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Friday, October 07, 2005
Mythtv Impressions
My latest project has been converting my pvr/dvr/htpc/(what ever you want to call it) over to a mythtv box. For those of you that don't already know, those acronyms above stand for presonal video recorder, digital video recorder, and home theater pc. Basically they act like a TiVo using a standard computer and a tv tuner card.Myth tv is an open source project that runs on Linux. It is great project that makes everything you could want in a video recording device possible.
Hardware
AMD XP 2000+ Overclocked to 2600+
Asus NForce2 Motherboard
512MB 400MHZ Corsair XMS DDR
200GB SATA HD
Gainward GeForce4 4200
ATI TV Wonder PCI
For the last year or so I have used Power VCR and the software that comes with the ATI Card to do all my TV watching and recording. It has not been a pleasurable experience. The software would lock up and not record shows, things would hang, constant need for reboots, etc...
I had been debating making the switch to MythTV for a few months, but I have not had the balls to do it. See, I do not actually own a tv. I use the tv tuner and my 19" monitor for all my tv watching. If attempt to install Linux and MythTV and run into a lot of problems, I will not have a working tv for a few days. I finally had the balls a few days ago and gave it a shot. After a bit of tinkering, it was pretty much up and running. My first impression is that it is am amazing piece of software. I will dive into more detail of the next few days about some of its features that have impressed me the most and further explain the entire MythTV project.
Posted by Jon Heizer at
8:45 PM
