[mythtv-users] Is mythTV ready for prime time?

[Cory Papenfuss]

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005, Carrison, Stuart wrote:

> Some folks made it in their spare time - and considering this, it ain't 
> *that* hard to get going - they made it pretty easy as long as you've 
> got hardware that's supported by Linux n' IVTV. I considered myself a 
> Linux noob a month ago, after cobling together some decent hardware and 
> recycling some more I've got a great system the wife, kids and I get 
> along with fine.
>
 	Most of the issues people are having are not inherently MythTV 
related.  They're either linux configuration/driver issues, or stem from 
the fact that linux isn't a realtime (soft or hard) OS.  Also, a lot of 
the teething pains come from the fact that it *is* so configurable.  Think 
about it... yes, getting the remote to work is a PITA.  The beauty of it 
is you don't have to buy and use the "MythTV model RV-101" remote... just 
about anything will work.

> Is MythTV ready for the prime time - no, probably not. Why? Because it's 
> home-brew, there's no gigantic software company behind it with 24/7 
> support, buckets of money to pay Mr Wilson with etc. But of course if 
> Myth sold out to some nasty software company we'd loose all the 
> flexibility we have in the system at the moment.
>
 	The beauty of GPL is that we don't have to worry about that 
happening.  A company might use MythTV as a basis for a product and sell 
that product and the *support* of it, but the code source must always be 
published.

> But on the other hand, there's no subscription fees and once you get it 
> going _properly_ it's as solid as a rock and can do more than any Tivo, 
> XP MCE or 'other' home brew PVR I've ever seen. You need to take your 
> time with the set-up (especially adding all those cable channels, 
> *groan*).
>
 	Let's hope the likes of Zap2It continue the service.  Without 
programming info to beg/borrow/steal, MythTV becomes a fancy, expensive 
VCR.

-Cory

*************************************************************************
* Cory Papenfuss                                                        *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student               *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University                   *
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