[mythtv-users] Odds of Linux CableCARD support?

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 6, 2006, at 3:45 PM, Dewey Smolka wrote:

>> http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php? 
>> t=12495&highlight=mediaready+5000
>>
>> According to that link, the MediaReady device runs SageTV for Linux!
>>
>> Coincidentally, SageTV only had a windows version until recently,
>> where they just "All of a Sudden" had a linux version. I haven't seen
>> any screenshots of the linux version, but I have the feeling that it
>> will look a lot more like myth than Sage for windows...
>>
>>  - Jeff
>
> Can't find any screenshots for Sage for Linux, but apparently it
> installs with Gentoo from CD, and runs $80:
> http://www.sagetv.com/linuxOEMedition.html
>
> More significantly, I found a review of VWB MediaReady 5000 (running
> Sage and Linux) at pcmag.com from Jan 2006. They didn't like it one
> bit: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1913150,00.asp

Wow, they really did hate it.

I am interested first in this :

"it integrates a DVD drive and an analog TV tuner"

But later says:

"The TV tuner is plagued by an especially poor design that sacrificed  
image detail, dynamic range, and color accuracy even when directly  
fed with a high-def video signal generator."

If it is really an analog tuner then I guess it *would* look pretty  
poor when connected to a "high-def video signal generator" :-)

I'd like to know what kind tuner it has, but neither that review or  
their own specs tell me that.


>
> According to something at the Sage forums, you cannot install their
> Sage for Linux OEM iso on the MediaReady -- it's got its own driver
> modules. It would probably also be a PITA to get Myth running.
>
> From looking at the photos, it also seems like it would be a real
> bitch to put in new hardware.
>
> The fact is that for the kind of money they want for this box, just
> about everyone here could build one that's nicer looking, faster,
> quieter and capable of holding more.

I suspect you are correct there, I was hoping that perhaps the $450  
unit would make a decent front-end, and it might, but I can't find  
out enough to be willing to risk that much $$$ now.

The only interesting thing is that the guide services appear to be  
free, but then again if they go belly up a non-Myth type consumer  
would be left pretty much in the lurch. I can't figure out who would  
want to provide such a service for free, but then again I can't  
figure out Data-Direct's business model either.