Unless you have been under a rock lately, you know what a PVR is. For those whose eyes are just adjusting to the sunlight, a PVR is similar to a VCR, except it uses a PC, is digital, and can do a lot more.
There are a number of software options to do this:
1) Microsoft Windows Media Center PC. You have to buy a specialized PC, all the setup work is done for you, and you are bound to Microsoft for fixes and updates.
2) Tivo. Not available in Canada, and requires a monthly subscription.
3) Myth TV. Free. Linux-based. Open Source. The subject of this post.
There are a few downfalls to MythTV, not the least of which is the fact that it is very difficult to install, especially if you have not used Linux before. So, let me go on record as saying, if you have ever wanted to learn Linux, THIS is the best excuse to.
And you are going to want to visit these sites:
Myth TV. Main site.
Myth TV Wiki. Official hints and docs. VERY HELPFUL.
KnoppMyth site..
What is KnoppMyth? Well, if you want to spend a lot of time customizing and building your system by hand, you can go the traditional route and install an implementation of Linux, then install MythTV. Or, you can use the precompiled installation called KnoppMyth, which is a pre-installed MythTV built into Knoppix.
I have tried both ways, and the KnoppMyth way is by far the fastest method to get up and running. You can watch a video of the installation by Kevin Rose and the folks at Revision3 here.
What do you get with Myth?
* Basic 'live-tv' functionality. Pause/Fast Forward/Rewind "live" TV.
* Support for multiple tuner cards and multiple simultaneous recordings.
* Distributed architecture allowing multiple recording machines and multiple playback machines on the same network, completely transparent to the user.
* Compresses video in software using rtjpeg (from Nuppelvideo) or mpeg4 (from libavcodec). Full support for Hardware MPEG-2 encoder cards (Hauppauge PVR-250 / PVR-350). Preliminary support for DVB cards and the new pcHDTV tuner card.
* Support for the (very nice looking) hardware MPEG-2 decoder and TV out present on the Hauppauge PVR-350.
* Completely automatic commercial detection/skipping
* Grabs program information using xmltv.
* A fully themeable menu to tie it all together.
Some screens:
EPG
Photo Gallery
Video Player
Weather
Also, because it is themeable, if you don't like the layout of these screens, you can create your own. If you get stuck installing this, and believe me, you will, just try Googling Mythtv and your problem. There is a lot of independant work being done and it is spread across a number of different forums on the 'Net. Good Luck!
