A talk I gave to our local Linux Users Group about MythTV, the free and open source PVR (personal video recorder, like TiVO) software.

1. MythTV:
The Open-Source PVR
Donald Burr
<dburr@cclug.com>

2. What is MythTV?
• Open Source PVR
• DVR, TiVO, etc.
• Easily extensible through plugins
• Runs on Linux
• Frontends available for other OSes

3. Backend? Frontend?
• Client-server architecture
• Backend: recorder/encoder
• Frontend: viewer
• Can be on same box or separate
• Endless configuration options

4. What Do You Need?
• Reasonably powerful PC
• 800-2.8GHz CPU depending on video type
• 60+ GB disk (the more the better!)
• 1-2+ GB RAM - it’s cheap!
• Video card (only needed on frontend)
• Tuner or video capture card (only needed
on backend)

5. Issues to Consider
• What do you want to record?
• SD or HD?
• Cable, satellite, or OTA?
• Is your signal encrypted?
• Do you need a cable/satellite box?
• Do you want simultaneous recording?

6. Issues to Consider
• Where do you want to play it back on?
• TV? Projector? Monitor?
• What connections does it have?
• How big is the display?
• Might need graphics acceleration for HD -
NVIDIA seems to be best supported

7. Issues to Consider
• Do you want to be able to save recorded
shows?
• Analog capture (plug in a recorder)
• Direct DVD burning (best option)
• Media server or portable video players

8. Issues to Consider
• How do you want to control your box?
• Wired keyboard + mouse - ugly!
• Wireless keyboard + mouse (RF, BT, IR)
• Remote control
• Some capture cards come with them
• IR Blaster
• Compatible with universal remote?

9. Issues to Consider
• Where will this box be installed?
• Size of space - ensure adequate air flow +
cooling
• Reliability/fault tolerance
• RAID, Drobo, etc.
• UPS
• Don’t forget the cable box (if any)!

10. Issues to Consider
• Getting data in and out
• Needed for program guide, viewing over
networked frontend
• Wired? Wireless?
• 802.11b/g may be OK for SD, but you
really need 802.11n for HD
• Any flavor of ethernet works fine
• “Dumb box” mode - no fancy guide

11. My Spec
• ASRock A780GMH Motherboard - $70
• AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Dual Core
CPU - $56
• OCZ Blade Series 4GB (2x2GB) RAM - $64
• PowerColor HD2400PRO 512MB SCS
Radeon HD 2400PRO - $30
• Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 - $80

12. My spec
• SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD102UJ 1TB hard
drive - $90
• Pioneer Black 20X DVD+RW drive - $25
• APEVIA Black SECC Steel / Aluminum X-
MASTER-BK/500 ATX Media Center case -
$70
• Grand total: just under $500

13. Installing MythTV
• Available in most distributions’ repositories
• Compile from source
• If building from scratch (or for the least
amount of pain), go with a purpose-built
distro such as Mythbuntu

14. Things I Ran Into
• Video output needed to be composite or
SVideo (hooking up to an old TV)
• Installed PCI Express video card w/SVideo
• Required tweaking to xorg.conf
• Google to the rescue!
• Hint: keep a monitor + keyboard + mouse
around “just in case”

15. Things I Ran Into
• Comcast encrypts its channels (boo, hiss)
• Could tune some analog channels, so it may
be ok for you
• Solution: use cable box + S-Video input on
capture card (completely bypass tuner card’s
tuner module)
• Introduced another level of complexity

16. Things I Ran Into
• Controlling the cable box
• Use an IR Blaster
• One built-in to Hauppauge card didn’t work
• Serial IR blaster - cheap ($15)
• Requires “real” serial port
• PCI Express serial board for $40 solved it
• There are USB ones but they are pricier

17. Things I Ran Into
• No network connection = no guide data
• “Dumb box” mode
• Must program in wanted channels
• Must set channel, start/end times for manual
recording
• Might want to put in USB wifi down the
road
• Guide data is not free ($20/year)

18. Why do it?
• Flexibility
• Reliability
• Usability
• Karma

19. Where to get more info
• Mythtv.org
• The MythTV Wiki
• Links to other useful info
• bookofborg.com/index.php/
DIY_Media_Center_PC
• My build list
• Includes thoughts, notes

20. Thanks!
May the Source be with you!