I want an Apple TV.

But, I have a MythTV system already

Has anyone done/seen a comparison of the features between Apple TV and MythTV?

The one part I really want to be able to do is to play videos (avi, divx, etc) that I've downloaded and stored on my Windows PC's on my TV using my Myth box. But I don't know how to get my MythTV to offer to play those videos across the network. I'm betting it's already been done.

mythtv can to infinitely more. out of the box appletv is simply an "ipod for your tv." it can't play avi's (or many other codecs), can't do tv, can't browse the internet or play internet streams. it's only designed to be a "frontend" for itunes.

HOWEVER, if you want to void the warrenty and hack the little box, it should be able to do just about anything. check out http://awkwardtv.org/. you can even install a full version of osX (and maybe linux soon) on it! once that becomes easier, it may make a perfect mythtv frontend! (HD in a tiny, quiet, attractive box for $300!) it's a cool piece of hardware, but severely limited in what it can do if you're not will in to tear it apart and hack away.

oh... and to play those files over the network - simply share the folder in your windows box over the network via samba. set up a symbolic link in your /myth/videos directory that mounts the samba share on boot. then those videos will appear in your "watch media" menu after you scan for them. pretty easy... all the info you need to do this is on the bb and wiki.

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#R5.5#
ATSC OTA on FE/BE - EPoX EP-8KDA7I, AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB RAM, GeForce FX5200, Kworld ATSC-110x2
FE - Antec NSK2400, ABIT NF-M2 (w/GeForce 6150), Athlon 64 3800+, 1 GB RAM

I looked at Apple the other day, and here's what I recall in comparison:

- Doesn't record or display live TV shows, only downloads them from iTunes.
- Can't rip DVD's
- No internet browser

After that, it seemed like little more than an HD-capable version of my Prismiq (which even has a primitive browser, is smaller, and unobtrusive black).

Probably you can "mount" your PC's drive as a subdirectory on the Myth box and use the built-in player. Maybe fiddle a setting so it knows where to look.

Steve

Ok, for the purpose of this thread, let's assume MythTV can do INFINATELY more than AppleTV. Therefore, don't list the things that MythTV can do that AppleTV can't do.

I'm only interested in those things that AppleTV can do and how MythTV covers those features, and any features of AppleTV that MythTV doesn't do (without some extra work).


That sounds reasonable. Can someone suggest a link? I tried combing through the how-to's on the knoppmyth Wiki and I tried doing some basic searches in this BB, but I didn't find anything easily. I'll look again, this time searching on samba.

The thing that A-TV does in a more straight forward way than MythTV is better handling of video podcasts. However, I recently setup Bashpodder, and it works pretty well. Check out this thread if you are interested:
http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewto ... 84&start=0

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LinHES 8.3, 1 BE, 3 FE

I don't remember everything I read on it the other day, but, Apple TV is basically an iPod with ethernet and TV connectors instead of its own screen.

What this means is its a storage and playback device. MythTV has a media player built-in, as well as photo viewing and music playback, through its regular menu system, so its very comparable here.

Apple TV has full iTunes integration. MythTV has no iTunes integration. You may be able to set up a PC emulator and run iTunes in that environment. Apple TV has an HDCP compliant HDMI connection. With MythTV, most likely you'll have a DVI connection since few video cards support HDMI.

I politely disagree, un-hacked. Apple-TV is not that capable. Right now it has to rely upon a PC or Mac with iTunes getting the Video/Podcast or having the content into iTunes which A-TV syncs with. A-TV doesn't connect directly to the internet to get anything other than updates yet. A-TV unhacked can only play certain video codecs too. There are hacks to get it to play XviD and the other popular formats though.

MythTV & Linux on the other hand can connect to that PC, MAC, BSD, or NAS box and get the content. Whether that content comes from iTunes, Demorcary, Bittorrent, or other provided no DRM is crippling the media. KM plays most of the major formats out of the box and if it doesn't is a guide in these forums for installing extra codecs in Mplayer so it can. Someone posted earlier about using bashpodder so KM can get the podcast itself.

