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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.'"
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.)
My religion forbids the use of sigs.
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.
A hollow heart and empty head makes the streets run red.
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.
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).
Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. -- H. L. Mencken
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).
;P
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".
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
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.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
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.
I am concerned about any program, any piece of hardware, any treaty, any law that treats me as a consumer, not a citizen
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???
-- "...I'm a bad guy because I, well, I sing some rock-and-roll songs." M. Manson
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.
--
make install -not war
Are there any DVB cards that support NTL Digital at all? This sounds awesome and I'd really like to play!
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
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.