Category — Hardware

September 1st, 2007 will mark a tipping point for the Do It Yourself (DIY) PVR Community.

Starting tomorrow, Tribune Media will discontinue its free zap2it channel guide service. This service, which MythTV and many other popular software titles was dependent on, will no longer exist. To fill the void, a non-profit company called Schedules Direct has been created by several members of the PVR community. Currently, Schedules Direct provides channel guide data for $5 / month with a goal of $20 / year in the near future. Creation of this entity is a big step forward for the community by ensuring the availability of guide data and encouraging the growth of Open Source software. Congratulations to all those involved.

With the creation of Schedules Direct, a subrelease of MythTV has been announced (0.20.2) which will includes the integration of Schedules Direct along with several other features and bug fixes. More information on the release
All current MonolithMC customers can follow the upgrade instructions

In addition to the DIY PVR community hitting a major milestone, MonolithMC, Inc. is announcing the next generation of its product line. Welcome MonolithMC - v.2.0. This release incorporates software updates, hardware updates and company improvements, including:

• Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 - the award winning Ubuntu release yet
• MythTV 0.20.2
• Schedules Direct integration
• 1GB Ram Standard
• AMD 5200+ X2 Dual Core Processor Upgrades Available
• Bigger and Cheaper Hard Drives - up to 750GB!
• Lower prices on all MonolithMC units - starting at $599!
• MonolithMC Support site is now Live!

We look forward to the continued success of MythTV, Ubuntu and the Open Source community and once again congratulate all those who have contributed!

BrentEvans, in response to Darren Rowse’s Problogger Top 5 Writing Contest, submitted an entry titled: Top 5 Reasons to Use a HTPC Instead of a Cable DVR.

While the article mentions a lot about SageTV and BeyondTV, it left out the free open source alternative MythTV - which turns out is more capable than the previously mentioned!

An interesting note is that Skipping Commercials is rated at number 2. Cox Communications just signed a deal with ESPN and ABC to have on demand content that you cannot fast forward. The only logical progression of this trend is that all recorded DVR content will soon be commercial enforced. If this happens, it is likely to see Skipping Commercials moving to the number 1 slot.

Ubuntu CTO, Matt Zimmerman (mdz) recently announced on the Ubuntu Developers Mailing List a new version of Ubuntu to work on handheld devices. This only seems logical since the mobile platform is the fastest growing PC market.

This open source project will be in some way tied to Intel who “…is making significant contributions of technology, people and expertise to the project.” A prototype has already been developed.

The first release is planned for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) in October 2007 (hence 7.10).