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EFF Gadgets, Hackers and Freedom - EFF event at Minna tonight

Tonight the EFF is having a little soireé up in SF at Minna on Gadgets. Good preread for the event will be their piece on Endangered Gizmos. If you’re interested, RSVP to the folks at EFF.

I have definitely been planning on getting one of the unhobbled tuner cards, though the last time I looked seriously it was a year or so ago when it was posted on Slashdot (but who wants to shell out just for posterity when you have >1yr in which to procrastinate?) A quick check on /. showed they’re discussing the broadcast flag issue today anyway - sameold-sameold.

My interest was rekindled on Sunday when Wendy Selzer of EFF demo’ed a full system with MythTV at the Berkeley CyberSalon. She showed a pc running Linux and MythTV picking up HDTV signals from SF’s KQED and (at the other end of the spectrum) UPN.

However, MythTV isn’t productized at all; it remains a piece of software. It’s ironic that the EFF has found a really good application here in their effort to promote non-infringing uses, yet it remains a homebrew project. It’d be really nice to just click a button and add the full system to a shopping cart. While I can find time to order a tuner card, I’m not sure that I’ll find time to assemble the pieces myself. Too bad, bc it would be fun to play with.

This seems like an excellent solution for me. I can safely say that 70% of my tv viewing (such as it is lately) is PBS (the other bit is split between Discovery Science, Nat’lGeo, History, Military History and that cluster of geek channels). I consider “Monarch of the Glen” a guilty pleasure program - pretty queer, and pretty fringe. MythTV, a dvr, and GreenCine (Mike and I share a login - user “boygirl”) would take care of my viewing needs comfortably. Mike would miss Adult Swim, but he’d probably get smarter with less ATHF.

I’ll have to see if anyone tonight knows of someone who’s doing some SI work on this MythTV thing, even if it’s custom. Then again living room boxes are still pretty loud. I’ve been tracking changes in chassis design that should reduce noise, and I know this was implemented in a few boxes from Gateway, but it seems that it’s about a year out, further out than I’d hope. I haven’t been motivated to seek out the Gateway model to see exactly how much quieter they end up being.

I still think this is a key innovation needed to move the livingroom-media-center model forward. I know I get irritated if there’s a laptop running on the coffee table, but it might be less obtrusive if it’s across the room (or insulated in a cupboard, but then what of remote control?).

Anyhow, it’s just the endless permutations and roadblocks that get in the way of early adopters, and represent an economic opportunity for someone out there…..