point well taken on the/. submission quality in general =)
"Go to avsforum.com, for instance, and you could spend the next month filling your head with HTPC knowledge that isn't included in this guide"
I think that's the point... wading into AVSforum (which is an excellent resource full of great info, posts, knowledge people) is a little overwhelming... especially the color scheme =)
I mean, that's why I built byopvr... I wanted a more "blue collar"/lowbrow/brass tacts discussion on making cheapo tivo-work-a-likes... not multi thousand dollar projector rooms acoustically tuned for maximum effect (which is cool, just not my budget).
I guess it's just a slightly different audience... and the person that can't JFGI (just effing google it) probably will get lost in the AVS forums.
Hopefully a newbie who reads that guide will have the basis to ask a better question in a forum like mine or AVSforum instead of "I want to build an htpc where do i start?"
*shrug*
e.
ps, from you handle can I surmise that you do GIS work?
"To be fair, you can put an external USB tuner/encoder on your Xbox and use it to do everything. However, it's very slow, and I'd rather use it for display-only, and use another PC to do my storage and encoding. I don't like USB peripherals, so I'd be putting a PCI capture card in the server box, besides a RAID controller etc.
Personally, I don't even have TV service, although I am thinking about broadcast HDTV and some sort of PVR. How much are those HDTV tuner cards now?"
Well, unless I'm missing something... I haven't seen it done. There isn't, to my knowledge (until plextor convertx) a good linux driver for a usb tuner device... certainly not one that is usb 1.1 =) but i digress, I know what you meant I was just being picky...
as far as OTA ATSC HDTV cards... they run from 100 - 200 bucks... I *think* i've seen the ATI HDTV wonder on sale for 100 or 120 bucks recently.
What stinks is that a lot of the windows software that is commonly used to make PC pvr's/HTPC, don't have any HDTV tuner card support. So either you get really creative/kludgey or use the dissapointing included software. (or use XP MCE2005 *sigh*)
In linux of course there's the venerable HD-3000 which is back in stock I hear. (runs around 150/160 bucks I think) and that will work with MythTV of course.
One interesting HTPC software for windows that's up and comming is Meedio. It's the commercial version 2.x of what was the free myHTPC version 1.
It's an excellent framework, with a huge community, tons of plugin/mods/skins, and they've got a PVR/tuner plugin/module in beta last I looked.
To give you an idea: BeyondTV is a very good PVR application, but doesn't do much of the HTPC stuff (that's why they came out with a partner product call beyond media, but i digress)...
SageTV is a good PVR application with a blend of HTPC functions.
Meedio is a full/flexible HTPC framework, with a PVR module added.
you could, hypothetically, put the mythtv client on the mac mini... and do all your encoding/tv recording/media storage on a full mythTV server in your closet or something...
There's also the elagato eyeTV stuff with plextor convertx USB for mac...
"For those of you who are interested in possibly putting together a Home Theatre or Media PC but don't know how to use a search engine, I stumbled upon an excellent guide."
I think it's a good guide that distills alot of the questions a newbie might have to sort through the myriad of possibilities and avenues out there.
I plan on pointing many a newbie in my DIY PVR forum to this guide when they come in posting "I don't even know where to begin?!!?" posts...
Besides, wiseguy... how do you think this guide will be found via the search engines, if it doesn't get linked to on places like slashdot =)
Sure there are other guides out there, but this one is a pretty thoughtful, but not too heavy look at the decision making involved.
"You've gotta admit the package is cool. Might not be the best comp, but I could see parking one of these on top of my "real" computer with a KVM attached.....or even better yet, mod it right into the case."
I've heard rumblings about some people having trouble with the mac mini and KVM switches (FYI, FWIW) Might be worth a google search before plunking down your 500 beans =)
believe me, I understand the power of TiVo and PVR devices, beyond just commercial skipping. I was just trying to show how silly it was to have ads during an ad skipping event. (and the idea of marketing to people who are actively skipping ads is ludicrous)
If you feel so passionately about the networks revenue streams you should sit through the commercials to prove how good a consumer you are!
