Myth Box Resources and HD DVR Info?
Hi, I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features. Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s). Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance"). I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users: 1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs) 2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours. 3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011 My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set. I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed. Thank you, Joel
If you are concerned with the amount of setup time you might want to check out http://www.mythbuntu.org/ I haven't used it personally. It looks they've automated much of the setup process. On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:07 AM, joel d <joelgroup@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Thank you,
Joel _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
On Thursday, September 15, 2011 11:07:15 AM joel d wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
Why would you need 2 machines?
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
I have an HVR-1600 and HVR-2250.
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
This is very dependent on how you plan to use it, and if others plan to use it. I don't watch a lot of TV but i do have it record a few programs. Install Hours: Significant time commitment is usually needed. I know that configuring the remote was most difficult for me. This information is coming from almost two years ago, when i last installed. Month maintenance Hours: less than an hour, typically.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
I use ubuntu with mythtv packages. I'm also running 10.04 since upgrading can be a major headache; so i try to stick with the Long Term releases.
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
Getting HD on mythtv can be a little difficult sometimes, depending on your cable provider. Don't expect to be able to simple connect the coax to your MythTv tuner and get all the channels since many of them (typically all of them except broadcast channels) are scrambled and you need to run though the cablebox to unscramble. I currently have the cable box output connected to my MythTv box and a firewire cable connected from my MythTv box to the cablebox to change channels. It works fine, but i can't watch and record something at the same time on non-broadcast channels.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Things are getting easier to setup. It especially helps if you have an HDTV with a VGA 15pin or DVI input. As i said above the remote control is often times a headache. All this being said. Since i have the know-how, i much prefer my mythtv over any cable company's DVR.
I can't speak to mythtv since it's been a very long time since I played with it, but I recently had to switch from the DirecTivo the Directv DVR and I have to say, I'm rather NOT impressed. It's very laggy (press a button, wait 1/2 a second to respond) Skippy... you see it on things like cartoons... it'll skip ahead 1/2 a second... very loud blips... I know this is just me whinny, but in the dark, I find that the remote just sucks. It's bulky and there's approximately 10 more buttons then you really want. Plus the buttons are laid out in such a way that you can't just grab the remote the remote and know how your hand is placed on it... Oh yeah... get of my lawn! On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:51 AM, brad <bkn@ithryn.net> wrote:
On Thursday, September 15, 2011 11:07:15 AM joel d wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
Why would you need 2 machines?
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
I have an HVR-1600 and HVR-2250.
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
This is very dependent on how you plan to use it, and if others plan to use it. I don't watch a lot of TV but i do have it record a few programs.
Install Hours: Significant time commitment is usually needed. I know that configuring the remote was most difficult for me. This information is coming from almost two years ago, when i last installed.
Month maintenance Hours: less than an hour, typically.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
I use ubuntu with mythtv packages. I'm also running 10.04 since upgrading can be a major headache; so i try to stick with the Long Term releases.
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
Getting HD on mythtv can be a little difficult sometimes, depending on your cable provider. Don't expect to be able to simple connect the coax to your MythTv tuner and get all the channels since many of them (typically all of them except broadcast channels) are scrambled and you need to run though the cablebox to unscramble. I currently have the cable box output connected to my MythTv box and a firewire cable connected from my MythTv box to the cablebox to change channels. It works fine, but i can't watch and record something at the same time on non-broadcast channels.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Things are getting easier to setup. It especially helps if you have an HDTV with a VGA 15pin or DVI input. As i said above the remote control is often times a headache.
All this being said. Since i have the know-how, i much prefer my mythtv over any cable company's DVR. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
off even! On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 12:02 PM, Tim Keller <turbofx@gmail.com> wrote:
I can't speak to mythtv since it's been a very long time since I played with it, but I recently had to switch from the DirecTivo the Directv DVR and I have to say, I'm rather NOT impressed.
It's very laggy (press a button, wait 1/2 a second to respond)
Skippy... you see it on things like cartoons... it'll skip ahead 1/2 a second... very loud blips...
I know this is just me whinny, but in the dark, I find that the remote just sucks. It's bulky and there's approximately 10 more buttons then you really want. Plus the buttons are laid out in such a way that you can't just grab the remote the remote and know how your hand is placed on it...
Oh yeah... get of my lawn!
On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:51 AM, brad <bkn@ithryn.net> wrote:
On Thursday, September 15, 2011 11:07:15 AM joel d wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
Why would you need 2 machines?
