[mythtv-users] MythDevice?

[Brian Wood]

On May 31, 2006, at 6:20 AM, Anil Gupte wrote:

> "As I said, you have described a TiVo perfectly "  Yes, but I  
> cannot tinker with
> it or modify it etc.
>
> If TiVo can sell a box for $400 lifetime cost, then surely they  
> must be making
> it for about $250.  In other words, it is possible to make this  
> hardware at that
> price (in volume).  Perhaps I will make such a box and try selling  
> it to all the
> mythtv, freevo etc users out there. :-)  Or if someone is already  
> planning this
> let me know, I will buy a few.  I could make money selling it to a  
> couple of
> hundred people and adding some custom apps.

TiVo has yet to actually make a profit, and they have been at it for  
many years, they have also stopped offering the lifetime deal. So, if  
you believe you have discovered a path to instant riches I suggest  
you look elsewhere :-)

Several folks have brought up the possibility of doing what you  
describe, I believe that most of them faltered on the "where do I get  
the data" problem.


Still, have a look at:

http://www.vwbinc.com/

http://www.koobox.com/

and many others.

You can pick up working PIII 750-900 Mhz. machines for less than $75,  
fast enough to do SD with hardware compression. Add a capture card or  
two, perhaps a video card, and you are pretty close to the $250 you  
mention for building a TiVo (I suspect it costs them much less than  
that).

But who would WANT to ??

My opinion is that I have no desire to have to answer the inevitable  
idiotic questions from customers, as once you take their money they  
have no compunctions about bothering you constantly with questions  
that will make even P.T. Barnum's assessment of human intelligence  
seem optimistic. There must be easier ways to make a living.