I think largely people are complaining about: 1. the size and position of the ads
There's a difference between the "green thumbs up" for more info in the right hand corner and what they've done for "the interpreter ads" 2. The cost of the tivo subscription in light of tivo finding new revenue streams at the expense of my eyeballs (which is what makes the adspace valuable in the firstplace) while i gleefully pay 12.95... I get half-baked 7.x update that gives me tivo2go, slows down the UI respopnsiveness to a crawl, and banner ads! and I pay for the priveledge monthly! yipppeee!!
There certainly is more to a PVR than just skipping commercials, but if the next step/progression is having me "click on the monkey" in order to assign my next season pass, count me out.
" TiVo has always positioned themselves as wanting to change the way the ads were delivered"
Actually as a consumer I thought TiVo was positioned to "change the way I watch TV"
I think there are more creative revenue streams they could do besides a banner ad that makes it difficult to see when the ads have ended.
replayTV didn't get sued out of existence (although lawsuits don't help matters)
Hey if you are content to continue sucking on the teet of madison avenue, go nuts slackjawing at the "new" breed of Tivortising... me i'm doing the 30 second skip mod on my series 2 and recording more programing on my homebrew PVR unit(s).
" Myth does not work with my DirecTV unit.....so TIVO it is until they do"
granted direcTivo is a better solutino (all digital path) but MythTV can and does work with DirecTV, Dish Network, digital cable, etc... You do go through an digital to analog to digital conversion and use an IR blaster, but it's the same thing I do with my Series 2 stand alone Tivo box and digital cable i.e. no big deal for MythTV or other PC PVR software.
GB is the authors initials not for "great britain" alhtough the author is in New Zealand so it makes sense that it would be a less USA-centric PVR application.
"Yeah. Really it is mostly a non issue. You still get to fast forward through the commercial. You just see an add. This is just a lot of knee jerk reaction."
If you're the type of person who despises commercial breaks so much that they buys $100 - $200 (or more) STB and pay's 12.95 a month NOT to see commercials, you can see how putting ads on top of the ad you are trying to skip would be annoying...
Hey, how would you feel if your popupblocker , say a google toolbar, yahoo toolbar, or equivalent, (I know, I use firefox too... work with me here) and it started adding interstitial flash ads (or other ads) into website content. You're still not seeing popup ads, what's the big fuss?
until the source code is stolen and it's delayed for a zillion years...
How can anyone take what valve says seriously about release dates,etc anymore?
With that said, HL2 was awesome and almost worth the wait, and i'll end up buying the expansion. *sigh*
There's someone out there on/. (or another forum) with a sig about how they "stopped watching MTV when it became the shiny things network"... that's how I feel about what was TechTV about now...
It treats the legitimate "purchaser" of content like they are a would be pirate.
I'm not a social scientist, but the people actually legitimately "buying/leasing" your content aren't likely to be the same people hawking bootleg DVD's on city streetcorners.
Meanwhile, DRM does little to slow or deter actual pirates who seemingly can circumvent , strip, or rip at will...
I can see why DRM is attractive to content holders as some sort of business model boon... but as a consumer it just gets in the way (of legitimate fair uses of the content)
itunes is great in that it showcases how an alcarte.99 per song pay per download online distribution channel can work, but unfortunately at the same time, got a large portion of the online music buying public to accept (or get used to/tolerate) DRM as an (un)necessary part of the deal.
"Isn't it better than if Tivo went away completely? Gotta play with the big boys sometimes."
Well, if my TiVo all of sudden is "upgraded" so that I can't fastforward through commercials on Comcast owned stations/programming... I won't care anymore how succesfull they are as a company, i'll cancel my subscription.
