[besson3c]

I'm debating getting some sort of TV tuner and using something like MythTV to schedule recordings.

Do any of you have any experiences here? Hardware recommendations? Any alternative software recommendations or comments about Myth?

I also have a FreeBSD machine I could use for doing the recording. I'm debating which machine to devote to this task.

[Uncle Skeleton]

I think MythTV is overkill for all but those who love to tinker or love to pinch pennies. EyeTV is for most other people. It costs more, but you get what you pay for.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

I think MythTV is overkill for all but those who love to tinker or love to pinch pennies. EyeTV is for most other people. It costs more, but you get what you pay for.

Okay, EyeTV is $50. That isn't too bad... what about hardware for capturing video.. any recommendations there?

[indigoimac]

For PC or linux it's deffinently hauppauge products, as for mac the eyetv thing is pretty good.

[iREZ]

eyetv 200 will record with the included software.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Avoid hardware that offloads encoding to the processor. That way you don’t have to devote a machine strictly to DVR function. I did that at first, and quickly found that almost no system resources are used by the MPEG hardware. I haven’t found a task yet that when done while recording affects DVR performance in the slightest. So my current set of DVRs double as file servers, DVD burners, entertainment PCs, and everything else under the sun.

I’d recommend Hauppauge cards with hardware encoding, IE: a Hauppauge PVR 150/250/350/500. Any of them can turn even a so-so PC into a capable DVR. Most can be used several at a time for multiple recordings at once and effects like picture-in-picture. The higher models decode MPEG during playback as well.

You can also use a Hauppauge card to capture video from any composite or S-Video source.


What type of TV service will you use? Analog cable should be no problem. I ran into a snag at first in getting my HTPCs to work with digital satellite or cable. For that and scheduled recordings, you’ll need either a serial connection to the set top box, or an IR blaster that can control the box. The USB-UIRT is pretty much the standard and works with most digital set top boxes/PC remote controls.

Personally I haven’t used MythTV or EyeTV. (I’m tempted to build a Linux box just to try Myth out). Thus far I’ve only built Windows boxes with a combination of XP MCE, Beyond TV and the freeware GBPVR. For Windows I prefer BeyondTV- I find it has just the right combination of Tivo-esque features without tossing in the kitchen sink. Out of the box it only handles TV (exceptionally well), but no photos/ radio/ internet widgets, etc.

On the freeware side (Windows) GB-PVR is pretty good too- less refined than BTV, but tons of features and add-ons.

From the looks of it, Myth would be much the same.

[CMYKid]

if you're on the budgetthing then looking into the XBox mod might make you happy. For not much money at all you can make yourself a pretty nice media center machine and ditch Windows entirely.

[BladeRunner80]

Could someone post some more info on the XBox media center mods? I've been looking into possibly making a media center too, and some more info on this would be great!

[awaspaas]

Dude, MythTV is great. KnoppMyth is a distribution specifically designed for MythTV - it has one installer that gets EVERYTHING all up and running, including remote control (if your tuner card comes with one). I'll echo Crash's recommendation of the Hauppauge cards - I have a PVR-350 (with remote) and a PVR-150. 2 tuners so we can watch and record at the same time, or record 2 things at once. Very easy to use and wife-friendly. Don't try to use the TV-out on a Hauppague card, it's not worth the trouble. Just get a halfway decent video card like Nvidia FX-5200 for output to the TV.

Next year I'm upgrading it all to HD, so that should be fun!

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by besson3c

Okay, EyeTV is $50. That isn't too bad... what about hardware for capturing video.. any recommendations there?

In case this hasn't been made clear yet, the EyeTV is the hardware (it also comes with software). It used to be $150 and send VCD video to your mac, but I can't find that price point or product on their website now with a quick glance. I also remember a firewire one for more, and an HDTV one for even more (350).

[ReggieX]

Power Mac + Alchemy PVR card = PVR. Card came with software, works for exactly what I need to. Doesn't to hardware compression, as those boxes were out of my budget at the time. Plus everything I record is when I'm sleeping, so who gives a hoot if it's using 90% processor?

More useful is that it'll do regular video capture as well, through composite, s-video, or coax. Made a DVD of an old VHS tape a few weeks ago, and it came out pretty OK.

[besson3c]

Okay, the Hauppauge card will handle the recording of the signal independently of the video/sound card right? In other words, if all I want to do is use this thing as a VCR to record stuff, I don't need a good video/sound card, since the signal is carried entirely to the Hauppauge card, right?

How about my cable situation? My satellite set-top box uses coax cable as input and output. I'd go from satellite signal -> set-top -> Hauppague -> TV, right? The Hauppauge has coax in and out?

Does MythTV work with any satellite service?

[besson3c]

Another question...

The Hauppauge 250 is the only card that will work on my FreeBSD machine.