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
I have an HVR-1600 and HVR-2250.
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
This is very dependent on how you plan to use it, and if others plan to use it. I don't watch a lot of TV but i do have it record a few programs.
Install Hours: Significant time commitment is usually needed. I know that configuring the remote was most difficult for me. This information is coming from almost two years ago, when i last installed.
Month maintenance Hours: less than an hour, typically.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
I use ubuntu with mythtv packages. I'm also running 10.04 since upgrading can be a major headache; so i try to stick with the Long Term releases.
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
Getting HD on mythtv can be a little difficult sometimes, depending on your cable provider. Don't expect to be able to simple connect the coax to your MythTv tuner and get all the channels since many of them (typically all of them except broadcast channels) are scrambled and you need to run though the cablebox to unscramble. I currently have the cable box output connected to my MythTv box and a firewire cable connected from my MythTv box to the cablebox to change channels. It works fine, but i can't watch and record something at the same time on non-broadcast channels.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Things are getting easier to setup. It especially helps if you have an HDTV with a VGA 15pin or DVI input. As i said above the remote control is often times a headache.
All this being said. Since i have the know-how, i much prefer my mythtv over any cable company's DVR. _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
Getting it working on mine was a small pain, mainly because I'm using what was bleeding edge at the time (no drivers). My big sticking point is that I can't record analog channels past 27 for some reason on one of my cards, and I've never had the time to figure out why. As for regular maintenance, it's fine as long as you don't mess with it too much. 90% of the time the maintenance comes because I've broken something, or forgotten to update a driver when I upgrade the kernel (I'm running in on Gentoo). I too have a Charter DVR (I caved for my wife) and I hate the new UI. Also, it doesn't always work and the mythbox has save my @$$ on occasion. Granted, it won't get full acceptance until it can record Mythbusters properly, and that's not happening until I finish school (this coming May). Also, I have some scripts that I run as cronjobs to backup the database that have been amazingly helpful, I use them at work for all of our MySQL databases as well. I'd be happy to post them if anybody is interested. On 09/15/11 11:07, joel d wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Thank you,
Joel _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
-- eric GnuPG Fingerprint = D1C4 086E DBB5 C18E 6FDA B215 6A25 7174 A941 3B9F
I hate to say it, but I'm a Tivo convert, with a dual tuner premiere I got earlier this year after my 9 year old series 2 finally bit the bullet. The big payoff was not having to re-train the wife. *grin* And it just works. I'd love to do a MythTV box at some point, but cable cards, HD and all this is a huge hassle when I don't have the time. And honestly, the Tivo remote is the best by far. The UI is pretty snappy too and just works. I have yet to see any other solution work nearly as well and be nearly as accessible to non-tech savy users.
From an end-user perspective, having a good, well laid out remote with a responsive UI is wonderful. You'll never go back once you've had it.
John --
I'm not sure if it would work with the Premiere or not, but I wrote a commandline tool for downloading shows from my Tivo. I had larger plans for the project, but for now I find it rather useful for archiving shows off the tivo to watch later. It can either download the encrypted files, or decrypt them automatically if you have the tivodecode program. My scripts: http://tivoarchive.sourceforge.net/ Tivodecode: http://tivodecode.sourceforge.net/ On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 4:11 PM, John Stoffel <john@stoffel.org> wrote:
I hate to say it, but I'm a Tivo convert, with a dual tuner premiere I got earlier this year after my 9 year old series 2 finally bit the bullet.
The big payoff was not having to re-train the wife. *grin* And it just works. I'd love to do a MythTV box at some point, but cable cards, HD and all this is a huge hassle when I don't have the time.
And honestly, the Tivo remote is the best by far. The UI is pretty snappy too and just works. I have yet to see any other solution work nearly as well and be nearly as accessible to non-tech savy users.
From an end-user perspective, having a good, well laid out remote with a responsive UI is wonderful. You'll never go back once you've had it.
You're not going to get Myth or any HTPC to work with DirecTV because there are no tuner cards that can unscramble the signal. Satellite TV requires a receiver from the vendor. We dropped DirecTV for over-the-air and TiVo and saved nearly $100/mo in the process. If you choose OTA, you'll want to consider the money and time investment for at least two PCs for Myth. TiVo will allow you to view recordings among all receivers on your LAN. Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo... On Sep 15, 2011, at 11:07 AM, joel d <joelgroup@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Thank you,
Joel _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Clint> Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo... Not if you buy the lifetime service. Yes, it's two years up front, but it pays off in the long run. I went 9 years with my last Tivo before it died. All that saved money paid for the new tivo with money left over! *grin*
I've gone through a few Tivos over the years and only bought the lifetime agreement on one of them. Guess which one no longer works. On Sep 16, 2011 9:11 AM, "John Stoffel" <john@stoffel.org> wrote:
Clint> Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo...