You're point is well taken though, without the overpriced 13 buck service my tivo would be a paper weight (although that's not entirely true, but for the context of the discussion it is) so of course i'd like to see TiVo continue to do well and provide the service/software/experience on my series 2 tivo... but based on their prior actions I'd hope for them to keep the end user/customer in mind while at the same time keeping in the black =P
Well if your a TiVo shareholder, obviously this seems like a good thing, but is having TiVo further in bed with content creators/delivery industries a good idea for consumers?
The one really cool thing that I hope comes of this, is some more traction for bidirectional CableCards leading to uber standalone HDTV tivos... which hopefully inturn leads to bidirectional CableCard PCI tuners for PCs (I can dream, can't i?)
yes... it's currently a windows program, but version SageTV/Media Center 3 is going to be also available on linux. (not OSS though commercial product -- linux media cener announcement)
I use sagetv 2.x on my windoze based PVR (currently, it's in a constant state of flux).
I'm sure there's plugins to do similiar functionality for other PC PVR software solutions (on both windows and linux)
Slashdot Mirror
I deserved that =P
/. for so long I can't remember the fateful day I bothered to register =)
and I've been on
I've been thinking about tackling the DIY projector project. hmmmmmmm...
e.
point well taken on the /. submission quality in general =)
"Go to avsforum.com, for instance, and you could spend the next month filling your head with HTPC knowledge that isn't included in this guide"
I think that's the point... wading into AVSforum (which is an excellent resource full of great info, posts, knowledge people) is a little overwhelming... especially the color scheme =)
I mean, that's why I built byopvr... I wanted a more "blue collar"/lowbrow/brass tacts discussion on making cheapo tivo-work-a-likes... not multi thousand dollar projector rooms acoustically tuned for maximum effect (which is cool, just not my budget).
I guess it's just a slightly different audience... and the person that can't JFGI (just effing google it) probably will get lost in the AVS forums.
Hopefully a newbie who reads that guide will have the basis to ask a better question in a forum like mine or AVSforum instead of "I want to build an htpc where do i start?"
*shrug*
e.
ps, from you handle can I surmise that you do GIS work?
"To be fair, you can put an external USB tuner/encoder on your Xbox and use it to do everything. However, it's very slow, and I'd rather use it for display-only, and use another PC to do my storage and encoding. I don't like USB peripherals, so I'd be putting a PCI capture card in the server box, besides a RAID controller etc.
Personally, I don't even have TV service, although I am thinking about broadcast HDTV and some sort of PVR. How much are those HDTV tuner cards now?"
Well, unless I'm missing something... I haven't seen it done. There isn't, to my knowledge (until plextor convertx) a good linux driver for a usb tuner device... certainly not one that is usb 1.1 =) but i digress, I know what you meant I was just being picky...
as far as OTA ATSC HDTV cards... they run from 100 - 200 bucks... I *think* i've seen the ATI HDTV wonder on sale for 100 or 120 bucks recently.
What stinks is that a lot of the windows software that is commonly used to make PC pvr's/HTPC, don't have any HDTV tuner card support. So either you get really creative/kludgey or use the dissapointing included software. (or use XP MCE2005 *sigh*)
In linux of course there's the venerable HD-3000 which is back in stock I hear. (runs around 150/160 bucks I think) and that will work with MythTV of course.
e.
One interesting HTPC software for windows that's up and comming is Meedio. It's the commercial version 2.x of what was the free myHTPC version 1.
It's an excellent framework, with a huge community, tons of plugin/mods/skins, and they've got a PVR/tuner plugin/module in beta last I looked.
To give you an idea: BeyondTV is a very good PVR application, but doesn't do much of the HTPC stuff (that's why they came out with a partner product call beyond media, but i digress)...
SageTV is a good PVR application with a blend of HTPC functions.
Meedio is a full/flexible HTPC framework, with a PVR module added.
at least that's my take =)
e.
you could, hypothetically, put the mythtv client on the mac mini... and do all your encoding/tv recording/media storage on a full mythTV server in your closet or something...
