[mythtv-users] TiVo (S1) as a MythTV Frontend
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org
Tue Feb 6 11:25:02 UTC 2007
On Feb 6, 2007, at 4:11 AM, Tortise wrote:
> If I may Brian?
>
> Re: How do you plan to capture video? You need a device that has
> Linux drivers available and there is no such thing in a TiVo, nor
> is there any obvious way to connect one or talk to it if you could.
> Is there a need to capture video in a TiVo/Myth Front-end? TiVo's
> can capture video, it may be possible to stream this to a Myth
> Server however I wouldn't see that as a development priority. The
> TiVo would only need to interpret / display a stream from the
> server.
Good point, I was thinking of a FE/BE. Sorry.
>
> From what you have said it seems clear that X is not good to run on
> a TiVo front-end. I note Pluto uses a cell phone front-end to
> control myth. Perhaps there is a thin control version that could
> run on the TiVo, along with displaying appropriate streams from
> the server. Clearly the TiVo has the hardware to display digital
> streams at PAL / NTSC levels as it does do it. (well)
>
> Re: And your "exception" is a huge one, as there is no PCI/AGP/PXI-
> E or other way to connect a supported video card, nor is there
> enough CPU to run even X on it even if you could.
> I would not see the need for a VGA output, so long as there was
> composite / RCA output (+/- RF) outputs. I wonder if I was clear
> enough in my original proposal?
I was just thinking that you;d need some sort of video output device
if you couldn't use the internal one, not necessarily VGA but what
device would be available without major surgery to the board, except
perhaps a USB device with all its limitations. I think the Series 1
is USB 1.1 and the Series 2 is USB2. 1.1 would never handle video,
and I doubt 2.0 could do it very well with the existing devices/drivers.
I've looked into USB video output devices for the NSLU2 but anything
beyond text modes seems out of the question at this point.
>
> Re: I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it's certainly impractical
> and if you could manage it you would have so much invested in
> time and special equipment (surface-mount soldering gear for one)
> as to make it of only intellectual interest.
> This may of course still be true, however it is good to explore
> this issue. If it keeps coning up then that might perhaps suggest
> something like it is not going to go away? If it can't be done one
> way then it is good to look for other ways to achieve the same
> end.
>
OK, upon reflection I have this plan to accomplish what you want:
Step 1: Remove all those "parts" from the TiVo.
Step 2: Install a MediaMVP in the case.
I think this would be faster, cheaper, would look the same and would
almost certainly work.
What I'm saying is that all the arguments against a TiVo as a
frontend could apply to the MVP, so why is that working fine?
It must have to do with the info being available for the Video output
chip(s). There's something for you to look into :-)
More information about the mythtv-users
mailing list