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Posted
by
ScuttleMonkey
y September 29, 2008 @12:47PM
from the easier-to-take-your-tv-with-you dept.
bigwophh writes to mention HotHardware is reporting that Nero has decided to try a new step forward for home theater PCs by bringing the TiVo service to your computer. The new LiquidTV / TiVo PC package includes a (USB-based) high definition ATSC digital/analog TV tuner, antenna, remote control, IR blaster, Nero's LiquidTV software, and a 12-month subscription to the TiVo service for around $200. You can cut that in half if you already have a compatible TV tuner. This is the first time that TiVo has licensed their intuitive interface for a PC package. In addition to the TiVo interface, the rest of the LiquidTV software package allows you to burn your TV recordings to DVD or transfer the videos to other computers, iPods, PSP, or "other mobile devices." This service is due to launch next month.
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byhcdejong ( 561314 ) writes:
Make a European version! I'm tired of EyeTV's lack of intelligence.
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byelectrictroy ( 912290 ) writes:
>>>You can cut that in half if you already have a compatible TV tuner.
Okay. Question:
How difficult would it be to modify one of those $60 ATSC-over-the-air tuners? I'd like to make it dump the raw data directly to a PC (perhaps via USB), so that I can read the raw ATSC data as it streams-in over the antenna. Anybody have links to websites that would be helpful?
bydrewzhrodague ( 606182 ) writes:
I think the HDHomeRun [silicondust.com] does this, and over ethernet too. Also, you can hit the thing from whichever platform has network-based MPEG decoding, if I am not mistaken -- and two tuners too. MythTV friggin' rocks.
byclang_jangle ( 975789 ) * writes:
I would expect that those of us who like to use our computers for video would already have these capabilities without spending $200/yr on a subscription. I know I do.
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byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
Me too.
I pay $100 a year for the subscription.
The subscription to TiVo is worth every penny just for the lack of having to fiddle with it all the time.... Getting the updates installed with no time investment, etc...
And that's before you take into account its ability to record encrypted QAM, since it's cableCARD certified.
I used to use a home-built DVR, but TV just doesn't matter enough to me to invest the time. I'd rather throw (much) less than a day's pay at it once a year and not have to think about it.
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byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
The "fiddling" with a home-made DVR is driven primarily by other "fiddling".
Set it up and leave it alone and it tends to stay setup. That first part is the trick.
Once you make Tivo the combination of a random collection of spare parts and some
software, you are going to blow away Tivo's strength in this area. It will be like
trying to run MacOS on a non-mac using some hack.
Simply put: Tivo is last to the party and is in serious danger of being left
behind by everyone.
If you are already accustomed to the more powerful features of PC PVR software
then a PC running Tivo software is not going to be that compelling. Otherwise
you would already just be running a Tivo anyways.
What HD capture options will it have? How open will the recordings be?
Will I be able to use the software on the platform of my choice?
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byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
If you are already accustomed to the more powerful features of PC PVR software
then a PC running Tivo software is not going to be that compelling.
You're right. I don't see the appeal of running TiVo's software on a PC. Just give me the box.
Could I go back to my PC based DVR which lacked recording encrypted HD, and neded to be reconfigured when the "free" data sources changed/went away, or when my channel lineup changes? What features am I missing? I can record my shows to DVD if I want... I can watch in multiple rooms... I can watch on the road...
The only reason TiVo is being left behind is that the less-featured cable company DVRs are "good enough"
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
If you are already accustomed to the more powerful features of PC PVR software
then a PC running Tivo software is not going to be that compelling.
You're right. I don't see the appeal of running TiVo's software on a PC. Just give me the box.
Could I go back to my PC based DVR which lacked recording encrypted HD, and neded to be reconfigured when the "free" data
sources changed/went away, or when my channel lineup changes? What features am I missing? I can record my shows to DVD if
1) My PC based DVR can record encrypted content. Tivo's edge here is gone now.
2) Data sources don't change that often. If you are groping in this then you
really don't have that much to whine about.
3) Tivo will screw the pooch just the same when the guide data doesn't keep up.
At least with a open platform I can fix my own problems myself.
I want... I can watch in multiple rooms... I can watch on the road...
The only reason TiVo is being left behind is that the less-featured cable company DVRs are "good enough" for almost everybody. PC DVRs are a speck in TiVo's rear view mirror.
