Mythtv Impressions

By Jon Heizer

My latest project has been converting my pvr/dvr/htpc/(what ever you want to call it) over to a mythtv box. For those of you that don’t already know, those acronyms above stand for presonal video recorder, digital video recorder, and home theater pc. Basically they act like a TiVo using a standard computer and a tv tuner card.

Myth tv is an open source project that runs on Linux. It is great project that makes everything you could want in a video recording device possible.

Hardware
AMD XP 2000+ Overclocked to 2600+
Asus NForce2 Motherboard
512MB 400MHZ Corsair XMS DDR
200GB SATA HD
Gainward GeForce4 4200
ATI TV Wonder PCI

For the last year or so I have used Power VCR and the software that comes with the ATI Card to do all my TV watching and recording. It has not been a pleasurable experience. The software would lock up and not record shows, things would hang, constant need for reboots, etc…

I had been debating making the switch to MythTV for a few months, but I have not had the balls to do it. See, I do not actually own a tv. I use the tv tuner and my 19″ monitor for all my tv watching. If attempt to install Linux and MythTV and run into a lot of problems, I will not have a working tv for a few days. I finally had the balls a few days ago and gave it a shot. After a bit of tinkering, it was pretty much up and running. My first impression is that it is am amazing piece of software. I will dive into more detail of the next few days about some of its features that have impressed me the most and further explain the entire MythTV project.