The card features S-video/Composite video input, but no outputs... How can I watch TV and have my signal connected to the Hauppauge card at the same time?

[vmarks]

You use a video card with an SVideo out to connect to the TV.

Ati 9200/9600 or nvidia 5200fx or better if we're talking agp. I don't recall the models if we're talking pci express.


I've done knoppmyth with PC HDTV - it annoyed me. Even in browse mode, it took intolerably long to change channels (it wanted to buffer the mpeg stream from the HD broadcast longer than is necessary with other HD tuners I've used.)

I've done the MCE 2k5 with ATI HDTV Wonder card. I've done the knoppmyth with PC HDTV card. My problem is that a DVR has to pass the usability test such that people who aren't interested in computers can just use it to change channels and watch TV without thinking about it. And be able to load a DVD and play without thinking about it. Rebooting the TV and waiting for it to come back up is unacceptable.

The computer for both of the above projects is a dual processor AMD 2000xp (1.6ghz) with 512mb ram. Using a 128mb ram nvidia 5200fx with svideo out. Spend a little more and get one with DVI and you can connect to better (HD) TVs.

What am I using now? A Macintosh.

miglia.com TVMini HD is bundled with EyeTV2. There's no IR Blaster, but for over air HD that's not needed. For digital cable, it hooks directly to the cable from the wall and tunes as long as it's clear QAM (the story for most HD tuners, they can't do a thing with encrypted QAM.)

For analog look at their Evolution TV tuner, it has an mpeg encoder built into it and the software can record for iPod/Sony PSP in real-time. Again, no IR Blaster. cable ready, but no satellite.

Add Front Row to the mix and you end up with something pretty close to a mac media center.
Sure, you lose the things that knoppmyth has, like weather pulled off the internet, or MCE 2k5's internet video content (reminiscent of Quicktime 4.0) but it passes the usability test I mentioned above- people who don't know it's a computer can use it.

[besson3c]

Thanks vmarks!

From the sounds of it, my Radeon 7000 32 MB DDR PCI won't cut it.

I believe that some people have gotten the Hauppauge 350 working, and it includes a video out. I'm assuming that I could use this in spite of my weak video card for outputting back to the TV?

[awaspaas]

I originally had the PVR-350 working for video out but it took me a whole day and I wasn't happy with the quality. That was before Knoppmyth though, I imagine they have it more streamlined by now.

Still think you'd be happier with an Nvidia 5200 though.

[awaspaas]

I've noticed channel changes are much quicker in the latest (0.19) version of MythTV - that's SD though, I don't have HD yet. As for usability, I made the big green power button on the remote kill and restart the frontend program, but we haven't had to use that for months. Definitely passes the wife test - she finds her Gilmore Girls recordings and even sets it to record things from time to time.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

I originally had the PVR-350 working for video out but it took me a whole day and I wasn't happy with the quality. That was before Knoppmyth though, I imagine they have it more streamlined by now.

Still think you'd be happier with an Nvidia 5200 though.

What aspect of the quality did you find lacking?

Is this the particular card you had in mind?

[besson3c]

Another dumb question (I'm slowly learning, thanks for your patience with me!)...

Would the included remote with the Hauppauge card basically replace my satellite remote, or does the Hauppauge card lock onto the TV channel (which is constantly set at channel 3 or 4)?

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

I've noticed channel changes are much quicker in the latest (0.19) version of MythTV - that's SD though, I don't have HD yet. As for usability, I made the big green power button on the remote kill and restart the frontend program, but we haven't had to use that for months. Definitely passes the wife test - she finds her Gilmore Girls recordings and even sets it to record things from time to time.

I may have to go back and revisit the HD in Myth now that there's a newer version. Even so,
besides the long time it took to change HD channels even in browse mode, it also fell over trying to switch between SD and HD tuners.

For Myth and MCE 2k5 my wife's question was 'why can't we just get another TiVO?'

[CMYKid]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner80

Could someone post some more info on the XBox media center mods? I've been looking into possibly making a media center too, and some more info on this would be great!

crap. I've been away, sorry.

and the REALLLLY detailed site with step by step screenies had some loser script kiddie ruin it.

however, lots of info here:

http://www.ps.masny.dk/projects/linu...box-HOWTO.html

[wdlove]

I admire your looking into this besson3c. I'm interested in using EyeTV myself. Will probably have to get some one to help me get it set up.

[awaspaas]

Ooh, satellite, I must have missed that. That's another can of worms. Essentially, the PC capture cards only tune cable or over-the-air TV. Mine tunes plain old Comcast analog cable. To record satellite TV, you will have to use your set-top box to tune the channels, and it sends the signal to the capture card.

This is easiest if you have a set-top box with Firewire, as I believe that can be setup to get the video AND change the channels. Otherwise, the channel can be changed by a serial connection, or worst-case, an IRBlaster can send IR remote signals to the set-top box to change the channels.

