MythTV (Open-source, Linux, DVR application)

[brewerfan82]

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

My sister is a tv-show-a-holic. She routinely watches like 14 shows each week and at times has up to four VCRs (Yes. VCRs.) recording shows. So I thought as a fun Christmas project, this year my family could put together a non-subscription-based DVR system for her.

 

It appears as though MythTV is the best route for this (let me know of any better alternatives if you know of them). So we want to build a computer at a reasonable price and probably just install one of the distributions of Linux that already has MythTV integrated onto it (I'm really only familiar with Ubuntu, so I'm leaning towards MythBuntu).

 

My brother threw together a system on NewEgg.com for $299 that we're hoping could support dual recording of one HD stream and one standard stream, with possible future upgrading of a second video card for even more simultaneous recording. My sister currently has a non-HD cable package through Charter and receives HD programming over the air for her 50" Samsung Plasma TV.

 

Here are the specs for the computer we're thinking of putting together through NewEgg:

• AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor
• HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• Transcend 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
• ASUS My Cinema-PHC3-100/NAQ/FM/AV/RC TV Tuner Card PCI Interface
• JetWay JM26GT4 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
• Linkworld 437-01-C2229 Black/ Champaign Gold Computer Case

I would assume we need to also tack on a wireless card of some sort, but I think that's about it (outside of cables, etc.). My brother's pretty well-versed in building computers, so I trust it would work as a computer, but neither of us are overly expertized in Linux and neither of us have experimented with MythTV before.

 

From the research I've done, I feel like this should work, but is there anything I may be overlooking? Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!