There's also the elagato eyeTV stuff with plextor convertx USB for mac...
e.
"For those of you who are interested in possibly putting together a Home Theatre or Media PC but don't know how to use a search engine, I stumbled upon an excellent guide."
I think it's a good guide that distills alot of the questions a newbie might have to sort through the myriad of possibilities and avenues out there.
I plan on pointing many a newbie in my DIY PVR forum to this guide when they come in posting "I don't even know where to begin?!!?" posts...
Besides, wiseguy... how do you think this guide will be found via the search engines, if it doesn't get linked to on places like slashdot =)
Sure there are other guides out there, but this one is a pretty thoughtful, but not too heavy look at the decision making involved.
*shrug* I liked it...
e.
I like the added functionality of my hacked x-box... but I'd like to hear how you got a TV tuner/encoder into yours =P
They do make pretty good playback clients, but not sure i'd consider a hacked xbox a full soup to nuts HTPC solution. *shrug*
e.
viperlair did a good write up on what i like to call hardware review site payola a while back.
e.
"You've gotta admit the package is cool. Might not be the best comp, but I could see parking one of these on top of my "real" computer with a KVM attached... ..or even better yet, mod it right into the case."
I've heard rumblings about some people having trouble with the mac mini and KVM switches (FYI, FWIW) Might be worth a google search before plunking down your 500 beans =)
e.
FWIW: even if you have a much more beefy system, you're better off using a tuner/encoder card that has hardware based MPEG encoding.
I use a via epia m10k in one of my PC PVRs and by using a pvr250/350 it handles recording and playback pretty easily.
(gratuituous self links)
The EPIA VIA M-series (and higher like this SP) have a mpeg decoding accelleration (not full on decoding) but it down help.
E.
heh... woe is the person who has their TV hooked up to a clapper and watches the state of the union address. :)
:)
(well woe is the person who bought a clapper in the first place
e
believe me, I understand the power of TiVo and PVR devices, beyond just commercial skipping. I was just trying to show how silly it was to have ads during an ad skipping event. (and the idea of marketing to people who are actively skipping ads is ludicrous)
If you feel so passionately about the networks revenue streams you should sit through the commercials to prove how good a consumer you are!
I think largely people are complaining about:
1. the size and position of the ads
There's a difference between the "green thumbs up" for more info in the right hand corner and what they've done for "the interpreter ads"
2. The cost of the tivo subscription in light of tivo finding new revenue streams at the expense of my eyeballs (which is what makes the adspace valuable in the firstplace) while i gleefully pay 12.95... I get half-baked 7.x update that gives me tivo2go, slows down the UI respopnsiveness to a crawl, and banner ads! and I pay for the priveledge monthly! yipppeee!!
There certainly is more to a PVR than just skipping commercials, but if the next step/progression is having me "click on the monkey" in order to assign my next season pass, count me out.
" TiVo has always positioned themselves as wanting to change the way the ads were delivered"
Actually as a consumer I thought TiVo was positioned to "change the way I watch TV"
I think there are more creative revenue streams they could do besides a banner ad that makes it difficult to see when the ads have ended.
replayTV didn't get sued out of existence (although lawsuits don't help matters)
Hey if you are content to continue sucking on the teet of madison avenue, go nuts slackjawing at the "new" breed of Tivortising... me i'm doing the 30 second skip mod on my series 2 and recording more programing on my homebrew PVR unit(s).
e.
I posted some of the screenie from the "members only" download link...
on byopvr
It's not as bad as I thought, but it's still not good...
e.
there's pics in one of the tivo community threads... i've posted the same ones here fwiw
" Myth does not work with my DirecTV unit.....so TIVO it is until they do"
granted direcTivo is a better solutino (all digital path) but MythTV can and does work with DirecTV, Dish Network, digital cable, etc... You do go through an digital to analog to digital conversion and use an IR blaster, but it's the same thing I do with my Series 2 stand alone Tivo box and digital cable i.e. no big deal for MythTV or other PC PVR software.
e.