...so I can put "extenders" in as many rooms as I like and they
will all see the same content? That's certainly news to me. Any
ra
bycayenne8 ( 626475 ) writes:
"My PC based DVR can record encrypted content. "
What are you using? How are you decrypting encrypted content (assuming off cable)??
You mentioned open source in your post...is this with MythTV? I can't find how to decrypted channels with Myth....
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Buy yourself a Hauppauge 1212.
Can't miss it. We're all gushing over it.
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byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
That's a nice device.
But it doesn't record encrypted digital content. It records analog content. You have to re-encode. It's misleading to describe that as recording encrypted content, because it assumes you have another device that is willing to do the decryption and conversion to analog without lowering the resolution or quality.
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Misleading? Not really.
It records all of those other channels that Tivo for a short time had a monopoly on access to.
It does it, just like any other older Tivo does.
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
While you're splitting hairs, I'm watching HD content recorded off of DirecTV.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
While you're splitting hairs, (elsewhere in the thread) I'm watching HD content off FiOS, using less storage to do it, and not dealing with re-encoding artifacts. :)
It'll also be three years before my service fees add up to the cost of the those encoders had I purchased enough of them for a four tuner setup equivalent to what I have now...
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
"uses less storage and doesn't have any transcoding artifacts" all at the same time?
That's a "remarkable" system they have there.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
This whole conversation has gotten silly. You jumped into a thread to attack a solution using a bogus list of limitations, the only one of which was accurate was that that data isn't stored in an open, unencumbered format, and for what? I certainly don't know.
I'm done mudslinging for the day. Thanks for the pointer to the 1212. I didn't know about it, and I'm glad I do now.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
1) My PC based DVR can record encrypted content. Tivo's edge here is gone now.
What hardware/software do you use for this? Something new must have come out recently... As recently as a year ago I was unable to find a legal device that would allow me to record encrypted QAM from my cable connection. Even the devices that claimed to be able to do it, but were bundled with Windows media center couldn't actually get the job done as expected (could only decrypt when saving to DRM encumbered WMV).
...so I can put "extenders" in as many rooms as I like and they
will all see the same content? That's certainly news to me. Any
random PC in the house can be another "extender"? News to me.
Yup. As long as the "random PC" is running Windows, MacOS, or Wine. I watch the shows that are
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Of course I am adding "extra requirements".
That's why I'm not a Tivo user. I have "extra requirements".
I want a client-server solution and I want open access to the
content so I can put it on any device I like.
It's MPEG2, there's simply no excuse for it to be an engima.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
"Extra requirements" is fine. It's just hard to discuss something with somebody if they're always moving the goalposts.
It does what I said it does... not the extra stuff you added on. If it doesn't work for you, so be it. I have a feeling it *would* work for you though, 'cause there's a big difference between "any device I like" when the list is made up of what you'd actually use and "any device I like" when the list is made up of any device you can think of such that you can say "See! It sucks! It doesn't
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
What part of "open" and "client-server" did you not get previously?
There is nothing in Tivo-land that approximates a Media Server Extender.
End of story.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
What part of "open" and "client-server" did you not get previously?
There is nothing in Tivo-land that approximates a Media Server Extender.
End of story.
Why should there be? Another TiVo dies everything an extender does, plus more, for less money than any pure extender on the market. (Unless you know of some HD extender for less than $149? I didn't think so.) If you want a software extender, a TiVo comes with one for free.
If you don't think the TiVo->TiVo or TiVo->Tivo Desktop architecture is "Client-server" then I don't know what else to say about it.
The only sticking point is "open", which again, is only a sticking point if the closed architecture d
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Why should there be? Another TiVo dies everything an extender does, plus more, for less money than any pure extender on the market. (Unless you know of some HD extender for less than $149? I didn't think so.) If you want a software extender, a TiVo comes with one for free.
If you don't think the TiVo->TiVo or TiVo->Tivo Desktop architecture is "Client-server" then I don't know what else to say about it.
Ok... so I go into the living room fire up my Tivo and automagically
see all the same content that any of my other Tivos can see?
So.... I can stop MythBusters in the living room and pick it up in
the bedroom or the play room, or on any PC accessable in the home
network?
That's quite a claim.
You know, some of us have closets full of old Tivos, so you
might want to ease up on the overselling there.
