Linux-PVR Distribution LinVDR 0.7 Released

Mirko Doelle writes "LinVDR is a very small Linux distribution turning your normal PC with a DVB video card into a rather cool personal video recorder (PVR). 'The Busybox based system requires less than 128 MB disk space and is shipped as compressed bootable CD image (31 MB) with an easy install program. Provided that you have a supported DVB card (Technotrend DVB Premium or Hauppauge Nexus) in your system, you'll get the software up and running running within 15 minutes or less. LinVDR uses the most recent development version of the Video Disk Recorder software VDR from Klaus Schmidinger. VDR is capable of recording more than one channel per time (as MPEG-2), timeshifting, cutting (with your remote control) and converting the MPEG-2 files into other formats. The 39 plugins delivered in LinVDR extend your PVR to be also a DVD player, DVD recorder, E-Mail reader, Voice mailbox and much more. Details on the software versions and plugins you can find at the project page. For download, visit the mirror list.'"

Comments

Voicemail?

[NardofDoom]

Now that would be really cool to have. It would be like a scifi movie: Come home, have the TV show the latest news while you listen to your voice messages while you get changed.

I wonder when MythTV will have that feature.

Re:Voicemail?

[geckofiend]

Try MythPhone, it's getting close if not there already. Plus it allows video conferencing on your TV.

This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K. All because our crankass digital TV providers (DirecTV and various Digital Cable providers) are too tightass to allow computers to decode their encrypted signal legally. So instead we have to use external tuners and LiRC or break the law if we want to have computer based PVRs. Pathetic, isn't it?

Remember kids, science is NOT a crime.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a user community in the US, have a look at http://www.hoochvdr.info/

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[dave420]

Science itself is not a crime, but if you use that science to circumvent laws, it is a crime.

Yes, we all want stuff for free, sometimes it just doesn't happen.

For a community that puts so much weight behind a certain license, you sure seem keen on pissing on everyone elses' :)

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an analog plugin that supports bttv cards (Hauppauges). That might work.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some laws are bad which means some "crimes" aren't.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[kaleco]

He does not want to piss on someone's licence. He just wants to use his computer as a PVR, which is reasonable.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

Well... how does it hurt DirecTV is they release a PCI card that would allow me to record the programming that I pay for directly to my HD in a Linux box? I DON'T want to buy a Tivo because I don't get the satisfaction of having built something with my own hands. I would have no problem paying DirecTV for a PCI Satellite card. It would likely cost a little more up front than their DirecTV/Tivo offer, but it would afford me a lto more flexibility. I wouldn't mind paying the extra monthly fee for an extra unit (assuming that the card would count as another DirecTV Terminal).

Think about the possibilities... If there WAS a DirecTV PCI card, I could then stream the signal to any other PC in the house, timeshift, or even possibly watch interesting shows on my lunch break at work. If I get a shitty DirecTV Tivo, all I get is what everyone else has: a PVR with limited functionailty.

None of what I want to do "pisses" on their license. Unless their license states, "You will accept the limited functionailty of our equipment because we are monopoly and you can't do anything about that". ;P

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Woogiemonger]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K.

First the Brits get booted from the US, then from India, and now from Europe? Man, I am SO getting modded down for this :)

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[amorsen]

Notice that you don't need to agree to the GPL to use GPL'd programs. It is only if you distribute the programs that you need the GPL. Most proprietary licenses do not allow distribution.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[gibbsjoh]

Off topic, but I didn't think there was any way to get a DVB-S card to decode Sky Digital.. am I wrong?

And while I'm off topic, why does Sky want to charge me £259 for a Sky+ box when its only £99 for new customers???

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Gadzinka]

Science itself is not a crime, but if you use that science to circumvent laws, it is a crime.

How come exercising "fair use" is suddenly a crime? I mean, if you can watch DirecTV or other digital TV programming, you already paid for this. So how come that watching it on computer screen or time shifting is suddenly a crime?

Robert

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ummm, no... using his computer as a PVR is not necessarily or clearly "reasonable". DirecTV, for example, has only authorized TIVO for PVR functions and only after TIVO made some changes. Since DirecTV owns their broadcasts, they get to decide what happens to them, not you. On the other hand, to be consumer friendly, it would be nice to have the abilities we'd like, such as recording any channel, anytime, in any manner.

I know someone who used to have their DirecTV box hacked to allow watching any channel for free, then it got to be too much of a hassle playing the cat and mouse game with DirecTV's security changes. Now she uses her system like everyone else. So, just another example of how someone didn't get their way.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[homer_ca]

Yes, this project is only for Europe because DVB is the European broadcast HDTV standard. The U.S. standard is ATSC. If you want an internal HDTV tuner card for the U.S. ATI makes the HDTV Wonder, but it has bad reviews. Also, DVB and ATSC are broadcast standards. These tuners won't work with cable or satellite.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[4of12]

None of what I want to do "pisses" on their license.

I know, I sympathize, I agree.

DirecTV's Content Providers (Newscorp) are extremely concerned about what you could do, or what others could do. Namely, rebroadcast their content for free to other people that aren't paying for that content.

Of course, you and I as customers want some reasonable functionality for our DVR's and I'm going to whatever lengths I need in order to get that functionality, DMCA be damned. But no, I'm not about to rebroadcast their content to the world, as much as I think they're greedy and paranoid and trying to assert more control over my viewing practices than is proper, because I don't think my proper digital rights should include sharing that content with umpteen million "friends".

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

It's true that people could do all those sorts of things to gain access to "free DirecTV" or what have you. However, I don't really think it's that much of a problem as long as most people don't go that route. The way to prevent that is to educate people about why it's not a decent thing to pirate pay television. There will always be thieves, but this is not something you can solve with technology. At the moment, every technological invention in the electronic realm to prevent theft of electronic media has made more headaches for the legitimate end-user.

There is also the other issue of what exactly reaplces the functionality of a VCR or cassette recorder these days? Back when I was in Jr. High, my folks got a VCR. I used it to record stuff off of broadcast TV and then had my friends come over and watch. Many times over. There wasn't a problem with this in the past. Extend that by using a VCR to record cable or a stereo cassette deck and a tuner to record music from the radio. No one seemed to have a problem with that and anyone who did was seen as a crank. In my mind, video files (mpegs, divx, etc...) and audio files (mp3, ogg vorbis, etc...) are just the digital equivalent of audio and video cassettes. The quality is high enough to be watchable or listenable, but it's not exact, it's lossy.

So... when I invite my folks over to watch a movie I recorded with my Hauppaugue PVR-250 from DirecTV, am I breaking any laws? I don't think so. I'm not selling anything. I'm not giving my parents free access to DirecTV unfettered. They get to see a handful of movies or shows when they come over that I've hand picked and time shifted for them. Eventually, I want them to be able to stream that from my house to theirs. Not the live signal mind you, just a recording. How is this any different than me popping a tape in a VCR, recording a program and then giving it to them to watch at home? Over and over again? I refuse to think that there is nothing that will allow for that same functionality in the digital world because a few greedy lawyers and businessmen want to squeeze every cent out of me. I'm not making DVDs of this stuff and selling them. If those tightasses are allowed to run rampant, the next thing you know is they'll be applying client licenses to your ears and eyes. Oh god. That's what they want isn't it? Again folks, resist these people at all costs.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this any different than me popping a tape in a VCR, recording a program and then giving it to them to watch at home?

