Install MythTV on it and get it all configured before you let her touch it. It's VERY easy to use, no Linux experiance required. If my wife and 12 yr old daughter can use it without me telling them how I'm sure you wife can manage it.
Myth does unlimited tuners. Myth even allows machines with mutliple tuners in them to be linked all recording under the auhority of a single macter machine.
If you had done your homework you'd know that MCE is one of the worst HTPC suites out there. Even when compared against other Windows apps.
What you list as MCEs biggest advantage is a feature in almost every HTPC software package out there.
It terms of features and functionality many packages are better than MCE, MythTV by FAR outpaces it.
What about every app that uses svgalib having to be suid root, or run as root. Those mythTV boxes and advanceMAME cabs are just big fat fuckin backdoor waiting to be exploited.
Do you have a clue what you're talking about? MythTV doesn't use svgalib, MythTV in no way requires you to run as root for anything, the MythTV protocol isn't open to RCE exploits (assuming you're stupid enough to not be behind a firewall in the first place).
Sounds about like MythWeb, the web based interface to MythTV. You can schedule recordings, watch recordings, watch your videos and listen to your music...
So get a cheap framegrabber card for $20. It'll *sill* be better than that POS all-in-wonder card. The AIW is pretty much the worst capture card there is for any OS.
My wife is the one who requested the removal of our Tivo after using our HTPC. Our boxes don't crash, they only get rebooted to update the kernel now and then but otherwise they're running 24/7 recording shows and what not.
Recording TV shows is just one small part of what an HTPC does. A Tivo can't even come close to what something like MythTV can do. People get so hung up on the PVR aspects of HTPCs that they miss the bigger picture.
Using a computer to replace a Tivo *is* rather silly. Using a computer to replace a CD player, DVD player, and Tivo plus provide Newsfeeds weather maps, video conferencing, create DVDs of your favorite shows and more not to mention provide that content to any room in your home isn't.
Support of ATIs hardware has nothing to do with Myth and everything to do with drivers. The All in Wonder line of cards is universally accepted as the crappiest line of caputre devices ever made even on Linux.
As long as they have proper Linux drivers, which since it's ATI it will not, it'll work fine.
How exactly does Myths EPG suck? It has the shows, their times, their catagories (color coded even). It also contains title, subtitle, descriptions, start/end/run time. It can show you a video preview of what's on, allow you to chanegs channels or schedule a program to be recorded. All only with the arrow keys, select and menu.
Based on you consumer rights comment I wonder if you wrok for Tivo...
Tivo is a lame "me too" compared to MythTV. Myth can do almost everything (wishlists and fristrun only are missing in 15.1) Tivo does in terms of PVR functionality far better then Tivo itself does. PLUS you get a lot more functionality that Tivo doesn't offer.
Oh and, "wishlists" are in the current cvs builds of MythTV and will be present in the.16 release. "first run only" recording will be in by.17 (probably by.16).
Because you're breaking the law. And that's the only reason you really need. You don't have to like the laws but you damn sure have to obey them.
Because you're making use of something you haven't paid for that you should have paid for.
Because you're depriving folks of income. I don't care how many folks say "I wouldn't buy the CD anyway" the fact is you WOULD buy more if you couldn't get them all for free.
Because you wouldn't walk up to a jewlery store and take whatever you want. Contrary to what you might think it is the same thing for those of us who make our living off of IP.
Your whole rant might actually be meaningful if 1) You could point to anyone so far who's been innocently accused of sharing files. 2) You didn't agrue about a term that's been used to refer to copyright infringment since before you were born and then flaming someone else when you're the one screwing up terminology.
As for the folks being sued... It's really easy to avoid it stop breaking the law.
For example, why is everyone trying to get 2D vector icons when it's obvious 3D or even 4D (fourth dimension is time) icons are the way to go?
Why on earth would 3D or 4D icons be the way to go? It's a simple picture that reperesents an application or idea. The simpler the better. Nobody cares if their word processor icon has phong hilights and the like.
It's funny you chose "finally" as yoru subject line. The IMAP interface was in beta when I left the company over 2 years ago. At that time it didn't implement any IMAP features and instead provided a POP3 interface over the IMAP port so that marketing could call it an IMAP server.
The watchdog that reboots the box is STUPID. There's no reason to reboot the box unless the machine is hard locked.
As for keeping it updated, that's trivial enough that it can be tied to a menu option.