Not if you buy the lifetime service. Yes, it's two years up front, but it pays off in the long run. I went 9 years with my last Tivo before it died. All that saved money paid for the new tivo with money left over! *grin*
_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
I know I'm chiming in very late... But I've been using MythTV for about 7 years now and one of the previous replies isn't -entirely- true... Although it is true that you can't just plop a satellite receiver card in your computer and pull in Sat TV directly to your computer [due to the encryption], you *can* use Sat tv with MythTV by using the company's STB to feed an analog tuner on your computer. I started out doing this exact thing - although with Dish Network - with MythTV in 2004. I fed the S-Video and Sterio audio from the receivers into Hauppauge tuners, and used IR blasters to change channels on the STBs. I ran with that configuration for the first 6 years or so! Then about a year ago I switched to FiOS HD. So I now have two HD STB's from Verizon, feeding Hauppauge HD-PVR encoders (Component Video IN, USB Out [H.264 encoded]). I use Firewire for channel changes on the FiOS boxes. I also have two Dual-tuner HD-HomeRun tuners for OTA HD [ATSC]. So you *CAN* use MythTV with Satellite TV, but you need to use their STB (Set-Top-Box), and feed the output from that into a capture device to record with MythTV. For SD (Standard Definition), the best picture quality/easiest setup is feeding S-Video and Analog audio into a Hauppauge PVR tuner (PVR-150, 250, 350 or 500) (500 is a dual-tuner). For HD, the only current option is to feed Component Video from a STB into an Hauppauge HD-PVR. Oh, and you'll need a bit of disk space too! OTA HD broadcasts are 5-7GB/hour, and the HD-PVR's h.264 output is about the same size [maxed out at 13Mbps max rate]. I currently have 6.5TB of space on my backend - a bit overkill-- as I have over 1,000 programs recorded at any given time... ;-) Note that MythTV is *not* the cheapest, nor the *easiest* to setup and configure - actually, I'd consider it more of a 'hobby' and requires occasional 'care & feeding'... But the flexibility that it gives you far exceeds any other offerings -- Like commercial detection and auto-skipping them during playback - just to name one! Jeff Artz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint Moyer" <cdmoyer@charter.net> To: "Worcester Linux Users Group" <wlug@mail.wlug.org> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 6:25 PM Subject: Re: [Wlug] Myth Box Resources and HD DVR Info? You're not going to get Myth or any HTPC to work with DirecTV because there are no tuner cards that can unscramble the signal. Satellite TV requires a receiver from the vendor. We dropped DirecTV for over-the-air and TiVo and saved nearly $100/mo in the process. If you choose OTA, you'll want to consider the money and time investment for at least two PCs for Myth. TiVo will allow you to view recordings among all receivers on your LAN. Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo... On Sep 15, 2011, at 11:07 AM, joel d <joelgroup@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Thank you,
Joel _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
A 1,000 programs? Damn! So basically you've got entire seasons of shows cached up ready to watch? How do you have your disk space configured? Are you using a NAS or is it JBOD? On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 6:11 PM, Jeff Artz <junk_inbox@verizon.net> wrote:
I know I'm chiming in very late... But I've been using MythTV for about 7 years now and one of the previous replies isn't -entirely- true...
Although it is true that you can't just plop a satellite receiver card in your computer and pull in Sat TV directly to your computer [due to the encryption], you *can* use Sat tv with MythTV by using the company's STB to feed an analog tuner on your computer.
I started out doing this exact thing - although with Dish Network - with MythTV in 2004. I fed the S-Video and Sterio audio from the receivers into Hauppauge tuners, and used IR blasters to change channels on the STBs. I ran with that configuration for the first 6 years or so!
Then about a year ago I switched to FiOS HD. So I now have two HD STB's from Verizon, feeding Hauppauge HD-PVR encoders (Component Video IN, USB Out [H.264 encoded]). I use Firewire for channel changes on the FiOS boxes.
I also have two Dual-tuner HD-HomeRun tuners for OTA HD [ATSC].
