Tag: MythTV

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Refreshing my Home Server/NAS

This is the “after” ….I always forget to take the before shot!

I’ve been running a little home server for probably close to twenty years. Originally, it was driven by my desire to learn Linux and run a whole-home MythTV setup. I still think that was an amazing setup for the time, but of course things change and broadcast TV just isn’t what it used to be. About five years ago, I decommissioned my server and moved my media library to a Helios4 by Kobol. My media frontends are now mainly built into our TVs, Fire TVs, or phones/tablets. The NAS was definitely a cool unit and helped my electric bill some, but ultimately the performance left a lot to be desired. ….using it for ostree commits the past few years was painful.

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MythTV on the Amazon FireTV

…..okay so the tile of this should probably be XBMC/Kodi on the FireTV, but whatever.

firetv
I love the small footprint

It’s been over 10 years since I’ve cut the cable with ….cable/satellite, and 7 years since I’ve deployed MythTV and ditched Tivo. Disregarding some negligible hardware costs, I’ve been spending about $20 a year on television. Absolutely awesome! About four years ago I started supplementing local broadcasts with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. This was great from a content and cost perspective, but proved challenging from a Linux/Flash support perspective. At first the best option was to dual-boot to Windows, but this had extremely low WAF, Wife Acceptance Factor (and even worse OSAF, or open source acceptance factor). About a year ago I picked up some cheap Sony blueray players that supported all the the streaming media capabilities we needed. They’re a great buy and I’d highly recommend these units since they offer a lot for ~$50. The problem this left me with is the fact that I have this old, power hungry, x86 computer next to my televisions, and the percentage has shifted to where we stream 70% of what we watch. I thought about deprecating MythTV, but honestly it’s just too good to ditch. Plus I already have the infrastructure (master backend server and tuners) and we still need something for our movies and broadcast shows.
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Myth .22 upgrade

I couldn’t be happier w/ the new MythTV setup here at the house. The new version is a major improvement over the last release. I’m also really enjoying the mythbuntu theme.

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My MythTV Setup

I’ve been an avid MythTV user for the last 2 -3 years. It all started when I got fed up w/ Tivo’s service. My wife and I loved our old Tivo, but it drove me nuts that the hardware & feature set was locked down depending on the subscription plan. I won’t go into too much detail on how my setup evolved the way it has, this is more of a venue to document my current setup. Basically this setup allows me to record, or watch, three five HD shows simultaneously. The commercials are flagged and automatically skipped over while watching the shows. Not only are both our TVs tied into this setup, but both our office PCs and laptops run MythTV as well. Myth also has preliminary support for streaming TV shows over the web interface like a slingbox. Anyway, there are many, many more features but most importantly my recurring costs for this are $20 a year for the listing data (…and electricity). You’ll notice that none of this hardware is expensive or high-end. It’s pretty basic stuff really.

Master Backend Server Hardware:
(The silver case on the bottom right)

  • Case: Antec P180 –  This case is AWESOME. I highly recommend it. ….it’s expensive though.
  • Motherboard: Abit AB9 Pro – I choose this one for the 10x SATA ports!
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Dou E4500 @ 2.20 GHz
  • RAM: 4 GB
  • Hard drive(s): 2x WD 750 GB RAID 1 for OS, music, pictures, & home movies. 4x 500 GB for TV & Movies. 1x 1 TB drive for backups and misc storage.
  • Tuners: Tichnisat AirStar HD-5000, 2x Silicondust HDHomeRun
  • Misc: 2x NICs
  • OS: Fedora x86_64

Living Room Frontend:

  • TV: Samsung 56′” DLP
  • Case: Silverstone LC17 –  This case is really nice, but it’s large and too expensive.
  • Motherboard: Abit NF-M2S
  • CPU: AMD Athon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
  • RAM: 2 GB
  • Video: Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT w/ VDPAU (fanless, DVI –> HDMI)
  • Hard drive(s): 1x Hitachi 160 GB
  • Remote: Humax Tivo D800 Remote (the Peanut)
  • OS: Fedora x86_64

Bedroom Frontend Hardware:

  • TV: Old Samsung 27″ CRT P.O.S.
  • Case: Antec Minuet 350
  • Motherboard: ECS GeForce6100PM-M2
  • CPU: AMD Athon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz
  • RAM: 2 GB
  • Video: Nvidia 7200 (fanless, Composite)
  • Hard drive(s): 1x 4 GB USB Thumb Drive. Cheap & silent.
  • Remote: StreamZap
  • OS: Fedora x86_64

Here are some helpful links for anyone interested in learning more about MythTV:

AB9RPO