Mythbuntu 7.10: An Excellent MythTV Distribution

We had tested out Mythbuntu 7.10 on different test systems, which consisted of desktops and a notebook, with the TV tuners being a Hauppauge PVR-150 and PVR-500. For more information on the hardware needed to build a MythTV setup, check out Building An Ubuntu MythTV Box. The Hauppauge PVR series works out of the box with Ubuntu 7.10 and using Mythbuntu 7.10 is no different.

For the systems where we had installed Mythbuntu to the hard drive, we simply booted to the LiveCD and with the Ubuntu Ubiquity installer, it was installed very quickly. After that, we configured the MythTV setup (Schedules Direct being used for listings). Following the Mythbuntu setup, we were inside MythTV 0.20.2 and everything was working flawlessly.

We had also tested the front-end capabilities within the LiveCD and that was very impressive. When launching the live front-end, first is the Mythbuntu Live Session Configuration panel. This panel is used for configuring the connection to the MythTV back-end, remote control support, additional settings, and utilizing shared media across the network. If there are videos, pictures, or music shared on the local network via NFS or Samba, Mythbuntu can connect to the server for the live session.

After using Mythbuntu 7.10 extensively, this is the best MythTV distribution we have used. This just isn't Ubuntu (or rather Xubuntu) with the MythTV packages installed by default and the changed artwork, but the Mythbuntu team has driven real innovation into this distribution. The Mythbuntu Control Center is the most advanced and feature-rich MythTV control area we have ever seen and is certainly a handy utility for any Mythbuntu user. The live front-end was also great and worked very well during our testing. At first we were unsure of all this automation that Mythbuntu provides, after being used to manually configuring MythTV for years and only mild success from other MythTV distributions, but Mythbuntu really hits the head on the nail with Mythbuntu 7.10. If you're looking to assemble a MythTV setup, Mythbuntu is definitely worth considering.

We look forward to tracking the progress of Mythbuntu especially with Mythbuntu 8.04 that will be based upon the Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" LTS release. Share your MythTV experiences in the Phoronix Forums.