[SATLUG] this gadget caught my eye!

[Brad Knowles]

On 1/6/08, Borries Demeler wrote:

>  Here is a new Linux gadget reminiscent of TIVO and reasonably priced.
>  It has all the right connectors, and entirely open source. Can record
>  to microdrives and USB drives, and does all of this in mpeg4:

No, it's not really like a TiVo.  It's more like a VCR or DVD 
recorder, in that it lets you play and make digital copies of the 
output from these kinds of devices.  Like old-style VCRs, you can 
program it to record at certain times and to use the external IR 
blaster to control a TV or cable box, but it doesn't have it's own 
cable or satellite-like TV Guide service (so that you could set it to 
record certain shows whenever they come up as opposed to just 
recording certain time slots on certain days regardless of what might 
actually be showing at that time), and it's not networked in any way 
so that you can play it back from a client of your choice.

It doesn't integrate any storage, either.


So, take an old-style VHS VCR.  Strip out the tape drive and replace 
it with a card reader for a few different types of removable cards, 
as well as a USB port so that you could plug in external hard drives. 
Take the rest and re-implement pretty much exactly as-is using 
open-source software on top of a Linux OS, and give the user some 
control over what video format to use at what screen size and what 
bit rate.

That's a Neuros OSD.


Myself, I really want those other features that TiVo can bring to the table.

I want an 100Base-TX Ethernet port, as well as 802.11g/n wireless 
networking, so that I can watch my shows from whatever local or 
remote client I may choose to use.  I want a TV Guide service, so 
that I can set it to record my favourite shows whenever they come on, 
on whichever channels they come on.

I want it to have some intelligence to say that if I have scheduled 
recordings for Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek TNG, that 
I might also like Star Trek DS9, or Star Trek Voyager, or Stargate 
SG-1, or any of various other SciFi shows.


I also want the thing to be able to use network storage as well as 
local storage, so that I can have a half-dozen Neuros OSDs in the 
house, all set to record various different shows at various different 
times.  I want a central console where I can control all those 
devices, and to make use of a new device I can just plug it into the 
network and I'm done.

-- 
Brad Knowles <brad at shub-internet.org>
LinkedIn Profile: <http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu>