For those that don’t know, I’ve been struggling with a TiVo-like application called MythTV for a little over a year now. Technically, it’s a Linux-based PVR (personal video recorder) that is completely open-source. So, the software is basically free, you just need the hardware.

Unfortunately, you also need detailed Linux knowledge as well as tons of free time, of which I have neither. So, I have computer parts laying all over the floor of our new house as I attempt to get everything working. To make matters worse, it was working before, but I decided to “upgrade” and now it’s not working.

Anyways, even though it’s frustrating, it is progressing slowly. All the past year’s experience with MythTV and Linux has been a very good learning experience, even if it made me want to ram my head through a wall more than once. And, when I finally get my storage server / myth server set up with 500GB of storage it will finally be worth it.

There is one main problem with MythTV that can only be solved by better programming…better TV programming that is. The problem is: most TV is awful! When I actually have the Myth box up and running, I sit down to set up some recordings, and I realize that 99.9% of TV is dreck. Pretty much the only things I watch are Comedy Central (for the Daily Show) and BattleStar Galactica. Everything else is crap! A good PVR can free you from your TV’s schedule. Now if they could only invent something that could free TV from its terrible programming.

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