What is Digg?66 Comments
- Feanor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30@skubiszm - I didn't realize "sudo apt-get install mythtv" would automatically make your hardware Linux compatible.
- mojaam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Finally, something for the lazy ones.
- Kbennett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Seems like a pretty decent setup. Been planning on building a MythTV package for some time now, only thing holding me back are the funds...and the complete lack of experience building a PC of any sort.
The only negative I can see with the Monolith MC setup is that it's running a Pentium 4, which could result in some significant noise in the living room. Cool nonetheless. - beelz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11https://monolithmc.com/catalog.php
Not very big yet, but I see this going far. - KingPhallus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10http://revision3.com/systm/mythtv/
Kevin and some Dan dude walk people through it. It's not that difficult at all. - chad78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8If you've been doing that for years, why is your shop still "under construction"? Shouldn't it at least be in Beta by now?
http://www.thecybersource.com/inventory/ - gmillerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Direct link: http://www.monolithmc.com/
- jcronkhite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This is great for folks who are not into self install/config. I'm glad to see Ubuntu is the desktop as well.
- colemanm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6In my experience, if you have any Linux knowledge (or desire to learn Linux at all), setting up Myth isn't that difficult. The key to the operation's success is knowing enough about hardware to get everything you need and have it all be compatible (i.e. capture cards, video cards, HDTV cards).
- jasper976, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html
direct link fixed - statmobile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well if you are at all intimidated by installing myth, look at
Knoppmyth (http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html) - mucnix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Why do you say that? It can be horrible to SET UP, but once you get it installed it worked very slick for me.
- motang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5No kidding, now it works out of the box!
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's still pretty tough to install. I tried to setup myth last week and I had to compile a kernel module, use a utility to grab the firmware from the Windows driver, and copy it to the right location, make 3 symlinks, and when I was all done I ended up having problems with MythTV's SQL connection anyway so I had to install Windows MCE for now until I can find some time to screw around with MythTV some more.
- malhtiek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There is a lot of research and configuration involved to get the right parts and make sure a custom MythBox works properly. If I could buy something that just worked out of the box like a TiVo, but didn't require monthly fees, then that is something that would interest me and my parents. Everyone knows that the test of elegant design, is if your mom can figure it out.
- eaasness, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Some Dan Dude? Thats FOO!
- stryker2you, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3so start the business and find a way to make your boxes cheaper...then they would be easier for "non techies" to buy them.
- Hitchhiker90, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Great idea and I hope it succeeds but the $649 price tag is a bit of a turn off. Dugg for the coolness factor.
- Snakedal337, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@skub...whatever.
Same also applys for debian, and every other DEB Based distro on the face of the planet w/ apt.
I love ubuntu as much as the next guy (as show in my avatar) but people need to stop giving ubuntu credit for tools like dpkg. - szembek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No, you can build a mythtv box for really cheap. I could do it for under $300. The PC doesn't need to be able to do much, just have some storage and be able to use a TV tuner.
- Pyrodogg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I too have been looking at setting up a MythTV box, but all my money just dissapeared. The strange part is that I was gonna use the exact same case
- Qliphah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2While it does look nice I have a couple caveats about this.
1- the price is still to high for what is mostly a free OS and free Front end media center
2- The nightly updates have me worried about usage tracking and possible hidden "features" but maybe Microsoft just has me jaded.
Also as for the price, while looking for the amount of ram they never say, I found out the base price is practicaly useless.. look at spending about $800, I was really expecting about $450 (built one myself using Myth and slightly cheaper hardware: 2.4Ghz P4, 1gb DDR1 Ram, 200Gb int. hdd, 400Gb ext. hdd, HTPC case, DVDRW) But I think the one thing that really made mine stand out was the now discontinued Soyo SY-P4RC350 motherboard. - hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wanted to build a MythTV box, but 10 bucks a month to Comcast for a dual HD tuner is hard to beat.
- nx01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@snakedal337
You hit it right on the head brother.
As for Myth being cumbersome to install, it can be. If you use KnoppMyth, it's a no brainer. Yes, you need to do your hardware homework, but as far as installation and configuration goes, it walks you through everything step by step. It only gets complicated if you start running multiple front ends, but other than that, it's very intuitive. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Congratulations you win the "my PC is quieter than your PC" battle. Have a coke.
- JohnboiWaltune, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, that's why it's better to have a server in a den or closet that does all the heavy lifting, and a thin client in the living room with passive or minimally active cooling. 802.11g is fully adequate for streaming HD video.
I believe Myth supports the server/client paradigm, and so does my favorite, SageTV. Sage is only $80 and runs on top of Windows. Much less hassles than setting up a Linux box and Myth. - jonesin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@psylence:
How is it a glorified tivo? It's a complete computer, but it also has a fairly decent preconfigured mythtv setup on it. That's already a fairly standard price for a custom-built computer with those specs, so the fact they've got it all configured to be a dvr out of the box is really just icing on the cake. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, and I might just get one, since I've been wanting to have a dedicated linux media center box anyway. - nx01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2One thing that I did not see is what type of tuner(s) are they using? I know the HDTV option is out there, but is DVB available for digital cable, or a WinTV PVR 250 or 350 an option for analog? Would make more sense to go with something that did MPEG 2 encoding and decoding on the card since you could really throttle the CPU down to decrease the noise. Seriously, a Celeron or Duron running at 800 or 900 MHZ could run this thing all day as long as it didn't have to do the heavy lifting.