Probably no difference, they would both be against the law. You can record a tape of something and watch it yourself. What you're talking about doing is recording it and giving it to someone else, that you're not authorized to do. With a digital copy you can make unlimited perfect reproductions, again something you're not authorized to do.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

So you're telling me that it's illegal to record something from TV and let someone else borrow the tape? This is news to me.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[nokiator]

One of the basic reasons why this package is so small is it does not include a real-time MPEG2 encoder. DBV-S cards just tune to a digital channel and send the demultiplexed MPEG2 stream directly on the PCI bus. This is typically not much data (6-10Mb/s) which can be easily handled by a program like LinVDR. For people in US, it should be relatively easy to add support for analog NTSC tuner cards with built-in MPEG2 encoders (such as Hauppauge PVR150/PVR250/PVR350) which generate MPEG2 streams on the PCI bus just like the DVB cards. MythTV already has drivers for these cards, so it is just a matter of porting from MythTV to LinVDR.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Bishop]

It is a pity that project is destined for obscurity. Forceing new users to go through hoops just to get some basic documentation is a sure fire way to kill a project.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[enrico_suave]

you could watch FTA Satellite DVB in the US. mmmmm hidef PBS =)

e.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[enrico_suave]

I concur that their *should* be a PCI card where you could insert your legitimate DirectTV access card thingie and legally decode your content to watch it on your PC... There should also be CableCard capable PCI cards to do the same for Digital Cable.

But one of the other posters nailed it on the head, re: the upstream content providers/relationships getting in the way.

You probably won't see DirectTV/Dish/CableCo's come out with it, but hopefully some 3rd party manufacturer can get the chocolate and peanut butter together to make a legitimate (accepts subscription/access cards) PCI sat/digital cable PCI cards.

(they do have this in Europe I believe with little skyview pcmia like daughter cards that attach to the satellite DVB cards to enable access/decoding)

*shrug*

e.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Cromac]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K. All because our crankass digital TV providers (DirecTV and various Digital Cable providers) are too tightass to allow computers to decode their encrypted signal legally. So instead we have to use external tuners and LiRC or break the law if we want to have computer based PVRs. Pathetic, isn't it?

I don't know about pathetic, but it is a pain in the ass...also not an insurmountable problem. Spend $25 on a IR blaster and you can have your PVR software change the channels on the external tuner just fine with GB-PVR and I think MythTV.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[losycompresion]

Last time i checked any QAM ready (read digital ready) tuner can recive digital AND HD cable off my standard cable connection. I can recive all the major networks in HD! The only thing I can't recive is pay channels(example HBO) The reason is that a pay channel needs to be encrypted so that people who aren't paying for it can't get it. If somebody made a cable card compatable PCI card I would be able to tune PAY channels on a computer also. So while the parent has a valid point on pay channels the main body of his post is at least misleading if not wrong.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

This project MOST DEFINATELY WORKS in North America and most of the world for that matter. The project works with the DVB standard which is used world wide for digital services. DVB encompasses
a single standard for Satellite(DVB-S), Cable(DVB-C), and Terrestial(DVB-T) transmissions and includes swapable authorization modules to work with multiple subscription providers and the encoding they use. VDR works with all of them. In north america its almost all satellite and Free To Air services that are available. DishNetwork does use DVB but refuses to authorize their service to any equipment except their own.

There are a ton of channels avaible but whether you like them is a different story. What do they have ? Lots of local network feeds (ABC,CBS,NBC,UPN,FOX etc), Loads of news. Foreign channels (ie not english language or US based.). Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, South African, Italian, Netherlands, channels from almost all the arabic world, IRAQ, IRAN, Turkey, German,French,Spanish channels from Spain,Puerto Rico,South America,..it goes on and on. Loads of educational, religious, and odd ball stuff. Good if you speak or have an interest in other languages or the rest of the world. HDTV..there used to be quite alot of HDTV channels up there for free..but most of them went encrypted. Now just a handful left open. Channels come and go all the time. But I love it all especially the wild feeds.

To get an idea of what TV and Radio is available for free check out these links and click on your country:

http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/index.html
http:/ /www.lyngsat.com/freeradio/index.html

There are also a handful of subscribtion services availabe. Mostly European, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Korean, and Porn channels. Just buy the subscription module for your channel and pop in your authorization card.

VDR it self is great program. Easy to build, configure, and use. One of the most no nonsense packages around. MythTV, VideoLan client, and Mplayer also support dvb cards under linux. Not as slick or easy as VDR though. Linux DVB api is easy to use and supports the most popular equipment. Getting some of them can be a pain in the ass in the U.S.A depending on what you want.

If you have any questions on VDR, DVB or getting equipment email me.

jonan@callisia.com.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Nik13]

Actually, it also works in north america (on windows at least) with the right mdplugins and a legit card. DirecTV doesn't use the DVB standard, so that'll never work. Once you try DVB caps, you never want to go back to a much lower quality analog capturing, with less detail, more blocks, bigger files, uncalibrated colors, crummy sound, expensive capture cards and all that good stuff I miss so much ;) (and that's still if you don't use MCE, then you get the added fun of DRM and reboots). Still, I much prefer my satellite PVR box. No updates, no BSODs, no setup, no codecs, none of that stuff to put up with. You even get a working remote with nice TV guide out of the box...

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Nik13]

You're wrong. DVB-S *IS* for satellite. Been using it with north american sats for a few years already. What it won't work with is the couple sats companies not using DVB (DTV and *C), or "new" encoding like turbo coded 8PSK (I say new as they're starting to use it, but it's actually already obsolete)

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[homer_ca]

OK, maybe you can get a few free to air feeds with a big dish and a C/Ku band receiver, but to me that sounds like as much fun as tuning a shortwave radio. Most people don't have or want a big dish. So for practical purposes this doesn't work in the U.S. meaning it won't work with your cable, DTV/Echostar small dish, or your local stations off the rabbit ears antenna.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Nik13]

My "big" dish is a whole 20" (a 18" is big enough but only gets 1 sat), and I get common sat programming with it (same as I get my my normal "small dish" set top box). It does work perfectly anywhere in NA, you get hundreds of great channels. I don't get the shortwave radio analogy there. Of course it doesn't work with cable or rabit ears.

Dish Network and Hi Def

[McFly69]

Any ideas how to use this (if possible) to record programs froma Dish Network system? I would love to have recording capabilities to pause and rewind my sat feed. Any ideas or input would be greatly appricated. Thanks

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[Nakago4]

How about the 2nd receiver on this page? The Dish player-DVR 921. It's a HDTV receiver with built-in PVR. Personally I'd always go for a solution that doesn't require any external conversion from digtal to analog and back to digital. And I don't know of any pc based decoder cards that will tune Dish network's signal on their own.

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[Mr. Cancelled]

If it's got a firewire port, and you have a Mac, you can record HDTV directly from it, provided it's an unencrypted signal.

