[mythtv] Will the wife like it?

[Rob Chambers]

I can speak to this with some experience since I have just been through this
process except my wife didn't really care about having a PVR to begin with.






> I have managed to get my wife excited about the concept of a PVR, but she
is
> much more comfortable with a retail box (Tivo or Replay, for example) than
> [another] pc in the house that is configured to do PVR work.  I have never
> seen MythTV in action, so I do not know how well it performs in comparison
> to Tivo/Replay.  I would like to have a better feel for:
> - how the resolution/quality level of the video from MythTV compares to
> Tivo/Replay



After several days of tweaking and switching hardware around I have finally
ended up with a solution that has very acceptable quality although it is not
as good as the best recording level on Tivo.


> - what features of the Tivo/Replay software and remote will my wife forego
> if I build a MythTV box



The remote has not been that bad. I built a home built receiver which even
my limited soldering skills was able to handle and went out and purchased a
universal remote that had a button configuration that would work well. In my
case I have buttons that duplicate mappings but it works well for both
MythTV and Ogle which I have added to the Menu to give DVD capabilities.


> - reliability of MythTV: how many of you have lost shows or missed
> recordings because of hardware/software or just configuration issues



These only occurred because I could not leave the machine alone. I had to
listen to several comments about how I preferred it if it was broken so I
would have something to play with, which probably isn't far from the truth.
But last night I finally agreed to leave it alone and we watched TV all
night with all the MythTV functions working very well. She was not excited
about having a PVR before but she is hooked now.


> I want to build a MythTV box, but I also want to stay married.

MythTV settled the arguments we were having because I wanted to purchase a
PVR before I found out about MythTV. When I started this she just thought I
was working on another computer project and didn't notice what I was
building at first.


> I live in Portland, OR.  If anyone on the list with a working MythTV box
> lives within driving distance please contact me -- I'd love to trade some
> beer for the ability to see the thing in action.

Portland is quite a drive from Southern CA but if you come down you can see
the MythTV box and I have beer on tap (another project my wife did not
realize what was happening at first. She didn't understand why I bought that
old refrigerator from my brother.)


Good Luck

Rob



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