Some PC running some oddball desktop software is not an extender.
byelectrictroy ( 912290 ) writes:
I have a Panasonic DVR I bought refurbished off ebay. It includes lifetime service that is constantly providing guide data without me ever having to pay a dime. Sweet. It was my first DVR and I'm still extremely happy with its performance.
>>>You can cut that in half if you already have a compatible TV tuner.
Okay. Question:
How difficult would it be to modify one of those $60 ATSC-over-the-air tuners? I'd like to make it dump the raw data directly to a PC (perhaps over a serial port), so that I
byelectrictroy ( 912290 ) writes:
Correction:
".....so that I can read the raw ATSC data as it streams-in over the antenna."
byChris Pimlott ( 16212 ) writes:
".....so that I can read the raw ATSC data as it streams-in over the antenna."
Buy an HDHomeRun [wikipedia.org], that's exactly what it does. Signal comes in via coax, data comes out via ethernet.
byJorophose ( 1062218 ) writes:
Too bad barely anybody leaves their digital cable unencrypted, even the first 70 channels...
Which should be downright criminal to be honest. I could just stick in an analog tuner and record it. Why are you stopping me from watching it with digital?...
(at least with Rogers)
bynabsltd ( 1313397 ) writes:
I'd like to make it dump the raw data directly to a PC (perhaps over a serial port), so that I can read the raw MPEG2 data as it streams-in over the antenna.
There are very few serial ports in PCs that can handle the 19.2Mbps that ATSC transmists.
Unless you have seen one that can be set to 19200000,N,8,1, I think you'll have to look some other way. As long as this software doesn't use a very limited list of esoteric tuners in the "supported" list, you should be able to pick one up for $50 or so, with a dual-tuner model well south of $150.
byelectrictroy ( 912290 ) writes:
>>>There are very few serial ports in PCs that can handle the 19.2Mbps
The Universal Serial Bus 2.0 can handle that. ;-)
byarth1 ( 260657 ) writes:
There are very few serial ports in PCs that can handle the 19.2Mbps that ATSC transmists.
I think you would be hard pressed to find any computer made after 2002 or so that doesn't have a serial port that can handle 19.2 Mbps.
High Speed USB 1.1/2.0 is 480 Mbps, and Firewire 400 is 386 Mbps.
And why does it have to be serial?
Good old PCI does a little over 1 Gbps (133 MB/s), and PCIe does almost 2 Gbps (250 MB/s) for a 1x connection.
And 19.2 Mbps isn't that much. A typical band recording with 10 channels 24-bi
byAuckerman ( 223266 ) writes:
Fiddling? What do you mean by that? My computer auto downloads the EPG guide the internet, uses the EPG guide, allows me to edit out commericals, allows me to auto convert to anything I want, then I burn it. FIVE minutes set up time. Welcome to EyeTV.
No subscription charges. Tivo is rip off.
byAmouth ( 879122 ) writes:
personaly i juse use WMC - it does the guide well - no fee autoupdates - and is easy enough for my wife to use withouth ever having to ask me how to do something.. that alone is far worth it>>
i can't tell you the last time we watched TV as it was broadcasting.. she jsut has it set to record what ever she wants and goes for it.
byivan256 ( 17499 ) writes:
You burn it? What for?
Seriously, you've spent all that time and effort and money to make yourself a pile of plastic discs you won't ever use... And that time was wort what exactly? Plus you don't have access to the encrypted HD digital content you'd get over cable.
If you don't mind watching broadcast content exclusively, or you don't care about HD (you're using DVD, right?), absolutely... A PC DVR is the way to go... But that's an apples/oranges comparison.
byGlsai ( 840331 ) writes:
I used to use Tivo till I got tired of paying the monthly fee and not being able to do HD. So I just invested in a TV tuner card, installed Vista on a decent PC I had and now I have all the functionality I had used before with my Tivo for free.
Granted I have to use a mouse now instead of a remote, but it works just fine for me. I can still export all my video, edit out commercials and archive it, but now I can record HD over the air so I don't have to pay for cable television any more.
byIndustrialComplex ( 975015 ) writes:
I just cancelled my Tivo service. (Or non-renewal as the case may be). My original subscription had expired, and they sent in the notice to re-activate my Tivo. I took a look at the options, and decided that since I now had an HDTV, my series2 Tivo might only get 4-6 months of use.