Here's a couple o' links for more detail:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040 426151111599
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?&thr eadid=386740

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[arazor]

I have looked for info on that receiver. Everything I have found indicates the firewire port on the DVR-921 is non functional. I dont know if there are cool hacks for the DishNetwork DVRs like there are for tivo. Next year DishNetwork should be releasing a new HD DVR called the 942 maybe it will have that functionality but I really doubt it.

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[McFly69]

The whole point is to avoid buying additional boxes not to pay the $5 fee per box. Second recording in hi-def, the units cost at least $500 plus.

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[McFly69]

No firewire, just DVI. Anything I can do with that?

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[Nik13]

It *does* work with DN. Not sure if VDR has the plugins to legally use a subbed smartcard (don't like VDR, and I even wonder why such old news are brought up). On windows, mytheatre or progdvb or several others can do that for you.

Re:Dish Network and Hi Def

[McFly69]

VDR, what is that? If you have hints or suggestions how to do this, I would appricate it. Thanks

Finally!

[Quill]

I think it was only a matter of time before this happened - so well done! Now all I'm waiting for is someone to sell pre-configured Mini-ITX systems running this. (Yes, I'm that lazy.)

Re:Finally!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi
If you are living in europe....

http://www.xeatre.tv/

There are more offers, but this machine features the linvdr distribution ;-)

Cheers

AC

Re:Finally!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, just buy a TiVo.

Re:Finally!

[Anonymous Coward]

There are some commercial solutions here in Germany.

One I worked for in my spare time is http://xeatre.tv (sorry, german only). It cost about 900 Euros ($1200) and is a small sized PC.

Because of the full-high and 2/3 length DVB cards it's really tricky to get them into a Mini-ITX case -- especially if you want to have *two* DVB cards as most users. One is annoying, I can tell you.

Best regards, Mirko

Re:Finally!

[Nik13]

I actually talked to someone who have been wanting to do that, and ship them preconfigured, in nice HTPC cases. Not sure if there is that much of a market for stuff that's readily available (cheap hardware and free software). He couldn't find any investors to get him started

Re:Die TIVO

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up, please. Tivo is being completely ruined, and is no longer the flexible system it once was. It's only a matter of time before Tivo is obsolete.

Integration

[AlgaeEater]

Cool. Stick that on a mini ITX system with an integrated touchscreen and you have a fully integrated home media system. Heck, I might even sink one into the surface of my desk at work and WiFi it to the work network.

Time to start saving for that touchscreen. :(

Acronym heavy....

[ajs]

"LinVDR [...] PC [...] DVB [...] PVR [...] MB [...] CD [...] MPEG [...] DVD"

Ding! We have an acronym winner! ;-)

Oh, and by the way, Slashdot's caps filter is annoying... I have to type random noise like this just to get the darn thing to post!

Re:Acronym heavy....

[DrEasy]

Hah! Maybe Slashdot is really trying to fight acronym bloat? ;-)

Digital Only? HDTV at all?

[JLavezzo]

According to the site, "We're here at digital TV, there is no purpose for any analog TV cards." Which I re-translate into English as saying: "Our software only works with digital TV. Don't think about using analog."

Can anyone confirm? Maybe someone who can read the site in it's original German?

Re:Digital Only? HDTV at all?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, that's right. Only digital TV (available for free via the Astra Sattelite and others...)

HDTV can be received and recorded, but not played. Today there is only one HDTV channel in europe, more to come.... since the decoder is onboard, you need new hardware for decoding HDTV

Re:Digital Only? HDTV at all?

[Anonymous Coward]

I apologize for the bad English on that website.

What I meant is that you defintively need a DVB card, LinVDR supports only digital TV.

Analog TV cards like Hauppauge WinTV Express or so are not supportet by LinVDR, but there is a chance (and a plugin) for VDR so you can use them as signal source.

We're planning support for Hauppauge's PVR 150/250/350, but it's not rock stable yet, sorry.

Best regards, Mirko

Here is a copy of the project page.

[Goodbyte]

What for hell is LinVDR

Basically, it's an approach to build a small, cut to the bone, ready and easy to install VDR Linux distribution.
LinVDR is a complete, breathing Linux system smaller than 128 MB with a complete digital Video Disk Recorder (VDR) / Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and several plugins -- listed seperately below.
For easy access we installed additionaly the browser frontend VDR Admin and a Samba share for up- and downloading music or DVD images with Windows clients.

The base system is Debian Woody compatible (only compatible, not Debian Woody itself!) with the DVB driver from Convergence and Klaus Schmidingers unbeated Video Disk Recorder Software VDR.
All this Tom has mixed smoothly together, and I made the install system and installation programme -- suitable for normal users without Linux knowledge.

OK, sounds good. I have a XYZ tv card and a GeForce 10 with TV out. Lets start.

That's nice you have such expensive hardware, but it won't bring you a step closer to a running LinVDR system. We're here at digital TV, there is no purpose for any analog TV cards.

VDR was designed to work with so-called full featured DVB cards. This is a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) receiver card originally develloped from Technotrend. Hauppauge adopted these cards and labeled them WinTV DVB-s/C or Nexus.

The important point of this cards: Byside the receiving unit, where you can read a MPEG-2-Stream, they're equipped with a DSP chip working as MPEG-2 decoder and OSD creator. This DSP decodes the steam, overlays the menu and put the result to the composite video out of the DVB card.

This means: You don't need a graphic card with TV out, your full featured DVB card already has one (and only this one is used by VDR).

But you need only one of that expensive (> $150) full featured DVB cards. If you want to install a second one, e.g. to enable you to receive more channels at the same time, you can use a so-called budget card.

These buget cards have no TV out and no MPEG-2 decoder, making them a lot cheaper (around $70).

Type Vendor Model Class Price DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-s Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-S TechnoTrend DVB-S Sat PCI
Rev. 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 Full Featured abt. $190 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T Rev. 1.2 Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-C Hauppauge WinTV DVB-C Full Featured abt. $300 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 2.1 Full Featured abt. $230 DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S Budget abt. $125 DVB-S TechnoTrend Budget DVB-S Budget abt. $90 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T 1300 Budget abt. $110 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 1.0 Budget abt. $110

To cut it short: You need one full featured card with MPEG-2 decoder (Technotrend style, supported by the DVB driver of Kernel 2.6) and any number of budget cards (supported by the same drivers). No way to use your graphic adapter or analog TV card, if you're looking for an analog PVR, try e.g. MythTV.

VDR Version and Plugins VDR 1.3.17 with enAIO-Patch and this plugins:

• Autotimer-Edit 0.1.4 new
• DVD-Burn 0.0.5 new
• Clock 0.0.5b1 update
• Console 0.6 update
• DVD 0.3.5b06 (without CSS support)
• EPG-Search 0.0.3 new
• Femon (signal strength) 0.1.6 update
• Games 0.6.1 update
• GraphLCD 0.1.1 update
• GraphTFT 0.0.8 new
• Hello 0.1.0
• Image (Diashow) 0.2.2 update
• LCD-Proc 0.0.10 update
• Mailbox 0.3 update
• Manual 0.0.2 (german only) new
• Media-MVP 0.1.5 new
• Media-MVP-Server new
• M-LCD 0.0.4 update
• MP3 0.9.8 update
• MPlayer 0.9.8 update
• OSD-Demo 0.1.0
• Osd-PiP Plugin 0.0.7 update
• OSD-Teletext 0.3.1 update
• Pilot 0.0.7 new

Re:Here is a copy of the project page.

