Initial Questions re:MythTV

[awiggin]

Hi all,

I am interested in creating a Mythbuntu machine and using it in my media room. I am a total noob, but I am willing to try things. I have two general questions I hope you can help me with.

1. I have an HD Ready TV (Mitsubishi 52" Widescreen) and I don't have cable. I currently just receive OTA signals via a digital converter box. Will I still need the digital converter box or will the mythbuntu machine work for that? If I need the converter box, is it difficult to integrate that into my configuration?

2. Will I be able to watch streaming video from the internet on my television via the mythbuntu setup? For sites like Hulu, YouTube or even Netflix?

I am sure I have more general questions, but I will stop there. Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

I really don't want to pay for cable, and I would love to have a functioning DVR system based on Linux.

Peace,
Lance

[andrewc6l]

If you just receive OTA signals, you will not need a converter box (assuming you buy a TV capture card that supports digital OTA). I've got a couple pcHDTV 5000 cards in my box and they work pretty well. Other people have had success with the HDHomeRun appliance on their net.

MythStream (which is not an official MythTV plugin, but can be installed with Mythbuntu) supports streaming video. I've just started looking at it, so I'm not sure how well it supports it. Remember, in the worst case you can always install the flash plugin and watch things on your web browser the way you normally would for regular Ubuntu.