The month to month billing seemed like the valid option, except I noticed that Tivo was requiring a 1 year commitment with an early termination fee. There is no way that I'm signing up to a contract with a company that requir
byPlatyPaul ( 690601 ) writes:
Hulu.com [hulu.com] seems to work well enough for the rare case when we need a fix, barring season-renting from Netflix.
Who exactly is the target market for this?
byathakur999 ( 44340 ) writes:
The subscription is $100/year. The $200 price listed in the article is basically $100 for the year subscription + $100 for the hardware. You're going to need to buy a TV tuner and a remote control to get the most out of MythTV, so really you're comparing $100/year for the Tivo service to $20/year for MythTV (what it costs to use Schedules Direct for a year) - so really the price difference is only $80/year.
MythTV does have some features that a regular Tivo lacks - being able to run game emulators, easily
byCastrTroy ( 595695 ) writes:
I bought a TV Tuner and a license for SageTV. Cost about $200 combined, and I've been using it for 3 years with no recurring fees. I fail to see how this offering from Tivo+Nero is any better than my SageTV setup.
byJherek Carnelian ( 831679 ) writes:
Does it come with Aeon Flux?
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byLanMan04 ( 790429 ) writes:
The Maxxx?
Isn't just "The Maxx"? Also, I miss THE HEAD!
byHTH NE1 ( 675604 ) writes:
The Bill Plympton segment "Push Comes to Shove" [plymptoons.com] is one of my favorites, and is available on DVD from his website.
bykellyb9 ( 954229 ) writes:
Great - exactly what I've been looking for MythTV- except you have to pay for it.
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byinternerdj ( 1319281 ) writes:
Don't worry this is the ... step that comes before profit. Or maybe thats the next step.
byAnimats ( 122034 ) writes:
Nero is notorious for installing processes you don't want that run all the time.
I bought the DVD writer program (the commercial product, not the free version) and, even though I turned off
everything else, it installed an "indexing service" and a "backup service", which started up at boot time. I wouldn't trust a product from them. You don't know that it's doing.
(By the way, what's a reliable Windows non-Vista product for writing DVDs of both data and video formats. I don't need "ripping", but want to transcode some of my old animation .avi files to DVD.)
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byBieeanda ( 961632 ) writes:
Nero has become almost as bad as Symantec. When I got a copy of Nero 7, I discovered that the lazy bastards hadn't even bothered to put help files on the disc-- click on 'help' and it gives you a URL to download the CHM files. It doesn't even provide an installer-- you have to download each one separately, and move the damn things manually. Meanwhile, there is no way to remove any of their cruft without removing the whole damn application suite.
Christ, these people are as bad as Realmedia.
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bypdragon04 ( 801577 ) writes:
Try CDBurnerXP
http://cdburnerxp.se/ [cdburnerxp.se]
And it's free!
byrtechie ( 244489 ) * writes:
Imgburn is freeware and works well, but it doesn't do menus.
If you want menus... I actually use Nero, mainly because I hate all the other applications I've found for this task, notably Ulead DVD Creator and Roxio Easy Media Creator.
byColonel Korn ( 1258968 ) writes:
(By the way, what's a reliable Windows non-Vista product for writing DVDs of both data and video formats. I don't need "ripping", but want to transcode some of my old animation .avi files to DVD.)
Imgburn. If you don't like it, there are about a hundred great free alternatives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgburn [wikipedia.org]
byInda ( 580031 ) writes:
I don't understand what you mean by non-Vista product but I use DVD Flick for doing all my transcoding from my old animation avi files to DVD *wink* http://dvdflick.sourceforge.net/ It works on Vista... and Windows... and open source, whatever that is?
Comes with imgburn (donate-ware, multi OS) that does the burning side of things.
bymacraig ( 621737 ) writes:
Try DVDFlick (OSS) or ConvertXtoDVD 3 (VSO Software, makers of the Patin-Couffin engine).
ConvertXtoDVD 3 has one very useful feature in particular: there's an option to "copy original to DVD if possible", which attempts to transcode with slightly lower quality and leave enough free space to copy the original file to the DVD as well (in an \ORIGINAL folder). This can be very handy if you ever have illusions of trying to re-do the transcoding later but still don't want the video file cluttering up a hard dri
bydenis-The-menace ( 471988 ) writes:
Nero also phones home every time you launch it.