[oexeo]

And here is your copy of a signed karma integer: 5+

Re:Here is a copy of the project page.

[hhawk]

DVB C is what is used for Digital Cable in the US...

Does the Coax go directly into the WinTV DVB-s/C card or do we come out of the Cable Box into the PVR and then to the TV set?

Re:Here is a copy of the project page.

[Anonymous Coward]

You connect the cable directly to your DVB-C card. The problem is the encryption: You need an additional CI-Adapter plus a CAM so the DVB-C card could decrypt the signal itself. But then you can record only that single channel, no other. And the costs for the CI-Adapter plus CAM will be about $200.

Best regards, Mirko

Re:Here is a copy of the project page.

[hhawk]

Does the DVB-C card support "Cable box on card" technology?

This is nothing:

[oexeo]

I have:

- A dedicated development box
- A dedicated server box
- A dedicated "juke" box
- A dedicated "TiVo" box
- A dedicated gaming box
- A dedicated backup box
- A dedicated firewall box
- And a general purpose box

Unfortunately due to all the money wasted^H^H^H^H^H^H spent on this essential equipment, I don't have a home to put them in.

Pretty cool

[Bilzmoude]

This is why I love Linux... people finding a good use for it, configuring it up to do something cool, and distributing it as a useful package. There are so many distros I like to use for different things... clustering, parallel processing, desktop usage, servers, real-time processing, and now a new one to play with... DVR.

You cannot do this with commercial operating systems. Linux has its niche.... to support niche markets. It does it really, really well. Bravo to all.

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

So let's take a look here. Roughly 50K folks read this site daily, 50% in the USA who can't use this software. The other 50% who might, will need special hardware besides an over-the-top digital-only video card (such as a cable/digital signal decoder/decryption adapter) to even think of making this thing work. WTF doesn't someone say it's just fucking easier/simpler/wiser to buy/rent the over-the-counter TIVO/Replay/etc box and have something that's supported and won't be obsolete when the cable/satellite folks decide to change "one little thing". Just because something can be done with Linux, doesn't mean it should. Even Linux zealots should learn how to do a cost/benefit analysis. Or otherwise prominently display a paragraph or verbage to the effect, "For experimental/hobbyist interests only, not a practical solution."

I'm waiting for the Linux Controls Home Spacecraft post. All you need is 1 pound of Plutonium, 6 oz of antimatter, 4 working anti-gravity units, and an ion propulsion engine. There would undoubtedly be the /. readers who'd think this was practical. Hmm, I see an article submission for April on the horizon.

Re:Pretty cool

[Bilzmoude]

I agree. This is more for a hobiest. That is what is cool about it. If you dont want pain and struggle, get a TiVo. If you want to play around and hack, something like this (if it is any good) is perfect.

I really think that this puts Linux in a class by itself. It is a great tool for building other tools. This is really one example. My very favorite example is Knoppix. With knoppix, you can create a CD that boots and does whatever you want. To have something that is so customizable is really a treat. I am not a Linux Zealot, but I do think Linux is better than all other Operating Systems for some things... customization and price.

Still, I agree. This use of Linux is only really for hobyists... Do-it-yourselfers that want to create something. That, or an R&D house that needs to develop a proof of concept. That doesnt change how cool it is.

Once again, if you want an out-of-the-box solution, choose a Tivo or ReplayTV. If you want to build it yourself, Linux provides a platform that can be used on commodity hardware within the budget of a hobiest (and there is a large hobiest market out there).

Re:Pretty cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. You need to do X? Don't worry install the mini-OS where X is packaged. What's that you say? Now you need to do Y? Just install the mini-OS with that package also.

Wait are you complaining about installing multiple packages all the time? Oh come now, you don't have to install on top of another. Haven't you heard of LILO.

****** Does LILO allow you to scroll down on the list of bootable partitions if find? ****** Wait do you really wanna have that many options just to boot up? ******* segmentation fault *******

Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of one OS over another. Just a nitpick about bundling up complete OS installs with one of _YOUR_ products.

Re:Pretty cool

[lga]

The other 50% who might, will need special hardware besides an over-the-top digital-only video card (such as a cable/digital signal decoder/decryption adapter) to even think of making this thing work.

Not quite. In many european countries we have DVB-T and all that is needed is a simple DVB-T card, available cheaply and easily. Where DVB-T isn't in use, it soon will be.

Re:Pretty cool

[EtherMonkey]

You cannot do this with commercial operating systems. Linux has its niche.... to support niche markets.

Not to burst your bubble, but there's tons of niche use of commercial operating systems. For example, Windows is used underneath many OEM car navigation systems and inside many satellite and digital-cable tuner boxes. My Pioneer digital-cable unit has actually thrown me a standard Windows Application Exception error dialog on more than one occasion (never could figure out how to click the OK or CANCEL buttons via the remote). Then there's the dozens of manufacturing resorce planning systems, controllers for automated milling equipment, underpinnings for engine diagnostics and even wheel-alignment systems, and the list goes on-and-on.

I'm not saying that Windows is a better platform or that people don't develop enough for Linux, but I would be hard-pressed to find an application category that doesn't tout an MS-Windows solution (but, since this is /., I'm sure there will be dozens of examples posted shortly :-)).

That all said, I've been very interested in a one-box home entertainment solution: something that's a TV, DVR, music and video jukebox and game console-like machine, to replace the clutter of separate components that currently consume too much space and power my kids' bedrooms. So I've been following the MythTV project, but the economics so far doesn't work out. Hopefully, the price of tv-tuner/frame-grabber cards will come down some day to make this a viable alternative.

Re:Pretty cool

[EtherMonkey]

Unfortunately, Tivo is becoming less and less attractive every day. First of all, I feel that $13/month is too expensive, and $299 for the life of the box is no better. And why do I have to pay for a subscription for EACH box?

Then there's the controversy about skipping commercials, and the new commercials that Tivo is [planning?] showing while you skip commercials.

Finally, there's the new restrictions on what you can record and how/where/when/how-long you can save and play it.

I get maybe four to six hours a week to watch TV. I despise sitcoms and reality TV. I'd rather watch a movie or a documentary/how-to show, but the movie channels rarely start movies I would watch when I'm ready to watch them, and the prime-time programming on other channels mostly sucks. I wound-up cancelling all my premium channels because I never watched them.

So, not only should I be a good candidate for Tivo, but if others are like me, it would also boost revenues for cable/satellite premium channel subscriptions. But there's no way I'm going to lay out $400+ a year for a Tivo subscription and premium movie channels if I can't use them exactly the way I want. That doesn't include broadcasting movies to the world (I can rent a movie for less than $4.00 -- why waste my valuable and precious time trying to download one).

If Tivo and the pay TV services want my money, they'll need to stop treating me like a thief while acting like one themselves.

