[mythtv-users] Introduction & Questions

Todd D. Woodward toddw at ashbean.com
Tue Oct 21 14:58:21 EDT 2003


My name is Todd Woodward, and I'm in Oregon, U.S.A. By way of introduction let
me tell you my current situation in a long, boring and tedious message.

My wife and I are extremely frustrated juggling video tapes since we time shift
everything we like to watch with few exceptions. (Uh...Dear? Which tape has last
Monday's CSI on it?) We've been thinking about a Tivo, but find that its limited
(and locked in) features and monthly cost to be less than desirable. And the
cost of systems that provide most if not all of the features we want is well
over our budget.

Here are the capabilities of our ideal PVR system (although getting there in
steps in just fine):

* Ditch the freaken' tapes! PLEASE!
* Has to be EXTREMELY easy to use for my wife once it is setup and running
correctly.
* View TV schedules on the TV screen and select programs to record from it.
* Set it to record all shows of a series...Set it and forget it for the season.
* Set it to record any additional shows we wish.
* Record two programs at once.
* Watch one show while another is being recorded.
* Watch DVD's, DiVX, XvID, VCD's, etc.
* View photo's on the TV screen.
* Import photo's from our digital camera's CF card.
* Listen to music from our large digital music collection (CD's, MP3's, AAC's)
* Record programs to VCD/DVD to share with others.

After doing some homework reading here and there (including Mark Cooper's
excellent how-to), here is the system I'm thinking of starting with using MythTV:

ASUS Pundit
2.6Ghz Celeron
512Mb RAM
WinTV PVR 350
200Gb HD
CD-RW/DVD-ROM

This is a starter system (est. between $600-$700), so this system will only
record one program at a time, and can't burn DVD's. However, it can be upgraded
to include an additional PVR 350 and a DVD burner as the system proves itself
and as money becomes "available".

Being more of a BSD, UNIX, RISC kind of guy, I have a few questions if y'all
don't mind:

* Is the Celeron powerful enough for such a system, or would a full P4 be
better? (I would think it would be enough considering the offloading of
encoding/decoding tasks to the PVR 350. But what about MPEG-4 codecs that the
PVR doesn't handle?) Is the Celeron enough if my proposed system is both
frontend and backend together in one system?

*Am I right in concluding that the Pundit's front panel memory card reader isn't
working right in Linux yet or in MythTV?

* AAC isn't supported yet?

* I would assume that a MythTV based system would work just like a DVD/CD
player...Stick in the CD, press play, and away you go, right?

* Is the process of creating/burning VCD's and DVD's handled through MythTV?


Thank for taking the time to consider and answer my questions...I'm excited
about what MythTV has to offer and hope I can contribute to it's development and
growth.

-- 
Todd D. Woodward
toddw at ashbean.com

"When you lose hope, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that can stop 
us from achieving that which may be just a little out of reach right now." 
--Dennis Kucinich 
  
DENNIS KUCINICH: The Progressive Choice for President. www.kucinich.net
Speaking Truth to Power: The Mike Malloy Show. www.mikemalloy.net

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