So you *CAN* use MythTV with Satellite TV, but you need to use their STB (Set-Top-Box), and feed the output from that into a capture device to record with MythTV.
For SD (Standard Definition), the best picture quality/easiest setup is feeding S-Video and Analog audio into a Hauppauge PVR tuner (PVR-150, 250, 350 or 500) (500 is a dual-tuner).
For HD, the only current option is to feed Component Video from a STB into an Hauppauge HD-PVR.
Oh, and you'll need a bit of disk space too! OTA HD broadcasts are 5-7GB/hour, and the HD-PVR's h.264 output is about the same size [maxed out at 13Mbps max rate]. I currently have 6.5TB of space on my backend - a bit overkill-- as I have over 1,000 programs recorded at any given time... ;-)
Note that MythTV is *not* the cheapest, nor the *easiest* to setup and configure - actually, I'd consider it more of a 'hobby' and requires occasional 'care & feeding'... But the flexibility that it gives you far exceeds any other offerings -- Like commercial detection and auto-skipping them during playback - just to name one!
Jeff Artz
----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint Moyer" <cdmoyer@charter.net> To: "Worcester Linux Users Group" <wlug@mail.wlug.org> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 6:25 PM Subject: Re: [Wlug] Myth Box Resources and HD DVR Info?
You're not going to get Myth or any HTPC to work with DirecTV because there are no tuner cards that can unscramble the signal. Satellite TV requires a receiver from the vendor.
We dropped DirecTV for over-the-air and TiVo and saved nearly $100/mo in the process.
If you choose OTA, you'll want to consider the money and time investment for at least two PCs for Myth. TiVo will allow you to view recordings among all receivers on your LAN. Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo...
On Sep 15, 2011, at 11:07 AM, joel d <joelgroup@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR layout/features.
Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option or building a Myth DVR box(s).
Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance").
I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users:
1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs)
2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours.
3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011
My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set.
I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie time intensive" thing to setup and run. I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed.
Thank you,
Joel _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
_______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
-- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".
Tim, I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-) Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: Tim Keller To: Worcester Linux Users Group Sent: Friday, October 21, 2011 11:35 AM Subject: Re: [Wlug] Myth Box Resources and HD DVR Info? A 1,000 programs? Damn! So basically you've got entire seasons of shows cached up ready to watch? How do you have your disk space configured? Are you using a NAS or is it JBOD? On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 6:11 PM, Jeff Artz <junk_inbox@verizon.net> wrote: I know I'm chiming in very late... But I've been using MythTV for about 7 years now and one of the previous replies isn't -entirely- true... Although it is true that you can't just plop a satellite receiver card in your computer and pull in Sat TV directly to your computer [due to the encryption], you *can* use Sat tv with MythTV by using the company's STB to feed an analog tuner on your computer. I started out doing this exact thing - although with Dish Network - with MythTV in 2004. I fed the S-Video and Sterio audio from the receivers into Hauppauge tuners, and used IR blasters to change channels on the STBs. I ran with that configuration for the first 6 years or so! Then about a year ago I switched to FiOS HD. So I now have two HD STB's from Verizon, feeding Hauppauge HD-PVR encoders (Component Video IN, USB Out [H.264 encoded]). I use Firewire for channel changes on the FiOS boxes. I also have two Dual-tuner HD-HomeRun tuners for OTA HD [ATSC]. So you *CAN* use MythTV with Satellite TV, but you need to use their STB (Set-Top-Box), and feed the output from that into a capture device to record with MythTV. For SD (Standard Definition), the best picture quality/easiest setup is feeding S-Video and Analog audio into a Hauppauge PVR tuner (PVR-150, 250, 350 or 500) (500 is a dual-tuner). For HD, the only current option is to feed Component Video from a STB into an Hauppauge HD-PVR. Oh, and you'll need a bit of disk space too! OTA HD broadcasts are 5-7GB/hour, and the HD-PVR's h.264 output is about the same size [maxed out at 13Mbps max rate]. I currently have 6.5TB of space on my backend - a bit overkill-- as I have over 1,000 programs recorded at any given time... ;-) Note that MythTV is *not* the cheapest, nor the *easiest* to setup and configure - actually, I'd consider it more of a 'hobby' and requires occasional 'care & feeding'... But the flexibility that it gives you far exceeds any other offerings -- Like commercial detection and auto-skipping them during playback - just to name one! Jeff Artz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint Moyer" <cdmoyer@charter.net> To: "Worcester Linux Users Group" <wlug@mail.wlug.org> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2011 