[mythtv-users] MythTV production run

Bill Chmura Bill at Explosivo.com
Tue May 4 10:16:57 EDT 2004 

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


Sure, that would probably get the cost down... but I doubt they are going to 
do the design and construction for a small amount of boxes.  I've never dealt 
with offshore manufacturing (or onshore for that matter), but I would assume 
that it would need a big initial investment and so forth.   Its probably what 
Tivo did to get their price down.

The discussion was about getting a few people to kick in money to attain the 
volume... I don't think its possible.  And, although I think MythTv is a 
fantastic product versus whats out there - I don't think its reasonable for 
it to move it too a mainstream product without a huge amount of capital. 

Just to cover the legal fees of Tivo suing, the RIAA suing, and so forth would 
be tough.  Mind you these are not legitamite claims, but just trying to drive 
the new guy off by burying him in legal muck.




On Tuesday 04 May 2004 01:54 am, Jack Burghardt wrote:
> What if you go to one of companies in China and tell them that need box of
> this size with tv tunner mpeg 2 decoder
> and that you want run linux on it they design it for you and write drivers
> and in volume it may cost you 100 to 150 a box and price hard drive. You
> can make more money in HDTV market
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Chmura" <Bill at Explosivo.com>
> To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 10:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] MythTV production run
>
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> >
> > The other thing to see is that there is not just Tivo anymore.  The big
>
> ones
>
> > are starting to get in on it... so your digital cable box will have the
>
> same
>
> > feature set soon.   Tivo is responding by dropping prices down to $149...
> >
> > More below...
> >
> > On Monday 03 May 2004 11:57 pm, Larry Howe wrote:
> > > I think the three most important things about getting more people to
> > > use linux (e.g. MythTV) are volume, volume, and volume. After volume,
> > > the
>
> next
>
> > > three most important things are ownership, privacy, and privacy.
> >
> > To get it into the mainstream you would have to just have it boot
>
> mythtv...
>
> > Linux would have to be transparent.  IMO anyway.  If you want to push
>
> volume
>
> > you don't want to be selling them another computer for the house (the
>
> wives
>
> > would never go for it)
> >
> > > Someone did mention volume and how there may not be too much advantage
>
> to
>
> > > more volume. I have a bit of a counterexample. I made some custom
>
> hardware
>
> > > a few years back and I could only break even when I made a couple at a
> > > time. When I did get an order for 20 or so at once, then I could turn a
> > > profit. This is of course a classic chicken and egg problem, more
> > > people don't use it because more people don't use it, etc.
> > >
> > > In terms of ownership and privacy, this is something I think needs to
> > > be emphasized more in all linux advocacy. Someone mentioned digeo.com
> > > on
>
> here
>
> > > and how it is "the competition" for MythTV. It is not the competition
>
> for
>
> > > MythTV. If you look at the digeo literature you'll see that it not only
> > > monitors your viewing, it then cleverly inserts targeted advertisements
> > > INTO THE NAVIGATION MENUS. So it is only the competition for people who
> > > don't mind that sort of thing.
> >
> > Which is the majority (myself excluded).  From what I have seen people
>
> will
>
> > tolerate a whole lot to save a buck.  To most people they don't care if
>
> their
>
> > viewing habits are recorded and tracked.
> >
> > > For me personally, maybe it's my age, but I've had one too many ads fed
>
> to
>
> > > me, and I don't want more of them popping up in new places. How many
>
> people
>
> > > would be willing to spend $20 per month for a supported MythTV that has
> > > more features, and isn't trying to sell them stuff? And would $20 per
>
> sub
>
> > > per month be enough to support a business of supporting mythtv boxes?
> >
> > Only if SCO doesn't notice :)... Seriously the costs of providing support
>
> will
>
> > add up fast.  Just to have one person on doing it full time (as primary
> > income) making lets say $35,000 / year would require something like 34
>
> people
>
> > paying $20 / month each.  That does not include phones, repaying for
> > hardware, investors, benefits, etc...  Not to mention credit card