Re:Pretty cool

[Nik13]

Hmm, you're wrong (unless you're just talking about price here?). You can have any version of windows install unattended (and it's so simple ANYBODY can figure it out, even those who couldn't spell linux). Then with your windows box, unzip your preconfigured DVB app (mytheatre, progdvb, tons of them) and usually that's it. I have my preconfigured app as a WinRAR SFX. Copy it to a PC with a DVB card, bouble click it, and that's it-ready to use. (or better yet, make it install unattended with windows) With linux, I'd still be reading the user manual.

Re:Pretty cool

[Bilzmoude]

Nah... no bubble bursted. First, Windows is not free, causing a prohibitive barier for hobiests. Second, Windows is not customizable enough. Its not like you can remove the graphics engine from the system in Windows... except for Embedded Windows, but that product is a joke.

Re:Pretty cool

[Bilzmoude]

First, yes I am including price in my argument. Second, no, you cant. Try packaging a pre-configured niche-market windows distribution and ... distributing it. Good luck. While it may be possible, it is far from legal. It would cost the price of Windows just to experiment with it. Also, I get sick of people saying linux is too hard to use. Yes, Windows is easy for surface-level work, but it really comes down to "what are you used to?" Are you a Windows user, or a Unix user? What do you know better? I can configure a Linux box much easier than a Windows box... why? Because I know Linux better.

However

[Ricerocket63]

LinVDR does not seem to make a good web server solution.. :o/

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget Freevo... works great!

If it doesn't support ATI AIW cards, who cares

[Anonymous Coward]

I know ATI makes the flakiest drivers in Windows but the hardware rocks.
ATI supposedly has linux drivers but they don't support AIW cards very well. ATI instead refers you to the gatos project which seems to be under-manned.
Until ATI does make linux drivers for AIW cards or puts an ATI engineer on the Gatos project, Linux-based PVRs will continue to be hit and miss in terms of hardware.

Re:If it doesn't support ATI AIW cards, who cares

[Anonymous Coward]

wow!

what pills are you taking or are you directly freebasing?

ATI cards are the lowest grade garbage you can get. if you want a decent ANALOG card you need a PVR-350 or PVR-250. both of those cards blow away the absolute best cards that ati has. hell I'll bet a |PVR-350 will blow away what the ATI engineers have on the drawing boards right now.

only complete fools and morons think anything from ATI is anything but low grade dog-food.

even their 3d video cards are crap.

Re:If it doesn't support ATI AIW cards, who cares

[PhoenixOne]

I agree that the ATI AIW is not a good PVR, but the 3d video output rates up with nVidia. Depending on which generation you are talking about (and how buggy their drivers are at the moment ;)) ATI and nVidia take turns at the top spot for consumer hardware.

Don't spend the extra $100 for AIW however, it isn't worth it...

Is there a mirror of the mirrors?

[s7uar7]

As the site is currently down, does anyone know any of the mirror sites, as this looks very interesting?

Re:Is there a mirror of the mirrors?

[Kinetic]

Actually... yes. MirrorDot has the pages AND the actual ISO image mirrored.

nsfw

[Anonymous Coward]

last link is not safe for work (and in really poor taste)

WMCE

[Anonymous Coward]

This has a LONG way to go before it's anywhere as good as Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005.

Re:WMCE

[Anonymous Coward]

true...

they need to add those security flaws and bugs in it that you MS lovers so enjoy.

WMCE sucks. I had it, many people did... where do you think all those surplus PVR250 cards on ebay came from?

people sending that hunk of crap back to the store.

WMCE sucks and you know it.

Re:WMCE

[Anonymous Coward]

WMCE sucks and you know it.

With that kinda reasoning, I don't know of anyone that wouldn't agree with you.

Hardware Support...

[Pxtl]

Have a Radeon All-In-Wonder, but we all know how spectacular ATI's Linux drivers are. Would this thing work with my Remote Wonder? Hell, ATIs software division manages to consistently disappoint - the WinXP PVR suite that comes with the AIW is outright _awful_ - for example, there is no way from the TV GUI to discover new files in your library - so if you download something or insert a CD full of movies, you have to use the Windows-style library manager program, which is horribly painful to use from the Remote Wonder. Plus, there's no way to select which sound card to use as output, and I use my onboard soundcard to hook to the TV, leaving my surround-sound Live card for PC gaming uses (ZoomPlayer handles this problem just fine).

OT: Anybody know a good win32 video player with support for a Remote Wonder? One that doesn't use the common dialog box to open files (that just doesn't work on a TV screen - text is too tiny, and unpleasant with the remote).

Re:Hardware Support...

[ratb3rt]

It only supports digital cards - your AIW is analogue....

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT DOWN!

Link to tinyurl.com is the goatse.cx image!

Note to slashdot contrib'ers

[alta]

When posting a link to the download mirror, don't post the original location first. Don't post it at all. In this case, everyone see's that .iso and clicks it. Server dead. Yes, there's a mirror page, but it's hosted on the same server, so... mirror page dead. In this case people are even getting frustrated and clicking other link and killing it too. Remember, link to mirrors, link to lists of mirrors, never link to disk images!

Re:Note to slashdot contrib'ers

[Anonymous Coward]

I did, the first URL I posted is a random redirector to the mirrors, but even that load seems to be too much for the poor server...

I wait for the first request of removing a mirror...

Looks if this project is at least a *tiny bit* interesting to some or others :)

Mirko

Work with Rogers?

[Sox2]

Anyone know if this will work with Rogers digital cable up here in Toronto? Also will it work with USB video cards? I only have a laptop so can't add cards to my system... Thanks, Sox2

Re:Work with Rogers?

[Nik13]

It won't work with rogers cable. And a USB video card? Perhaps you mean capture card or DVB card? I've never seen a USB video card before.

No HD = worthless

[badmammajamma]

Who cares? All this stuff is worthless to me until I can record HDTV off my cable connection. Since there are no cards that make this possible, any software out there is useless to me. All these cute linux solutions are gonna go the way of the dodo bird once HD is the normal broadcast. The only way you'll be able to record this crap in fascist America is by buying/renting set tops from your cable or satelite company.

Fortunately, I hate almost every broadcast out there except for about three shows (and two of them are pay channels).

Re:No HD = worthless

[Eudaemonic Pie]

Bad -- IT may be too late to tell you this (because this thread is so old), but Fusion (www.dvico.com) makes the Fusion QAM III which decodes QAM-64 and QAM-256 including HDTV. It doesn't work in Media Center Edition yet, but it works in their own tuner/recorder app. I use it for OTA HD broadcasts and it works fine.

Re:No HD = worthless

[The Salamander]

Record the MPEG2 stream from your HD cablebox via firewire.

Re:No HD = worthless

[dowobeha]

Record the MPEG2 stream from your HD cablebox via firewire.

Good call, but that'll only work for unencrypted streams.

Re:No HD = worthless

[tji]

The Sasem USB HDTV device also supports QAM. I haven't tried it, but I hear it works.

I use the FusionHDTV with Comcast cable, and it works fine.

I use a MyHD card for OTA programming, it's much better than the Fusion, but doesn't support QAM.

Re:No HD = worthless

[enrico_suave]

"IT may be too late to tell you this (because this thread is so old), but Fusion (www.dvico.com) makes the Fusion QAM III which decodes QAM-64 and QAM-256 including HDTV. It doesn't work in Media Center Edition yet, but it works in their own tuner/recorder app. I use it for OTA HD broadcasts and it works fine."