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bycayenne8 ( 626475 ) writes:
"For burning DVD's I use ImgBurn...it's easy, does what you ask it to do, and doesn't install a whole host of garbage."
Same with dvdbackup, makeisofs, and growisofs.
Simple, straightforward, works....
byAnimats ( 122034 ) writes:
Both Nero-Backup and the Indexing service (Nero Scout) can both be disabled on install using the custom install...
Unfortunately, they still load and run when "disabled"; you can see the processes. They ust don't do much. At least, one hopes they don't do much.
byControl-Z ( 321144 ) writes:
I have a TivoHD and Series 2, which both work great. What's the advantage in running it on your own PC? Only thing I could think of is the Tivo software should be faster on a decent PC.
But if I was going to go the PC route I would install something like MythTV that would give me complete flexibility. Tivo still has to work with the networks to ensure shows are handled the way the networs want.
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byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Assuming you've got a networked client-server PVR system,
running the software on your PC can be pretty handy. This
is a killer feature of all of the other PC based PVRs. You
can use the same exact interface on your desktop to control
your PVR or view it's content.
byjj00 ( 599158 ) writes:
From the cnet article [cnet.com]:
The software is said to support up to four TV tuners.
byrtechie ( 244489 ) * writes:
Among others:
1) You can have up to 4 tuners in the PC.
2) You can stream the video to different PCs on your network.
3) More storage, and better use of storage. For example, you can archive the actual Tivo recordings and burn them to DVD. (and yes, you can get them out of the program and edit them as you see fit).
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byjohnlcallaway ( 165670 ) writes:
I bought a Hauppauge card, Snapstream's beyond TV, and a Firefly RF remote. I see they are running this for about $180 on Snapstream's [snapstream.com] site. I've been using a cheaper board for several months now and think it's great.
No subscription charges, files are stored so anyone can view them or burn to DVD. It also includes compression and advertisement skipping, an hour of TV is about around 500 to 900MB. They also offer a $30 add-on so you can view from another computer on the network. I share the hard drive instead, but then the advertisement skipping feature can't be used, just standard fast forward.
Snapstream isn't the most intuitive program out there, but you don't have to pay the monthly subscription charge for access to free information once the first 12 month subscription runs out.
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bySilentChris ( 452960 ) writes:
MythTV is great if you like to fiddle with your DVR hardware instead of actually WATCHING the television.
For most people, this is a reasonable solution (alongside other reasonable solutions such as getting the DVR that comes from the cable/telephone company, getting a Windows Media Center box, etc). I would venture to say that a MythTV box takes a couple hours for the average user to set up (barring issues with incompatible hardware/software, which'll undoubtedly add more time). Let's say it takes 4 hours
byChyeld ( 713439 ) writes:
You are replacing your MythTV box every year are you? Perhaps that's the problem.
bygstoddart ( 321705 ) writes:
MythTV is great if you like to fiddle with your DVR hardware instead of actually WATCHING the television.
And, as far as I can tell, if you don't have digital TV.
My cable TV is digital cable, and my TV would be incapable of accessing all of my channels. To the best of my knowledge, most of these tuner cards work if you've got old fashioned analog cable.
In my case, it's far less hassle (and far more convenient) to buy/rent my PVR from my cable company. I'm not convinced that building my own would cover all
byAnonymous Coward writes:
Well, if your time is worth more than $50/hour, based on a 40 hour work week you make at least $104,000 annually, so paying for something that can be done for free is worth it to you. For those of us not making six figures mythtv is a great option.
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
...something else that should bring up in all of this
nonsense about "how I can magically convert my free
time into little gold coins" is the fact that all of
the other PVR solutions offer far superior commercial
skipping features.
I don't have to worry about my 30-second skip button
going away or trying to re-program it afterwards.
My PVR skips those pesky commercials automagically.
Nice convenience. Nice time saver.
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bySilentChris ( 452960 ) writes:
Well, if your time is worth more than $50/hour, based on a 40 hour work week you make at least $104,000 annually, so paying for something that can be done for free is worth it to you
I do, and I doubt I'm alone here in that regard. Tech has seen a resurgence -- not uncommon for people to be making 6 digits nowadays.
byMBGMorden ( 803437 ) writes:
MythTV is great if you like to fiddle with your DVR hardware instead of actually WATCHING the television.
