[mythtv-users] prebuilt pvrs for developers benefit?

Joseph A. Caputo jcaputo1 at comcast.net
Tue May 4 17:14:09 EDT 2004


On Tuesday 04 May 2004 12:23, Peter Lee wrote:
> I agree with the idea that the most obvious business potential in
> MythTV is in the high-end super-customized home-theater market.  The
> installation and configuration would go for $3K-$5K and would provide
> something truly unique and very highly personalized to the high-end
> customer (eg, UI themes designed specifically for the customer, etc).
>
> The main issue here is that this kind of business goes well beyond
> just building linux boxes.  Probably there would be a significant
> amount of general contracting involved (to build theater space,
> racks, lighting controls, etc), integration, and so on.  So the
> overheads would be a lot higher.

Yeah, I've given this some thought myself.  Basically do custom 
home-media setups for high-end customers (think: multi-tuner backend(s) 
with frontends all over the house, that kind of stuff).  Best way to do 
it would be to form a relationship with a general contractor/home 
construction company.  Sit down with the customer & design a plan, then 
sit down with the GC or electrician to lay out the wiring.  Putting 
anything more than a simple 1-machine setup in an existing home with no 
network wiring isn't worth it (at least, not until we have 100 Mbit 
wireless...)

Some friends of my sister-in-law recently had me come over and help them 
get their new Gateway (MS) Media Center & plasma TV set up properly.  
The Gateway salesman totally over-sold to them, and then they wanted 
$800 to do an in-home setup and demo.  There's definitely money to be 
made in home theater design & consulting.

-JAC


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