible ways to do record content from these sources in digital format are to use a black-box solution (usually) provided by the cable or satellite company or to put on your black hacker hat and crack the encryption. If you choose the former, odds are slim and none that you will be able to export the recordings.

I am using an AMD 1700+ CPU with 1 GB memory, an nVidia GeForce FX 5700 128MB board. I only have 80+GB space on the system right now (enough for around 5 hrs recording time ) but I will probably upgrade it later this year.

I bought this card because it does not have the broadcast bit and since it was made before July it will not be encumbered with all those restrictions.

I do not, however, plan on abusing that flexibility by sharing my recordings and thus ripping off the content owners. It is the thieves that feel it is thier right to steal from people just because they can that have brought this onerrous situation upon us.

Tivo's something I've always found neat, but the cost and/or monthly fees has always made me want to roll my own with MythTV

MythTV has more than what you need since it has the live playback/pause capability. Freevo doesn't have as many features as MythTV but it seems exactly what you describe. Basically a VCR, a jukebox, and a few extras.

I dunno where Intel is going with this, but I don't think that specialized technology is needed for it. MythTV or other offerings (for all sorts of platforms) are all that's really required.

If you completely offload MPEG2 decode to the TV (because your CPU can't handle it), doesn't that prevent you from overlaying a live stream with PVR interface graphics? (eg. as seen in about half the MythTV screenshots)

In about 30 seconds, I found http://www.mythtv.org/ and within the documentation, nice RPM packages for Fedora which are installed by something as simple as "yum install mythtv-suite" (after telling yum about the repo). Discounting download time, I suspect you could have had this running within minutes on a Fedora or SuSE or even Debian install.

The wireless card support is a bad situation, and not much can be done about it aside from not giving that particular manufacturer any money (and letting them know they are losing sales). Other than that, your primary problem was that you chose Slackware.

On the off chance this isn't a troll:

Here is the MythTV Site . Check it out...great application that seems to only be getting better.

Build a Home Theater PC. My choice, because I am smarter than I am rich, is a MythTv box http://www.mythtv.org/
Or
You could buy a Microsoft Media Center box.
Either should stream content to any room over 802.11g. Just don't plan on doing anything else on the wireless network.

Or I could build a MythTV system and get all of these things and not pay a monthly fee.

MythTV has not even been updated for a whole year.

I don't know where you get your info from but mythtv.org disagrees with you. (September 2004 for the 0.16 release, this weekend , apparenty for 0.17)
This is not a project for the linux newbie.
But, learning to get mythtv from cvs and compile is relatively pain-free ... once you have mythtv already working on your box, that is. And there's always knoppmyth , a bootable cd version.

I'm amazed that they wrote up the Freevo project without even mentioning the MythTV project, which is far more mature (i.e. dues more, works a lot better, has more users and developers). Aside from doing more and working better, MythTV has a nice, scalable architecture that allows you to have multiple back-ends (storage and video encoding) and multiple front-ends (control and playback) so that you can have (for example) a big MythTV back-end in the basement with tons of storage and a couple of tuner cards, and have lightweight MythTV front-ends (which can run on an X-Box (for example, see http://www.killefiz.de/k/machines/xbox-mythtv-fron tend/) or a Mac. And since mythtv is available via apt-get install mythtv-suite it's really easy to set up and play around with on any Linux box. The latest version adds MythPhone, which is a fun way to play around with voice over IP and videophones. I'll admit that I spend more time in MythGame (runs all MAME games, etc.).

From trying both projects, the only interesting thing about Freevo is that the front-end is written in Python, which is a nice language but is slow, while MythTV is written in C++, which is an annoying language but is fast.

FUCK FREEVO! MYTHTV RULES!

Yes.

It works quite well, actually.

It has hit AU, just not "retail". The OzTiVo crew have got the solution humming, and its a beautiful thing.
OzTiVo homepage
Personally I have a MythTV box, but thats because of the higher geek-quotient involved :-) but I have set up OzTiVo's for friends and family who are less "techie", and just want something that works. Get the integrated network + cache card, a 200+ Gb hdd and a memory stick, and you are about $400 in for a solution that then costs $0/month down. The community group for OzTiVo keeps the listings pretty solid, so you should be very happy :-)

Is it possible to use multiple tuners with eyetv? MythTV's ability to use multiple tuners is excellent for not having to choose which show to record.

