[mythtv-users] To TiVo or mythTV it

[Dewey Smolka]

> 2. Now for a loaded question.  For those that have gone the mythTV route.
> If you walked into COSTCO and saw a Series2 TiVo 80hr box sitting there
> for $268 with a $100 rebate would you have rather bought that or dumped
> $1200 into a Linux mythTV box?  

You could spend $1200 if you wanted to, but chances are that you
already have some of the neccessary gear, or can get it cheap.

I built my combined frontend/backend on a P3 733 that I picked up used
for $149 from pcretro.com. Of course that only had a 8 GB drive, but I
found a Maxtor 200 GB ATI drive for $100. Added a PVR-250 for another
$100 and the backend was taken care of.

For TV-out, I'm using an a Nvidia Geforce 2 with S-video out that
works just fine. That card came from a two-year-old PC that got a
different graphics card installed. While I got the Nvidia card
essentially for free, you could find the same card for a pretty low
price, considering its a couple generations old.

For sound, the onboard card does a pretty good job, particularly when
run through a decent amplifier and good speakers, and as long as
stereo is adequate. Granted, if you want 5.1 sound you'll need a new
sound card, but I'm not bothered much about that. I'm planning to
upgrade the sound card at some point, but right now there's just no
need.

The point is that it really doesn't have to be that expensive to build
a Myth box, especially if you have acces to gear that is a little old.
Mine was about $350, but if you have a P3 700 or better already, you
could convert it for just a couple hundred.

Or if you look around you could get all the parts you need for under
$500, probably under $400.

> Would your wife agree?

She was a bit cross at first with me tinkering about for a week and
cursing everything I could until I got the thing working. Now that we
have a library of Simpsons, Futurama, and a load of films at our
disposal, she's very happy. If I explain how I actually got it working
or how the machine functions, she gets that glazed look, but she
learned how to use the remote control fairly quickly and so is
satisfied.

We also have most of our music on the Myth box now, which is a
definite benefit over Tivo.