tensixtyone

Over the last two weeks i’ve been consumed with the need to setup a MythTV box, PVR and TiVo-esq features bundled with the power and verciticy of Linux, yes I know that reads like some marketing document but I don’t care. Jo was totally bemused as to what I was doing, all she could see what the several hundreds of pounds of hardware purchasing.

My old mobile sold, as did a few pieces of idle electronics from the house, and from nowhere I’d managed to drum together £200 for the inital parts. CPU, Motherboard, 1.5Gb RAM for £70 from eBay, Nvidia FX 5200 for £14, 200GB HDD for £22, also eBay. Chieftec Case from my local Freecycle and various other parts from my electronics “stash”, Throw in a DVB-T, DVB-C and analogue tuner and i’ve got a MythTV box ready to go.

So, was it worth it all? I’d say so. While I only have one tuner its still a very flexible platform. Myth’s recording logic is very good, especially when combined with reliable listings such as Radio Times, the box can detect programs for the next 14 days and schedule in times to record the program you’ve selected, avoiding conflicts wherever possible. This small feature alone is enough to use MythTV, while other software probably supports it as well this is the first PVR/DVR system i’ve used.

As for the PAF, Jo has said its around 7 at the moment, which is good for a system which has its little quirks and crashes every so often when recording programs, mostly due to corrupt feeds.

More will come with experience.