[BUGA] Multimedia (was: Sell me an Apple!)

[Edwin Groothuis]

Greg,

On Tue, Mar 28, 2006 at 12:17:13PM +1030, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> >> What I'm looking for is something that supplies the basics, but which
> >> isn't as restrictive as a TiVo.
> >
> > What do you mean by "The Basics"?
> 
> Something that Yvonne can run when I'm not there: record TV
> programmes, play them back, play DVDs (preferably the same thing).
> I'm currently working around with mplayer and a DVD recorder, but it's
> a mess.

What you want is an off-the-shelf product, but one which is
customizable.

To keep no-name off-the-shelf products cheap, they are stripped of
options. And stripped of options means: not customizable. Since a
device of AU$ 85.- with less options is sold better than a device
of AU$ 89.- with options, nobody is going to invest the additional
4 dollars to it.


I bought two TV cards in my life:

- An el cheapo bt848 one for about AU$ 89.-

- An expensive PVR-250 for about AU$ 400.-

Guess which one is collecting dust?


They both came with a lot of Windows software, and zero FreeBSD
software. I had to search the archives to find a driver for the
PVR-250, which I afterwards made a port from. I could run MythTV
with it, but I didn't like "wasting" one computer to use it.


To get it all up and running I had to...

- write software to read the stream from /dev/cmx0
- write software to change channels
- write software to record streams
- write software to later on play streams

At the end my PHB at work, who payed for this project, was able via
a webinterface with on it a link to www.yourtv.com.au to select
channels, select which programs to record and to play live streams
and recorded streams. True, it's not on the TV but it's streaming
all over the local intranet, and sometimes we even get double digits
of viewers per day.


Took me about two weeks to get everything up and running, and that
includes the fights I had with Windows Media Player (which I ditched)
and Video LAN Client (which I kept) to understand what I wanted it
to do. You can't get that in the additional AU$ 4.-  per device.


You have a clear view what you want. You have the skills. If even
I managed to get this up and running, you will be able to do so
too.


Edwin

-- 
Edwin Groothuis      |            Personal website: http://www.mavetju.org
edwin at mavetju.org    |          Weblog: http://weblog.barnet.com.au/edwin/