6:25 PM Subject: Re: [Wlug] Myth Box Resources and HD DVR Info? You're not going to get Myth or any HTPC to work with DirecTV because there are no tuner cards that can unscramble the signal. Satellite TV requires a receiver from the vendor. We dropped DirecTV for over-the-air and TiVo and saved nearly $100/mo in the process. If you choose OTA, you'll want to consider the money and time investment for at least two PCs for Myth. TiVo will allow you to view recordings among all receivers on your LAN. Of course, there's a monthly fee for each TiVo... On Sep 15, 2011, at 11:07 AM, joel d <joelgroup@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I am re-working our TV to HDTV currently and trying to decide on a DVR. > Currently I use Charter's DVR and not impressed with their DVR > layout/features. > > Currently I am looking at either the DirectTV whole house DVR option > or building a Myth DVR box(s). > > Not sure I want to bite off the Myth though due to needing 2 machines, > tuner card, and chunks of my time (vs turnkey for an "appliance"). > > I have read the docs at MythTV website but am asking current Myth users: > > 1) Others are running for Myth hardware (front and back end specs) > > 2) Any estimates on install startup hours and monthly maintenance hours. > > 3) Any tips for a quick & smooth Myth install in late 2011 > > My current plans include a video source of HD via satellite from Dish > or DirectTV and am leaning towards a Samsung 55" LCD/LED set. > > I got the impression around three years ago that Myth was a "techie > time intensive" thing to setup and run. > I could be all wet on that impression or it may have changed. > > Thank you, > > Joel > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug@mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Jeff> I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached Jeff> via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use Jeff> the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the Jeff> recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-) Interesting, no RAID. Did you do this for ease of expansion, so you just add a new disk and Myth simply starts using it? And I assume you don't care if you lose 150+ programs at a go if a disk dies, right? Of course I'm running on a Tivo Premiere with a single disk so I'm toast too if it dies. I need to crack my case one day and make a backup... I'm also using a Cable Card and a Cisco interface box because Tivo doesn't support the latest two way cable card standard. And that Cisco box keeps crapping out randomly and requires a reboot. Better channel switching speed/accuracy than using an IR blaster though for sure! John
Jeff> I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached Jeff> via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use Jeff> the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the Jeff> recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-)
Interesting, no RAID. Did you do this for ease of expansion, so you just add a new disk and Myth simply starts using it? And I assume you don't care if you lose 150+ programs at a go if a disk dies, right?
I ran a Raid5 of 6 500GB drives for a couple of years. But then I had a drive that was starting to fail, so I had bought a replacement, and had powered down my system to replace the bad drive. Well, when I did that, a 2nd drive went DOA with the 'click-of-death'. No amount of recovery attempts brought things back to life, so there I was with 2.5TB of Raid5'd recordings gone.... So I re-built using Individual drives and Storage Groups. Now if I were to lose a drive or two, I only lose SOME of my recordings, not everything.
Of course I'm running on a Tivo Premiere with a single disk so I'm toast too if it dies. I need to crack my case one day and make a backup...
I used to 'backup' my DishPlayer 7200's back in the day... but it's much easier with MythTV. ;-)
I'm also using a Cable Card and a Cisco interface box because Tivo doesn't support the latest two way cable card standard. And that Cisco box keeps crapping out randomly and requires a reboot. Better
So this is basically an 'external tuner' for the Tivo? Sounds like it could be used to feed a tuner for MythTV too... Yes/No/Maybe? Is it SD or HD? (Sounds like SD) I had also tried tuning Clear QAM on my FiOS cable, but didn't get anything except locals and the SD "Government" cable channels, which are of no interest to me. And I get the locals loud & clear via a roof-mounted UHF antenna.
channel switching speed/accuracy than using an IR blaster though for sure! Yeah, IR Blasting is somewhat of a science... When I was using IR blasting, I managed to get things tuned up well enough that I almost never had a bad channel change. But maybe it's because I used an oscillescope to 'tune' my scripts to be 'pefect'...
John
Jeff
If you've got 7 drives I would go with RAID 6 over 5. On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Jeff Artz <junk_inbox@verizon.net> wrote:
Jeff> I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached Jeff> via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use Jeff> the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the Jeff> recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-)
Interesting, no RAID. Did you do this for ease of expansion, so you just add a new disk and Myth simply starts using it? And I assume you don't care if you lose 150+ programs at a go if a disk dies, right?
