[mythtv-users] Legality of selling MythTV and its Components?

Dewey Smolka dsmolka at gmail.com
Wed May 3 21:23:46 UTC 2006


> Still, this has been a good thread for me. I'm planning to sell mythtv
> hardware to the mythtv
> community (if you will buy it), and I don't think I'll include an OS
> with the hardware at this
> point. Perhaps I'll start an open source project to host the OS and link
> to instructions for
> installing it, or perhaps I'll link to an existing OS project and forget
> about the software altogether.
>
> I would LIKE to ship with an OS, either on a CD, or on Flash already,
> but this thread has
> scared me away from that course of action.

I think you'd want to ship with some kind of OS, if for no other
reason than so both you and the buyer can power up the unit and make
sure the hardware is in and working before starting a Myth install. I
don't think there are any legal problems with shipping with Ubuntu or
FC or any free distro. You'll want to consult a lawyer on the
ramifications of including an install CD a la Knoppmyth or MythDora.

If you're serious, you'll eventually want three product lines with a
couple flavors in each:

1) combined FE/BE starter kit -- I'd probably offer this in both mini-
or mid-tower and flat cases, one or two tuners, single HDD 300 - 500
GB, etc. Have it in HD-capable and non-HD capable flavors, target
price $700 - $1200, depending on CPU, RAM, tuner type, etc.

2) FE -- The key for the FEs is that they're small, quiet, and don't
look out of place in the livingroom. I'd probably shoot for a range of
options here, from simple and cheap SD unit for a couple hundred to a
top-of-the-line water-cooled, HD and surround capable, brushed
aluminum, glow-in-the-dark piece of technological art. Target price,
say $350 - $?,???

3) Heavy Duty MBE -- Server case with lots of tuners, storage measured
in TBs, and extra serial ports for driving ir blasters and STBs. I'd
probably include a video card just for kicks, but there's no way this
would be quiet enough for a living room. Target price, probably
$1,800+.

I think the options most in demand would be 2, and 1. There's an awful
lot of traffic on the list from people struggling to set up good,
attractive, and quiet FEs. Option 2 would be geared more towards the
large and rapidly growing contigent of folks who've heard about Myth
but who have little experience with the specific hardware required.
For someone new to the game, the HW options can be very daunting (MB
form factor, socket type, north/south bridge type, IDE vs SATA, AGP vs
PCI-e, ATI vs Nvidia, PVR x50 vs bt878 vs HD*000 vs DVB, 10/100 LAN vs
Gb LAN, etc).

And I wouldn't worry too much about putting pictures or detailed specs
on the web site. There's a certain type of user who will find out what
hardware you're using and then do it themselves no matter how little
you tell them. There's also a certain type of user who'd rather not
take all the time futzing around and would pay a premium for a
pre-assembled harware bundle that they know will work.

All that being said, I still think there's much more cash to be made
in doing custom installations than in harware assembly.


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