In an better world, Apple would release a real PVR product, possibly using MythTV.

I've had a Windows-based PVR for a couple of years now, and while I'd love to check out MythTV, I'm unable due to them not supporting any of the ATI All-In-Wonder cards. I run an ATI 8500DV for my PVR currently.

I'm a big Linux supporter, but it is frustrating that there's still problems with drivers for popular hardware, as the lack of AIW support illustrates. Blame's really pointless at this point also. The hardware companies are losing potential sales by not (fully) supporting Linux yet, much less porting drivers, and/or releasing specs for older product, and Linux is losing potential users due to pre-existing hardware setups.

I'm surprised hardware support hasn't kicked in more than it has yet, really... The AIW's have been around, in version or another, for quite some time now, and evidently the entire line's not supported yet. Things are starting to get better, but the 8500's been out a long time now. At the rate driver progress is advancing, I have a better chance of running a BeOS clone before using my 8500DV with MythTV. 8(

I actually considered purchasing a Hauppage 350 when my PVR box went down last month (lost a drive), but it's easier to justify spending much less on the ultra-cool MediaMVP and sticking with Windows than buying a rather expensing dedicated mpeg encoder just to try out some of the Linux solutions. With the MediaMVP, I can relocate my PVR box entirly out of the living room, and dedicate a headless box to recording, and playback somewhere. The biggest (and only) drawback I can come up with doing this is not being able to have Mame and other games on my PVR box. Perhaps with bluetooth control's though, one could even achieve that with the MVP.

For that matter, I'm seriously considering spending a little more down the road, and getting a completely silent, PPC-based box, with HD capabilities. My only concern is how the DRM will impact this when the FCC's broadcast biut kicks in this summer.

I've been putting together a MythTV box. I don't know the answers, but get involved in the mailing lists. (See the bottom of this page http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInfo.)

Other useful references:
http://www.mythtv.info/ (MythTV wiki)
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users / (mailing list archive)
http://www.mythtv.org/

I've been putting together a MythTV box. I don't know the answers, but get involved in the mailing lists. (See the bottom of this page http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInfo.)

Other useful references:
http://www.mythtv.info/ (MythTV wiki)
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users / (mailing list archive)
http://www.mythtv.org/

I was thinking about getting a little Small-form factor box to run something like MythTv, something along the lines of a AMD64. But checking out the Mac mini just makes me wonder about how I could get that going. Anyone think that this box could be a useful solution to that kind of project? I think the fairly standardized hardware would make that pretty simple to do, but being a non-mac person, I have no idea.

And damn - just in time to consider when upgrading my parents old machines. ;)

I'd just like to throw in that over the past few months there have been TONS of patches added to MythTV that add OSX compatibility.
I'm not sure how close Myth is to working completely on OSX, but I don't doubt that once it's working on OSX, it will be a formidable entry into the world of PVR software for this operating system.

It has all this already.
http://www.mythtv.org/
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users /

If I could install applications somehow it would be cool as I could turn it into a media hub to do anything.

Then what you probably want is MythTV running on a no-name beige PC running Linux.
Ok, maybe not beige, since there are quite a few cute mini-ATX cases that actually look better than most VCRs.

The HP thing will certainly be DRM-ized.
But a MythTV box with a pcHDTV card pays no attention to DRM. ;-)

Yes, apparently lots of people
(read the first bullet)

If it offers half of the features of this Linux based mediacenter application, then you will understand why it's the next BIG thing.

It is still legal to sell broadcast-flag-noncompliant devices in the US until June 2005. One such device is pcHDTV which works fine with MythTV
Even after June, it will still be legal to use such devices, if they were purchased before the deadline.

Can you put two and two together now? ;-)

I wonder if it'll run any of MythTV

and it's based on MythTV:

http://www.mythtv.org/