[mythtv-users] Have you switched from Tivo to MythTV?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Tue Dec 5 22:30:07 UTC 2006


On Dec 5, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Mike Dent wrote:

> Hi,
> have you moved from a Tivo system to MythTV? If so how are you  
> finding it in
> comparison? More importantly how is your significant other finding  
> it!?
> Thanks
> Mike


Just a couple of thoughts:

A TiVo is an interesting thing. It is often cited as a "success  
story" for consumer products running Linux, even though my  
understanding is that they have yet to make a cent in actual profit.

It is also often cited as a reason for the proposed move from GPL-2  
to GPL-3. There are those who think that Linux can and should be used  
for whatever you want, including DRM-inclusive systems (Linus  
apparently belongs to this camp) and those who think anything using  
Linux should be totally free (as in speech, not beer), RMS probably  
being the major member of that camp.

A TiVo and a Myth box are both PVRs in the way that Windows and Linux  
are both Operating Systems, there are major differences between them,  
but both are useful to some people.

And to a lot of people "TiVo" is becoming a generic term, much more  
widely understood by consumers than "PVR".

TiVo has certainly "changed the world" in many ways, and is certainly  
a viable product for a lot of folks. Myth is certainly not for  
everybody, any more than Linux is.

Handing somebody who has never heard of Linux a Knoppmyth or MythDora  
disk is unlikely to result in a working PVR very quickly, but a lot  
of people purchase Windows MCE systems and can't figure them out  
either. TiVo does have telephone support (if you can get through),  
and a warranty. I suspect you would have trouble returning a PC to a  
store and telling them you can't get Myth running on it (though some  
folks are apparently selling commercial Myth systems).

But once your system is up and running Myth actually has a better  
support structure, if you know how to use it properly.

So basically there is a place for everything, you just have to figure  
out what suits your needs best (and the needs of your SO I guess).


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