It's important to note that the fusion QAM III only does unencrypted QAM... if you cable company encrypts their HDTV content you're hosed (except for OTA, of course).

e.

Re:No HD = worthless

[Nik13]

Eh? I've been recording HD contents with mine for quite a while (as MPEG2 TS), and same for OTA HD. Just because *YOU* only get HD thru cable doesn't mean it's worthless for everybody.

Re:Useful for recording video

[silicon-pyro]

I'v been thinking about doing a project like this for a long time. I was hesitant before because of the monetary and time cost of doing such a project, and I was afraid of failure. Now it seems that the references and available support are to a point where I might actually be able to succeed. Maybe I won't have to live with Tivo pop up ads while fast forewarding after all. I had better get on with buying that HDTV decoder card before the broadcast flags come around...

As a sidenote: Some of us don't want to see that goatse shit. I'm not at all advocating censorship, but at least warn me first -- don't hide that shit in a tinyURL.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

i hate you and your stupid link.

Mirrors Here - Pages and ISO

[Kinetic]

Looks like a Slashdotting has killed the site. Of course, MirrorDot has the pages and the ISO image mirrored.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry. Here's one that's not hidden in a tinyURL.

Total Cost of Ownership?

[gorbachev]

How much would a setup like that cost?

What are the other HW requirements? (site is slashdotted...)

This looks very promising. Might be a nice way to build yourself a non-DRMized, non-broadcast-flagged DVR before the MPAA locks everything down.

Re:Total Cost of Ownership?

[Anonymous Coward]

You need at least one DVB card, the cheapest is around $150 (Technotrend DVB-s Premium Rev. 1.3), the one I would advice you is about $190 (Technotrend DVB-s Premium Rev. 1.5).

Everything else you need is a normal PC, so depending on how cool it must look the costs increase.

You can start with an old Pentium 133 or Pentium MMX, no problem -- most of the load is taken by the Full-Featured DVB card and its MPEG-2 decoder. We're using normally a Via Epia ME-6000 and a desktop P4-1700MHz system.

Best regards, Mirko

Re:Total Cost of Ownership?

[dowobeha]

How much would a setup like that cost?

I can't speak to LinDVR, but a decent MythTV setup can be built for less than $500.

MythTV has most of the features listed for LinPVR, plus some additional modules. It's really nice to use, and it can handle HDTV in the US. I may be wrong, but I think that LinPVR is based around DVB, which is the digital TV format for much of Europe.

Re:Total Cost of Ownership?

[dowobeha]

MythTV ... can handle HDTV in the US.

I should clarify. Myth can handle HD over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts.

There is currently no TV card that can be used under Linux to record HDTV from cable or satellite.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks! Very useful set of links! Now I don't need to spend money on a TiVo.

Re:Will NOT work in US

[Anonymous Coward]

NTSC doesn't matter, the software can cope with it. As far as I know even the DVB cards can replay NTSC, but that's not for sure due I had never a NTSC signal.

Best regards, Mirko

About PVR in general

[prisoner]

I've fooled around with a couple of linux solutions and a couple of windows solutions. The really frustrating part for me is getting the hookup to the TV right. I wanted to use the TV as the display for both the desktop and for full-screen TV. With a standard def tv the desktop was unreadable but TV was ok. Now I've got an HD Sony Wega that has a tube. The DVI connector works but I've had problems with resolution and whatnot. I finally settled on component input but the resolution is limited to 640 and the desktop runs over the edges. The TV part looks ok though. I'm still screwing around with it and sorting my way through the alphabet soup of resolutions and connectors though. Hopefully I'll get something better. As far as software goes, I got Media Center 2005 in Action Pack and it is pretty cool. The media extender deal using an xbox just kicks ass but many of the other PVR programs I've used are easier to get working as MCE is picky about the drivers....

Re:About PVR in general

[treat]

The DVI connector works but I've had problems with resolution and whatnot. I finally settled on component input but the resolution is limited to 640 and the desktop runs over the edges.

This is extremely frustrating. I have the same problem. I can find no information on how to fix this problem, or whether it should even be a problem. The vendors provide no help at all.

Re:About PVR in general

[prisoner]

I actually got the screen to fit on the tv by changing the colors from 16 bit to 32 bit. Or maybe it was the other way around. In any event, it didn't make any difference in picture quality.

Let me know when....

[Kenja]

Let me know when they get rid of that zero in front of the dot. Till then I dont realy care too much.

Poor, poor server...

[koi88]

Right, the first link in the article must be the actual disk image, later maybe a link to the web site (so people can find out about hardware requirements, features, etc.).
The list of mirrors should come last, as the project is unworthy if the server doesn't survive the stampede of the slashdot crowd...

WHY? A little more careful approach would make downloads faster and save the server's admins a lot of trouble...

MythTV allows HD recordings

[dowobeha]

I know this is a bit tangential to your comment, but I'm hoping that if it doesn't help you, it might help others reading this thread.

Another Linux-based PVR will allow you to record HD. The catch is that it only records HD over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts. So if you live in an area with HD broadcasts (at the least, most major metro areas in the U.S.), and you have an antenna, you can have an HD-capable MythTV PVR.

The card is the pcHDTV 3000, available at http://www.pchdtv.com/.

The MythTV web site is http://mythtv.org.

For info about HD and MythTV, search the MythTV mailing list archive for "hdtv" or "pcHDTV".

Finally, a step-by-step install guide for MythTV is available here.

A "button pusher" would do better

[ScrewTivo]

I have contemplated this problem for a long time. Here in the US the signals are scrambled so forget about getting a tuner into a pc that can record. In fact DISH-TV tuners baffle all the IR-Blasters I can find so even that solution won't work. Instead I propose a simple button pusher built with something like a lego mindstorm kit that can be programmed to push the buttons on my DISH-TV remote. That would save $5/mo for each DVR, provide nearly unlimited storage, and allow broadcasting around the house on the network using somehting like Myth-tv.

Re:A "button pusher" would do better

[dbacher]

The $199 Dish Network receiver reliably has been able to control the VCR and DVD-RAM recorders without my presence. I pick a show off the menu, I tell it "record this show," it kicks on the recorder automatically.

It works best if the receiver and the device it's controlling are behind an enclosure, with a sheet of glass, but it's worked relatively reliably for Dish.

The other advantage over the cheaper is that the pay channels, Sci-Fi and a few others are broadcast in AC3 (Dolby Digital), and the 2nd level of players have an optic out jack.

cool...but

[MoFoQ]

does it support the HD3000?

Or the HDTV Wonder from ATi?

And no, I haven't able to go to linvdr's site....it's called the /. effect.

Re:Useful for recording video

[net_bh]

You bastard! Now the horror of goatse will be in my head for atleast another week.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Orgazmus]

Now THAT is a video I'd like to see. Thank you for the tip.

Remote?

[McFly69]

How about controlling the system with a remote? Any ideas what would be compatiable?

Re:Remote?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can control it with any remote that lirc supports.
I am using Medion 6-in-1 remote with irman at the moment, but I have used it also with Ati Remote Wonder.

