[mythtv-users] Have you switched from Tivo to MythTV?

[Rich West]

Mike Dent wrote:
> On 12/5/06, Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
>   
>> On Dec 5, 2006, at 1:32 PM, Mike Dent wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> Hi,
>>> have you moved from a Tivo system to MythTV? If so how are you
>>> finding it in
>>> comparison? More importantly how is your significant other finding
>>> it!?
>>> Thanks
>>> Mike
>>>       
>
> Thanks for all the great replies so far!
>
> I should probably said that I already have a Tivo, its a version 1 box
> I think, the only
> ones which were available in the UK maybe 4 years ago when I got it.
>
> However it's one of those things where we keep saying "what the hell
> will we ever do if the Tivo breaks down" !
> Which is what got me started about 18 months or more ago trying to
> get a working MythTV system together.
>
> At that time I failed, but recently I put together a test box based on
> Ubuntu in an evening! That apt-get stuff and Ubuntu and the packages
> and great instructions
> make it almost *too* easy these days!
>
> Anyway I have ordered the kit for a new box, twin tuners, Athlon 64,
> 200gb disk etc
> which should all be here tomorrow. However I expect it will be a few
> weeks before I have managed to get it ready to move in to the lounge
> to  take the place of the Tivo!
>
> It's interesting to hear I might be able to keep using my Tivo remote to control
> Myth, that will make it slightly easier to come to terms with for my wife!

Really?!?  Oooo.. I have some google-ing' to do now. :)

I'm in the middle of a slow migration away from our DirecTivo (dual 
tuner) to a whole-house myth setup.  I got buy in from my wife (yes, it 
passed the wife test.. and I nearly had a coronary) as we have it 
(FE/BE) set up in our bedroom with our 27" CRT.  I've just purchased 
another system (silent) to add as another FE.

We still have the Tivo on the main TV in the house.  I'm going to take 
small steps.. continue to tweak the Myth setup.. and eventually phase 
out the Tivo all together.  We are, at the point, where we can do easy 
comparisons. :)

Myth, of course, has the commercial flagging and auto commercial skip.  
That absolutely rocks.  Last night, as we sat and watched on the (very 
hacked) DirecTivo, I almost forgot I had to do the 30-second skip 
thing.  The menu system is a fair bit more intuitive on the Tivo 
(folders of recorded shows that open to display all of the episodes 
recorded).  If I can ever get the remote tweaked properly, I'd be happy 
with that...

The support for Myth is amazing.  In fact, it is so good, you cannot 
help but try to help others out on the list. :)  It is there for the 
Tivo, too, but you have to dig a bit further 
(www.dealdatabase.com/forum), and the level of help be either good or bad.

The Tivo we have, is a nice unit.  Dual tuner, low power consumption, 
near excellent video quality.  The video format isn't a problem with the 
right tools (it's easy to download it from the tivo, convert it to MPEG2 
or burn it right to DVD).  I can telnet in to it, it runs tivoweb plus, 
it displays caller ID (via NCID), and runs tserver.  It really cannot 
run much more than that, though.

Now, if I could find a nice low-profile unit like that for a front end 
without having to take out a second mortgage, all would be good. :)

Myth is by far the most flexible.  I dream of having the whole house 
setup. :)  My house is already pre-wired for 100MB to nearly every room 
in the house, so adding FE's should be easy. :)  That, and having all 
(ok.. most) of our DVDs on-line... aaahh.. to not have to dig through 
all of the DVD cases, only to get frustrated because you cannot find the 
one you want.. aaahhh..

-Rich

All-in-all, it is a lot