MythTV
MythTV is a GPL open source application for Linux designed to allow any computer (that meets the specified minimum requirements) to function as a personal video recorder. The project was started in April 2002 by Isaac Richards. Richards explains his motivation to begin the project on its website: - "I got tired of the rather low quality cable box that AT&T Broadband provides with their digital cable service. It's slow to change channels, ridden with ads, and the program guide is a joke. So, I figured it'd be fun to try and build a replacement. Yes, I could have just bought a TiVo, but I wanted to have more than just a PVR — I want a web browser built in, a mail client, maybe some games. Basically, I want the mythical convergence box that's been talked about for a few years now."
MythTV has become a very mature project. As of February 2005, the project was in a very usable state at version 0.17.
Development is coordinated on a publically accessible CVS server. Several active IRC channels and mailing lists permit communication between developers, and support for users. Some of the most features that MythTV boasts are: The separate "Frontend/Backend" architecture which allows multiple machines to remotely serve content from a single server.The ability to analyze recorded shows for commercials and give users the option of skipping commercials during playbackThe ability to watch recordings at an accelerated rate, adjusting the audio pitch as necessary.The ability to intelligently schedule recordings and avoid conflicts as needed.The availability of free guide data for TV listings (in the United States, thanks to a gracious third-party vendor [1])The ability to pause, skip, and rewind live TVThe ability to schedule, administer, or list many functions of the system via web-based interfaceThe ability to timeshift high-definition television with current DTV cards such as the pchdtv 3000 or the Air2PC card. The software supports any TV tuner card which is completely supported by the Video4linux or Video4Linux2 kernel drivers, as well as the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250/350 PCI card tuners (and some similar cards) which have the iTVC15/16 hardware MPEG-2 compression processors, using drivers from the IvyTV project, which is currently under heavy development by Missouri PBS TV engineer Chris Kennedy. Users who wish to devote a computer to MythTV may wish to use KnoppMyth, a derivative of the Knoppix Linux distribution that comes with MythTV pre-installed. The MythTV frontend can be run entirely from CD if desired, or an entire installation to the hard disk can take place in minutes. Because of this streamlined installation process, some MythTV users have considered the feasibility of selling small form factor computers preinstalled with MythTV. Over time MythTV's architecture has allowed it to evolve into multi-functional home entertainment center. MythTV is extensible with add-on modules (plugins), which include: MythVideo: video management moduleMythMusic: music player and music collection managerMythDVD: DVD management add-onMythGallery: image gallery management moduleMythNews: RSS feed news readerMythWeather: weather forecastMythBrowser: a small web browser for a living roomMythGame: frontend to gamesMythWeb: web interface for MythTVMythPhone: SIP phone add-on module The base system and its modules integrate well together. The entire system can be controlled over infrared remote control using LIRC, or radio remote control using kernel modules.
External linksMythTV official websiteMythTV.info unofficial notes and documentation WikiMythTVtalk Forum for MythTVGentoo-Portage Wiki unofficial notes and documentation Wiki for MythTV on Gentoo LinuxFedora Core MythTV setup guide Popular guide to setup mythtv on Fedora Core linux distribution
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