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Three MythTV Linux Distros Compared

Posted by Zonk on from the penguins-put-on-a-show dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Linux.com has a comparison article up looking at three MythTV-focused Linux distributions. The piece looks at Mythdora, Mythbuntu, and KnoppMyth, with an eye towards ease of installation and the actual utility of the install. From the article: 'For regular system maintenance, KnoppMyth simply isn't in the same ballpark as MythBuntu and MythDora. The live CD heritage of Knoppix means you cannot update individual packages, which is fine if you like that, but for an always-on system like a MythTV back end, I'd prefer flexibility and configurability of a mainline distro. When all is said and done, if I were building my TiVo replacement today, I would do it with MythDora. MythBuntu shows a lot of promise, and I will give the final 7.10 release another look (in part because I run Ubuntu on my desktop machines), but it isn't ready yet.'" Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by SourceForge.

10 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. MythTV for PS3 by DrXym · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The PS3 can run Linux but so far it's been regular Linux distributions. MythTV sounds like a natural fit for a device which has practically everything in place to be a kickass multimedia console. It would be cool to see a MythTV dist for the PS3 that boots straight into the UI and also works with any plugged in USB devices like TV tuners.

    1. Re:MythTV for PS3 by FunkyELF · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not true. Most of the processing power is still there. Just no accelerated graphics. The CELL should be enough to process it, the code hasn't been written yet. If you're watching a video on there you're just using the 3.2GHz PPC with a frame buffer. You're not using any of the SPU/SPE's. I think work is being done for this but it will take time.

    2. Re:MythTV for PS3 by halfelven · · Score: 2, Interesting

      HDHomeRun looks very promising. I'm having one delivered to my door today, can't wait to play with it.

  2. Upside by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The good thing about being forced to get a TV is that a condition of me doing so was that I get to install a Myth TV setup. I'm thinking satellite + cable + OTA inputs to a small cluster in the basement, new fibre runs all over the house, speakers in every wall, projectors in hidden drop down ceiling mounts, touch screen controls in every room, integration of every form of entertainment known to man and a user interface that delights and astounds.

    By the time I'm finished, of course, it'll be obsolete and I shall have to start over, just like the fourth bridge paint job. Perpetual geeking if you like.

    --
    Beep beep.
  3. A possible source for guide data by Mike+Gleason · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's been some talk about getting a subscription service running for MythTV users; if I recall, the goal was to get it going for $5/month.

    Here's an option that could be considered: buy a BeyondTV license from Snapstream, then use your username and password along with a little reverse engineering to login legally to their guide service. BeyondTV's guide data is included with your purchase -- no monthly fees. Currently it costs $70, so after a year it would have paid for itself at the proposed $5/month.

    That said, I should say I'm pretty pleased with the actual BeyondTV software, even though it is Windows-based. I spent about 2 weeks trying to get Myth (MythDora) and Freevo to work at all on a pretty vanilla new Dell PC with new hardware reported to be compatible. I downloaded BTV just to see if the hardware was to blame, and after a grand total of 15 minutes, I had a working PVR with multiple tuners. The software is customizable as well, so I can do nightly batch processing like I was planning to do with the Linux box, although the included Xvid transcoding works automatically if you want to do that.

  4. MythTV distros over-rated by halfelven · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't see what's the point of building a dedicated distro for MythTV. Why reinvent the wheel? Why not use a well-known, established distribution, and just create a software repository with MythTV?
    A dedicated distro may be here today, gone tomorrow, if it doesn't build a large enough community. That's not what I expect from the operating system that I'm gonna use on the MythTV server that I will build next month.

    I think I'm just going to use CentOS or Ubuntu (the LTS edition - long-term support) and pull MythTV from one of the popular repositories.

    1. Re:MythTV distros over-rated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I haven't tried MythBuntu yet but it's not much more than a fancy Ubuntu+mythtv installer. All the packages come from the official Ubuntu repositories. The new mythtv control centre created for Mythbuntu will be in the official Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy) repositories. So installing Ubuntu + mythtv + mythtv control centre will give the exact result as Mythbuntu + desktop option. Nothing will come from unofficial repositories AFAIK.

      Ubuntu LTS (dapper)'s kernel didn't have ivtv included yet.
      Ubuntu 7.04 (feisty)'s kernel doesn't have the lirc modules.
      Ubuntu 7.10 and Mythbuntu will have everything I need for absolutely painless installation in my case.

      I have 2 hauppauge pvr-150 tuners and a nvidia card.

      The same people working on mythbuntu have added improved the Ubuntu Mythtv packages very much. Things like automatic mysql setup, automatic backups of the mythconverge database. There are meta-packages for mythtv-backend and mythtv-frontend. These things make setting up mythtv a breeze compared to before.

  5. Re:MythDora? (XBMC on its way) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With the Linux port of XBMC underway, and very usable at this stage, Myth will have serious competition soon for (currently) its non-PVR functionality. The linux port of XBMC is completely OpenGL 2.0 optimized. Currently, in terms of UI and user friendliness, there's very little that compares to XBMC.

  6. MythTV Box by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Does anyone sell a pre-built, pre-configured MythTV box? I personally have no interest in dealing with the quirks of setting one up, but I'd like to run one. Here's what I'd look for:
    • Packaged in the smallest possible, living-room friendly case
    • Runs quietly, with good power and heat management
    • Plays files off a USB drive and/or over ethernet
    • Online zero-effort software updates
    • Shouldn't cost a ton more than the cost of the required hardware

    If someone does this right I'd think they could have quite a hit on their hands.
  7. Re:Distro? You Want Distro? You Can't Handle the.. by T-Bone-T · · Score: 1, Interesting

    See? Not only are there different distros, there are even forks in the distros! How can you expect Linux to go mainstream if it is already this hard?