MythTV - HD Tivo compared

Last updated Oct. 4, 2009

This comparison is based on info available today. Please email me if there are any mistakes. Usenet: alt.video.ptv.mythtv alt.video.ptv.tivo : Web links: www.tivo.com  www.mythtv.org

Feature MythTV Tivo Series 3 Tivo HD
System Type PC Open source Closed Closed
Approx. min. setup time 1 hour (6) 20 min.(6) 20 min.(6)
Number of usable tuners Unlimited (3) 2 2
Type of tuners Any ntsc, atsc, qam ntsc, atsc, qam
Use of tuners All, by all in network
 Single machine Single machine
Guide data length (days) 1-14 14 14
Paid subscription required No/Available $20 yr. $12.95mo. $12.95mo.
HD Storage space Unlimited 250GB 30Hr (8)
 160GB 20Hr (8)
USB ports 4 or more 2 2
NIC 10/100/1000Mb
 1 (10/100Mb)
 1 (10/100Mb)
Firewire Optional
 No No
Modem Optional
 built in built in
Phone line required No (5) (5)
Internet required No
 (5)
 (5)
Cable card support No
 Yes
 Yes
Forced Software Upgrades No Yes Yes
RF inputs 1 or 2 per tuner 2 2
S-Video input Depends on tuner No No
VGA out for monitor Yes No No
DVI (4) (7) (7)
Component out (4) Yes Yes
HDMI (4) Yes Yes
S-Video out (4) Yes Yes
Composite out (4) Yes Yes
Audio out Depends on MB digital and stereo digital and stereo
Audio in Most all MB's No No
DVD Burning/Authoring Yes No No
DVD player Yes No No
CD Burning Yes No No
Frontend machines for video Yes No No
Program guide Yes Yes Yes
Watch TV in Program guide Yes No No
Preview in recordings Yes No No
Program Finder alpha-num Yes Yes Yes
Search Words Yes Yes Yes
Anywhere in Title Yes Yes Yes
Keywords in title or desc. Yes Yes Yes
People Yes Yes Yes
Advanced multisearch Yes Yes Yes
Search List Yes Yes Yes
New Titles Yes No No
Movies Yes Yes Yes
By Category Yes Yes Yes
By Channels Yes Yes Yes
By Tme Yes Yes Yes
Custom Record (rules/wishlist) Yes Yes Yes
Live TV/Playback
Change Tuners (live) Yes Yes Yes
Buffer (live) Limited only by disk space 30 minutes 30 minutes
FF/Rewind programable 3 speeds 3 speeds
Jump fwd/back programable fixed fixed
Auto skipback from FF/RW programable fixed fixed
Slowmo/frame advance/back Yes Yes Yes
Watch TV in menus Yes No No
Recording Options
Commercial Flagging Yes No No
Commercial free recordings Yes No No
DRM Restrictions No Yes Yes
Manual Yes Yes Yes
Single Yes Yes Yes
Find Single Yes ? ?
Weekly Yes Yes Yes
Find Weekly Yes ? ?
Daily Yes Yes Yes
Find Daily Yes ? ?
Channel Record Yes ? ?
Record All Yes ? ?
Duplicate Handling Yes Yes Yes
Conflict Handling Yes Yes Yes
Priority Handling Yes Yes Yes
Control from WWW Yes ? ?
Hardware cost $200 (1) $799.99 $299.99
Subscription charges (4 yr.) $80 (opt) $621.60 (2) $621.60 (2)
Total Cost $200/$280 w/opt $1421.59
 $921.59

(1) This is approximate minimum cost of a 2 HDTV tuner backend/frontend server with 500GB storage and DVD burner. If you already have a PC, then you may not need to spend more than about $40 for tuners(the last 2 I bought were less than $20 each). Frontend machines can be built for about $150 or less since all they require is a MB, CPU, ram, and  video card. A 100Mbps network will support about 20 frontend machines (3 running 1080i HD). Most people probably won't want more than a couple, if any at all.

(2) Based on current monthly subscription price of $12.95. At the end of 4 years, cost start to climb higher. And you'll need one for every room you want recorder service in. At current time, you can get subscription for second and third unit for $6.95 each per month. All subscription prices are subject to change.

(3) Liimited only by number of PCI/PCIe slots, USB ports, and firewire ports in the machines in the network. One machine with 5 PCI slots would limit you to 5 PCI tuners. I have 4 in mine. You can also use USB tuners and firewire ports.

(4) Video cards can be purchased with different kinds of outputs. The FX5200's I use have vga,  S-video, and DVI. From these, you can get any kind you want, HDMI, Component, etc. via an adapter. A video card with XvMC like the FX series is highly recommended for it's onboard hardware decoding that takes considerable load off the CPU. Minimum CPU requirements range from 200MHz for digital backend server only to 1600MHz for frontend servers. While you can use slower cpu's, the price differences don't really make that a good option unless you already spare machines. I was using a Duron 1600 on one of my frontend machines and it works at 1200MHz. Don't have anything slower to test.

(5) You must have either a phone line or a network connection to the internet. But only one or the other is needed.

(6) Includes time for physical connections and any software loading required. For Tivo, this includes physically making the connections and turning power on. For MythTV it includes time for installing tuner cards and loading the software.  Adjust times accordingly if you build from scratch.  These times are at best very rough estimates and may vary upwards a great deal for MythTV depending on the knowledge of the installer. If using a phone connection on the Tivo, it my take upwards of 4 hours more to load guide data.

(7) Requires an adapter (cable) plugged into HDMI port.

(8) Esata port. According to sources, S3 model will accept any esata drive while Tivo-HD requires you buy the Tivo model drive ($199 for 500GB at this time).