Myth TV

[Dg]

Has anyone had a play with mythTV pvr software?

Im in the process of trying to set it up on fedora core 2, on a shuttle sb75g2. Hit a few problems trying to get the TV tuner to work...I *think* its installed, but I dont seem to be able to get a tv picture out of it. Anyone got any ideas where to go?

[Big Adam]

You're using a TV tuner card as well, right? :)

[Dg]

You're using a TV tuner card as well, right? :)

lol, that would be the problem. I assumed that my new shuttle is so bling it wouldnt need one to pick up something as uncool as TV.

Full spec:
SB75g2
p4 3.0E
512mb ddr400
80gb sata baraccuda
Radeon 7500
Hauppage WinTV/Radio card

[Dunc]

Once you get a tv tuner card you ought to look at KnoppMyth (http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html)

Its a customised knoppix install that makes the install of everything you need quite ridiculously easy. Hardware detection is almost flawless, like knoppix, and then it installs mythtv on top of it. Note that it is meant for installing to a hdd, not a live cd like pure knoppix.

When I rebuilt my box I used it and was kicking myself I hadn't found it earlier.

[Dg]

cheers, ill take a look at that.

How well do these boxes work? An american friend at work put me on to myth and ive been toying with building one ever since, finally got sick of missing spooks so ive decided to put my spare shuttle to good use!

[stdPikachu]

Been using MythTV for about 8 months now (networked over 2 machines), it's stonkingly good stuff. Setting Myth up itself is relatively easy if you're familiar with the command line, there are also several very verbose howtos tailored to specific distros knocking about the web.

The one problem you will face is getting TV cards working. Linux and MythTV both support a very wide range of TV cards, both analogue and digital, but they're still a bit cutting edge at the moment. The best analogue cards for Myth are undoubtedly the Hauppauge PVR-250's (supported by the bleeding-edge IVTV (http://ivtv.sourceforge.net) drivers), but pretty much every DVB-T card is supported under Linux now.

As far as hardware goes, Myth can be made to run in various forms on pretty much anything, but with varying results. If you're just going to run it on a single machine, presumably you'll want it to contain a TV card and a GFX card that's well supported under Linux. You'll also want that box to be quiet, since it'll be living under your TV. If you can spare the cash, you're better off throwing all your hard drives and TV cards into a backend box under the stairs, and networking up all your TV frontends from there.

If you're interested in more info, you're better off starting a thread in hardware or software which I read more often :)