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Linux PVRs Highlighted
foolinator writes "Yahoo News is featuring an article highlighting TiVO alternatives. This includes MythTV (my favorite), Freevo, and even sites on how to start as a newbie. All of us who subscribe to the mailing lists be prepared to help out the newbies as Linux PVRs become more mainstream."
Tivo is a service. It occurs to me that trying to use one of these alternatives will work great until the automated TV listing parser stops working due to a moved web page or some other problem.
I am more trusting of a freely available software package rather than a service. What happens if Tivo goes bankrupt or ups the price or whatever?
If a website changes and code needs to be fixed the people running the software will do so and get the changes down to the endusers quickly.
Even if it doesn't work anymore at least I wouldn't be losing money like I would if Tivo died.
This is all fine and dandy as a recording medium goes, but I would like to see the technology put to some other uses, like recording my incomming e-mail messages direct to memory stick while skipping the spam.
For my mom, who works a couple days a week, the ability to record her soap programs, sans interuptions, while she is at work is great. I just find that if you record a 1 hr show without commercials, you get about 40 min of video on average. You spend 40 min watching this and recording another 30 min program, aprox. 22 min of real show. You record another show shile watching your 22 min show and so on... It is like constantly halving a distance... you seem to get somewhere in the beginning but you never reach the end.
flinging poop since 1969
Though not Linux-based, myHTPC totally rocks.
http://www.rayn.net . Funny. Stuff.
Also, I remember the last company to say they would keep a product free, just fill out this form.
It's a subscription at a different price. Time vs. Money.
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
To me, if TiVo's the best, and still cheaper (at least for the first couple of years of use), why use homebrew except for bragging rights?
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
Because the more companies that focus more on Linux and OSS systems than they do on Windows systems, the more people will be attracted.
I know you'll probably say that the market for Linux devices is tiny.. and I'll agree with you on that, however, it's growing incrementally every day as more and more people are introduced to it in a friendly way. Working in electronics retail I've come upon many people who want to try Linux but are afraid of it because of horror stories, or someone closeby tries to scare them away by saying "oh it can't do that, I tried it and it was crap". I always get a smile from the look on their face when I say "it can do it now and it's been able to for a few years now. When was the last time you looked at Linux?"
I have a high level of concern over this issue, also. I would be happy to pay a reasonable cost (say 50% of the TIVO fee?) for a reliable long term non changing source of listings. I'm suspicous of this whole "Direct" Zap2It thing. They want to issue you a "certificate", and then require you to fill out a survey. And for all this you get about 3 months of service. I suspect that their bussiness model will not work any better (if they have one) than so many of the dotcom models. Someone pleas convince me I'm wrong.
nix is very simple, but it takes a genius to understand the simplicity. (Dennis Ritchie) ~
"To me, if TiVo's the best, and still cheaper (at least for the first couple of years of use), why use homebrew except for bragging rights?"
well, as I've stated on many occasions... building your own PVR isn't for everybody. It helps if you like to tinker with PCs/software/etc... not everyone likes to DIY but I do =)
that said, I love my Tivo.. but it isn't everything. I kinda wish I got a replayTV as Tivo's home media options (which you pay more to network your Tivo to your PC, sorta) is a joke.
A tivo with lifetime subscription is 110 (after rebate 40 hours) + 300... 410
I'd much rather pay that in hardware/toys to play with (you do know you are on slashdot, right? =)) and then some to have MORE functionality (like weather modules, RSS feeds, MAME, mp3's, divx, and so on....)...
*shrug* again DIY PVr is not for everyone, but it's not a meritless endeavor. And yes, you may end up spending more, especially if you want it small/sexy looking, than you'd ever pay for a Tivo+subscription...
I must say in the short time I've been running the site, the advancements in the software has been really amazing... SageTV (not free beer/speech... cue boo's and hisses) works awesome with my pvr350 and approaches tivo-esque look/feel/usability...
YMMV,
e.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I certaintly can't answer for the rest of the Linux PVR community, but I for one think my Linux PVR works great! I don't watch nearly enough TV to purchase a TiVo, and since my PVR was frankensteined from dead machines I had laying about, it cost me nothing but time. Of course I enjoy configuring and tweaking systems in spare time. :)
The sum and substance is: If you like playing around with this kind of stuff, go for it, and enjoy the fringe benifits of having some level of use. If you don't like spending the time, then buy a TiVo and support an emerging company. It's all about choice, and having a choice is just awesome in my opinion.
Be Safe! Sleep with a Marine. Semper Fi!
It just hurts their chances of staying in business.
Maybe, maybe not. I think Linux market penetration is approaching the point where vendors can maintain a viable Linux-only business. The advantage to supporting *only* Linux and not Windows is that they have a chance to gain Linux market mindshare and recognition as *the* Linux solution. Basically, they're betting that it's better to be the default option of a small market, rather than just another also-ran in a much larger market.
Is their strategy a good one? Only time will tell. I do think, however, that they've picked a very good technology to try it with. Using your PC as a PVR is a fairly geeky thing to do, given the existence of dedicated, relatively inexpensive devices like TiVo, and running Linux on your PC is also a fairly geeky thing to do. It seems likely that a much higher percentage of Linux users than Windows users would be interested in such technology. The absolute number of Windows PVR on PC users is larger, I'm sure, but the competition for those users is tougher. It's entirely possible that nearly 100% of the Linux market is actually more cards than 10% or whatever of the Windows market.
Time will tell, of course.
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So why don't you (for example) charge your mother 1/5 of what the TiVo subscription fees to maintain her xmltv software via ssh.
That sort of business model worked for CodeWeavers.
What does the GPL software have to do with the totally proprietary hardware system they have developed?
Want a better hardware implementation of TiVo? Take the software and port it to your toaster. Quit whining that they're not doing what YOU want them to do. DIY.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
The big thing for me is that Tivo is locked down. I wan't my PVR to be 100% customizable and upgradeable at my discretion. I also have a HUGE problem with big brother monitoring what I watch and what I pause (i.e. The Janet Jackson Super bowl halftime show). Tivo may run on Linux, but it's just another greedy corporation. Fuck Tivo and fuck you.
^^vv<><>BA
One thing the author didn't do was list the price of a base-model TiVo machine. For those with a limited income, forking out $199 for a graphics card may not seem as beneficial as paying $199 for an entire unit. They may even be able to scrimp with the monthly fees.
I have a ReplayTV myself, the base $149 model. I liked the built-in network card and available 3rd party programs that allow me to stream media from my PC to the ReplayTV box, or vice-versa.
I think it's good that this article showed up to list the alternatives. I really don't understand why TiVo is so popular, especially when you compare the features of it to ReplayTV. But I guess that they've got on hell of a marketing team.
Even if they did charge, can we not just file it away as a "don't have to screw with it" payment?
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent