For something that big, you really ought to be looking at DVB cards (from the Telly ref, I'm assuming you're in the UK -- is that right?). My primary two capture devices are actually HDTV, definitely no conversion issues there. All my PVR-x50 cards get very good pictures for analog, and the video looks great on an analog set, but looks like relative crapola on my HDTV (a mere 47" 16:9 set). The HDTV recordings look awesome on the HDTV (and pretty good even on the analog set). To be happy with the picture quality on a display that big, you REALLY need to be recording digital.
You have the right to not believe what you read, but I don't think you don't have the right to complain when what you read regarding the AIW and MythTV really was correct.
It says quite plainly in the official docs that the AIW isn't supported, and has for ages, so I'm not sure why you spent all those hours working on trying to make it work and were disappointed when it didn't work with Myth, exactly as advertised...
As for "special hardware", just about anything BUT an AIW will work. The Hauppauge PVR-x50 series is highly recommended.
The $5 is NOT for the same service. You're actually getting access to more data services than what you get with just zap2it.
And note that while its a pain, there's always screen-scraping of web-based listings that can be done (and is done many places that don't have zap2it). In fact, that's what US users did before zap2it started their xml feed. It was actually in their best interest to do the xml feed, rather than see their servers hammered by screen-scrapers. Their free service isn't going away anytime soon, but even if it does, you won't be without a free alternative.
Just a little info to preface this... I'm the guy who maintains both the Fedora MythTV HOWTO and MythTV's new "stable" branch, so what I'm saying isn't just hearsay...
Yes, we started down the road with the stable branch primarily for bugfixes, but truth be told, the major reason for putting out a 0.18.1 release when we did was indeed to get support for LxM Suite into a release ASAP. There are a number of bugfixes in 0.18.1, which its definitely good to get out to the end users, but none that warranted a new release yet. LxM Suite is really the star of this release.
Obviously, I can't speak for all MythTV developers, but I'm fully behind what TechnoVera is doing. And what they're doing is definitely a whole lot more than providing guide data. Really, that's just a plus to me, the bigger win is that it gives a voice to non-developers to lobby for the features they want and have them made a reality by TechnoVera's funding of developer time. Without that, developers tend to only work on what they have a personal interest in, due to time/financial constraints.
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For something that big, you really ought to be looking at DVB cards (from the Telly ref, I'm assuming you're in the UK -- is that right?). My primary two capture devices are actually HDTV, definitely no conversion issues there. All my PVR-x50 cards get very good pictures for analog, and the video looks great on an analog set, but looks like relative crapola on my HDTV (a mere 47" 16:9 set). The HDTV recordings look awesome on the HDTV (and pretty good even on the analog set). To be happy with the picture quality on a display that big, you REALLY need to be recording digital.
You have the right to not believe what you read, but I don't think you don't have the right to complain when what you read regarding the AIW and MythTV really was correct.
What artifacts? Video off my PVR-x50 cards looks crystal-clear to me, same thing as if it were being fed straight to the TV...
It says quite plainly in the official docs that the AIW isn't supported, and has for ages, so I'm not sure why you spent all those hours working on trying to make it work and were disappointed when it didn't work with Myth, exactly as advertised...
As for "special hardware", just about anything BUT an AIW will work. The Hauppauge PVR-x50 series is highly recommended.
First off, the problem with the AIW cards is that they have broken, half-implemented Linux drivers, its not MythTV's fault.
And yes, there have been TONS of improvements over the course of the past year, its definitely worth revisiting, but not with an AIW.
The $5 is NOT for the same service. You're actually getting access to more data services than what you get with just zap2it.
And note that while its a pain, there's always screen-scraping of web-based listings that can be done (and is done many places that don't have zap2it). In fact, that's what US users did before zap2it started their xml feed. It was actually in their best interest to do the xml feed, rather than see their servers hammered by screen-scrapers. Their free service isn't going away anytime soon, but even if it does, you won't be without a free alternative.
Just a little info to preface this... I'm the guy who maintains both the Fedora MythTV HOWTO and MythTV's new "stable" branch, so what I'm saying isn't just hearsay...
Yes, we started down the road with the stable branch primarily for bugfixes, but truth be told, the major reason for putting out a 0.18.1 release when we did was indeed to get support for LxM Suite into a release ASAP. There are a number of bugfixes in 0.18.1, which its definitely good to get out to the end users, but none that warranted a new release yet. LxM Suite is really the star of this release.
Obviously, I can't speak for all MythTV developers, but I'm fully behind what TechnoVera is doing. And what they're doing is definitely a whole lot more than providing guide data. Really, that's just a plus to me, the bigger win is that it gives a voice to non-developers to lobby for the features they want and have them made a reality by TechnoVera's funding of developer time. Without that, developers tend to only work on what they have a personal interest in, due to time/financial constraints.