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Build Your Own Linux PVR
linuxwrangler writes "A few weeks ago Russell Pavlicek, Infoworld's 'Open Source' columnist mentioned a personal linux video time-shifter (PVR) he built. In response to reader requests he has now posted a page describing the project." Escaping the monthly fees of TiVo is a good motivation -- and the total cost here isn't bad either.
Any suggestions for a good remote that doesn't support the company with the worst pop-up/under ads ever?
Market this! I have the ability to make a machine for this purpose, and I know people that have done it several times over.
Why isn't there a company bold enough to at least make the hardware?
I'm sure there are legal issues but it seems like some company would have tried it by now.
In his first article:
"I remember how the process used to go when I'd scope out solutions in the closed-source world. There would be brochures to peruse. There would be data sheets read. Maybe there would be crippleware demos to run. And then there would be a solution to buy.
Unfortunately, this takes time. Significant time. And in the Internet age, time is critical.
But in the world of open source, I had several options right on my Linux CD. I didn't have to waste time with endless marketing materials."
But you DID have to waste time compiling, testing, setting up, configuring, tweaking, this that and the other thing. I mean c'mon. I've seen (and used) several proprietary solutions that work great with *uncrippled* time-trial demos.
And then you had to waste the time searching for compatible hardware, testing that, taking it back to the store, arguing for a refund, paying 15% restocking, trying something else, etc, etc.
And then you get to the box itself. I'm sorry but a Celeron 400? Sure it might 'work', but not all that well. My p3 600 had trouble capturing tv quality streams without siginificant losses. And it at least had the benefit of UDMA/100 and a 133mhz FSB.
Meh, so some guy made a shitty (functionally and aesthetically) PC that runs linux and plugged it into his TV. Kudo's to you, sir.
I'd really like to do something like this, and use linux to do it. But this guy is full of it. I hate when zealots pretend to be informative.
Gimme a useful article, not a thinly veiled 'MS is TeH SUCK Liniz is tEH GODE!' troll.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
It would probably be easier to have people try and lobby the networks/stations to contribute theri schedules to a central source ... once one of them is onboard, the rest won't want to be left out.... of course, TV Guide probably wouldn't be pleased by such a creature...
hmmm.
another idea is to create something to parse the signal sent to digital boxes that has local scheduloing..
~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
Bullshit! Apparently he doesn't have a wife that feels the need to carry on a conversation right in the middle of a critical part of the show. ;-)
and likewise, the rewind feature comes in handy so you can reply what you just missed when the "conversation" started, before you could pause
The main reason I went with TiVo (before I understood all of the other cool things it does) was because of the limitations of the VCR and tape. I wanted more than 8 shows per week. All VCRs I saw were limited in this capability. I also have to watch all 8 hours of the tape before I can use it again. Not all shows are the same priority, so I don't always want to watch them all before another more important show is on. With a hard disk based recorder (home brew or purchased), this is not an issue. If you want to save it forever, just record to a tape.
The problem with this is it pulls from 3rd party sites (mainly tvguide.com and gist.com I believe) to get its programming information.
:).
If LOTS of people started using this on their homemade PVR's, I'm guessing the programming information from tvguide.com and gist.com would suddenly change format to make this break
Yes, but similar solutions, can be used all over the world...
Not just in the USA.
http://jesus.everdense.com/
Actually, that would be $250 more, but it's well worth it.
I've owned my unit for over 2 years now, and my Standalone TiVo is still chugging away at some 15 hours of shows a week--at the old prices ($10 monthly, $200 lifetime), I've already paid off the cost of the lifetime sub.
If you have DirecTV, the DirecTiVo units are an even better deal with the monthly fee being 5 dollars or so.
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
Sure you say you can do a Tivo cheaper. Maybe. But to me, the advantages of doing this outweigh the advantages of Tivo. I personally don't care for the thumbs uping and thumbs downing. I know what I want to watch and I don't want it recording anything else. Couple other folks mentioned the Freevo project and that interests me alot. But a lot of folks forget what you could do. You could hack the program a bit and add a button that lets you Zap a show to a standard DVD-R. You could use NFS and make a similar pc with a WiFi card in it, but minimal hard drive and a TV out card and have the view your recorded shows on any tv. Or start watching it in the living room, pause and go to the bedroom to finish. You could run samba and then mount a disc and setup a doze machine for your kids and they can watch Seasame Street in their room (no TV needed). I could go on, but I would have a rather long post. The advantages far outweigh they nice package Tivo provides.
Gorkman
So what % of TiVo sales goes to GNU/Linux? Or is Tivo just riding on Linux's back?
Why should any of it? Isn't the point that they should be putting the source back out for people to benefit from? And if they are doing this, aren't they fulfilling the gpl and any requirements and/or obligations they have to the OS community?
He goes through all the trouble and expense to make a basic TV "Time Shift" device with Linux, and then sumbits a picture of it sitting on top of a VCR!!! Granted, that's old tech "time shifting", but he obviously knows how to set the clock on the damn thing, so it probably could "work just fine for his needs" as well.
Let's see, what else could we make with Linux to do the same job as a tool we already have?
