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On Thu, Jul 09, 2009 at 01:20:12AM -0400, Bill Ricker wrote: > * how can I use mythTV eg MythBuntu and eg Haupage parts to build a DTV DVR? MythTV has two major components: the backend, which gets scheduling information, puts it in a MySQL database, does the recording, optionally processes recordings, and offers them for playback; and the frontend, which handles user interfaces for all these functions. You need at least one backend and at least one frontend, though they can be on the same machine. > * is there a choice besides Haupage? The backend needs at least one recorder. Ignoring the old standard-definition-only interfaces, these range from $10 FireWire cards (if you have a suitable FireWire-equipped video source, like a cable or FIOS set-top box) through $30-$100 USB and PCI tuners that attach to either antennae (ATSC / 8VSB) or unencrypted cable (ATSC / Clear QAM), to the HDHomeRun, which is a pair of tuners and an infrared receiver connected to ethernet, to the Hauppauge HDPVR, which is a USB-attached tuner that connects to a component HDTV source like a satellite or cable STB. > * What's the limit on how many DTV tuners and analog capture cards can > be installed? active recording? playing? Installed: no real limit. Actively recording: depends on bandwidth available to disk. With a single disk, I wouldn't try more than 2 recordings or 1 recording plus 1 playback. With the database and OS on one disk, and storage on another, you could reasonably expect up to 3 recordings + playback. I have five disks including one USB external on my backend, and I can record from three HD sources plus playback in three locations simultaneously. > * will they work with off-air, ComCast, or DiSH SD, HD, remnant analog? Different tuners, yes. There are no direct recorders of encrypted cable channels, and no practical direct recorders of satellite channels. Both can be tuned via set-top-boxes and then recorded either as SD or HD via analog outputs. Tuners for over-the-air (ATSC / 8VSB) and unencrypted cable (ATSC / Clear QAM) are pretty cheap. > * how does IR blaster work? You plug in a supported device, point it at the IR receiver on a set-top-box, figure out the encoding scheme, test it, and tell the backend about how to access it via a program and what tuner it's associated with. > * is there a system76 style integrator that will preinstall and > preconfigure so it's not a six weekend google-and-irc HELP project? Not currently. In theory, there's mythic.tv, but I don't think they're currently selling anything except parts. > * can it do the pause live show then fast forward? Superbly well. It can also do a reasonable job of processing a recording to locate commercials, then skip over them during playback. And you can automatically transcode down to a format that your pocket device will understand, or record to a DVD, or play in faster or slower than realtime with automatic pitch adjustment... > * better help - is there an uptodate book? or wiki/web? The wiki at mythtv.org is pretty useful, though it needs to be reorganized. The user's mailing list is extremely helpful. The most recent book that I'm aware of is out of date, but has a good overview of what's going on. _Hacking MythTV_ is the title, and some guy named Jarod Wilson is a coauthor... > * what disk arch is good for this? As many spindles as you can get. Assuming that you feel that video information is essentially low-value, a bunch of large disks mostly hooked up via SATA or PATA is the way to go. Keeping the database away from the storage areas is essential to good performance. MythTV has a concept of storage groups, which is to say a list of paths which are all considered usable in parallel. -dsr- -- http://tao.merseine.nu/~dsr/eula.html is hereby incorporated by reference. You can't defend freedom by getting rid of it.
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