Do any of you MCE people know if this works better on Win?

[Amorya]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

Don't try to use the TV-out on a Hauppague card, it's not worth the trouble. Just get a halfway decent video card like Nvidia FX-5200 for output to the TV.

It's not that hard to get running... yes, it's a bit more difficult than just plug and play, but IMO the results are worth it. I have a Mythbox using TV in and out on the PVR350... I had the added trouble of being in a PAL country, which is fun.

But do only try it if you know a bit about Linux - it's nowhere near Mac simplicity.

Amorya

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

This is easiest if you have a set-top box with Firewire, as I believe that can be setup to get the video AND change the channels. Otherwise, the channel can be changed by a serial connection, or worst-case, an IRBlaster can send IR remote signals to the set-top box to change the channels.

Do any of you MCE people know if this works better on Win?

MCE on win, you use MCE's remote and IR Blaster combo, and MCE's remote training that learns your set-top box remote. They actually did a pretty good job of this, interface and performance-wise. It works, and easy to go through set up.

[besson3c]

Somebody on the freebsd-multimedia list suggested that I acquire an "antenna lead" that will basically allow me to split the signal to feed into both the computer and my TV, basically allowing me a sort of dual display - like having two TVs.

I just need to figure out where I can buy an antenna lead (anybody?), but providing all of this is true, this sounds like a good solution for me for right now. Apparently FreeBSD has some issues with MythTV right now, and I'm not certain how well using MythTV to replace my satellite signal would work out.

I think this (antenna lead) sounds like a good starting place. What do you think?

[awaspaas]

Originally Posted by Amorya

It's not that hard to get running... yes, it's a bit more difficult than just plug and play, but IMO the results are worth it. I have a Mythbox using TV in and out on the PVR350... I had the added trouble of being in a PAL country, which is fun.

But do only try it if you know a bit about Linux - it's nowhere near Mac simplicity.

Amorya

Does mplayer/xine work through the PVR-350 out now? It didn't when I tried it last year. Also it superimposed the program guide semi-transparently over the tv instead of putting it in the small preview window - is that any different?

[awaspaas]

Originally Posted by besson3c

Somebody on the freebsd-multimedia list suggested that I acquire an "antenna lead" that will basically allow me to split the signal to feed into both the computer and my TV, basically allowing me a sort of dual display - like having two TVs.

I just need to figure out where I can buy an antenna lead (anybody?), but providing all of this is true, this sounds like a good solution for me for right now. Apparently FreeBSD has some issues with MythTV right now, and I'm not certain how well using MythTV to replace my satellite signal would work out.

I think this (antenna lead) sounds like a good starting place. What do you think?

Well wait now, do you have satellite TV or over-the-air antenna TV? If you have a satellite you absolutely need to use its set-top box to tune for you, unless there's something I don't know about. With regular antenna over-the-air, you can use a plain old coax splitter to bring the signal to both your tv and your capture card. I'm pretty sure that's what this "antenna lead" person is trying to talk about.

[legacyb4]

My $0.02

To kill time while waiting for a full Apple-based solution, I threw together an older P4 tower with a whack of RAM and an old hard drive together with a Hauppauge 150MCE and nVidia GeForce 5500 (had a Radeon 7000 in it, but MCE didn't play well with it and also was lacking S-VHS). Through work, I have access to a test copy of MCE 2005 and after sorting out what drivers were needed, got the box up and running in an evening.

I'm on plain old analog cable so it was a pretty straightforward project and I'm now sitting happily on my couch with a PVR that I can manage either by remote control and/or Remote Desktop through my laptop.

All in, about $250 including a quiet heat sink for the CPU.

[Amorya]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

Does mplayer/xine work through the PVR-350 out now? It didn't when I tried it last year. Also it superimposed the program guide semi-transparently over the tv instead of putting it in the small preview window - is that any different?

Xine works fine. Mplayer does IIRC but I may be wrong. You have to set a couple of options in the myth prefs for them to, but I think newer builds have them in by default.

The semi transparent program guide is what I see...

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by awaspaas

Well wait now, do you have satellite TV or over-the-air antenna TV? If you have a satellite you absolutely need to use its set-top box to tune for you, unless there's something I don't know about. With regular antenna over-the-air, you can use a plain old coax splitter to bring the signal to both your tv and your capture card. I'm pretty sure that's what this "antenna lead" person is trying to talk about.

Sorry to take so long in responding to you, this fell off my radar...

What I ended up doing was going:

signal -> satellite set top box -> splitter input. The splitter output went to the PVR computer, and to the TV. Now, I basically have another TV screen to watch stuff on, and something that will record a signal.

I decided against anything more complicated because of what you said, the required set-top box adds a somewhat complicated variable, but also because my PVR is in another room - out of the range of the remote.

[besson3c]

I'd love to see some screenshots of some of your MythTV setups!