DVR partial victory

Published by in random on December 12th, 2005

A betrayal that in any other circumstance might be regarded as horrible has taken place in my home. But as I am both the perpetrator and victim of this betrayal, it is not at all as bad as it might seem.

I have installed Windows XP on a computer I now own.

Despite a ridiculously large number of hours spent trying to configure mythTV (a free, open source DVR software program) to work on the gifted Gateway computer that is now mine, I failed in this effort. The primary cause of this failure was my determination to use a relatively ancient Linksys model WPC11 wireless networking card, which I was given by my brother-in-law quite awhile ago.

My two primary goals in embarking on this project were:

  1. To have a home DVR that would allow me to record TV shows, so I (and others in our family) could relatively easily time-shift our watching of desired programs.
  2. Spend absolutely as little money as possible on this project.

My motivation for this project came from:

  • The stories I have heard from others about how great their TiVo is (and how they could no longer imagine life without it)
  • The fact that I do not have disposable income for something frivolous and entirely unnecessary as a DVR, particularly given the fact that currently I watch almost no regular television
  • My belief (perhaps naive) that there are a few worthwhile programs on TV, but I rarely have the time to both find and watch them.

In trying multiple times to get the mythTV option to work, I did watch the Systm episode on building a mythTV computer, as well as draw on my own limited experiences working with Linux. I tried initially (many, many times) to get a configuration of KnoppMyth working, but the main stumbling block to this distribution and the others I tried was the failure of my old Linksys wireless card to work. I also tried installing Ubuntu Linux and OpenSUSE Linux, but to no avail– the Linksys Wireless card would not work on any of them.

When I finally gave up on mythTV and Linux (at least for now) and installed Windows XP, it actually proved to be quite a bear to get the Linksys wireless card installed and running because the device drivers were old. In the end, I was successful in getting the card to work, which may seem like a small thing but turned out to be a huge deal.

Any time I have to tinker with technical junk like this on Windows computers, my appreciation for the simplicity and generally superior “plug and play” setup of Macintosh computers only grows. And this is not because I don’t know what I am doing from a technical standpoint on Windows machines. It is precisely because I do have a pretty good handle on what I’m trying to do an accomplish on both platforms, and now on Linux, that I think I have a pretty good perspective on these issues.

So, anti-Microsoft ranting aside, I am pleased that I have my DVR setup and wirelessly accessible from anywhere in the house on my laptop or desktop computer, thanks to remote desktop login capability built into WindowsXP. The TV channels look comparatively darker, but I guess this is passable as a first DVR attempt on the cheap.

The last big mystery has been why the TV video looks fine on the computer screen, but only audio is sent out to the TV, no composite video. In the “WinTV Source Selector” the “WinTV Video Source” is greyed out. I have no idea why and am tired of troubleshooting a seemingly endless row of falling dominoes to work on this more at this point.

At least substantial progress on this project has been made, and hopefully the Hauppauge technical support folks will be helpful in responding to the email I just sent them.

My total cost at this point for the Hauppage WinTV-GO capture card was $54 from Circuit City, and the 2 way coaxial cable splitter was $3 from WalMart. If I was to calculate the cost of my own time wasted on this effort getting things to work as they should, of course, I would be in the hole much more….. so we won’t go there.

Even when I get this working, I don’t think this will be nearly as flexible and powerful as a mythTV installation would be. (Sigh.) But at least I made some substantial progress on this effort…..

On this day..

4 Comments »
  • http://charanis.com/blog Jim Charanis

    So Sorry you had to go there but i must admit I love what my DishTV DVR allows me to do. I don’t love the service but it is fantastic at times. And I hope you don’t get sucked into TV just ’cause you can watch it on yor own terms. Its addicting. Here are the typical signs of addiction: First you find yourself messing around taping stuff you normally wouldn’t watch because you can watch it in 2/3 of the time without commercials. Then you find yourself, if you have had the DVR on a random channel simply rewinding that channel upon turning on the TV just for fun (I keep the DVR on all the time, only turning off the TV). Then you begin to search the listings and record stuff based on searches. My final straw was getting HDTV. Its unbelievable. I’ll watch a football game of two teams I can’t stand just to marvel at the amazement – and with a DVR you can freeze a perfect still. I rarely watch network tv but when I do – 30 minutes is 20 minutes. Its all good. I just have to remind myself I need more then 5 hours of sleep.

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    Ah yes, sleep. We all need more of that, don’t we? :-) Your cautionary recommendation is well received. Thanks!

  • http://bkaeg.org/blog AG

    Hmm. I’m sorry that your effort proved to semi-fruitless. Semi in that you’ve abandoned Linux for the moment. Hopefully, you’ll give it another try.

    Regarding the linksys WPC11, after performing the ubiquitous google search, I found this info:
    WPC11 in Linux. It appears that some folks have gotten the bugger working.

    I too will be embarking on the MythTV journey. I’ll likely do a frontend and backend config. In truth, solving the ‘myth’ riddle is an order of magnitude easier if you have some Linux skills.

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    Wow, thanks for the link. I had googled for the same thing but not found anything that good and helpful. I may give mythTV another try now! It is true my Linux skills are minimal at best, I find I need a good reason to improve my technical skills in a particular area– trying to get MythTV to work is certainly a good one!

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