TiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiVoooooooooooooooo!

The MythTV PVR is up and running! It has the ability to do most everything a TiVo can do with several added bonuses, such as integrated web browsing, weather, and xmame support!

There are still several things that I would like to add to it or change, here is a brief list:

Watch Live TV While Recording
Right now, the system loses the capability to watch LiveTV while it is recording something. The reason for this is really simple to understand if you think about it… while it’s recording, the framebuffer device that encodes the cable signal is busy. Since it’s busy, it can’t record into the buffer that you watch LiveTV from.

Now, this is not saying that I can’t find a digital switch with two cable inputs and try that, but right now I’m in “leave well enough alone” mode.

The remedy for this situation is either rig something up like I mentioned above, or buy another video capture card. The system is smart enough to use this hypothetical Card B as the LiveTV card and use the other for the recording.

Pl4yZ0r Th3m DVDz
I would like to get a DVD-R drive to put into this so I can watch DVDs and archive recordings (which are DVD quality, w00t!) to DVDs.

This will require a Linux compatable DVD-R drive and some patience to get it set up properly.

Emulation, por favor
I want to get xmame support running, but I have heard scary things regarding the ability of the TV-out to handle whatever xmame puts out. Also a problem… I’ve never really been able to get a gamepad style device working in Linux, and that is a deterrant as well.

Some research and guide-reading will likely solve this one.

Give me the beat, boys
I’m going to set up a shared drive so I can export my iTunes library to mp3 files and load them so I can run them through MythTV’s integrated music system.

Also in this category, I would like to grab a new set of surround speakers to hook up to this thing so I can utilize the SoundBlaster Live card that is in there. This one is pretty low priority, since I can just crank iTunes in the other room and achieve the same effect.

Save Josh’s Back for Fun and Profit
One of the more immediate things I will have to do is figure out what IP address this thing grabs so I can ssh/vnc into it from the Dell. This will save me from having to lug my keyboard, mouse, and monitor into the other room to troubleshoot things.

Also in this category… after the system displays its output on the TV-out, my X-Windows is too large and I lose mouse support.

I have a feeling this is caused by the refresh rate that X is set up on. Changing the resolution appears to do nothing for changing the size of X though, so it may well be something screwy the framebuffer device is doing. This one isn’t so much of a problem so much as it is an annoyance.

I am very pleased so far, and if this thing never does anything more than it does now, I’ll be a happy camper. Hopefully this will continue growing and end up rocking the house for many years to come. 🙂