[NCLUG] MythTV Questions

[Brian Wood]

Paul Hummer wrote:
> Preface : While these questions are specifically for Brian, I think 
> there's value in getting everyone else's ideas as well.

I'm actually working on a follow-up posting, but I'll respond here as a 
preliminary to that. I'll get something more comprehensive put together 
as soon as I can.

Since the world is moving towards HD, I will only discuss solutions here 
that have the capability of displaying HD. There are a lot of SD-only 
solutions, some very tiny and silent, but they will ultimately become 
obsolete.

One F/E solution for SD only is the Hauppauge MediaMVP, the size of a 
paperback book, totally silent and it does come with a remote. It does 
need a hardwire network connection, or an external 802.11 unit.

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http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html

> 
> MythTV has been a hit at my house.  My wife loves it, but she doesn't 
> love the fact that now there's a computer in the living room as well as 
> in both bedrooms.  She probably wouldn't mind if the box wasn't so big 
> and ugly, and right next to the TV stand.

That's the beauty of the frontend/backend architecture. There are 
answers to this problem. Some involve still having a combo FE/BE unit 
and others utilize a split F/E-B/E, or multiple frontends. It's pretty 
much a toss up if you only need one F/E, the split configuration makes 
more sense if you want multiple F/Es.

You said "big and ugly", so I'm guessing it's the appearance that is 
your (wife's) problem as opposed to the noise.

"Ugly" can be solved by several full-sized cases that are designed to 
look nice in a living room. Silverstone makes some nice ones, but they 
are pricey.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/SilverstoneTek_LC16M

As does Zalman:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Zalman_HD160

And MSI:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/MSI_Media_Live


If "big" is the major problem there are many options to get a small 
case. One obvious option is the Mac Mini, which can run a Linux based 
F/E, a Myth F/E running under Mac OS/X or OS/X UpNP applications.

The AppleTV unit, available for under $200, is being used an an HD 
frontend by some folks.

Several units based on VIA's EPIA Mini-ITX boards are being used.

Asus Pundits have been used as well, as have Xbox toys.

If "noisy is a problem see:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Cooling_Quietly

A centralized backend is a good solution, as is remote storage, NFS 
works quite well with MythTV.

> 
> Brian showed off some UPnP clients that would probably work quite well.  

Actually none of the units I showed were UPnP clients, they were 
full-blown MythTV frontends. I did mention that UPnP clients will work, 
but will not give you the full frontend feature set, like being able to 
schedule recordings or control a liveTV tuner.

> I could put that big ol' ugly box in the closet with the two rackmount 
> servers I bought from Tummy, and then put the small UPnP device by the 
> tv.  My requirements are these:
> 
> DVI out (or at least VGA)
> Remote Control (no keyboard)
> Able to read from the MythTV-server
> Remote Control
> Remote Control

A MediaMVP would meet these requirements, but only for SD.
> 
> Brian, could you also post the hardware list of the things you demoed, 
> like that HD HomeRun?

The best place to get an HDHR is form the maker, though others are 
selling them. Remember that although these units have 2 tuners, they are 
both digital only, and if you are recording more than a couple of 
streams at once you probably want Gigabit ethernet.

http://www.silicondust.com/

I also showed a Plextor unit:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Plextor_PX-TV402U

The limitation on these USB-connected analog-only units is that Myth 
only supports the MPEG4 modes, though the unit will also do MPEG2 
hardware compression. This means, among other things, that if you want 
to burn a program to DVD you will have to transcode to MPEG2, and your 
frontend will need more horsepower to decode MPEG4 than MPEG2.

If you are interested in a Plextor, both CompUSA and NewEgg have them on 
sale for $50 (after rebate). The assumption is that this is because it 
has been announced that there will be no Vista drivers for these units, 
most likely due to the imminent demise of analog broadcasting.

And the MediaMPV:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html

(Note that the claimed ability to playback DiVX involves transcoding to 
MPEG2 on the fly (very CPU intensive), the unit's decoder chip can only 
handle MPEG2).

I also showed a Hauppauge PVR-350:

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_pvr350.html

The advantage of this card over a 150 is that it has a hardware MPEG 
decoder, and can thus be used in lieu of a video card (SD only). The 
card can't support the OpenGL functions of MythTV, and there is no 
guarantee that the video output function will continue to be supported. 
Essentially it still works, but the developers have warned that the 
support is no longer being actively developed, and if some future 
development breaks the support it may not get fixed.


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As I said, I'll get something more comprehensive put together, in the 
meantime, the main MythTV site is your friend, especially the Wiki:

Http://www.mythtv.org

beww