I'm looking to build a Myth box, but I'm a tad reluctant because of the remote issue. Is there a simple way (as opposed to all the wiring diagrams) to add a remote and a receiver to the box?

Everything on eBay is either overpriced or is MCE exclusive.

There are lots of options actually. I've used the ATI Remote Wonder (RF - $35),

the Microsoft MCE remote,
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19214&vpn=A9O-00018&manufacture=Microsoft


and the MCE remote that comes with the PVR-150 MCE
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17372&vpn=232&manufacture=HAUPPAUGE

I've seen all of these things at Best Buy also, albeit for a slightly more money.

I have been using the Microsoft MCE remote and IR receiver for about ten months and I am very happy with it. It took me a while to figure out how to configure lirc but it works great.

After my experience getting my wireless internet to work on my laptop, I've generally become reluctant to use Linux-based solutions for anything besides servers. But, Myth looks quite a bit sweeter than anything in Windows MCE.

Many thanks.

I'm a big cheerleader for MythTV, but from a practical point of view, if you just use the basic features, it doesn't offer that much over MCE. Its strengths are in its flexibility and freeness (in price and from things like CGMS-A). Currently I think the best way to try MythTV is to use Mythdora.

Either way, the hardware you invest in a MythTV setup will almost certainly work for MCE.

I'm looking to build a Myth box, but I'm a tad reluctant because of the remote issue. Is there a simple way (as opposed to all the wiring diagrams) to add a remote and a receiver to the box?

Everything on eBay is either overpriced or is MCE exclusive.
Just to be clear on terminology, you need two things for remote operation of MythTV
a) a "remote" to send the commands
b) an IR receiver in the computer to aim the remote at

For (b), if you are going to buy a TV tuner card it is worth knowing that many of them come with an IR-receiver chip built in. The Hauppauge PVR-x50 (analog TV) and the DVICO Fusion 5 Gold (digital TV are examples that come with an IR receiver. Otherwise, you will need to acquire the IR receiver separately and attach it to a serial port. You have probably seen net postings for how to build such a receiver from scratch, but I bought one pre-made for about $20 and it works just fine.

For (a), the higher-end tuner cards I mentioned above come with a remote you can use. Or you can take almost any remote that has enough buttons (say from a broken VCR) and then teach LIRC to respond to it. Or you can do what I did and use a Harmony remote, which I setup to "replace" a non-existent Hauppauge or MCE remote.

I used this serial IR receiver:

http://www.irblaster.info/receiver.html?gclid=CN-6gpn-yYsCFSY3YQoddS2D_g

... with lirc_serial along with a Philips Tivo remote control that cost about $12 on ebay. I had to get a little creative with the button assignments to get all the functionality I wanted, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I never need to go to my wireless keyboard for any everyday use. For a total of less than $40 no less. The lirc project already had a working lirc.conf for that remote as well.

Actually, I find that Tivo remote to be one of the nicer remotes I've used as far as ergonomics go. I also found the codes to get it to work with my TVs volume, power, and mute. Since I use MythTV (and mythvideo/mythtdvd) for everything, I went from having like 5 remotes on the table to just the Tivo.

Tom

I used this serial IR receiver:

http://www.irblaster.info/receiver.html?gclid=CN-6gpn-yYsCFSY3YQoddS2D_g

Yep, that's where I got mine too. I splurged for the $19 version with a 6-foot extension, so I could bring the actual sensor around to the front side of the computer.

Slightly off question: how do you set the box up to power-on with the remote? I saw one system that seemed to be using Wake-on-Lan. Is there any other approach?

Slightly off question: how do you set the box up to power-on with the remote? I saw one system that seemed to be using Wake-on-Lan. Is there any other approach?

This really depends on your hardware. I have an Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard which supports ACPI Wake:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV/Install/WhatNext/ACPIWake?highlight=%28ACPIWake%29

It powers up a couple of minutes before a scheduled recording, turns on the cable box, changes to the appropriate channel (via the MCE remote receiver/blaster) and records the show. The system will power down after 60 minutes of inactivity. A lot of people do their Myth builds via Knoppmyth or Mythdora. I built my latest on Ubuntu via these guides:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV

I contributed this page on setting up the MCE receiver/blaster with the Motorola DCT700 cable box:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Motorola_DCT700_Channel_Change_Script?highlight=%28DCT700%29

I've been pretty happy so far.

I'm an OTA person, so the cable box approach doesn't help me much. But, I think I have a starting point based on what I've found in this thread.

Yep, that's where I got mine too. I splurged for the $19 version with a 6-foot extension, so I could bring the actual sensor around to the front side of the computer.

Yes...I got the one with the extension as well. I ran it up into the inside top of my stereo cabinet (which has a glass front) and situated it so the remote works from anywhere in the room, pointed in almost any direction...really nice.

Tom