So I’ve decided it’s finally time for this nerd to step forward in the digital age with a PVR: Personal Video Recorder. Looking at TiVo, I think it’s really cool. What’s not cool are the price, the cost, and knowing that if TiVo ever goes out of business I might lose both my listing service and the functionality of my device. I got looking for alternatives and found MythTV.
Now, MythTV looks like it has all the ducks in a row, but man is it hard to wrap your head around at first. Unlike a traditional PVR, MythTV dissociates “boxes” from the front-end viewing functionality you might want. Instead, you have various resources, typically divided into two types: front-end and back-end.
A front-end is something that faces you, the viewer. It can be a PC, a little device, or whatever… the only requirement is that it has a display, sound, and maybe a few games loaded if you like. It looks to resources on your home network. In a way, it might be considered like a Media Center Extender, for those of you used to Windows Media Center. A front-end can talk to as many back-ends as it likes, but has one master back-end that it basically belongs to.
Then there’s the back-end. This is where it gets confusing. The back-end is some type of service provider in your house. If it’s a PC with lots of storage, maybe it just provides storage for archiving old videos. If it has a video tuner card or two or three, maybe it provides real-time viewing as well as recording services.
So let’s say you have three spare PCs laying around your house, like I do. Because they are older boxes, you want them to do one job apiece. Set one up as the master back-end with a TV tuner card. Set a second one up as a secondary back-end, with another TV tuner card and lots of storage. Set up the third as a front-end.
Let’s say that each tuner card can only tune into one station at a time, and you want to watch live TV with the ability to pause and fast-forward. First the back-ends will check if both tuner cards are already in use; if they are, unless you tell MythTV to allow disruption of recording, it will tell you you’re SOL because all tuners are in use. Anyway, let’s assume one tuner is recording and the other one is free. It will buffer a bit on the free one and start streaming that data to your front-end over the network.
Basically, you end up with a pool of back-end resources accessible via any front-end. MythTV will decide what resources are free and allow you to maximize your TV-watching time however you like.
But in the meantime, as I spend Day 2 mucking around with conflicting IRQs and machines that don’t have enough power to run a back-end and front-end at the same time, I’m a little frustrated at the complexity. If I had three sparkling-jewel brand-new PCs with at least a gig of RAM apiece, this would not be a problem. Given that I’m trying to cobble together a MythTV setup using hardware that ranges from four to eight years old at this point, it’s been a little off-putting.
–Matt B.
Great post
Matt, great post, thanks for writing out your experience. I had the exact same reservations about TiVo. I had been using TiVo for some years and then in 2004 stopped service. About two years ago I got a DVR through Comcast. As a result, the PVR functionality is integrated with the cable system provider. I’m paying for DVR devices, remotes, etc. on a monthly fee basis. Therefore, if one part of the service goes down, the whole thing goes down.
One of the restrictions on the PVR/DVR system in general is the dependency on a physical stationary unit (your living room TV!) to retrieve recorded media. I know that through Slingbox and certain TiVo partners that this is getting transferred to the internet. The point remains that it’s still based on controlling a physical unit stationed in a house. Regardless of the logic or constraints or changes coming, investing a lot of time and money right now into circumventing that natural restriction just isn’t worth it. I’d rather geek out on other technologies, like my new palm-sized HD camcorder.
Maybe try the Neuros
Nice post thanks, I have a similar setup and it is definitely not for the faint of heart. However I have hope that the Neuros solution with it’s open hardware and pre-packaged Myth might offer some relief…
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2008-12/neuros-link-unboxed-setup/
Good luck ! Michael
Figured it out…
Well, I eventually figured it all out and it’s running GREAT. Of course, since now I know exactly how to set it up right next time, I want to scrap my current setup and start all over again doing it RIGHT!
But… it works. There’s something to be said for it. My son is watching an HD, pre-recorded version of Sesame Street right now. Getting your back-end infrastructure right is SO important for something like this.
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Matthew P. Barnson
MEDIA CENTER
I know some people’s experience with it has been less than they wanted.. but I have really enjoyed my Media Center computer, which, for the last 4 years has powered my TV. (Thanks to ROWAN for getting me hooked).
I have all my TV, MP3s, and personal VIDEOS in the Media Center computer. I use an XBOX as an extender to my TVs. There is a way to rip DVDs and have your entire video library available at the touch of a button. HULU and YOUTUBE are available to watch on your TVS. You can watch the streaming Netflix on your TV. The DVR works perfectly, and, again, with an XBOX (or a Media Center Extender) you can do all these things on any TV in your house, run by the Media Center.
Its pretty danged cool.
NVZ: NINJAS VS ZOMBIES – THE MOVIE – http://www.nvzmovie.com THE OFFICIAL JUSTIN TIMPANE WEBSITE – http://www.timpane.com
Your success…
It was, in part, your success and a great deal on a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 recorder card that got me started 🙂 I like MythTV because it’s based on Linux and has all the benefits I’m used to with that operating system (and Mac has similar benefits because it’s on a FreeBSD UNIX core). Also it’s incredibly scaleable, but my hardware is just old.
Had I started this project with newer hardware, it would have been much easier.
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Matthew P. Barnson