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Not very impressed to be honest!
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8060		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  johnjohn [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Not very impressed to be honest!
Hi there, I appreciate that a lot of hard work has gone into trying getting all this to work BUT given that after a solid week of reading, editing files, head scratching I have

NO freeview radio channels

Remote doesn't work properly / at all

No TV Output

for £200 I can get a humax 9200T with twin tuners, 160gb hard drive that can sit in the lounge. Allows 2 simultaneous recordings while watching 3rd program and will basically work out of the box in 5 minutes I cannot see the point of putting together a MythTV box that theoretically does a lot more but in reality does a lot less and actually would cost MORE money!

I decided to experiment with it for a week to see if it was a practical solution and for 99.9% of people, no way! I would advise anyone who is not highly experienced with linux to go buy a commercial freeview recorder and enjoy TV (and freeview radio, something MythTV doesn't even support!). It's dawning on me that despite coding myself for 20 years, pc's are good for email,web and typing letters and that's about it. For games get an xbox360. for tv get a freeview recorder etc...

I've given up and am off to buy a humax 9200t and 'actually' watch and enjoy TV, all I got from MythTV was a headache!
Author:  jayb282 [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
you should ask.......... no *demand* your money back.



Gift horse....... mouth......... yadda yadda
Author:  gr8nash [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
i hang my head ..He is truely a loss to the myth comunity.. *gr8nash heads away to watch true HD on his DUAL tuner HD knoppmyth system*
Author:  ceenvee703 [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:16 pm ]
Post subject: 
If you use any old hardware that you have around the house, you can end up having little to no luck at getting MythTV up and running.

If you use hardware from the Tier 1 Forum here, you will probably have much better luck. You'll notice a preponderance of Nvidia cards.

I searched for "Matrox" in Tier 1 and got zero hits. That should have been a red flag for you right there.
Author:  johnjohn [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
jayb282 wrote:
you should ask.......... no *demand* your money back.
Gift horse....... mouth......... yadda yadda


Apologies I forgot that because something is free it means it is immune from criticism. The hardware required to use it ain't free though. I have read posts on here from people who shelled out on hardware specifically for Myth only for months to pass by and no TV.

I tested it on old(ish) hardware specifically to see if it was worth spending the cash on say an Asus A8n-VM + chip + ram etc and have concluded that it isn't as there's a very good chance it won't work properly as it's new hardware and the linux drivers are pretty flakey. That's all. Do I wanna geek-out for months or watch TV? Me I wanna watch TV and use that geek-time saved to go down the pub thanks!

Don't get me wrong If I was a linux expert then I'd be up praising it. But I like most of the population am not, so it's just not a realistic PVR solution. As long as the developers know they are serving a tiny minority clique while most people will never use it fine. Spending all that time on something like that for a very few people just seems a waste to me, that's all.

My advice would be to simplify the front end, it should boot into TV and access other stuff via osd while tv is on, rather than mad menu with 6+ levels! + make a (stripped down, fast booting) knoppmyth that specifically targets one of the nvidia nforce 430 IGP mobo's where the hardware is known. I presume KnoppMyth came about to simplify the install of mythtv, yet it has ended up becoming what it set out to defeat. NForce430Myth here we come!

I'll come back to it from time to time for fun and to learn linux better. But I realise it will never satisfy the duties of a PVR that needs to be reliable and easy to use. Setting up XBMC was a doddle as was a freebsd apache web server but this is too tuff, i was beaten! :(
Author:  ceenvee703 [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
johnjohn wrote:
But I realise it will never satisfy the duties of a PVR that needs to be reliable and easy to use.


My PVR has been running for a year and a half and is quite reliable, thank you. Easy to use too: the 7-year-old and 5-year-old can drive it when the babysitter is watching them. So I think you need to add a qualifier in there.
Author:  johnjohn [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
ceenvee703 wrote:
I searched for "Matrox" in Tier 1 and got zero hits. That should have been a red flag for you right there.


Fair enough, BUT it was a viability test. I figured I would with perseverence be able to fix any problems, but I couldn't and wasted days and days on it and that's just not realistic. Further reading concluded my intended nforce430 Asus A8N-VM mobo purchase would have similar problems. I don't wanna shell out £200+ on hardware that just sits there with problems, I wanna watch and record TV. If it takes more than 3 days MAX to set knoppmyth up, then it isn't worth it.
Author:  johnjohn [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:43 pm ]
Post subject: 
ceenvee703 wrote:
the 7-year-old and 5-year-old can drive it when the babysitter is watching them. So I think you need to add a qualifier in there.


What changes did the 5 year old make to XF86Config-4 when they first set it up to get it working and did they recompile the Kernel? or was that the 7 year old?

Anyway it's 2am in the morning I am totally knackered having spent a week trying to get this thing working so maybe I'm just a bit angry at the world right now. I have plenty other machines here to try and install it on BUT I don't know if I have the patience, let alone the time. Besides if it doesn't support freeview radio then it's of no use whatsoever.
Author:  cesman [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
So, get your Humax and carry on with your life...
Author:  iscraigh [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Alright I will put in my 2 cents worth.

