MythTV/BeyondTV - DIY PVR solutions

Camman

I'm sure some of you have seen or used this before but I first heard about it on the 2nd episode of "Systm" where they set up a mythtv box using KnoppMyth. I've wanted to set one up for a while but haven't had the extra money to build another system with a tuner and decent storage. Any of you ever set one of these up? If it works as advertised looks to me like it would be a Tivo-killer. Well okay not really because the average consumer isn't going to build a system and install MythTV, but for as technical savvy folks it looks like the ultimate alternative.

Either that or I was going to buy BeyondTV, I think they have like the full suite for $100 which is another "Media center" type software package to turn a standard PC into a PVR.

Anybody have experience with either of these products or ever build your own PVR box?

Here is the particular System episode I was talking about http://revision3.com/systm/mythtv/

and this is the company that makes Beyond TV http://www.snapstream.com/

deicist

Hmmm, I've not used mythTV myself since my HTPC uses media center edition and that provides all my PVR goodness (timeshifting, recording to hard drive etc...). I might have a play with knoppmyth this weekend though since you brought it up. Look out for a writeup soon

GHoosdum

I've heard many good things about MythTV. From checking out the screenshots, it looks very functional and quite cool. In my HTPC build, I may dual-boot just to check it out (I already own MCE).

celcho

my dream is to get a few tv tuner cards in a client-server type configuration, where each tv has a little computer on it that can run something like mythtv and is streamlined to boot very quickly and do just that, while a server has a bunch of hd and analog tuner cards in it and is constantly recording scheduled shows and sending requested live streams to tv's. add in a zillion xvid, divx, and ripped dvd images, and the idea would be that you could bookmark a spot in a dvd/show/whatever in one room, and the go to another and continue from where you left off, although at the same time, people who stayed in the original room could continue watching. it's the ultimate couch potato toy, particulary for people with a lot of rooms and tv's.

deicist

Hmmm, I've done a bit more reading on mythTV and it's feature set is certainly impressive. For example you can have X number of TV tuners (any mix of types) in X number of 'server' computers and watch them from X number of 'client' machines. It looks like a completely modular design ie: the backend of the system (the TV tuners, scheduler etc) is completely seperate from the front end, which can run on minimal hardware. So (if you're made of money) you could have a rack full of servers stocked with tuner cards, a diskless client device in every room and watch whatever you want wherever you are. It also offers a web front end for remote scheduling of recordings and lots of other cool stuff. I might have to set a couple of weekends aside at some point and have a serious look at MythTV. Setting up a linux server for the backend as well as a client system is going to be tricky, but I'm sure I can work something out

redchief

lower ambitions
I'm putting together a basic PVR
kinda like a big "V pod"
since i'm setting up the box to work only with the regular TV
my output/ interface to TV choices are YPbPr, S video and regular video.
Any reccomendations on which to use and what card would do that?

thanks

MiracleManS

There's a guy who has a MythTV setup across the hall and it was apparently pretty easy to set up and everything and offers everything they need for easy browsing and recording of anything they want. Timer, etc.

redchief

I think Drasnor has just set one up,
I may be able to buy him dinner and have a lttile assistanc in the setup
I was crefulr to get a card wit onboard encoding & decoding and compatiable with Myth, Wintv 350.
Personally, I like Unix based systems, i spend some years on a Unix Database ( ingress) help desk so i' have gotten over my need to repair thinsg alot, especially unix code.

rm -r

dave

deicist

redchief wrote:

lower ambitions
I'm putting together a basic PVR
kinda like a big "V pod"
since i'm setting up the box to work only with the regular TV
my output/ interface to TV choices are YPbPr, S video and regular video.
Any reccomendations on which to use and what card would do that?

thanks

I think pretty much any reasonably modern card can deal with S-Video output. I have a Geforce4 440mx in my HTPC and that deals with S-video output pretty well. From personal experience the NVidia cards tend to be better at TV output than ATI cards but your mileage may vary. For the actual tuner card I'd look at one of the hauppage cards, a PVR 350 or something.

GHoosdum

Anything GeForce4 and newer should have a decent quality S-video out. I had a GeForce2 MX that made just an absolutely horrible picture on the TV, but my GeForce4 MX 440 worked just fine, as deicist's does. I have also hooked both a Radeon 7500 and a 9600 up to the TV via S-video with good results. If you're going linux, though, I'd recommend sticking to the nVidia cards for the time being.

deicist

I think it just depends what you want out of a PVR. If you want something easy to setup, using 1 (or 2) tuners and just using one PC to do everything then Windows Media center is a good way to go (it's what I use at the moment). If you want something with more flexibility, keeping your PCs away from your actual client (set top box type thing) then Myth TV looks good.