I ran a Raid5 of 6 500GB drives for a couple of years. But then I had a drive that was starting to fail, so I had bought a replacement, and had powered down my system to replace the bad drive. Well, when I did that, a 2nd drive went DOA with the 'click-of-death'. No amount of recovery attempts brought things back to life, so there I was with 2.5TB of Raid5'd recordings gone....
So I re-built using Individual drives and Storage Groups. Now if I were to lose a drive or two, I only lose SOME of my recordings, not everything.
Of course I'm running on a Tivo Premiere with a single disk so I'm toast too if it dies. I need to crack my case one day and make a backup...
I used to 'backup' my DishPlayer 7200's back in the day... but it's much easier with MythTV. ;-)
I'm also using a Cable Card and a Cisco interface box because Tivo doesn't support the latest two way cable card standard. And that Cisco box keeps crapping out randomly and requires a reboot. Better
So this is basically an 'external tuner' for the Tivo? Sounds like it could be used to feed a tuner for MythTV too... Yes/No/Maybe? Is it SD or HD? (Sounds like SD)
I had also tried tuning Clear QAM on my FiOS cable, but didn't get anything except locals and the SD "Government" cable channels, which are of no interest to me. And I get the locals loud & clear via a roof-mounted UHF antenna.
channel switching speed/accuracy than using an IR blaster though for sure! Yeah, IR Blasting is somewhat of a science... When I was using IR blasting, I managed to get things tuned up well enough that I almost never had a bad channel change. But maybe it's because I used an oscillescope to 'tune' my scripts to be 'pefect'...
John
Jeff
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On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Jeff Artz <junk_inbox@verizon.net> wrote:
Jeff> I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached Jeff> via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use Jeff> the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the Jeff> recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-)
Interesting, no RAID. Did you do this for ease of expansion, so you just add a new disk and Myth simply starts using it? And I assume you don't care if you lose 150+ programs at a go if a disk dies, right?
I ran a Raid5 of 6 500GB drives for a couple of years. But then I had a drive that was starting to fail, so I had bought a replacement, and had powered down my system to replace the bad drive. Well, when I did that, a 2nd drive went DOA with the 'click-of-death'. No amount of recovery attempts brought things back to life, so there I was with 2.5TB of Raid5'd recordings gone....
Sorry for the top post. I would go with RAID 6 over 5 with 7 drives.
So I re-built using Individual drives and Storage Groups. Now if I were to lose a drive or two, I only lose SOME of my recordings, not everything.
Of course I'm running on a Tivo Premiere with a single disk so I'm toast too if it dies. I need to crack my case one day and make a backup...
I used to 'backup' my DishPlayer 7200's back in the day... but it's much easier with MythTV. ;-)
I'm also using a Cable Card and a Cisco interface box because Tivo doesn't support the latest two way cable card standard. And that Cisco box keeps crapping out randomly and requires a reboot. Better
So this is basically an 'external tuner' for the Tivo? Sounds like it could be used to feed a tuner for MythTV too... Yes/No/Maybe? Is it SD or HD? (Sounds like SD)
I had also tried tuning Clear QAM on my FiOS cable, but didn't get anything except locals and the SD "Government" cable channels, which are of no interest to me. And I get the locals loud & clear via a roof-mounted UHF antenna.
channel switching speed/accuracy than using an IR blaster though for sure! Yeah, IR Blasting is somewhat of a science... When I was using IR blasting, I managed to get things tuned up well enough that I almost never had a bad channel change. But maybe it's because I used an oscillescope to 'tune' my scripts to be 'pefect'...
John
Jeff
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"Jeff" == Jeff Artz <junk_inbox@verizon.net> writes:
Jeff> I've got 7 drives just as individual drives directly attached Jeff> via SATA ports. Each drive is mounted individually, and I use Jeff> the "Storage Groups" feature in MythTV, which spreads the Jeff> recordings across all the drives pretty evenly. ;-)
Interesting, no RAID. Did you do this for ease of expansion, so you just add a new disk and Myth simply starts using it? And I assume you don't care if you lose 150+ programs at a go if a disk dies, right?