Re:Remote?

[McFly69]

what is lirc?

KnoppMyth?

[Anonymous Coward]

How does this compare with KnoppMyth?

Has anyone tried both?

I'm in the process of setting up a machine and KnoppMyth just worked out of the iso.

Mod parent down - concealed, irrelevant shock site

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent down - concealed, irrelevant shock site

Caps

[siskbc]

Oh, and by the way, Slashdot's caps filter is annoying... I have to type random noise like this just to get the darn thing to post!

That's so you CAN'T FUCKING SCREAM!!!!!!

Re:Caps

[drinkypoo]

Having a filter that prevents you from making an acronym-heavy post on a supposed geek news site is fucking ignorant. Way to alienate your core fanbase. Just as soon as there's some other site half as useful as this one, I'm switching :P

Re:Caps

[siskbc]

Having a filter that prevents you from making an acronym-heavy post on a supposed geek news site is fucking ignorant.

Typing gobbledygook to beat the filter isn't hard. It does suggest that the filter is pointless, but I can't see caring that much. Have a beer.

Just as soon as there's some other site half as useful as this one, I'm switching :P

0/2=0. That ties slashdot with a 404 error.

Slashdot should have automatic torrent links...

[Anonymous Coward]

It would be great if slashdot had a torrent icon in each article that linked to software... use the slashdot effect to seed torrents!

(I'm ether to lazy to go find the torrent or the torrent server is down or being DOS'ed...)

Wanted feature:descramble scrambled cable channels

[Anonymous Coward]

NTSC solution....
Descramble PPV would be a plus.

Mirror of the site

[randomErr]

Hey all,

Here's a Coralized copy of the site:
http://linvdr.org.nyud.net:8090/projects/linvdr/in dex.en.php
http://linvdr.org.nyud.net:8090/projects/linvdr/mi rrors.php

DVB-S card for a fair price, and finding channels

[Linuxathome]

For those of you shopping around for the DVB-S card by Hauppauge, check Froogle, and for those of you looking to find free (as in beer, and legit) channels, check LyngSat. There are literally thousands of channels that you can get freely, depending on where you live (search "Free to Air" in google). The downside is that lots of channels are from non-English speaking countries -- why do you think lots of Arabic speaking households here in the US have satellite dishes?

Re:Die TIVO

[Anonymous Coward]

As much as the geeks dislike the direction in which TIVO appears to be going, their direction was dictated somewhat by the respective associations whose products they have to deal with. Of course it's notable that TIVO sales are at an all time high despite the technological changes that make it harder to hack.

This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[SeattleGameboy]

Let me get this straight...

It DOES NOT handle analog signals - No cable/OTA analog channels.

It DOES NOT handle HDTV signals.

AND it DOES NOT decrypt encrypted signals - No DirecTV, Dish, etc.

Okay, what is this software for??? Seems to me this is DOA for US.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Bugster]

Okay, what is this software for??? Seems to me this is DOA for US.

Possibly, but it's great news for us Europeans who have digital.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay, what is this software for??? Seems to me this is DOA for US.

Digital TV in Europe.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

*Sigh* Now _that_ would be so worthless for us...

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[kswtch]

> It DOES NOT handle HDTV signals.

You can record HDTV Movies with LinVDR. All you have to do is to add a HDTV Channel to your channel list and set up a timer for it. And, you have to disable processing your output video signal. Your DVB Card can not handle the resolution and will crash. (Reboot of the card needed). If you save the HDTV data stream to your disk without forwarding it to your v/output you can watch the show.
If you do not want to waste disk space you can stream the data to your Local Network (or loopback device) and watch it with mplayer.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[nokiator]

Actually, it should be relatively easy to add support for analog tuner cards with built-in MPEG2 encoders (such as Hauppauge PVR150/PVR250/PVR350) which generate MPEG2 streams on the PCI bus just like the DVB cards.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's absolutely worthless.
Nobody outside the US watches TV.

What were they thinking - why did they
waste their time like that?

Those crazy Europeans, huh?

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Nik13]

Hmm, wrong. It CAN record HDTV stuff off DVB streams perfectly. What it doesn't do is analog captures or OTA. DirecTV doesn't isn't DVB, so that'll never work. As for DN, it does (still) work.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[cranos]

And us Australians who also use DVB based digital

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Turmio]

This is DOA for US
You pretty much summed it up there. But it doesn't make it worthless. Works great here with my DVB-C card.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a softcam plugin for VDR that does decrypt NagraVision 1 stream, which is currently used by both Bell ExpressVu and Dish. Both companies are in the middle of "card-swaps" to upgrade to Nagra2, but for now, you CAN decrypt with VDR with the proper plugin and the proper keys (widely available).

It is not worthless!

HDTV is mostly Nagra2 encryption, so no HDTV until that cipher is broken as well.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[SeattleGameboy]

It CAN record HDTV stuff off DVB streams perfectly

You forgot a little fact... it CAN'T PLAY HDTV SIGNALS!!! What good is recording something if you cannot view it?

What channels are available UNENCRYPTED on Dish Network? Last time I checked, it was NOTHING (except DN commercials).

apt-dist

[Doc Ruby]

Why ship an entire new distro for every app-specific server? Why not just an "apt-get" script? Then I could keep a list of many different profiles in a DB on my home server, and run a little client script on any distro at all that reinstalled/reconfigured its packages to run in that profile. The packages themselves all come from the Net, so my home system could be really lean, with just a package cache to which the client
s sources.list can points.

NTL Digital

[Idimmu Xul]

Are there any DVB cards that support NTL Digital at all? This sounds awesome and I'd really like to play!

Re:NTL Digital

[che.kai-jei]

erm i dont know. but i know the best place to ask location -specifuc wise and practicality wise is www.modshack.co.uk
alot of practically knowledgable peeps

Re:NTL Digital

[Anonymous Coward]

http://world-of-digital.com/forums/article.php?s=6 53158c83b7bc40ae306db0e5dc40934&a=10, and you need a DVB-C card, but you can only seem to get them from Germany.

MOD DOWN

[Stevyn]

This guy is a troll. He posts some obvious links and finally the goatse guy.

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

within 15 minutes or less

I thought "within 15 minutes" meant, "at a maximum, 15 minutes" or, "15 minutes or less". So, exactly what the hell does "within 15 minutes or less" mean?

You can, of course, do the same with commercial OS

[tallbill]

There are plenty of commercial OS's out there that are great for doing the kinds of things that these folks have done in LINUX. They are propriatory and expensive. If you are running a deep projects type of an operation and you have a huge budget to burn you might consider running, say, for example, OSE, VxWorks, Psos, and even MS embedded products. Linux is just one OS of so many. I love Linux but I realize that I have to keep my eyes open and understand what it is good for and what it is not good for. Your statement seemed very stary eyed as if Linux is somehow a holy grail. It's just another tool in the big tool box of possible things. I love it. But I won't say that other (pricey) OS's are also up for these custom tasks.

Point your camcorder at your screen

[tallbill]

Or buy one with a video in and hook it to the analog video out.

You won't get a high def image, but you can record the image.

Doing this might be illegal but I bet you don't care about that.

