MythTV is Awesome

My TV recorder has nothing to do with Bill Gates. I am using a package called Mythbuntu. It combines MythTV, a TiVo-like software package, with Ubuntu, a non-geek friendly version of Linux.

Before that, I started with a Toshiba DVD PVR a few years back. It has an 80 gig hard drive and is pretty user friendly. Problem was, the DVD drive died so I was unable to archive anything I wanted to save. And with an 80 gig drive, that filled up pretty fast. Now they come with much larger drives, but the market is drying up because all of the service providers (Shaw, MTS, etc) offer their own devices. But you will never get content off of those things to a DVD due to the Digital Rights Management bull****.

So that’s why I settled on this MythTV solution. Being based in Linux, it’s free. But for the same reason, it is not for the technically faint-of-heart. Mr. Gates does offer his own solution that gets bundled with most (or all?) versions of Vista called Media Centre. I have seen a demo of it and it looks kind of cool. It seems to have many of the features of the MythTV solution.

Here is a YouTube video that explains it pretty well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yNCqj_MXs

Most of the videos on YouTube have the user demonstrating it on their computer. What I did was put the computer beside my TV. My PC has S-video out so I ran a cable from the PC to the TV. Then I connected the audio out from the PC as well. Similar to what you would do with a DVD player.

To use MythTV or Microsoft’s Media Centre, you need to have a TV capture card in your PC. Either HD or Standard, whatever your signal is. That card actually comes with a universal remote control. So now my kids can operate this thing pretty well. They have their shows recording and are able to watch and delete the stuff in their “category”.

Because this thing is a PC on a network, I can access the shows from anywhere in my house on my notebook. And I can also see the system from outside the house via the web.

The system can be run on an older computer, but I added a couple of HD’s to bring my storage up to 1 Terabyte. The only thing I need to pay for is a subscription to the listings service that gives me 2 weeks of program guide information over the web. But at 20 bucks a year, it’s worth it.

****Edit****
I have had people ask me for a cost breakdown/materials list.  Although this will vary from person to person, here is mine:

• 1 Computer (~$200).  Or at least a VM.  

I have a dedicated P4 2.66 GHz with 768MB RAM.  I installed two 500GB hard drives ($200) giving me the better part of a Terabyte of storage.  You can get a great one used from a place like Coreys computing.

• 1 Video Capture Card with tuner. (~$100.00)
  

I bought a Hauppage 150.  This seems to be the standard card that everyone uses.  There is a version of the same card that has 2 tuners.  This allows recording of two channels simultaneously, or recording of one channel while watching another.  If I had this to do over again, I would buy that one.  But for most peoples needs, the single tuner model is sufficient.  You need to ensure that you are using the right card for the service you are paying for (HD vs Standard Definition)

• 1 Video card with S-video Out (~125.00)

This is optional. You only need this if you are outputting your recordings to a TV for viewing. 

That covers the basics.  Other than this, you need:

• A subscription to Schedules Direct (20.00/annually).  This is a service that pushes the TV Guide schedule information to your MythTV PC via the Internets

• An internet connection wherever you are putting this thing.  I had to run a line from my switch to the TV.  This allows the system to automatically gather schedule information.  Also, you can get access to your system from other PC's in your house, or remotely.  You just need to configure your gateway properly.

• Although the Hauppage Capture card comes with a functional remote control, I found it limited in the way it controlled the other devices, so I had to purchase a Logitech Universal remote (~160.00).  This turned out to be the best thing by far.  This thing is fully programmable and you can even set up macros to make it even easier. 
  

"C"....NO...."A"

I have started to age.

I know. "We all age, you idiot". I get the regular aging. What I mean is the aging where you start to become your parents. Or at least you start to develop the habits of people the age of your parents.

I have begun to enjoy crossword puzzles, sudoku, and those cryptoquip things in the paper. I have become the dad who sits at the kitchen table on a Saturday and does the crossword puzzle. I'm OK with it. And the fact that I am aging has nothing to do with this particular post.

Often when I am doing one of these puzzles, I run across the clue "Mom's Sister", or "Grandma's Daughter". The answer is, of course, "aunt". But I have found that more often than not, I have already solved the last three letters using other clues.

"Honey, can you think of a four letter word for 'Mom's Sister' that ends in 'unt'?"

I'm just sayin'.

My Tribe

A number of years ago, before we had kids, Tannis and I got mildly addicted to Warcraft. Not World of Warcraft, the online epic. Just the original Warcraft. It was a simple little game you could play as a human or an orc. You would build homes, barracks, farms, etc and go about building your empire and conquering neighboring civilizations.

When I say mildly addicted, I may be selling it a little lightly. It had become the topic of conversation in every phone call during the day with each other. When I picked her up from work, we would talk strategy till we got home and could turn on the computer. It was stupid, really. There wan't much to the game. It was just so addictive. We eventually kicked the habit and stayed off the smack until Tannis started playing The Sims 2. But don't get me started on that.

Recently I was looking for puzzle type adventure games. My searches led me to http://grubbygames.com/. I downloaded a couple of trial games that were OK. Then I tried My Tribe. This dumb little game is even more simplistic than Warcraft was. Which seemingly makes it even more addictive. And if that wasn't enough, the game simulates operation while you are not playing it. So now, you can close the game, turn off the computer, go to bed, and wake up the next morning to find your Tribe members have starved to death.

There is no currency, but you need to gather wood, food and stone. These are your basic raw materials. You can also expect the odd piece of flotsam from your ship to show up while you are playing. It may contain food, or items to help you build or research new technologies. On that note, one of the structures you get to build is a science lab. Here you get to research things and conduct chemical experiments with the various elements you find on the island.

Producing offspring is as easy as picking up one of your tribe members and dropping them on a member of the opposite sex. They will then trundle off into an available hut, and emerge seconds later with an infant. You don't have to care for the children. As a matter of fact, you can't do anything with them till they become adults. They do nothing other than wander around.

I have not yet introduced Tannis to this game. I really want to, but if she gets addicted, she'll blame me. Perhaps soon.

Quote of the Day

iGoogle advises me that Matt Groening had this to say:

Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.

I'm not saying I agree with this necessarily. But it is funny. And I just watched Ice Age 2 last night. So the image if that acorn-manic weasel-thing is fresh in my mind.