[mythtv-users] I just can't get it working.

[Tim Tait]

Stephen Tait wrote:

> Personally, it was the crappiness of the software that came with my 
> PVR-250 that made me want to put it to better use. Yes, I did look at 
> the other windows software about at the time - it didn't and still 
> doesn't have the feature set of Myth.
>
> And no, I wasn't a Linux expert when I started. I'd done a bit of 
> sysadminning and Samba setup and the like, but I had little or no idea 
> about installing from source, module configuration, any of it, but I 
> was prepared to learn it in order to get Myth working.
>
> Yes, Myth can be a bitch to set up - what did you expect from a 0.x 
> project? Since I came onboard (0.13), Myth has come on leaps and 
> bounds in simplicity and usability. There are already RPM, DEB and 
> ebuild installers, the only thing that needs doing by hand is 
> configuration, same as with Windows. The only problem is that, if 
> you're not familiar with the CLI, this configuration can be daunting.
>
> The TV card however is another story, but this is hardly Linux's 
> fault. The manafacturers simply refuse point blank to release any 
> Linux drivers, nor do they release any information about the hardware 
> to allow the open source driver/kernel hackers to write their own, 
> which they are more than willing to do. To be frank, it's amazing that 
> *any* hardware works in Linux, when there's such a dearth of 
> information available to us? Hence why we have projects like ivtv, 
> where a bunch of incredibly talented people hack away at reverse 
> engineering all the windows drivers and all the rest of it, to produce 
> a driver that works. In my case, better than the windows version. 
> Again, it's cutting edge stuff, and they're concentrating on getting 
> it working before they make it easy to use. If this isn't for you, 
> then windows is obviously the better option.
>
> By all means, use Windows. For stuff like Myth (i.e. the cutting bit 
> of the bleeding edge), it's easier - but again, AFAIK, you still don't 
> have Myth's feature set. Personally, I wanted to learn more about 
> Linux, I wanted a cool project like Myth, and I didn't want to spend 
> £100-£300 on a windows license.
>
> Just another 2p for the discussion.

By all accounts SageTV for Windows is quite nice (even has networked 
client/server modes) and easy to install, and offers most (all?) of the 
mythtv functionality. I don't know how "thin" a client running Windows 
can be though, and it will cost you $100 for both licenses (plus Windows 
if needed).

Truly (IMO) Mythtv is more for the hobbiest / linux hacker. If you don't 
know linux and don't care to learn a lot about it, and really want only 
to enjoy a PVR ASAP, then either TIVO or SageTV should be you 1st choice.

Tim