Don't know about you, but it didn't take much "fiddling" to get my system up and running. From start to finish I had my MythTV box running along in less than 3 hours (not counting the time to download the ISO for Mythbuntu, as I started that and let it run overnight). After that, it's become as much of an appliance as any other set top box I own.
As you stated, a lot of people don't want to mess with their TV's - but honestly, this whole thing from Nero sounds like as much "messing" as you'd have to do with the MythTV setup anyways. For those who don't want to "mess with their TV's", which I accept is fine, an actual honest to goodness DVR is probably a much better choice.
I mean, you have 3 choices:
1. Build homebrew DVR with free high quality software.
2. Build homebrew DVR with pay for unknown quality software.
3. Buy DVR that "just works" out of the box.
#1 is the obvious geek solution. #3 is for lazy geeks and non-geeks. #2? I just don't see much of a market for it. MAYBE OEM integration as it's something that HP or the like would probably love to bundle in with your computer and charge extra for, but other than that, not much retail market for it.
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bySydShamino ( 547793 ) writes:
Since you have one example (your own experience), let me provide you with mine. As it happens I saved it as a series of Slashdot posts. Start here:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=281759&cid=20390565 [slashdot.org]
Summary: Nine hours to try to get MythTV working on my desktop machine as a test, before investing in a dedicated system, and it didn't work. The problem I had culd probably be overcome with faster, more expensive hardware, but then I keep hearing on Slashdot about how MythTV can be run on any ol
byMBGMorden ( 803437 ) writes:
As expected, everyone won't have 100% success on something like this, but no DIY project will. The vast majority of people here on Slashdot seem to be having no issues with this type of setup. Having seen my brother's Dish DVR, I prefer my system much more. I have more storage space for recordings, can upload videos from my main desktop system to play on the TV, can play emulated video games, and can rip my DVD's all to this device so that I have instant access to my entire collection without having to w
bykellyb9 ( 954229 ) writes:
Are you kidding? It took an hour for me to set it up on Ubuntu. And I assure you, I'm not some DVR expert. Not to mention, it ran perfectly on absolute crap hardware.
bySydShamino ( 547793 ) writes:
I replied to the person above, but my reply works well for you, too. How did you get it to run on your crap hardware without XVMC support enabled in the precompiled Ubuntu binary? If the hardware you were using really was crap you should have needed that for glitch-free playback, right?
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=979763&cid=25197831 [slashdot.org]
byMBGMorden ( 803437 ) writes:
Depends on several factors. If he was using an analog tuner for NTSC, then it will work on a fairly modest system (I used an old Celeron oc'd to 550Mhz to record from a TV Wonder way back when). If he was watching digital television but at 480p then it would have taken much less CPU than 720P and above. And finally, some tuner cards have MPEG2 decoders onboard that are separate from the XVMC support provided by video cards. Any of those would have negated the need for fancy hardware.
byRedWizzard ( 192002 ) writes:
I replied to the person above, but my reply works well for you, too. How did you get it to run on your crap hardware without XVMC support enabled in the precompiled Ubuntu binary? If the hardware you were using really was crap you should have needed that for glitch-free playback, right?
Only if you're doing HD. For SD you can get away with really low end hardware if you have a capture card that does encoding. I've had a frontend working with a 1GHz PIII without XVMC.
bySydShamino ( 547793 ) writes:
More likely you had problems configuring XvMC in general for X - it was fiddly on Ubuntu 7.10 and previous.
Given that I made no effort to configure this - nor even knew I needed to - outside what I included in my saga documented above, that seems likely.
However with the last mythbuntu install I did (8.04 + updates) it worked out of the box, no config needed at all with a 7200GS
Good to hear it's improving. When it can do everything my ViP 722 can do and more, I'll consider it again. Now that I have an HD DVR that works with both satellite and OTA signals, it would be difficult to go back to one limited to just OTA. (Our cable company doesn't offer HD.)
byDan667 ( 564390 ) writes:
As another poster has noted, if you set it up and run it Mythtv just works. If you jack with your installation and install updates or new features, then you will be messing with it. (like you would anything that you constantly change)
The difference between Mythtv and paying for a solution is just in the raw power of what you are able to do. My setup has multiple diskless computers at all the tv's in the house served from a central machine and everyone can watch a different recorded program at the same time without commercials (it just automagically skips them). And when away from home you can set programs with a web browser or even stream your music or recorded programs over the web. People have made all kinds of really great add ons to it.
