My current HTPC is a bit low-tech ... it's a G4 Cube. It handles media/web/games just fine, but I leave the PVR part up to my trusty ReplayTV.

However, as we all know, Replay doesn't do HD. So I'm considering upgrading the HTPC to an intel mini to act as HD PVR. But here's the issue: I've been so spoiled by the ReplayTV experience, that I absolutely *must* have automatic commercial advance (CA) functionality in the PVR. So far, I've been unable to find any OSX PVR software that does CA. There are a number of windows PVR apps that will do it, as well as MythTV for linux. Does anyone know of PVR software for OSX that will do automatic CA?

No, it's a long asked-for feature for EyeTV. Don't hold your breath on that one. If you absolutely *must* have CA, you're probably better off going the Windows PVR route or stick with ReplayTV... at least for now.

I'd like to be more encouraging about the prospects for CA in EyeTV but there's no hint it will ever be an included feature. It would be a huge technical challenge for ElGato to do commercial advance given how many different receivers and recording formats they support.

Another option is to buy an HD receiver and take the S-video output into your ReplayTV. Assuming you have a 16:9 HDTV, it probably has a zoom function, and the letterboxed 4:3 ReplayTV picture will then zoom perfectly to fill the whole screen. It won't be true HD, but I have read reports that it is *very* good compared to SD. Can't say from personal experience, because I went the EyeTV 500 route for HD.

There are a few threads over in the ReplayTV forum about this.

Well, this may be a bit more to bite off than you want.. but one possibility is the MythTV frontend on MacOS. It supports commercial advance, as well as automatic commercial detection and skipping. But, it requires a backend device that is usually Linux based, so it requires some level of Linux/Unix knowledge.

I have an Athlon64 backend with 3 HD cards doing QAM and OTA. My display is done via a Core Duo Mac Mini.

Wow - thanks for these replies!

MacHound - I agree, it's a shame that EyeTV doesn't support CA. I have several friends that really like the EyeTV interface. Perhaps it may be the "legal" challenge as well as the technical challenge of CA that Elgato is considering...

Lazlo - I still plan to use my replaytv for SD (from dish), so I would need a second unit to dedicate it to a HD receiver if I wanted to automatically schedule recordings...

tji - The MythTV front end idea is intriguing... I knew an OSX front end existed, but was unsure how well it worked. You seem to be fairly happy with it on your core duo. I originally didn't want to have to set up a second box as a back end - not for fear of Linux - I'm pretty comfortable with that - but just the cash outlay. But a more careful analysis of the costs reveals -

Cost of back end Linux box plus HD tuner card
vs.
Cost of XP
Cost of external firewire HD tuner
Cost of external firewire disk drive for storage of recorded HD content
Cost of windows-based PVR software with CA
Dislike of all things windows-based

OK, so the last one isn't exactly fiscal. :) But the balance seems to hinge on how expensive the PC horsepower will be in order to keep up with the PC HD tuner card. Guess I'll have to do some more research. tji - in your opininon, does it take a 64bit processor?

No, it doesn't take 64 bits, or any serious horsepower. The only time CPU power comes into play is if you're transcoding video to another format, or doing the commercial auto-detection. For the HD stream reception and recording, very little CPU power is needed. If you have an old junker available, give it a try. Otherwise, pick up the lowest priced current CPU/motherboard combo and you should be all set.

The MacOS MythTV frontend is not as good as the Linux frontend (the primary developement platform). But, for my use in playing live TV and recorded programs, it has worked well.

Also -- note that you can't do HD on a mini with less than the Core Duo 1.66GHz system. The others don't have the horsepower to support smooth HD video playback.

tji, One thought occurs that I haven't seen discussed anywhere....

Might it be possible to set up a Myth backend using Linux / Parallels on the same Mac as the frontend running OS X?

It seems an intriguing experiment, no? (But we're getting off topic for the average person when we talk about Myth.)

Another option for the hopeless tinkerer who must have automatic commercial removal would be to pass TV files through VideoRedo's commercial stripper, under Parallels or Boot Camp. Unfortunately the downside would be inability to reinsert ad-stripped MPEG2 streams back into the EyeTV archive easily. And the workflow would be more complicated than most people could tolerate.

No doubt about it, we need a Mac based ad stripper. Convenient as EyeTV's editor may be for cutting one or two shows, manually removing commercials from dozens of recordings involves a huge time committment.

If you have an old junker available, give it a try. Otherwise, pick up the lowest priced current CPU/motherboard combo and you should be all set.

That's good news. I found listings of requirements for Myth+HD that stated a P4 3.0GHz minimum spec, but I guess that was mostly with playback in mind. So this (linux myth backend + mac front end) now seems like a very attractive option. Especially considering the back end can be hidden away somewhere convenient for the OTA antenna cable.

Also -- note that you can't do HD on a mini with less than the Core Duo 1.66GHz system. The others don't have the horsepower to support smooth HD video playback.
Yeah - it was the appearance of the Core Duo + HD playback threads recently in various forums/blogs that got me excited about the Mini as a platform.
So far, I have found a section of the Myth wiki (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Talk:Myth_on_Mac_x86) that discusses the Mac front end. Are there other support resources for OSX Myth? What's your experience with DVD playback?

No doubt about it, we need a Mac based ad stripper.

MacHound - turns out the commercial advance feature for SageTV and possibly other WinPVRs is done with an application called comskip (http://www.sage-community.org/index.cgi/wiki/ComSkip) that was based on coding done for Myth. Ultimately, one would need the ability to create add-ons or plug-ins for EyeTV in order to implement this. Not sure if something like that would be viable for Elgato...

I am currently trying to get the latest version of VLC to compile for OSX with the ReplayTV commercial skip feature that has been available in the Windows VLC binary. This wouldn't help me for HD, but would take care of any SD shows that I record and stream from the Replay.

tji, One thought occurs that I haven't seen discussed anywhere....

Might it be possible to set up a Myth backend using Linux / Parallels on the same Mac as the frontend running OS X?

It seems an intriguing experiment, no? (But we're getting off topic for the average person when we talk about Myth.)


The issue there would be the device drivers for the HD capture cards. I haven't used parallels yet, but I assume it's like vmware and that it creates virtual devices for the hardware it knows about in the host OS.

You can compile the mythtv backend on MacOS. If you use the soon to be released "HDHomeRun" networked ATSC receiver, it should work with a Mac backend (or even a virtual linux backend in parallels, since you eliminate the hardware device driver requirements).

That's an intriguing possibility: HDHomeRun and a CoreDuo Mini running both the backend & the frontend. I'm glad to see Myth moving forward as another option for Macs. Still, it's not for the faint-of-heart. Last I heard, Myth's optical audio drivers were a sticky point for aac on Macs. (I'm probably behind the times with that issue.)

Well, it's been almost a year but I finally took the plunge and built a mythtv box to record HD. Bought a first gen intel mini core duo 1.66 on ebay to run the front end & play HD. Configured a BT Wiimote with Remote Buddy to drive the interface on the Mac.

I'm pretty happy with the results. The PVR interface is different from the Replay - more complicated, but more powerful/configurable. But by popping in these sub-$100 HD tuner/MPEG capture cards, I can record 3 shows simultaneously as well as play back HD streams to 2 front ends.

So now that I am close to retiring the ReplayTV - any ReplayTV "switchers" out there willing to share their preferred method of transfer/playback of their Replay mpegs in MythVideo?