Jeff> I ran a Raid5 of 6 500GB drives for a couple of years. But then Jeff> I had a drive that was starting to fail, so I had bought a Jeff> replacement, and had powered down my system to replace the bad Jeff> drive. Well, when I did that, a 2nd drive went DOA with the Jeff> 'click-of-death'. No amount of recovery attempts brought things Jeff> back to life, so there I was with 2.5TB of Raid5'd recordings Jeff> gone.... Ouch, not fun. I can understand your desire to limit your losses. I guess with drives being so cheap now, RAID6 would make alot of sense with more drives. Jeff> So I re-built using Individual drives and Storage Groups. Now Jeff> if I were to lose a drive or two, I only lose SOME of my Jeff> recordings, not everything. Can't really object. I'm amazed at how many shows my Tivo now holds with it's 1Tb drive. Way more than I'll ever watch...
Of course I'm running on a Tivo Premiere with a single disk so I'm toast too if it dies. I need to crack my case one day and make a backup...
Jeff> I used to 'backup' my DishPlayer 7200's back in the day... but Jeff> it's much easier with MythTV. ;-) Having to crack the case is a pain I admit. But I love thr TiVo remote, it's the best one I've ever found bar none. It really just does the trick.
I'm also using a Cable Card and a Cisco interface box because Tivo doesn't support the latest two way cable card standard. And that Cisco box keeps crapping out randomly and requires a reboot. Better
Jeff> So this is basically an 'external tuner' for the Tivo? Sounds Jeff> like it could be used to feed a tuner for MythTV too... Jeff> Yes/No/Maybe? Is it SD or HD? (Sounds like SD) We're running an HD signal, but displaying to an old JVC Tube TV which is still going strong. Might replace it this Xmas, might not. Basically, with HD channels now, they have a cable card standard that allows you to get a listing of all your channels, but it only streams the ones actually being used at the time down your local cable loop, to minimize the bandwith used. So the Cisco box talks to the head end and says "I want channel 54" and the head end replies with "Tune to frequency X.y.z" which is either already streaming that channel, or which has just been setup to do that channel for you. The Tivo unfortunately doesn't understand this protocol for some reason so I need this extra box. Sucks in alot of ways, but it's better than the old cable box I used to have. Jeff> I had also tried tuning Clear QAM on my FiOS cable, but didn't Jeff> get anything except locals and the SD "Government" cable Jeff> channels, which are of no interest to me. And I get the locals Jeff> loud & clear via a roof-mounted UHF antenna. I suspect that Fios does the same thing, but I don't know.
channel switching speed/accuracy than using an IR blaster though for sure!
Jeff> Yeah, IR Blasting is somewhat of a science... When I was using Jeff> IR blasting, I managed to get things tuned up well enough that I Jeff> almost never had a bad channel change. But maybe it's because I Jeff> used an oscillescope to 'tune' my scripts to be 'pefect'... The thing I didn't like about the IR blaster was that it's so one way. The Tivo would just assume that the cable box was on the wrong channel and change it no matter what. The new setup uses a USB connection, so the Tivo asks for a channel and the Cisco tunes very quickly to the new channel, or just stays where it is. No annoying flashes or preceptable delays. Now I have to admit my Tivo Premiere feels *slower* for some operations compared to my older Series 2 unit. And last night I had it hang hard on me for about 5 minutes before it suddenly came back to life and started changing channels again. I hope it's not a disk dying or something like that... I should really take the time to pull it and make a backup. John
On Thursday, October 20, 2011 06:11:29 PM Jeff Artz wrote:
Then about a year ago I switched to FiOS HD. So I now have two HD STB's from Verizon, feeding Hauppauge HD-PVR encoders (Component Video IN, USB Out [H.264 encoded]). I use Firewire for channel changes on the FiOS boxes.
Can you explain this setup more clearly? You are running USB out from the FIOS STB into a PVR card? I also have FIOS, i just run the coax out from the STB a PVR/HVR card. I also use firewire for changing channels. I used to have comcast, but switched to FIOS and i was impressed with the number of ports in on the FIOS STB (comcast STB only had coax in/out and IR, nothing else). i was very happy to see firewire with FIOS, much easier than IR.
For HD, the only current option is to feed Component Video from a STB into an Hauppauge HD-PVR.
Just curious, do you notice any small glitches in the audio and video in HD recordings (or live TV)? Every so often spot glitches in the audio and video on HD, it's a bit annoying, sometimes it even crashes mythtv (or X). also curious to know what distro you used for the base install, mythbuntu, fedora, etc ?
Oh, and you'll need a bit of disk space too! OTA HD broadcasts are 5-7GB/hour, and the HD-PVR's h.264 output is about the same size [maxed out at 13Mbps max rate]. I currently have 6.5TB of space on my backend - a bit overkill-- as I have over 1,000 programs recorded at any given time... ;-)
Yikes!