I love it, and could not go back to a barebones and probably DRM'ed PVR package. The Microsoft one stopped recording shows when a network set the broadcast flag recently. I will stick with Mythtv. YMMV.
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byRich0 ( 548339 ) writes:
Yup - as the previous owner of two different prorpietary DVRs I'll never go back now that I'm on MythTV. My first Tivo had a hard drive failure. The second DVR was pretty nice except for the software bugs that caused it to tend to not actually record shows. Now I have a device that will tolerate drive failures, will hold tons of shows, and when something goes wrong I can actually fix it and not just toss it in the trash.
I don't really have to play with it much, either. Sure, software updates take some e
byniiler ( 716140 ) writes:
On the other hand, considering this is Slashdot, you might find that the audience here actually does find fiddling with their TVs to be more entertaining than actually watching. :-)
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bynabsltd ( 1313397 ) writes:
Let's say it takes 4 hours to build a reasonable MythTV box, install and configure it. $200 for this thing. $200/4 hours = $50/hour. For me personally, my time is worth way more per hour than that -- it makes more sense to go the prepackaged route.
You're making the very bad assumption that it will take zero time to get the "prepackaged" version going.
Since it is software for your PC, it has all the problems that any software for your PC would have: does other software conflict with it, does it support your hardware, etc. Installing and configuring this isn't going to be a zero-time project.
Also, unless you are a very rare person, your time isn't worth more much more than $50/hour. You have to bill at $210/hour full time (2080 hours a year) for your
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
byMinwee ( 522556 ) writes:
Most people just want to watch the damn TV.
Which is what most people do instead of ever having heard of Slashdot. Welcome to The Rest Of The People.
byRedWizzard ( 192002 ) writes:
Let's say it takes 4 hours to build a reasonable MythTV box, install and configure it. $200 for this thing. $200/4 hours = $50/hour. For me personally, my time is worth way more per hour than that -- it makes more sense to go the prepackaged route.
You know you can buy prebuilt MythTV boxes. With support if you want. It'll cost you more than the Nero/Tivo thing but it'll do more too.
byroc97007 ( 608802 ) writes:
> MythTV is great if you like to fiddle with your DVR hardware instead of actually WATCHING the television.
I'm reluctant to say this, but I went with Media Center for just this reason -- I didn't want to fiddle with MythTV. And now I'm fiddling with Media Center. HD recording never did work right -- It'd work about one time in three, and then the center channel was often missing. (Nice music, no dialog.) And now, last night, it suddenly stopped tuning the satellite set-top box. So tonight I have
byJorophose ( 1062218 ) writes:
It doesn't take 4 hours. Mythbuntu took me about an hour or two to install and configure. I've dabbled in linux and use it as my desktop but I can't do more than some of the basics (well, basics for a geek. don't ask me to work with databases or programming languages, or anything tedious in the shell...).
MythTV is great for the mythical box. I intend to get some Beagleboards eventually, and stick MythTV on them. If the DSP works with FFMpeg agian (it works on and off between patches it seems), that makes it
byblahplusplus ( 757119 ) * writes:
"I'm not saying it's for everything, but the fact of the matter is most people don't want to mess with their TVs. The same way they don't want to mess with their cars, microwaves, blenders and -- yes -- computers. Most people just want to watch the damn TV."
This is what modern designers don't understand, especially geeks and engineers - the job is to offload complexity and increase a persons time available for other pursuits or offload tasks. I bet if AI was sufficiently advanced enough and everything was
byarizwebfoot ( 1228544 ) writes:
The MPAA will go into severe overdrive.
They won't know whether to poop or go blind,
so they'll end up covering one eye and farting.
--
Oh well, Bad Karma and all . . .
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byJoe The Dragon ( 967727 ) writes:
TiVo interface is over kill for OTA only maybe if this for a cable card based system but the cable had things setup there that likely will not happen any time soon.
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bywealthychef ( 584778 ) * writes:
I would love this kind of solution if IR blasters were 100% reliable. But they occasionally fail to change channels properly, resulting in missed shows. One year, I missed an important playoff game and that was the last time I used an IR blaster setup -- I changed TV providers to one that used integrated TiVo receivers.
