Guide Note
MythTV software for Linux or Mac OS X turns a PC into a Home Theater PC. It has all the features of the TiVo digital video recorder, like recording tv shows and stopping, pausing, and rewinding live TV. Myth TV can also edit TV shows, skip commercials, and speed up or slow down programs without loss of audio quality. MythTV is free open source software that is continually being added to and upgraded with additional features.
Fast Facts:
- OS: Linux, Mac OS X
- Current Version: MythTV 0.21
- License: GPL
- Creator: Isaac Richards
Installation
Installing MythTV was once a major project involving serious technical skills and time spent hunting down appropriate hardware. In recent years it has become a more mainstream endeavor, with the hardware and software available from some retailers as a kit. The LinuxMCE distribution now comes with MythTV included in the installation, and for those using another operating system, there are a number of software resources to make installation easier.
System Requirements
System requirements for MythTV vary depending on how much the user wants to be able to do with it. Below are some basic guidelines.
- Operating system: Linux or Mac OS X
- CPU: A Pentium II 600Mhz can work if you will only be recording analog TV, but there are likely to be frustrations with an older PC. A Pentium 4 2.6Ghz is a better bet.
- Memory: 256MB of RAM or more. 1GB is closer to ideal.
- Hard Drive: Recording TV will take up 700MB - 7GB of space per hour. The bigger the hard drive, the better.
- Filesystem: 64 bit or 128 bit
- A high quality video card that supports XVideo (XV) and has a TV Out port
- A video capture device with Linux drivers
- A sound card
- An external adapter to convert VGA output to TV
- MySQL database software version 5.0 or higher