Camman

here's a pretty cool write up of building your own PVR by corsair, its based around MCE. http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=4&sid=1

and a ridiculous PVR system built by Snapstream that includes 5 dual-tuner cards

http://www.snapstream.com/Community/Articles/hydra/default.asp

deicist

Camman wrote:

here's a pretty cool write up of building your own PVR by corsair, its based around MCE. http://sysbuild.corsairmemory.com/report.aspx?id=4&sid=1

and a ridiculous PVR system built by Snapstream that includes 5 dual-tuner cards

http://www.snapstream.com/Community/Articles/hydra/default.asp

pffft, 10 tuners? they've gone past that now

The 'Godzilla' PVR

Camman

deicist wrote:

pffft, 10 tuners? they've gone past that now

The 'Godzilla' PVR

haha wow thats ridiculous. I guess some peoplehave a lot of favorite shows....that are on at exactly the same time hahah

redchief

Here's where I'm heading

1. abit Nf 7 G
2. 1 GB kingston
3. XP - m 2800
4. xp 120 thermalright
5. 120 panaflo
6. win TV 350
7. 80 GB seagate
8. Coolermaster
9. IR KB & Mouse
10. Airlink 108 Mhz G
11. video card with S/DVI/VGA TBD suggestions?
12. Magic DVI to YpBpR convert-o-matic

The case is a bit big but it's what's layiing around
I may just build it in a drawer.
the only thing I plan on having visible is

1. IR for Keyboard/mouse
2. ir for Win 350 Remote control
3. maybe the G antenna

redchief

any advantage of s video over YpBpR ?
or whic would be better at conveying the desktop to the medium screen.

TheSmJ

I have BeyondTV set up on all the machines in my house. One of the nice things it can do is stream live TV accross the network.

This is something MythTV cannot do

EDIT: It also runs on Windows, and allows you to do other things while it records/converts/edits files. MythTV requires a dedicated Linux box.

deicist

TheSmJ wrote:

I have BeyondTV set up on all the machines in my house. One of the nice things it can do is stream live TV accross the network.

This is something MythTV cannot do

I'm almost 100% sure it can, with one PC as a 'backend' and one as a 'frontend' device you can watch live TV from the backend on the frontend device.

TheSmJ wrote:

EDIT: It also runs on Windows, and allows you to do other things while it records/converts/edits files. MythTV requires a dedicated Linux box.

That's a very good point, and is the main thing putting me off using MythTV. Then again MythTV is free, you have to pay for beyond TV don't you?

Camman

deicist wrote:

I'm almost 100% sure it can, with one PC as a 'backend' and one as a 'frontend' device you can watch live TV from the backend on the frontend device.



That's a very good point, and is the main thing putting me off using MythTV. Then again MythTV is free, you have to pay for beyond TV don't you?

Yeah, BeyondTV is like $100. And I am also pretty sure you can stream video to front end devices. At the very least I know you can set up one machine as a backend, stash it in a closet somewhere, and have a smaller and quieter front end to stream stored videos from, Im not sure on the specifics of "live TV" but then again, if you have a "frontend" pc hooked up to your TV, wouldnt you just change the source to TV and watch "live TV" directly through your TV's own tuner??

TheSmJ

Camman wrote:

Yeah, BeyondTV is like $100. And I am also pretty sure you can stream video to front end devices. At the very least I know you can set up one machine as a backend, stash it in a closet somewhere, and have a smaller and quieter front end to stream stored videos from, Im not sure on the specifics of "live TV" but then again, if you have a "frontend" pc hooked up to your TV, wouldnt you just change the source to TV and watch "live TV" directly through your TV's own tuner??

BTV is $75 (I think it's 100 if you get it with a tuner) and you can have as many "satalite" installs off of each server as you want.

Streaming live TV has about a 2-3 second delay between the computer serving the data (with the tuner) to the computer viewing the data.

As far as streaming live TV to a computer connected to a TV: The computer can pause/rewind live TV, the TV itself cannot.

Camman

yeah I didnt think of that being able to pause live TV and stuff. Like I said, I know mythtv can do that at the main machine, and I'd be very surprised if it couldnt do it at the "front end" stations as well, because otherwise what would be the point. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can gather up the coin to finish my PVR/Mythtv system and find out.