Note that MythTV is *not* the cheapest, nor the *easiest* to setup and configure - actually, I'd consider it more of a 'hobby' and requires occasional 'care & feeding'... But the flexibility that it gives you far exceeds any other offerings -- Like commercial detection and auto-skipping them during playback - just to name one!
Agreed. This is very well said. - brad
On Thursday, October 20, 2011 06:11:29 PM Jeff Artz wrote:
Then about a year ago I switched to FiOS HD. So I now have two HD STB's from Verizon, feeding Hauppauge HD-PVR encoders (Component Video IN, USB Out [H.264 encoded]). I use Firewire for channel changes on the FiOS boxes.
Can you explain this setup more clearly? You are running USB out from the FIOS STB into a PVR card? I also have FIOS, i just run the coax out from the STB a PVR/HVR card. I also use firewire for changing channels. I used to have comcast, but switched to FIOS and i was impressed with the number of ports in on the FIOS STB (comcast STB only had coax in/out and IR, nothing else). i was very happy to see firewire with FIOS, much easier than IR.
Gladly! In-between each STB and my Myth box is a Hauppauge HD-PVR box. This unit takes Analog Component Video (HD) and Digital Audio (Optical) from the STB, and encodes it to H.264 on the fly. It connects to your computer via USB. (You'd need one for each HD STB you want to record from -- I have two.) ;-) When I bought mine, they were about $220 each - looks like they haven't really come down much as the 'street' price seems to be around $200 each now. Here's a link to the MythTV Wiki for the HD_PVR: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/HD-PVR And here's a link to Hauppauge's page for the HD-PVR: http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
For HD, the only current option is to feed Component Video from a STB into an Hauppauge HD-PVR.
Just curious, do you notice any small glitches in the audio and video in HD recordings (or live TV)? Every so often spot glitches in the audio and video on HD, it's a bit annoying, sometimes it even crashes mythtv (or X).
I haven't noticed any artifacts of the H.263 encoding coming out of the HD-PVRs - but maybe that's because I run it at the highest bitrate (13.5Mbps). I do that because even at that rate, the files are only about 6GB/hr.
also curious to know what distro you used for the base install, mythbuntu, fedora, etc ? I cut my teeth on Jarod Wilson's "MythTV on Fedora" guide a zillion years ago, and have stuck with it over the years. ;-) My backend is currently FC 13, and my frontends are running various versions, from FC 11 to FC 14...
I compile from source - I'm running 0.24-fixes now, anxiously awaiting the release of 0.25 ;-)
Oh, and you'll need a bit of disk space too! OTA HD broadcasts are 5-7GB/hour, and the HD-PVR's h.264 output is about the same size [maxed out at 13Mbps max rate]. I currently have 6.5TB of space on my backend - a bit overkill-- as I have over 1,000 programs recorded at any given time... ;-)
Yikes! Hehehe... My first 'production' backend was just a 18GB SCSI system/DB disk, and a pair of 50GB SCSI drives for Video... ;-) My current backend has a 60GB SSD for OS & DB, and 6.5TB of disks for Recordings and 500GB for 'Videos' - I've currently got 277 movies in my Video archive. ;-)
Note that MythTV is *not* the cheapest, nor the *easiest* to setup and configure - actually, I'd consider it more of a 'hobby' and requires occasional 'care & feeding'... But the flexibility that it gives you far exceeds any other offerings -- Like commercial detection and auto-skipping them during playback - just to name one!
Agreed. This is very well said. >
Hehehe, thanks. ;-) I originally setup MythTV as I was using Dish Network and had two DishPlayer 7200 DVR's - one with the 'stock' 8GB drive (~6 hrs), and another with a 120GB drive (~100 hrs). They worked great, but you could only watch things on the actual unit you recorded it on... So I setup MythTV, and 3 frontends, and then I could watch anything on any TV, and had more disk space too... (eventually!)
- brad
PS: My IRC nic is J-e-f-f-A and I'm on #mythtv-users pretty often... I run a proxy on my backend, so even if I'm not 'active', I'll see any message that my nic is mentioned in. ;-) Jeff
participants (10)
-
brad -
Clint Moyer -
Eric Martin -
Gregory Boyce -
James Gray -
Jeff Artz -
joel d -
John Stoffel -
Justin St. Marie -
Tim Keller