[mythtv-users] Monolith Pre-made MythTV Box?

[Brian Wood]

Charles Iliya Krempeaux wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> For me, it's a time vs cost trade off.
> 
> I'm an experienced Linux user.  (Got into Linux circa 1996.)  And I
> believe I could likely build one myself, if I put the time into it.
> But that's the thing (for me)... work now takes up alot of my time.
> 
> I would be really convenient to just purchase a pre-made MythTV box
> that just works right out of the box it came in.
> 
> But given yours and other response to my e-mail, I think I should
> probably explore the possibility of building a system myself, before
> making a decision.
> 
> --
> Charles Iliya Krempeaux, B.Sc.
> http://changelog.ca/
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 5:56 AM, Richard Shaw <hobbes1069 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 5:47 AM, Charles Iliya Krempeaux
>> <charles at reptile.ca> wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> (This is my first time post here, so please excuse any ignorance.)
>>>
>>> I was looking around the web for pre-made MythTV box, and came across
>>> the Monolith Media Center...
>>>
>>> https://monolithmc.com/~monolith/index.php
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any experience with this company?  Anyone bought one of
>>> these?
>> I haven't had any experience with this outfit but I would ask the following
>> of myself:
>>
>> How much do I want to spend?
>> You can certainly build one cheaper and at least as powerful for much less.
>> Obviously you have to be willing to support it yourself if you go this
>> route.
>>
>> Am I willing to go through the learning curve and possible hassle of setting
>> the system up myself?
>> The learning curve can be especially steep if you're not at least an
>> intermediate linux user already.
>>
>> Do I want the latest software?
>> Unless they just haven't updated their website they are still using MythTV
>> 0.20 while current is 0.21.
>>
>> There's probably 10 more questions that others could come up with...
>>
>> One thing I'm curious about is what audio chipset their using. Since it's a
>> "commercial" product I would expect to have simultaneous analog and digital
>> output which I still haven't gotten to work.

I would also want to make certain that they were adhering to both the
letter and the spirit of the GPL. If they have made any customizations
to get things like dual-mode audio working I'd want to be sure that they
gave them back to the community.

We don't want another TiVo situation on our hands.

beww