I've been meaning to build one of these myself with MythTV. A friend of
mine beat me to it and built one for about $650 including case, video,
disk, etc. Current solutions require a lot of CPU power because of a
lack of Linux drivers for native MPEG-2 hardware encoders (this may
change soon). The magic of TIVO (with a 54 Mhz processor) is that it
uses a native MPEG-2 hardware encoder.
It would appear that MythTV has support for the hardware encoders on the WinTV PVR 250 & 250, so that could greatly reduce required processor power (though it would probably not help the cost). A sub-2000 Athlon is enough processor though, and they don't cost much of anything anymore. Personally, I happen to have enough spare parts on hand that my only out-of-pocket expense to complete the system would be $100-150 for a WinTV PVR250.
The main reason I wanted to build one is that I refuse to set up a phone
line (or even share one) and pay a monthly fee for TIVO or Replay
"guide" services when perfectly good free Internet guides exist.
Never did like that either...
However, I may never get around to building one, because I've read that
TIVO will soon release a TIVO BASIC that will not require a subscription
or a phone line connection. If that is true, I could never build one as
cheaply as TIVO. On the other hand, if you want all the other goodies
of MythTV (like MP3, photo, weather, etc.) it may still be worth it to
roll your own.
I think you're right. If all you're after is the PVR aspect, building a system isn't going to be anywhere near as cheap
as getting a mass-produced device designed specifically for the task. You'd definitely have to want the added features of Myth for it to be worth it, (or a big-time Linux geek; I fit the bill for both), and I think there are more people out there that would want the same, if they didn't have to build it from scratch. I think the price point would be a problem though. I don't know that you'd be able to sell very many and actually turn a profit. However, you could definitely sell at a lower price point than Windows XP Media Center Edition systems, some of which top $1000, but I'm not sure how many of those have actually sold...
--
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
<jcw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
"A wise man once said nothing at all."