Connecting KM to Windows shared drives (samba)

http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... +and+samba

Connecting KM to Linux shared drives (NFS)

http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=NFSHowTo

I would not touch AppleTV till someone figures out how to get MythTV running on it.

hehe, yeah, that was me...

I see what you're saying, that it relies on a second computer. However, a lot of people already have a computer with iTunes installed on it. I just started using bashpodder, and it works well. However, there isn't an easy way to edit your feeds (I ended up building my own php script for this...). Also, if the A-TV is like an ipod, then it will remember where you are in a video podcast. This would be cool if you had a video iPod and an A-TV. You could be watching a show on your A-TV, then have to go somewhere. If it works like I think it should, when you sync your video iPod you can start watching the video right where you left off. That would be a pretty slick setup, no?

I don't see myself buying an A-TV, but I still think that it manages podcasts better. And, I'm sure that any video podcasts that are incompatible with A-TV will change that soon. I think A-TV is the kind of device video podcasters have been waiting for.

I wouldn't tell my mom to build a MythTV system, but if she wanted to buy an A-TV I'd say go ahead.

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LinHES 8.3, 1 BE, 3 FE

Agreed coupled with iTunes is better for average skilled user.

I think MythTV needs some podcast/video cast work. There is a ton of great content out there that Linux and MythTV would be great at getting though a transparent/automatic interface using the frontend. Plus since the Videocast Podcast stuff isn't big media no DRM on it now so ripe for the MythTV picking. Just seems like a natural progression that as some TV watchers migrate to online video/audio media MythTV could go in that direction as well.

State of affairs:

SVN has some Google Video, YouTube stuff coming up integrated in MythNews, but doesn't prefetch content yet.

MythStream has Podcast built in, but doesn't prefetch content and the frontend UI is a little confusing.

MythNetTV - Video downloader / aggregator / importer thingie for MythTV.
http://www.stillhq.com/mythtv/mythnettv/ But no frontend yet.

Democrary - I know is included with R5E50, but is awkward to use from the couch IMO.

ditto. But when it does run Myth, it will be (should be) a GREAT HD FE.

I like the hardware apple puts out. Not the DRM.

I don't think this will be a viable HD myth frontend - as of now it only plays H.264 mp4 HD videos and that's with a dedicated hardware mp4 decoder chip. I doubt that will be at all supported in Linux and that says nothing about normal mp2 hd broadcasts. I don't recall the actual processor speed but it's well below 2 GHz, closer to 1 perhaps - not at all fast enough to do HD with software decoding.

It doesn't have to be supported in Linux. The MythTV frontend does run on OS X.

Buy, yes, you are right. The AppleTV is underpowered. Without a lot of reverse engineering and hacking, it won't be HD playback capable.

And I won't be putting in the "wrench time"

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| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

for those still unsure about what appletv is. it is simply an itunes frontend for your hdtv. out of the box, it must be used with a mac backend running itunes. it does nothing more than itunes can do. and, as such, is extremely limited.

i say mythtv can do an infinite amount of things because it is open to development. if it doesn't do something you want, you can go in and make it happen (or persuade other people to make it happen).

as far as it being underpowered for HD... the jury is still out on that one, i beleive. from what i've heard, it contains some variation of an nvidia video card. it seems the limitations of the dedicated hardware decoding are driver based, so you may be able to do much more than only H.264 mp4 if you are able to install linux on it instead of OSX.

furthermore, it seems like it may even be possible to boot the thing from the usb port... so eventually hacking the thing may not even require breaking open the case and voiding the warranty. simply insert usb drive, hit a couple buttons on the remote at boot... and follow the installer. now, this isn't possible yet, but have patience. many are working on it.

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#R5.5#
ATSC OTA on FE/BE - EPoX EP-8KDA7I, AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB RAM, GeForce FX5200, Kworld ATSC-110x2
FE - Antec NSK2400, ABIT NF-M2 (w/GeForce 6150), Athlon 64 3800+, 1 GB RAM