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Additional Software for a Homemade PVR?
MankyD asks: "I'm almost done loading up a new Gentoo installation paired with MythTV and a hardware MPEG2 encoder. I'm looking forward to finishing but before I let it loose upon my television, I was wondering what else I should compile in. Samba File sharing? A webserver (for watching shows on the road)? A CPU/Memory monitor? An additional media player? Not to start a flamewar, but should I do KDE, Gnome, Enlightenment, or some other window manager (especially when viewed on a TV screen)? What bells and whistles can I add to make my system that much more complete?"
An RSS reader (maybe as a screensaver the way Tiger does it).
"FYI, there is a completely pre-built solution that requires minimal set up. You may have heard of it (links to Windows MCE 2005)[microsoft.com]. And it's not that expensive either ($129 from NewEgg [newegg.com])."
I know better too and will take the bait.
Based upon the number/type of windows MCE 2005 questions I see in my forum I wouldn't necessarily hold MCE 2005 as the champion of easy to setup/configure (granted there's no compiling involved, but god help you if you don't load an "approved certified for MCE" video card/tuner/whatever driver in MCE 2005)
Say nothing of the DRM...
Also if you had a valid XP Home/Pro license why do you have to buy a full MediaCenter OS when all you should really need is Disk 2 (the frontend/MCE software)? How is that a good value?!
Mythtv/Linux might not be for everyone (yet!) but I would never fault someone for wanting more control over their PVR/Media/OS and be willing to roll up the sleeves and compile a little bit (not that compiling ready made packages is *that* hard or magical, come on now --- that is until I do it, lol!)
E.
Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
I used KnoppMyth with MythTv 0.17. Then I had to do tons of mods in order for it to work with my IR Blaster and Satelite Receiver. Not to mention the ivtv problems I had to solve. Now, I find that if I want to upgrade, KnoppMyth reformats my root filesystem.
Great, I can go through all that hassle again. What the hell are they thinking.
I'm now building a new box with Gentoo, thank-you-very-much.
Gerald
If he wasted at least 40 hours of his time setting up MythTV, then that's at least $200 of his time wasted.
And if freedom means being stuck with something that crashes vs. something that "Just Works", then maybe giving up a little freedom is not a bad thing.
On the other hand, maybe he is an idiot.
I agree Knoppmyth or a Gentoo/MythTV installation can be tough, especially concerning driver support. I've been running KnoppMyth on an older Compaq DeskPro that I picked up for about $90, plus a Hauppage PVR-250, 160gb disk and a NVidia with S-Video out, for about two years now. Previously, I'd had hobbyist experience with Linux (read: webservers, mailservers, ipchains fws), and was by no means a guru. The initial installation was pretty easy, but configuring and customizing stuff like: multiple drives and LVM spanning, getting the video playback drivers solid and at the right aspect ratio, getting a WiFi NIC working (never actually did get it working), took about two weeks of 4-6 hour days. Fortunately I was working from home at the time and could afford the investment.
It wasn't easy, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants a cheap, easy PVR RIGHT NOW. Instead, it's an excellent learning tool for Linux, IR, video compression, and networking. The amount of knowledge I gained from getting Knoppmyth working was immense, and I feel much more comfortable with it now. It still involves a lot of cursing when a new version comes out, or I change my home network layout, but as a hobbyist learning tool and bleeding-edge package, it's second to none. The online self-support resources are very good, if you can craft a decent query statement.
Plus, now I can baffle anyone with bullsh*t concerning /dev/pci. And to not get too far off thread, the only thing I would add would be ntp support, a dickey clock ending your shows 4 minutes early can ruin your day!
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