December 23, 2003
Remote control for MythTV
As much as I like the remote that came w/ my PVR 250, I've decided to get a better remote control. I just purchased this remote:
the Philips PMDVR8 8-Device DVR Remote for use with TiVo® and ReplayTV®. I haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but follow-up once I've got it installed.
December 22, 2003
December 16, 2003
MythTV: nuv to svcd
Chris talks about his trials and tribuation with getting MythTV his nuv -> svcd format.
Transcoding w/ MythTV
With MythTV, there is a great (and mostly under-documented feature called Installing transcoding. What transcoding should do is resave your original recording -- but you can add edit areas to remove commercials, etc -- so that the end file is smaller than the original.
I tried it last night on a Food network show. While watching TV, I pressed "E", then set "cut points" by moving around w/ the arrows, and pressing space. When all points were set (I only wanted to save 30seconds of the show), press "E" again to go into playback mode. Then press "x" and you should see a message on screen indicating that transcoding is in process.
Then I waited about 2minutes and nothing happened. :( I forgot about it until this AM, when I checked my system from work using MythWeb. I saw that this recording had shrunk from 1 Gigabyte to only 148 MB, so I think transcoding may have worked! I won't know until I get home tonight.
These links below might help explain transcoding a teeny bit more.
December 11, 2003
JP1 Remote -- Use with MythTV
Nuts & Volts Article - Remotes Homepage talks about JP1 remotes and how they can be programmed.
What I find of special interest is how this can be used with my MythTV setup and my PVR-250 input card.
December 09, 2003
Yet another colorpicker
By moving 3 sliders (red,green, blue), a palatte is created that could/shoule be pleasing to the eye: ColorMatch Remix. Also includes the ability to export your colors to a Photoshop color table.
.htaccess problem solving
A Day in the Life of #Apache by Rich Bowen -- Rich Bowen, coauthor of Apache Cookbook, spends a lot of time on IRC fielding Apache questions. In this inaugural article to launch a new series based on his conversations on #apache, the IRC channel that runs on the irc.freenode.net network, Rich chronicles a user's troubles getting his .htaccess file working, and he shows what you can do to solve the problem.
The step-by-step method he displays to solve the .htaccess problem is well thought out and teaches good problem solving techniques.
December 08, 2003
Forget Tivo, build your own PVR
For the past few months, I've been running my own MythTV box. Basically, this is a homebrew PVR (personal video recorder) that runs on an extra computer that I have at home.
Since I already have DSL and a home network (and years of computer experience) building this system proved to be quite easy for me, but was helped a lot by Jarod's Step-by-step guide to building a MythTV box under Red Had Linux 9.
The 2 things I like the best about this setup:
1) It's free
2) It's expandable (I was able to add a 120GB harddrive to my existing 80GB harddrive for more recording time)
3) MythWeb allows me to access my system via a web browser...which means that I can "set my VCR" from anywhere in the world!
I went with the Hauppage PVR-250 card which you can purchase at Amazon.com:
December 01, 2003
Hardware/Software Price Search
Just wanted to make sure everyone is aware of: Price Watch ® - Street Price Search Engine. This site is great for finding the lowest price on hardware and software. It's been around for years and continues to improve year after year after year.