I've always wanted to throw Myth on one of these:
http://www.hushtechnologies.net/
Click the products link to see what I'm talking about. - Kanundra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
Here's a excellent free program for a Windows box (ie can't figure out MythTV). - Jon20usa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I need to build one of these. Thanks for that link. I had forgotten they did a show about it. They always do a good job of explaining how to setup stuff.
- dcaplinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What model case is that?
- zip000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think that apt-get will install a video capture card for me either - unfortunately.
- carve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I would get something like this if only it could receive a signal and record HD from Dish Network.
- JohnboiWaltune, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3SageTV (http://www.sage.tv) is better IMO... there is a strong modding community as well.
- dralezero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The way it looks, vertical, and black, made me think of a bulky PS2 when I first looked at it lol. Cool none the less.
- gmillerd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah, just getting the right checklist of gear is the hard part and knowing what you want to do with the machine after you get it working.
Getting a TiVo emulator + dvd player + dvd burner + mp3 player + 'random video' player isnt that tough, but its a lot of project. - hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Tivo's don't do HD recording. That's all I watch, and record.
- SDNick484, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've owned both Tivo (DirecTV's dual tuner version) and Comcast's dual tuner DVR (this is in the SF Bay Area market), and I have to say the Tivo interface puts Comcast's crap to shame. The non-DirecTV Tivo is even better, and with a minor mod you can get some cool features (like a FTP daemon).
- ripflash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It would be nice if Cable Card wasn't so controlled so that the Monolith people could put that in one of these boxes. That would make this competitive to the "soon" to be arriving Tivo Series 3.
- phuchead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Qliphah
what are you talking about?!?!??! the price is pretty good, i am working on a high end mythtv box and have spent OVER $800 and i don't have either tuner card yet! or a sound card with those added i am looking at about 1200. this for 650 is not bad, preloaded AND configured! that has taken me a while, the configuring that is. and the nightly updates is a no brainer, you have to download the new tv listings, and any security patches would be very very smart to do.
-phuc - xemumanic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I prefer MediaPortal over MythTV, but MythTV is very nice.
MediaPortal started out initially as a port of XBMC (Xbox Media Center), but with the goal of adding PVR support. There's just a better selection of codecs under WIndows, more choice of how things happen. And if you don't want choice, just get The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, just updated to v1.57. CCCP is nice as well. - thrillho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've been thinking about setting up a Myth box, but I'm unsure on which video card I should go for. Any suggestions?
- psylence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You measure cpu speed in terms of busy-wait calibration values? :|
- xemumanic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I've seen these systems as well, I haven't seen anything better looking. I just won der if they can handle a card the size of a 7900GT.
- ScrappyLaptop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@nx01, you bring up a very good point. I had an old bt878 + tuner card so I had to use a more powerful cpu (also on hand) to do the encoding, but if you are building from scratch, a hardware encoder will allow you to use a tiny VIA motherboard. Or, take a microATX socket-370 outfitted with a tualitin adapter and Celeron 1Ghz (running those lowers the FSB/memory speed to 100mhz, further lowering heat, not to mention that the CPU itself runs cooler than the equivelent Coppermine).
- Qliphah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Its really not that hard, the setting up of Linux would be about the hardest. But the mythTV installer you can get from their site makes it almost as foolproof as a XP install.
As for hardware be sure to get enough ram 1Gb should do for just TV and movies, as for CPU 2Ghz should work fine. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's not "america," anyone in any country could do the same thing with any product that people favour a lot. For example, if you could come up with a really cheap way to hide bombs in dead sheep you'd probably make a killing in Israel.
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MythTV is NOT hard to install, it's all the hardware around it that's a b'tch to setup.. If your setting up MythTV from scratch (including buying new components), it's quite simple, just get hardware that works naively with linux/mythTV, then use something like apt-get, or MythDora.. If you try what I did, and use random components from around the house, chances are something wont work, and will require a lot of fiddling to get to work..
These look quite nice, it would be good if they were in a more VCR/DVD-player like case, but that's negligible, and probably wouldn't be the best (for heat, and fitting the required components in). Or, more practical, a small, lower powered front end, and a backend in a regular tower case, with TV cards, harddrives etc in.
To anyone who is looking at MythTV, not so much for the TV part of things (playing DVDs, playing files of a computer etc), I strongly recommend you look at Xbox Media Center.. It's extremely simple to softmod an Xbox (Only advice I can think of is : if your in the UK, make sure you use a PAL version of any exploit you use, the NTSC one will nearly work, but it wont. And, Use the NDure[?] installer), it's a lot cheaper than buying parts for a computer, pretty quiet (XMBC has options to slow the fan down to the lowest necessary level, as long as your a fair distance away, and don't listen to stuff at low sound levels, it'll be fine), connects directly to the TV, and supports high-def/upscalling (Although I don't have a high-definition TV, so haven't tested this). Since I don't watch much (broadcast) TV, and have the PC with the content near the PC (Although it would work over wifi, I have a cross-over cable from the PC straight to the Xbox, and it works perfectly)
- Ben - norris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I am just waiting for MythTV on Solaris or ZFS on Linux. When that day comes I will be all about the MythTV.
- llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Bury Calacanis's Blog Spam!
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