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Install MythTV on it and get it all configured before you let her touch it. It's VERY easy to use, no Linux experiance required. If my wife and 12 yr old daughter can use it without me telling them how I'm sure you wife can manage it.
Myth does unlimited tuners. Myth even allows machines with mutliple tuners in them to be linked all recording under the auhority of a single macter machine.
Stop by HTPC News sometime and do a little research. They're pretty Windows-centric but they're coming around.
If you had done your homework you'd know that MCE is one of the worst HTPC suites out there. Even when compared against other Windows apps. What you list as MCEs biggest advantage is a feature in almost every HTPC software package out there. It terms of features and functionality many packages are better than MCE, MythTV by FAR outpaces it.
Do you have a clue what you're talking about? MythTV doesn't use svgalib, MythTV in no way requires you to run as root for anything, the MythTV protocol isn't open to RCE exploits (assuming you're stupid enough to not be behind a firewall in the first place).
"exponential nature" being the key point here folks.
"apt-get install mythtv-suite"
done.
Yep getting all those dependacies is real rough.
Sounds about like MythWeb, the web based interface to MythTV. You can schedule recordings, watch recordings, watch your videos and listen to your music...
So get a cheap framegrabber card for $20. It'll *sill* be better than that POS all-in-wonder card. The AIW is pretty much the worst capture card there is for any OS.
My wife is the one who requested the removal of our Tivo after using our HTPC. Our boxes don't crash, they only get rebooted to update the kernel now and then but otherwise they're running 24/7 recording shows and what not.
Using a computer to replace a Tivo *is* rather silly. Using a computer to replace a CD player, DVD player, and Tivo plus provide Newsfeeds weather maps, video conferencing, create DVDs of your favorite shows and more not to mention provide that content to any room in your home isn't.
Support of ATIs hardware has nothing to do with Myth and everything to do with drivers. The All in Wonder line of cards is universally accepted as the crappiest line of caputre devices ever made even on Linux.
As long as they have proper Linux drivers, which since it's ATI it will not, it'll work fine.
How exactly does Myths EPG suck? It has the shows, their times, their catagories (color coded even). It also contains title, subtitle, descriptions, start/end/run time. It can show you a video preview of what's on, allow you to chanegs channels or schedule a program to be recorded. All only with the arrow keys, select and menu.
My computer is hooked to my TV. That being said, I still prefer netflix
Based on you consumer rights comment I wonder if you wrok for Tivo... Tivo is a lame "me too" compared to MythTV. Myth can do almost everything (wishlists and fristrun only are missing in 15.1) Tivo does in terms of PVR functionality far better then Tivo itself does. PLUS you get a lot more functionality that Tivo doesn't offer. Oh and, "wishlists" are in the current cvs builds of MythTV and will be present in the .16 release. "first run only" recording will be in by .17 (probably by .16).
And yet I can copy and delete multi GB files much faster with xfs than I can with ext2/3 or Fat32...
Because you're breaking the law. And that's the only reason you really need. You don't have to like the laws but you damn sure have to obey them.
Because you're making use of something you haven't paid for that you should have paid for.
Because you're depriving folks of income. I don't care how many folks say "I wouldn't buy the CD anyway" the fact is you WOULD buy more if you couldn't get them all for free.
Because you wouldn't walk up to a jewlery store and take whatever you want. Contrary to what you might think it is the same thing for those of us who make our living off of IP.
As for the folks being sued... It's really easy to avoid it stop breaking the law.
For example, why is everyone trying to get 2D vector icons when it's obvious 3D or even 4D (fourth dimension is time) icons are the way to go? Why on earth would 3D or 4D icons be the way to go? It's a simple picture that reperesents an application or idea. The simpler the better. Nobody cares if their word processor icon has phong hilights and the like.
Let's hope it's progressed since then!
And get a lot less functionality and crappy recordings (compared to a PC with a PV250 in it).
The point is that all a watchdog script should ever have to do is:
Stop the myth backend
Unload the capture drivers
Reload the capture drivers
Start the backend
If you want to be paranoid you could stop/start mysql before starting the backend back up as well.
Rebooting the box is a pointless waste of time.
Driver revision 4363 is the only driver worth a crap for PVR HTPCs
All the time it takes to set a Myth box up (including the OS and little extras) right does add value to the hardware.
The watchdog that reboots the box is STUPID. There's no reason to reboot the box unless the machine is hard locked. As for keeping it updated, that's trivial enough that it can be tied to a menu option.