Oh by the way guys it would be really good to write this all up as a idea on... ideas.welcomebackstage.com, then we can gage what other people think of the idea. Cheers,
Ian Forrester This e-mail is: [x] private; [] ask first; [] bloggable Senior Producer, BBC Backstage Room 1044, BBC Manchester BH, Oxford Road, M60 1SJ email: [email protected] work: +44 (0)1612444063 mob: +44 (0)7711913293 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevin Anderson Sent: 27 April 2009 17:17 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [backstage] BeeBuntu was [Fwd: [ORG-discuss] The Guardian drops Office has gone OpenOffice] The one nice thing about DTV recording is that you get a nice, DRM free mpg at full resolution, which you don't really get with IP pre-recorded. There is a nice comskip app that automates cutting out ad breaks, but again, that only runs on Windows. Makes no sense really. Ubuntu has created a Myth-based distro, MythBuntu that runs on XFCE. But Myth doesn't really do the kind of things that Ant describes, and it needs pretty beefy hardware. It only just runs on my Athlon XP 2400+. I might give GeexBox another go tonight, which is meant to be a roll-your-own distro that creates an image based on your hardware. Oh well, I've been meaning to blog about his for a while so should probably just use this message as a basis for that. There is Ubuntu Media Centre type of project, but it doesn't seem to be getting much traction. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMediaCenter best, k On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Ian Forrester <[email protected]> wrote: "There is a lot of focus on media centre apps like Boxee, XMBC and Elisa, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to a good DTV app. What do I mean by good?" See for the longest time I did away with the idea of a DTV app, I get everything over IP pre-recorded. But I know that doesn't work for everyone. The idea of a BeeBuntu seems like a good idea specially if we can plug this problem which Kevin's identified? Cheers Ian Forrester This e-mail is: [] private; [] ask first; [x] bloggable Senior Producer, BBC Backstage Room 1044, BBC Manchester BH, Oxford Road, M60 1SJ email: [email protected] work: +44 (0)1612444063 mob: +44 (0)7711913293 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevin Anderson Sent: 27 April 2009 11:20 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [backstage] BeeBuntu was [Fwd: [ORG-discuss] The Guardian drops Office has gone OpenOffice] Ant, I have tried just about all of DTV players and HTPC packages for Linux - Kaffeine, MeTV, Myth (so much pain for not so much payoff), Freevo, GeexBox, VDR and the list goes on. I actually end up using VLC most of the time because it's so lightweight. The first challenge would be to find (or develop) a good DTV app. Kaffeine hasn't been stable in the last couple of releases. MeTV is good, but it uses way too many cycles just to update the EPG. Myth. Where do I start? While it ticks the boxes in terms of configurability, it's too difficult to set up and way too easy to break. Freevo doesn't like Python on Ubuntu. VLC is brilliant, but it doesn't have an EPG and doesn't have a one click way to record. If anyone does know of a good DTV package that I haven't mentioned, please let me know. Oddly, I like the open source media centre packages on Windows - MediaPortal and GB-PVR more than the options on Linux. I've ended up using EyeTV on our iBook, which is brilliant. There is a lot of focus on media centre apps like Boxee, XMBC and Elisa, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to a good DTV app. What do I mean by good? * EPG - This is real glaring issue for Linux DTV apps. Kaffeine has a serviceable EPG but it only shows you what is playing and the next show. Myth does it well but has so many other issues. MeTV suffers from serious CPU load just to update the EPG. * EPG search * Scheduled recording - I want to be able to go to the EPG and click record. That's really about it, which is why I'm so baffled that there isn't something better on offer. As I've said, if anyone has tried and liked something, let me know. But, to get something like BeeBuntu, you'd need a good DTV app first. Having said that, I'll give GeexBox another try. It might be a good candidate for your idea Ant. best, k On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 6:38 PM, Ant Miller <[email protected]> wrote: On the subject of bootsticks (and yet changing the subject slightly to avoid any further potentially incriminating asides!) we kicked around the idea of 'The BBC ona Stick' a few years ago- a Bootable USB drive running a custom Linux install (BeeBuntu!?) with an integrated DTV tuner. The whole thing would look like a slightly fatter version of the Haupage USB tv tuners. As an idea it had a host of wonderful benefits, and almost as many potential drawbacks- delivering OS environments to the masses, getting extended use out of older PCs, potentially further energising the OS development community, allowing integration of TV and internet platforms far earlier, and with the potential for far more flexible exploitation, than.. um, you know, other stuff that might happen. Anyway it never got further than a few presentations and some interesting talks, but I thought it worth sharing, a On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Kevin Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 4:37 AM, Ant Miller <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Overall very impressive- there are some in the gleaming cueb who go >> further and tote a bootable ubuntu usb stick round with them (heh!). > > I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about Ant. ;-) I suggest it > highly for anyone who needs to get some work done with a computer at work. > And Jaunty is a definite step up for anyone wanting to do this. > Pendrivelinux.com has a handy guide to creating a boot CD if you don't have > access to the bios to boot from a USB stick. > > best, > k > > Kevin Anderson > > > > -- Ant Miller tel: 07709 265961 email: [email protected] - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. 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