"solution specifically for the UK (GB) "
GB is the authors initials not for "great britain" alhtough the author is in New Zealand so it makes sense that it would be a less USA-centric PVR application.
*shrug*
"Yeah. Really it is mostly a non issue. You still get to fast forward through the commercial. You just see an add. This is just a lot of knee jerk reaction."
If you're the type of person who despises commercial breaks so much that they buys $100 - $200 (or more) STB and pay's 12.95 a month NOT to see commercials, you can see how putting ads on top of the ad you are trying to skip would be annoying...
Hey, how would you feel if your popupblocker , say a google toolbar, yahoo toolbar, or equivalent, (I know, I use firefox too... work with me here) and it started adding interstitial flash ads (or other ads) into website content. You're still not seeing popup ads, what's the big fuss?
e.
oooh! I RTFA(s) and somehow missed that. are they doing this more as a tech demo than a true add-on?
It's my future I see... cursing a really slow Steam update or unable to connect... =)
e.
until the source code is stolen and it's delayed for a zillion years...
/. (or another forum) with a sig about how they "stopped watching MTV when it became the shiny things network"... that's how I feel about what was TechTV about now...
How can anyone take what valve says seriously about release dates,etc anymore?
With that said, HL2 was awesome and almost worth the wait, and i'll end up buying the expansion. *sigh*
There's someone out there on
e.
It treats the legitimate "purchaser" of content like they are a would be pirate.
.99 per song pay per download online distribution channel can work, but unfortunately at the same time, got a large portion of the online music buying public to accept (or get used to/tolerate) DRM as an (un)necessary part of the deal.
I'm not a social scientist, but the people actually legitimately "buying/leasing" your content aren't likely to be the same people hawking bootleg DVD's on city streetcorners.
Meanwhile, DRM does little to slow or deter actual pirates who seemingly can circumvent , strip, or rip at will...
I can see why DRM is attractive to content holders as some sort of business model boon... but as a consumer it just gets in the way (of legitimate fair uses of the content)
itunes is great in that it showcases how an alcarte
E.
"You're just trying to annoy me, aren't you?"
your keeding, rite?
The lameness filter did it, I swear! I'm always articulate and grammatically correct. sorry for the fox paws. =P
"Isn't it better than if Tivo went away completely? Gotta play with the big boys sometimes."
Well, if my TiVo all of sudden is "upgraded" so that I can't fastforward through commercials on Comcast owned stations/programming... I won't care anymore how succesfull they are as a company, i'll cancel my subscription.
You're point is well taken though, without the overpriced 13 buck service my tivo would be a paper weight (although that's not entirely true, but for the context of the discussion it is) so of course i'd like to see TiVo continue to do well and provide the service/software/experience on my series 2 tivo... but based on their prior actions I'd hope for them to keep the end user/customer in mind while at the same time keeping in the black =P
e.
Well if your a TiVo shareholder, obviously this seems like a good thing, but is having TiVo further in bed with content creators/delivery industries a good idea for consumers?
The one really cool thing that I hope comes of this, is some more traction for bidirectional CableCards leading to uber standalone HDTV tivos... which hopefully inturn leads to bidirectional CableCard PCI tuners for PCs (I can dream, can't i?)
e.
ok, I misread the actual question... didn't see that it was specific to mythtv and not linux in general...
a previous poster nailed it... there's plenty of plugins for mythtv to do that sort of predictive unnattended recording...
e.
yes... it's currently a windows program, but version SageTV/Media Center 3 is going to be also available on linux. (not OSS though commercial product -- linux media cener announcement)
I use sagetv 2.x on my windoze based PVR (currently, it's in a constant state of flux).
I'm sure there's plugins to do similiar functionality for other PC PVR software solutions (on both windows and linux)
e.