>
> processing,
>
> > collecting from deadbeats (also known as customers on a good day).
> >
> > > I would be willing to put up some money (but not all the money) to
>
> support
>
> > > a short production run (20 boxes maybe?). I can also help with sales
> > > and marketing but someone else would
> > > have to do the design and offer the support. My feeling is we would
> > > have
>
> to
>
> > > hit near the $300 price point to even be able to sell 20. Any takers?
> >
> > Right now, tivo is selling for $149, plus $12.95 a month.  I have some
>
> future
>
> > in-laws with Tivos and when we go through the feature set they concur
> > that Myth does have some nice features but none of them seem to be ready
> > to switch.
> >
> > Can a myth box be put together that cheaply?  If you are going to count
> > on
>
> the
>
> > $20/mo to pay back the box it could be a long wait...  If your box costs
> > $500, it will take over 2 years to pay for the hardware alone.
> >
> > You also have the issue of support.  If you start selling these to people
>
> on a
>
> > support arrangement ($20/month) and then your XML feed for channel
> > information blows out you've got a problem.  What do you do when Jack
> > Valencia goes down to washington and gets them to ban time-shifting
>
> programs?
>
> > Effectively making recording illegal.  Yeah, I know it can never
> > happen... big business does not control the government...
> >
> > As a small business owner I can certainly tell you its a pain in the ass.
> >
> > > Larry
> > >
> > > Quoting sukeband at vzavenue.net:
> > > > Hey everyone,
> > > >
> > > > I know the subject of selling commercial mythtv boxes has
> > > > been probably talked about to death, but Iā?Td hate to see
> > > > talents and skill of the major developers on this, go
> > > > unrewarded monetarily. Iā?Tve been playing around with the
> > > > software for a few months now and, I feel like it's nothing
> > > > short of brilliant.
> > > >
> > > > Is anyone adverse to the idea of marketing prebuilt systems
> > > > and having any some of generated go to the major developers?
> > > > Does anyone see a fairly large market for these? If this is
> > > > the case, I donā?Tt see a problem taking advantage of that, if
> > > > it went towards the betterment of the players in the
> > > > community, especially the people that made this project
> > > > possible?
> > > >
> > > > What are your thoughts on this guys?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > -Rob
> > >
> > > ----- End forwarded message -----
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > mythtv-users mailing list
> > > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
> > - --
> >
> > Bill Chmura
> >
> > w. http://www.fistfullofcode.com
> > w. http://www.explosivo.com
> >
> > - ------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > "No matter what, never, ever, ever, ever tell your girl friend she is
>
> looking
>
> > a little puffy."
> > - -Ancient chinese proverb
> >
> > "Some people go to bed with Lucifer, then they cry when they don't greet
>
> the
>
> > day with God"
> > - -Monster Magnet
> >
> > Without good motivation, science and technology, instead of helping,
> > bring more fear and threaten global destruction. Compassionate thought is
> > very important for humankind.
> > - -His Holiness the Dalai Lama
> >
> > - -------------------------------------------------------
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)
> >
> > iD8DBQFAlx4hEEA64RcvcRERAn7uAKCmkK8Hr8rpjqkJcqlslCDafrVk/ACgjzYG
> > LpajUlj8CvcsN/NT/pdKBrA=
> > =XgXp
> > -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

- -- 

Bill Chmura

w. http://www.fistfullofcode.com
w. http://www.explosivo.com

- ------------------------------------------------------

"No matter what, never, ever, ever, ever tell your girl friend she is looking 
a little puffy."
- -Ancient chinese proverb

"Some people go to bed with Lucifer, then they cry when they don't greet the 
day with God"
- -Monster Magnet

Without good motivation, science and technology, instead of helping, bring 
more fear and threaten global destruction. Compassionate thought is very 
important for humankind.
- -His Holiness the Dalai Lama

- -------------------------------------------------------
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFAl6XeEEA64RcvcRERAigGAJ4p01v8RoB0glk77FpxZP2KCZLz6QCfWUph
2EJUOyKOBIxPGCTyae1NxWo=
=Yg9/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

More information about the mythtv-users mailing list