ExtremeTech has published an overview for hobbyists interested in building Linux PVRs (personal video recorders) based on PC components. The overview discusses project scope, requirements, available open-source software, and suggested hardware components before diving into installation, configuration, and fine-tuning.

(Click for larger view of MythTV, a free Linux distribution for PVRs)

Embedded Linux often achieves the most success in highly converged devices that integrate a wide variety of features and functions. PVRs certainly fall into this category, since they have stringent video, network, storage, interface, and other requirements.

PVRs — also sometimes called DVRs (digital video recorders) — have become one of the flagship device types for embedded Linux. Linux PVR vendors include TiVo, Archos, Dream Multimedia, Indrema, Interact-TV, Nokia, Siemens, Sony, Lafayette, and many others.

Despite the rich variety of available off-the-shelf Linux PVRs, some may still wish to build their own — in the Linux tradition — and the ExtremeTech story is a good place to get started.

 
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