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byscribblej ( 195445 ) writes:
I don't know the proper place to respond to your .sigline, so I'll just do it here and hope someone notices. STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM LANDMARK.
http://skepdic.com/landmark.html [skepdic.com]
These people will not leave me alone since I made the mistake of accidentally acting interested in their bullshit.
byRedWizzard ( 192002 ) writes:
I would love this kind of solution if IR blasters were 100% reliable. But they occasionally fail to change channels properly, resulting in missed shows.
The one I'm using with MythTV hasn't failed to change channels correctly in the 3.5 years I've had it. It's recorded over 3500 programs in that time. Of course YMMV, but for me it's been 100% reliable so far.
byOtto ( 17870 ) writes:
I don't get this deal. A brand new TivoHD costs about $200 as well (okay, $300 retail, but you can find it for less. woot.com had them for $180 at one point).
And that's a dual tuner box, 180 hours (30 HD hours), fast, easy, no maintenance, works over the internet, gets all of Tivo's features, everything. It does digital cable perfectly with a CableCard from the cable company (and all cable companies offer them now). It just works.
So... what the heck is the point of this package, exactly? It's as expensive as the TivoHD box is, it does less than the box does, it makes you provide your own computer, and MythTV is probably better than it anyway.
Has Nero finally gone completely insane?
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byAnita Coney ( 648748 ) writes:
From the article:
Note that high-definition shows can only be watched or recorded from over-the-air ATSC digital broadcasts
Even XP's Media Center supported QAM and it came "free" on most computers sold. And the Vista Media Center TV pack [engadgethd.com] makes Media Center about perfect. And best of all you don't have to pay a monthly fee as you do with Tivo. (As of yet, it's probably only a matter of time before M$ starts charging!)
byjoe_cot ( 1011355 ) writes:
For people that might be considering this, because they have no other way to capture QAM encoded video, wait a couple months. The Hauppauge HD PVR [hauppauge.com] records component video as x264, and MythTV is working on support for it [mythtv.org]. That'll be your analog hole to the bs surrounding QAM and HDCP, so don't settle for this proprietary afterthought.
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byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
Not just MythTV... "everyone else".
byjipn4 ( 1367823 ) writes:
All the corporate overlord-ship and patent trolling of Tivo with all the reliability and efficiency of a Windows desktop! Thanks, but I think I'll pass.
byOverlordQ ( 264228 ) writes:
Why not buy it instead of make it yourself instead of buying it.
What?
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byZeroNullVoid ( 886675 ) writes:
My first thoughts exactly.
MythTV has progressed into a beautiful solution over the years.
I have both TIVO devices and MythTV and I personally like the MythTV solution better.
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bymweather ( 1089505 ) writes:
The trick is buying the hardware after you decide on the software, not the other way around.
That same way you wouldn't buy an UltraSparc machine, then choose Windows as the OS, you shouldn't buy a random capture card then choose your DVR software.
byYvan256 ( 722131 ) writes:
Regular people don't want to buy new/used/old hardware to run free software. Either it works with the crap we have, or we complain/forget about it.
byJorophose ( 1062218 ) writes:
Regular people don't want to buy new/used/old hardware to run closed software. Either it works with the crap we have, or we complain/forget about it.
byJohnBailey ( 1092697 ) writes:
Regular people don't want to do anything but plug something in and go. Like a video recorder or DVD/Bluray, or a set top box at the most. If it isn't working out of the box, they don't know, don't care. Computers are for surfing the net, not watching TV.
Regular people are not the market for these products. Just as Photoshop, Maya and various other more high end or exotic stuff is not aimed at "Regular" people either.
byAnita Coney ( 648748 ) writes:
"for sure is not as intuitive or legal as an appleTV"
First, I highly doubt the DVR features on the AppleTV are intuitive at all mostly because they do not exist.
Second, why would a DVR be illegal? Recording TV has been legal in the US since Universal v Sony was decided in 1984.
byjedidiah ( 1196 ) writes:
It is if you install Linux on it.
It makes a sweet little MythTV extender.
These little extender things are one of the key advantage
that all the other PVR apps have. You can either build them
yourself or buy them readymade. Instead of spending X for
every TV you might want to access DVR features, you spend
a much smaller amount and lose no flexibility whatsoever.
Tivo should have come out with an extender and not bothered with this.
bychromeshadow ( 1211190 ) writes:
You're already repellent.
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