NOTICE - PROJECT IS SUSPENDED

This project is no longer being developed. It is being replaced with a better project I am currently calling Pi. Pi will be similar in functionality to MTV at least to start with. I intend to use a Win32 or Linux server and multiple Playstation 2 clients. PS2 clients will allow me to do the fancy graphics my multitainer was to slow to perform. I can also afford one in every room :) More information will be available soon.

It's been fun, but it's time for something better.

Welcome to MultitainerTV

This is the home of MTV, a digital video recorder (DVR)/ set-top box app for the PC. It was originally developed for my Multitainer from Fujitsu Siemens, but should work on any PC at 640x480x16 resolution. Things look best on the TV, so I would recommend having a TV out on your graphics card.

MTV has been written by me (Chris Owen) for me because although there are plenty of DVR programs out there, all of them look like computer programs. I use my multitainer with the TV, and so want to keep mouse usage down and my text size up. I developed this app in the hope of being able to control the whole thing from the small remote control. MTV is currently successfully running here and is automatically recording my favourite programs from the TV (much faster than I can watch them). It is not a finished product however, and there are definitely a few things that aren't perfect. Setting the app up isn't as easy as it should be, but if enough people are interested I will work on making this and the whole thing better.

Features

Here is a quick summary of the features.
  • Set-top box like interface
  • Electronic program guide
  • Ability to record 1 off programs
  • Automatic recording of programs by conditions (e.g. you can record all programs with "Simpsons" in the title)
  • Prioritisation of auto rec programs with intelligent conflict resolution
  • Selectable video compression (I use the DivX 4 codec without any glitches)
  • TV schedules downloaded from the web via a separate app (will require your own app to do this, file format is described in the configuration section)


Requirements

  • Multitainer (or other PC with TV out at 640x480, 700MHz or above)
  • WinTV card (BT8x8 or BT88x based) or other TV capture card (has only been tested with BT878 and BT881 cards)
  • Big hard drive (the bigger the better)
  • DirectX 8.1
  • DivX or other suitable WDM codec (I use XviD codec)
  • XMLTV or similar for TV guide grabbing
  • *optional* Wake-up circuit

Hardware Info

Screenshots

Downloads

Driver Info

Documentation

Wake-up Circuit

Links