[TriLUG] Myth TV - need some pointers

[Byarlay, Wayne A.]

My experience with MythTV is over, now that I've cancelled cable, but I
did try Knoppmyth. Being a Linux n00b, it took me three or four installs
to get the proper configuration (I'd install, try some experimental
thing, and hose the whole system). But once I finally got it up & going,
it was quite a nice thing.

To address your questions:

1. I think you should pick whichever Linux distro you are most familiar
with, then google the pages of those who have documented their successes
before you. From my experience, no pre-packaged Myth distro works
exactly how anybody wants it to, so you end up having to customize the
system to your particular needs.

2. I also heard that but do not know anything about it.

3. Hardware: 
	Case -- If you want something that looks pretty next to your TV
& stereo, they make more & more "media center" PC cases, but they are
somewhat more pricey than a standard tower. One aspect of the case and
hardware that you must consider is also NOISE. You will want hardware
that does not run too hot, or if it does, will run quietly.
	Video Capture - Get a Hauppauge card. Lots of support for it,
and the distros I tried worked perfectly with it the first time.
	IR Blaster - you may find yourself needing one of these strange
devices. Its purpose is to send signals to a cable box or satellite
receiver box that the OS cannot communicate with, but must direct
control to. The setup for them is confusing to me but I'm somewhat
noob-ish and thus gave up ever having an IR blaster. It is needed
	Hard Drive - No brainer: Buy the biggest you can afford. But
mount it as a separate filesystem, and then look online for which
filesystem is the FASTEST. Some say that EXT3 is not good for fast
video?
	IR Keyboard & Mouse - nice to have so you can sit at the couch &
hack. Of course, the resolution on a TV sucks, and I found it beneficial
to VNC or SSH into the myth box.

What you describe about being able to send stuff over the internet to a
distant machine should actually be possible; set up a VPN, and then make
the distant machine a "Myth Front End". Your main box will run the "Back
end", and also a front end. Think, client/server.

Also, MythWeb is standard in all mythtv now, so a web server runs on the
myth back end. You log into your box via https, schedule shows to be
recorded, download or stream recorded shows, so you can do it that way
too. (The streaming is quirky and experimental).

WAB





-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
Behalf Of Greg Brown
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 10:54 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: [TriLUG] Myth TV - need some pointers

Hey everybody.  I'd like to build a Myth TV box, two actually.  I'd like
to
have one box at home in Raleigh and one on the outer banks.  Here's the
catch - I'd like the box in Raleigh to be able to send contact to the
OBX
box via some kind of encrypted tunnel or so I can watch shows recorded
here
out there.  And vice-versa.  I imagine this is possible with Myth but
I'd
like to the definitive answer if anyone knows.

Other Myth questions:

1. What distro is "best"?  Debian?  Redhat?  By best I'm looking for the
one
that "just works".  The Myth box will likely be a dedicated machine
(perhaps
a ssh and squid host as well, but that's about it).  Thoughts?
2. I read somewhere that the TV listings were going away and this was
going
to affect Myth boxes.  Has this been addressed?
3. What kind of hardware am I looking at?  Being a dedicated machine I'd
like something that looks like it belongs next to a television.  A fat
disk
is a must, but I have no need to burn content so an included DVD burner
isn't necessary (besides I could hook one up via USB I suppose).
However if
the thing already comes with a DVD burner that's cool.

Any other info you can provide is great,  Thx.

Greg
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