[Wolves] MythTV

[Jono Bacon]

Hi,

>In his LinuxWorld post, Jono makes mention of his
>new project: building a MythTV box. Now, I've been toying with a similar idea
>for a while. Initially, I'd planned to buy an Xbox and turn it into a media
>centre. Then I realised I could spend a bit more - quite a lot more, actually
>- and build a hard-disk video recorder, music player, tv web browser and DVD
>recorder all in one.
>  
>
This is my plan. :)

>I have some spare hardware lying around, but it's
>all very beige and large. I want something black/silver and sleek, that won't
>look out of place next to the video recorder and DVD cable box.
>
>So, I'm
>planning to buy:
>
>    * Morex Venus Case - good trade-off between price,
>looks and practiciality
>    * VIA EPIA M1000 Nehemiah motherboard - is this
>overkill?
>    * Hauppage WinTV PVR350 - built-in MPEG2 chip, but then so
>has the Nehemiah motherboard, so I'm not sure if I need it
>    * Some form
>of DVD writer
>    * 120 GB hard drive
>    * Red Remote Serial - plugs into
>serial port and beams infrared commands to your cable box, to switch channels.
>
>
>So, is this everything I need? Is this right system to go for? I think
>it is. I want to be able to do much of what Tivo or Sky+ would do for me,
>plus a lot more. I imagine this is possible. I have concerns, tho'.
>  
>
Right, I am thinking of this at the moment - the VIA boards are great 
because they have everything on there, but it seems a lot of kernel 
patching needs to happen to support Linux well. This includes the 
unichrome driver for the graphics. Also, the MPEG2 decoder is not fully 
working AFAIK. See the VIA Arena Forums for more.

In terms of capabilities, it seems that MythTV can do everything that 
Sky+ can do and more. :)

>Will
>MythTV change cable channels for me?
>  
>
If you use the Red Remote and have a infra red on the PC, yes.

>Will it be quiet enough to sit in the
>living room?
>  
>
If you get a fanless one.

>Will MythTV be an absolute nightmare to get working?
>  
>
Probably. Well, it will probably need a bit of work to get going on VIA 
hardware, but on a Pentium/AMD based system it is no different to a 
normal PC.

    Jono

-- 
Jono Bacon - http://www.jonobacon.org/
Writer / Journalist / Consultant / Developer