Introduction | Setup and Maintenance | Features | MythTV Only Options and Cost | Verdict

Comparison of Initial Setup
The Tivo Series 3 appears and connects like any other component in your audio/video rack or stack. If dealing with a CableCARD installation you will need to call your cable provider to order the cards before completing the installation of the Series 3.

First you need to connect all the audio and video cables from the Series 3 DVR to your HDTV (if you don’t have HDTV, you really don’t need a Series 3!) using HDMI, Component or even DVI provided you have an HDMI to DVI cable. After attaching the audio and video cables, connect the Series 3 to either a phone line or network that connects to the Internet for the TiVo service. Next you plug in the power cord and turn on the TV and Series 3 making sure to select the correct source on the TV. Finally, if using a CableCARD you need to either have a cable installer perform the installation or you could try. While most of the issues with CableCARD installations seem to have been worked out, you might still run across some issues.

The setup can get much more difficult and intricate than this if you introduce a VCR or DVD recorder or provide audio and/or video switching through a receiver, but those setups are out of the realm of this article. Provided you have working CableCARDs, the average consumer should be able have their Series 3 working within an hour.

For more information on installing a Series 3, check out TiVo’s instructions on the TiVo site.

The MythTV installation starts much earlier because you need to build the component first. While this may seem fun and rewarding for some users, the process may be too daunting for most average consumers. With that said, since you can build your own device, you can create a DVR from an old machine lying around or a monster DVR with ten tuners and multiple terabytes of storage space!

The essential component that must be installed in the computer is a TV Tuner. TV Tuners can either be installed in the computer or via USB or firewire externally, could include hardware MPEG encoders and could either decode standard definition or high definition. Also, you will need a nice sound card to deliver sound.

In addition to these required components

possibly not in the standard computer, the homebrew DVRer will want the largest hard drive affordable in the project’s budget for storage space of the digital content as well as a wireless keyboard, mouse and a PC remote control. If you need to control a cable or satellite receiver you will also need to get an IR blaster so you can change channels on the receiver via the MythTV box.

Once all the hardware is installed, you will need a base Linux or Mac OS X operating installed on the box. Again, the average consumer is not familiar with Linux so this task could prove to be too much for that class of user. With that said, there is a project called MythDora that not only installs MythTV but the underlying operating system as well. The install comes on a single DVD that installs Fedora Core (a Linux distro), MythTV and a few MythTV addons including MythArchive, MediaMVP and MythStreamTV. MythDora will walk you through the entire installation process, but if you decide to install your own Linux distro, there are plenty of instructions on the web that can literally walk you through the process screen by screen. The current hot Linux distro is Ubuntu and DVR Playground has a installation guide on how to install Ubuntu and MythTV.

If you are comfortable with building a computer or buying a computer and adding components as well as installing operating systems, MythTV will provide you some flexibility while building your own DVR that a TiVo or Cable/Satellite provider DVR simply cannot provide. The installation process for the homebrew builder depends on the skills of the builder and the speed of the computer. For installation and initial tweaking of the system, I would set aside an entire day.

Comparison of Maintenance
If you prefer a low maintenance setup where you initially setup the DVR and leave it alone, you will definitely lean towards a TiVo Series 3. TiVo automatically pushes out patches and upgrades through the phone line or network connection you use to connect to the TiVo service. MythTV will require you to not only patch and upgrade the MythTV software, but you will need to patch and upgrade the operating system MythTV was installed on… especially if the box is exposed to the Internet!

Introduction | Setup and Maintenance | Features | MythTV Only Options and Cost | Verdict

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