[mythtv-users] Sell mythtv "set-top" boxes

[Joseph A. Caputo]

Ah, this was my dream, too...

unfortunately, I just don't see it as feasible, mainly from a support
standpoint.  Unless you're prepared to give *lots* of support (costing you
*lots* of time) to your customers, it won't work.  Keep in mind that the
likely consumer base will be people not comfortable or familiar with a
terminal prompt, much less any Linux commands.  They probably couldn't even
install a new rpm.  Those that could would probably just take the plunge and
build their own Myth box (just read the list archives!).

Even assuming that Myth itself was rock-solid stable (in a perfect world
needing no support), the big issue (the real killer as far as I'm concerned)
is TV listing data.  Until there is a reliable, free & open source for TV
listing data, Myth will only be for those able to support the installation
themselves.  What would happen if you sold 20 of these boxen, then Zap2It
changed their format and broke XMLTV?  That's 20 customers with (virtually)
useless Myth boxes, all waiting for you to come and install a new version of
XMLTV (assuming there is one!)  Or worse yet, what if Zap2It went away, and
the XMLTV project was 'down' for a while trying to find another source?
Again, none of these issues deter us from using Myth, but if you're going to
sell a pre-configured STB, you need to eliminate that risk for your
customers, because they're not going to be able to hack their box (again, if
they could, they wouldn't be buying it from you!).  Tivo and the other
commercial PVRs solved the problem by maintaining their own listing services
(for a fee).

I would really like to see this community push for an open standard for
electronic TV listing data.  Since the company that compiles the composite
listing data (at least for the U.S.) does not want its data redistributed
electronically, the next best scenario would be for all TV providers to use
a standard electronic format.  Then you would only need to grab the feed
from your local provider, not some central data source.  Of course, this
seems just as unlikely, as the local cable companies want to lock you in to
*their* products and services, so they're not likely to provide an open data
feed.  So, it seems that, for the forseeable future, we're destined to live
off of a web-scraping utility like XMLTV.  The only stable solution would be
for a Myth-based listing service that actually bought the listing data &
provided an open feed.  How much would you be willing to pay for that?

-JAC