Me No previous Linux experience to speak of.

Hardware off the recommended list

2x pvr 250's
7nif2 board

First attempt R5A16

Problems encountered

Sound issues
irblaster (serial)
TVout quality

All solved via the forums but it did take me a while.

Last install R5A30.1 Time to completion including irblaster less than 2 hrs

Operation My 10 year old son and 13 year old daughter have no trouble with it.

occasional front end crashes (1 per week roughly when i am in the guide, may have something to do with the preview)

I work for a cable company that sells the 6412 motorola PVR
I do service calls on them all the time to show people how to use them. They are pretty good but cannot do nearly what myth can do.

Do they crash.....yes occasionally

Would I trade my Myth box for one.......not a chance

Wish list

If I pick a channel from the program guide that is on a different tuner/input mythshould auto switch to that tuner/input. (a warning if the tuner/input is in use recording something)
Author:  SnapperDragon [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:05 pm ]
Post subject: 
johnjohn:

Too bad for you. I perfectly enjoy my MythTV box and my wife uses it fully. Remote works like a champ.

For being into this for "20" years, it's surprising you can't get things working. Oh well, I guess you didn't really want to. Your loss.

Rock solid performance once you know what you are doing and you pick the right parts (this is the key).

I don't quite understand the purpose of your post coming in here and saying something else is better. Kinda the wrong place for that, don't you think?

Well, maybe one day you will give it another shot. It may take a bit of persistence, but if you are willing to, the system works out great.

Have a good one bro.
Author:  danejasho [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:16 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm throwing in too.

I have very limited Linux experience. However (comma) I'm a sysadmin in my trade. I think I have an edge, and this presented a challenge. Anyway, long story short, I had a workin' box in about 1.5 weeks with the girlfriends old PC.

It's a hobbyist thing to work on, but you don't need to be an expert. But I think someone does need to have a knack for this kind of work. I couldn't put new brakes on my car, but someone can and they probably enjoy doing it. That's the category this falls into.

I would say that this should not be criticized as it really is a hobby for many involved. And let's face it; the wives, girlfriends and children (or husbands/boyfriends) are the big winners with MythTV. And when the girlfriend is happy, I'm happy. :D

Oh yeah, just checked my information page (three clicks deep, I think) and it's been up 18 days straight with TONS of recordings, viewings and deletions.
Author:  RichardBronosky [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:42 pm ]
Post subject:  I'm sorry, MythTV is not for the faint of heart.
johnjohn wrote:
Anyway it's 2am in the morning I am totally knackered having spent a week trying to get this thing working so maybe I'm just a bit angry at the world right now... I don't know if I have the patience, let alone the time.


Bro, I've been there and felt that. On 8/12/2005 I blogged about ordering my dedicated MythTV hardware If you go read that article you will notice the quote states:
Quote:
My next post updating the results could be 6 months away.

I knew going into this that it was going to be a challenge. I had no idea how much so. It was my times harder than I expected. I ended posting messages titled "I'm so frustrated.", "HOW CAN THIS BE THIS HARD!?!?!?!", and "Gee, I THOUGHT I was a linux fan." Oh, and had my rectum fed to me a few times by cecil.
So, If you came into this having been led to believe MythTV is anything other than what it is, then I will speak on behalf of the entire community and say I'm sorry that you have a poor experience.

You have to understand that the attitudes here get stirred very quickly. To many Linux and MythTV are like there beloved puppies. If you call them ugly... It's gonna get ugly. I take the other approach, I actually named my puppy Linux.

Today! Yes, today. After 165 days, 5.5 Months, I got my MythTV system working. I got my on board sound to start delivering 30 seconds into the "Previously on 24" segment tonight. I still only have one of the tuners in the PVR-500 working... But I knew I was going to have to work hard and learn a lot.

If you are a newbie, that's fine. Just make sure you have thick skin. (People like Cecil get tired of answering the same questions over and over again. But they will, and for that they deserve the respect they demand.) But, if you do not have time, patience, and a desire and aptitude for learning. MythTV is not for you. Try Beyond TV from snapstream, it runs on XP. As for me, my soul is not worth installing Windows.
Author:  nickread [ Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
cesman wrote:
So, get your Humax and carry on with your life...


And for those of us who don't have that option, we'll carry on with watching via Myth :-)

Seriously, I spent less than 200pounds on my box, and it was basically working within a day (a week including remote). I've spent more time trying to get the Hauppauge drivers working under windows!

I DID spend several weeks off and on before that researching/obtaining the right/cheap hardware that would work. And since then I've spent a lot of time optimising and adding features (wifi, samba, mythweb, good epg data, mythstream), and I've learnt lots of linux stuff in the interim. Would it be worth paying money to someone else to do what I did - no. But do I feel it was worthwhile - absolutely. I guess it is really a hobby.

But the wife and kids have no problems using it!
Author:  Xsecrets [ Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:09 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
If I pick a channel from the program guide that is on a different tuner/input mythshould auto switch to that tuner/input. (a warning if the tuner/input is in use recording something)


keep an eye out for the 0.19 release of mythtv it has this should be coming soon.
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