[TriLUG] Anyone built a MythTV/Freevo box lately - recommendations?

[Jim Thompson]

I built my mythbox several months ago, so I'm using release 18. The
install was fairly straightforward, if you're used to messing with
Linux a bit. I used a couple different install guides on the web and
use Ubuntu as the base OS. Basically, one afternoon to install and
configure it. You definitely need to pick a tuner that is compatible
with Myth. I chose a PVR-150, which I bought fairly inexpensively at
CompUSA. The remote works quite well.

The hardware requirements are really quite low: I was originally using
a classic Athlon "Thunderbird" (I think that was 700Mhz) and 256M of
PC133 RAM. No problems recording, viewing recordings, or watching
"live" TV with that rig. Due to a motherboard failure, I "upgraded" to
a Duron (which I think is just over 1Ghz) and now have a tremendous
512M of PC133 Ram. No problems recording one show in the background
while simultaneously watching a previous recording at the same time. I
do not have a DVD player in this rig, so I cannot speak to how well it
plays DVD. I bought a cheezy "Home Theater PC" case, so it would look
"OK" under the TV.

Commercial skip is quite good. Not really excited about the mp3
player, which is just "ok" but tends to choke if any of your file
names have characters which are not "unix friendly". The weather
module is amusing, but can't remember the last time I really used it.
Photo viewer is adequate. Haven't tried the MAME addon. Overall, the
DVR has worked flawlessly for me and the web interface is quite nice.

On 3/25/07, Mike Shaw <mdshaw89 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Has any built a MythTV/Freevo box lately that they would want to share some
> experiences about?  I'm looking for experiences with tuner cards/remotes,
> etc. and how well/poorly your install went?  Plus any suggestions for or
> against components.
>
>  I am not looking into an HD card(unless they are just as cheap as standard
> cards) and only plan to get a single tuner card but definitely need a remote
> and to do wireless.  I don't have cable or satellite(just rabbit ears) and
> plan to get most of my content via the Net or DVD.  Yes - cheap is the
> word.  Can I do it for under $500?