Wine, music and cinema are the three great creations of humanity. -T'Ian Han
It seems like the real voodoo cool trick that is unavailable on any of these systems and is available on Tivo and ReplayTV is the ability to pause live TV. Personally I think that's one of the best features of the system. Actually, pausing live TV isn't the cool part, it's letting a show queue up all the commercial time at the beginning, while you do something else, then go in and skip all the commercials. I'd love to flip a recorder on for the first 90 minutes of monday night football, then go do something else, and come back to a commercial free game.
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The thing is that it is much easier to sit down and do a CLI quickly and get the kinks worked out than it is to develop a usable GUI. I've tried to do a similar project to this, and doing it all command line makes life much simpler in the beginning. Eventually, yes, having a nice GUI would be good, but if a hacker can throw together the box with a CLI and be happy with what he's got, isn't that okay?
If somebody wants a nice GUI, they'll write one. As somebody else pointed out, there's the freevo project which has what appears to be a very nice GUI.
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The home-brewing of technology is inherently good. Were it not so, Linux and most Open Source ware wouldn't even exist, because it's always cheaper to buy than to build. But as with software, building your own gives you a level of control that you'd never get in a commercial solution. And it's not work - it's a hobby.
the company with the worst pop-up/under ads ever
Just as MP3.com is only one vendor of MPEG audio files, X10.com is only one vendor of devices that follow the X-10 power-line data communication protocol.
Will I retire or break 10K?
the networks will probably want to kill me for this, but....
As long as we're making our own PVRs, do any of them have the ability to use XML edit scripts to cut out commercials? Fast forward and 30-second skip and all are nice, but they always miss and you have to back up. It wouldn't be to hard to just distribute exact timing. In theory, everyone records The Simpsons on their computer, some kind soul goes through and marks the start and end time for each commercial break, and makes this file available on the net. The edit file includes the station it was captured from (different stations could theoritically use differnt length breaks), and some signature derived from the content which can be used to synch up the times. There's a slashcode site where they're posted, and you get modded based on how accurately you annotate the commercial breaks (meaning the networks don't distribute commercial-only edits (although... superbowl)). Then the rest of us get home a few hours later, grab an edit script off the web, and watch the show hassle free.
I've wanted this for most of my life. And now that it's becomming technically possible it's probably illegal (or will be). sigh
To create (S)VCD cue/bins from MPEG files , you can use vcdimager. Keep in mind that (S)VCD only accept certain resolutions and bitrates, not just any MPEG file can be used to create a video CD.
It's a geek thing, you wouldn't understand.
Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
The TV stations want their schedules to be known to as many people as possible, as that's the way they attract a larger audience (and hence ratings go up and they can charge more for advertising). Most offer their lineups on their own sites, with minimal advertising (typically they just advertise their own shows), but to scrape each of these individually would be a daunting task.
What's interesting about XMLTV is that the original author (IMHO) is more concerned with the XML file format than with actually scraping content. It's a full-featured and well-designed markup language for TV programs, and could/should become the defacto standard in disemmenating schedules. If some of the major networks were to offer this openly, and people like me began using it, I think it could catch on, with all tv stations jumping on the bandwagon. Then middlemen like TVguide would have to rethink their business model.
It's too bad information is so expensive... it doesn't have to be.
What's wrong with you people? For years, everyone whined that Linux was being ignored in the server market, in the embedded market, etc.
Suddenly, a few years ago, TiVo produced a Linux-based PVR. They even (*GASP!*) encouraged hacking it!
Now, you want to "avoid the service cost?"
Brilliant. Take one of the few companies that stands to actually make a successful business based on Linux, and attempt to put them out of business because you're too cheap to pay $12 a month for the service, to support a company that has supported the Linux community over the years.
What, exactly, is the reason for not wanting to support TiVo? Besides being complete skinflints, that is...if you can't afford $12/mo., you shouldn't be spending $300-500 for a luxury item like a PVR in the first place.
.@.
You're preaching to the choir, my friend ... As of last week, I've had a Tivo for two years. I have mine upgaded and pulling data via a serial port. Tivo is decidedly superior to any of the ATI AIW cards and totally blows away this home-grown solution, but if the choice is between a home grown similar to what this guy has and the AIW, I'll go with the AIW.
Now, you want to "avoid the service cost?"
Yes, it is called choice.
You know, that thing Free software is about?
Besides being complete skinflints, that is...if you can't afford $12/mo., you shouldn't be spending $300-500 for a luxury item...
When you demonize someone who has made a choice you disagree with, you come across as an obnoxious zealot.
Your comment, and the other comments in this thread which personally insult the guy who made this PVR and then took the trouble and the bandwidth costs to share it with everyone, make many people ask themselves:
"Hmmm, the Tivo seems kind of cool, but some of the most vocal users are such vicious, immature dicks.. maybe I don't want one."
If Linux itself ultimately fails to take over all computing, it will not be due to any technical fault or deficiency. It will be because immature, foul-mouthed shits who insult anyone who disagrees with them have driven undecided people away.
I see many posts here complaining about this guy's home made PVR. They are all complaining about the lack of features or this and that. It's a work in progress folks and it's just been started! Grow up!
I wonder if these same complainers were complaining in 1993 about Linux kernel 0.9x "Microsoft has more features!" "Microsoft has a better GUI!" "Why should we spend all the time configuring this Linux thing when we could just spend $300 and buy Windows".
The arguments are identical. Cut this fellow some slack for daring to build something that you won't even attempt.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.