ETV personal video recorder

What is this and what happened lately?

About ETV

ETV is my Personal Video Recorder (PVR). It can record TV programs which you request (or automatically according to your rules), and it can time-shift (viewing something while it is being recorded). In contrast to most PVRs to be found on the web, ETV is first of all designed to accomodate European TV habits.

If you want more detail, have a look at the Design section.

26 April 2005

Sad news: ETV is currently officially not being developed anymore.

The reason is mainly I got fed up with both linux and XP and will invest my energy in different hobbies for the moment. Another part of the reason is that I became less interested in TV lately. After I started using a projector to watch DVD's on a 2.4m wide screen I care a lot less about missing anything on TV (with the exception of the new "Doctor Who" on the BBC that is :-).
It is not just the image quality: it is also the lack of commercials, the lack of pan&scan, and watching the complete endtitles. And before these complaints will be mostly solved by HD broadcasts on the stations I watch we'll be a long way into the future.

Also a new PVR satellite receiver has been released (PVR-5020 by Echostar) which can record 4 programs at the same time - including teletext subtitles - with editing capabilities and a USB connection to a PC. Less noise and more stability than any PC I want in the living room. And for less money.
I don't own this beastie (yet?) but it sure made me realise that in this case DIY was more expensive than the off-the-shelf box.
For me this gadget would cover nearly all of my wishlist, but then again: I do not want an all-in mp3/photo/mail/weather solution in my livingroom. Other people have different wants: try MythTV, ShowShifter or Micro$ofts' Media solution - all of them I think top of the line in their part of the field.

It's been fun :-)

Erik

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