[mythtv-users] Hello after long absence - looking to build very small Myth setup.

[Mark Knecht]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 11:36 AM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> On 06/18/2013 12:25 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>
>> Thanks to those who answered. After looking at the considerable work
>> to be done, the cost (antennas, frontend/backend, HDHomeruns, etc.)
>> and limitations of what my finished result is likely to be based on
>> OTA HDTV, I've decided not to set up a Myth box at this time.
>>
>> Again, thanks for the responses and I wish everyone well.
>> Unsubscribing after this email.
>
>
> FWIW, I'm very glad you did the research and came to that conclusion.  Far
> too many people think that MythTV is a "free" DVR, but it's actually a
> high-end, luxury DVR and generally turns out to be more expensive (not only
> in terms of money, but also time /and/ options (due to service provider DRM,
> etc)) than other solutions out there.  And, since many cable and satellite
> providers now offer 4-6 tuner DVRs with "whole house"/"any screen"
> capabilities, many of the most-interesting benefits of MythTV are finally
> available elsewhere.
>
> I'd much rather see someone look into MythTV and decide to take another
> approach than see someone who starts setting up MythTV and either spends a
> lot of time and money before realizing just what MythTV will cost and
> walking away angry or ends up spending a lot more time and money than he'd
> planned and feeling like it's not worth the cost.  I've even seen people who
> tried to turn MythTV into a cheap DVR who end up getting what they pay for,
> and thinking MythTV is incapable (when, really, it's their choice of
> hardware that's causing the problem).
>
> That said, if what you want is a Free DVR (as in Free/Libre and Open-Source
> Software), and you're willing to pay for it with your time and money, MythTV
> is a great solution (or at least a great hobby).
>
> Mike


Thanks Mike. (Not gone quite yet!)

As I said early on, I ran MythTV for a long time (4-5 years I think)
some years ago until Comcast ended up encrypting 90% of what I was
recording. MythTV is a great piece of software, probably much better
now, but it was a huge time sink then and looking at the questions
coming up on the list over the last 2 weeks it really doesn't look
like will be any less of a time sink, at least with my hobbyist
viewpoint.

That said, I'm not knocking Myth at all, as I suspect you can tell.
It's just not the right solution for our needs at this time. I.e. - we
only get about 10 OTA stations of any interest, and really it's just
CBS that we'd like to record as they aren't supported yet by services
like Hulu. (ABC, Fox & NBC are well supported) None of that addresses
cable shows like Mad Men or Breaking Bad which we'll just wait and
watch a year late, or possibly like Season 3 of the Killing, we'll
purchase the season in HD from Amazon with the unspent $125/month we
were previously giving to DirecTV.

It's a Brave, New World in terms of TV watching. The only thing I find
I really miss not having cable or satellite is my afternoon news fix
on MSNBC. Now I find myself watching RT in really low def on the Roku.
Would love to find a 24 hour streaming news station.

Also, thanks to you for all the help you give people here. You've been
here for years and helped me numerous times in days past. It's great
to see you're still out there doing the work!

Cheers,
Mark