I love the idea of an open-source DVR but I have a few questions before I go shopping for parts..

1) I currently have plain old cable and a regular TV.. I would like to be able to record one show and watch another at the same time (I also would like to be able to record and watch live TV at the same time).. I'm wondering what kind of gear would I need to be able to record/watch/pause/rewind Live TV at the same time.. These features are necessary since Tivo offers them Twisted Evil

2) I do not have HDTV at the moment but I'm wondering if its possible to record HDTV when I get one and sign-up for Comcast Digital Cable.. Would I then be able to record channels in HDTV and play them back in HDTV?

3) I'd also like to be able to watch and record live tv from other rooms in the house.. Would I need to build 3 MythTV boxes for this? (one for each room)

Anyways, I appreciate any help regarding this.. Thanks again

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1. You need two tuners.
2. Yes.
3. Yes.

I'd highly recommend a search of the forum. You'll find your questions already answered in greater detail.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I thought you only needed 1 Myth box (in the closet) and 1 frontend machine to have Myth on 2 TVs

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typically two tuner cards.. ie 2 pvr 150's or 2 pvr 250's However if you love beating your head against a wall, people have had some sucess with the new pvr500 which has DUAL tuners. THis option isnt for newbies yet.



short answer is no.. you cant caputre true HD tv.. you can tune it using a pchdtv 3000/2000 card or air2pc.. But that isnt really capturing it, its already encoded content they are broadcasting. You are really just copying it to your hard disk. I have never heard of a personal use HD encoder like what you are asking for. you can however capture SD signal off a digital HD box.. you get basicly DVD quality which as you know DVD quality is REALLY quite nice..




Myth is desgined for use in a client server relationship, and yes it would take 2 frontend computers and 1 backend then you could capture on the backend, and tune and watch on all the frontends.

If you want MythTV in every room, then you have to build a box for every room. A frontend is still a box as far as I'm concerned. Like I stated search.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I guess one box is fine for one room for now.. As for the HDTV issue, are you saying that if I record HDTV it will come out in DVD quality? doesn't matter what HDTV channel it is? (i.e. INHD)

Also, what would the requirements be for a frontend if I decide to put one in another room?

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Help a brother out and get a free iPod Shuffle at the same time. Only 3 Referrals required!

To my eye, watching HD on a SD set is of better quality than DVD. Even on an SD set, you can see (at least I can) HD is superior. Like I stated search, it will be a learning experience.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!