[mythtv-users] Using commercial PVR (Topfield, Humax, etc) as a frontend

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Fri Mar 2 16:53:25 UTC 2007


On Mar 2, 2007, at 9:26 AM, migmog wrote:

> Sorry for the noise, this was meant to go to the user list.
>
>
> On 02/03/07, migmog <migmog at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Mythers
>>
>> In my house, there are certain individuals who will NOT give up their
>> channel hopping habit, and myth can't cut it.  So, I'm considering
>> buying a commercial PVR, such as a Topfield or Humax box.
>>
>> However as far as I can see there is not one of those boxes has the
>> one feature which to me is the killer app that myth has - web based
>> control.
>>
>> So. Suppose I keep my mythbackend box; has anyone tried using a
>> commercial PVR as a frontend for myth recordings? Any experiences
>> you'd like to share? Is there a decent PVR with an ethernet port? I
>> know you can hook up the Topfield via USB, but that's kludgy.
>>
>> migmog
>>

What is it you want to control via the web ? Recordings can be  
scheduled via a web browser by a TiVo, assuming it's connected to the  
internet (or your own internal network). The Series 2 units use a  
standard USB to ethernet adapter, but it has to be one of the  
"supported" ones. This function may only be available in the USA  
however, and I don't know where you are (gmail could be anywhere).

But you'd give up SO much by using a TiVo, at least IMHO, that I  
wouldn't go that route. Certainly a TiVo could never talk to a Myth  
backend without major hacking. The brain-damaged CPUs in commercial  
PVRs are so slow that even running a modern web browser would be  
tough, and they only output at TV resolutions so web pages would  
either have to be re-formatted or look terrible (or, more probably,  
both).

Interesting idea but I doubt it is practical for many reasons.

I guess everyone has their own "killer app". I couldn't care less  
about remote scheduling but that commercial skip feature I could  
never live without :-)


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