Good for You

[NorwBlue]

But this is yet another example of why linux wont make the mainstream. Average Joe (or even me with 20 years of coding skills) just wont read a list of supported devices or make his own package that does the same with his hardweare. (even though it sooo easy*irony*) Why o why cant we have one Linux that looks alike for average Joe, that behaves alike for all average Joes, that gets the drivers and updates from a repository (automaticly out of the box/webinstall/CD) This release of yet another linux for 100's or 100's of users is, in my view, another example of wasted time. Why cant we all get together a Linux, that just work? ALL updates is automatic, all drivers is located in ONE spot(with mirrors of cource) for millions of users? That would be news. So until this happenes, i use linux as gateway, server, printservers or wireless accesspoints and windows for my users.

Re:Good for You

[JohnFluxx]

linux won't make mainstream because hardware manufacturers don't write drivers, and drivers won't be written until linux is mainstream.

Oh well, game over, guess we might as well pack up and go home now. All this wasted time for nothing.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT DOWN NOW !

The last link is pointing to goatse!

What do you mean wasted?

[slash_noodle]

You could build a house out of all thoses boxes!

Re:What do you mean wasted?

[Anonymous Coward]

And they'd keep you warm in the winter!

Thank God!

[RandoX]

...system requires less than 128 MB disk space...


...because we wouldn't want it cutting into the gargantuan HDD required to record at around 1 gig/hour.

Re:Thank God!

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly, especially if this gargantuan HDD is in your enterprise server in the server room, while your LinVDR system rests absolutely quiet and without any moving part in your living (or bed) room booting from a Disk-on-Module, USB-Stick or Compact Flash and mounting the Disk via Samba.

Best regards. Mirko

MOD DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

Karma whore

Myth Distro on Compact Flash

[angry_beaver]

I'd sure like to see a mythfront end distro that boots off a compact flash card. I haven't seen one. Does such a beast exist?

Re:Myth Distro on Compact Flash

[dowobeha]

I don't think so, but it would be nice.

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

owwwww my eyes

You're going straight to hell for that

the cool part about this project

[enrico_suave]

What looks exciting about this particular PVR project (besides it's linux based) is the DVB support. I think that'll be a key draw for some people to try it.

Alot of windows options don't do DVB... Tvedia does, but I don't think it will do an analog tuner next to the DVB... and Meedio is supposed to be coming up with DVB card support for their MeedioTV product.

e.

VDR in practice

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been running VDR for about two years, and it works quite well considering what it does. I run it on a 1GHz Celeron with 256MB RAM, and it floats at around 2-3% CPU usage while running (with a full-featured card). It does have some bugs, though.

Although I've been quite happy with what it does, I've become frustrated with how it's developed. No public CVS, and ten-thousand randomly floated patches at any given moment. Many considered "minimum" to get a working system, and often only available through the mailing list. Trying to find them all is a nightmare. And of course, many of the patches are incompatible with each other. Also, the developer "doesn't like" the C++ std lib, which for a lot of C++ coders, means leaving out one of the best parts of the language.

Anyway, I'm grateful for how far Klaus has brought vdr, but I'm ready to see someone else in charge of the code.

Program guide

[dledeaux]

I glossed through the website, but didn't see anything definitive regarding how the program guide is handled.

One point of contention I have is that most of the program guides for DIY systems are really just hacks. There is no publicly accessible database for downloading PG information. So you're limited to screenscraping Zap2it's website and hoping the layout doesn't change.

I personally think program guide information should be public information, but even Microsoft had to pay royalties out the nose to get the rights to use program guide info, so that doesn't leave us much hope ... unless ... we push for our own "open program guide"...

Re:Program guide

[Anonymous Coward]

EPG is broadcast with the DVB signal, and vdr supports it just fine.

FWIW, there ARE DirecTV PCI cards out there

[Aaden42]

I wish I had URLs available, but only excessive Googling would find them again at the moment.

There is at least one manufacturer of PCI bus bearing cards that are capable (and indeed intended for the purpose) of receiving DirecTV's signal and using a properly and duely subscribed access card to decode the information.

Let me emphasize: They're more or less useless for signal theft, as they require a plain-old access card. Anything illegal (DMCA not withstanding) would involve modifying the access card which is well beyond the scope of this post.

The cards in question are intended for use as part of large scale DirecTV installations such as hotels or apartment buildings that provide DirecTV services to residents. The ones I looked at basically had one access card PCI card and one or more sat. interface cards. The signal is decoded and sent down to set top boxes throughout the building. I think the signal is supposed to be sent out as plain-old analog cable at that point with the boxes somehow requesting what channel they want and the controller tuning an available decoder to the desired channel. The benefits of such a system are large scale DTV rollouts without needing dozens (or hundreds) of access cards -- everything is kept in the central box.

The disadvantages are price (about $600 a piece when I looked) and the fact that they're intended to be used with specialized systems and a custom OS. Any Linux drivers for these babies would be a complete hack job...

I really wish I could find the URL for the company that makes these things again, but alas it was a couple of hard drive crashes ago that I last looked into this. Anybody else ever stumble across these things?

Re:You can, of course, do the same with commercial

[drooling-dog]

But I won't say that other (pricey) OS's are also up for these custom tasks.

The issue isn't whether proprietary OSs are technically capable of being used in this way; of course they are. The key is that any Linux distribution can be freely modified and redistributed by anybody without stepping on anyone's IP rights. If you want to do this with Windows you're going to have to "negotiate" with Microsoft, and you'll be doing it pretty much on their terms.

What HDTV is FTA ?

[azoca]

Anyone know what satellite HDTV channels are available ? I know PBS on AMC3 and CBS on IA6 transmit regularly. Other networks have a feed every once in while. Any others up there ?

why need for "full featured" card?

[quenda]

> To cut it short: You need one full featured card with MPEG-2 decoder

What is the point of a hardware mpeg2 decoder on a PC these days? Those cards are too weak to decode HDTV, but the cheapest currently sold PC can do it fine. An old p-II machine will decode standard-definition, with basic video-acceleration from a similarly ancient video card.

Here in Australia, I don't think anyone even sells the old "full featured" cards, only the so-called budget cards without the decoder.

Re:why need for "full featured" card?

[Anonymous Coward]

There must be someone selling full-featured cards, we have a number of Australians in our VDR user database -- so they will definitvely have such a card (see http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr, there the user counter).

Otherwise you can order here in Germany at http://dvbshop.tv, this is a big dealer here with good prices selling most of this cards to foreign countries.

The point of having a full-featured card is simple: You have less system load so your VDR keeps cooler. What none of the "old" processors can do is something like transparent menus, overlays and much more. This is too much for a low speed CPU.

The main reason is: VDR just doesn't support software decoders. It wants it MPEG-2 decoder with OSD engine and so on. VDR was build for these cards. If you use the softdevice plugin or else hardware, be prepared to get into big trouble and have a unstable system.

And the last I want is an unstable VDR. I rely on mine, if the primary VDR fails I always have a second one ready within minutes :-)

Best regards, Mirko

Mythtv

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of you complaining that this doesn't work for the US, MythTV does, and has a very big community. There's also a distribution based again off of debian specifically for MythTV, called KnoppMyth http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html