EFF HD-PVR Build-In (San Francisco) May 21, 2005

By Alexander Grundner | May 19th, 2005

EFF says, “Celebrate Victory over the Broadcast Flag” and join the EFF and friends for an HD-PVR build-in, where guests will receive hands-on help building a MythTV PVR and eat free pizza while they tinker. Details below:

HD-PVR Build-In Saturday, May 21, 2005

Celebrate Victory over the Broadcast Flag

Want to make your television work for you? Build your own high-definition personal video recorder (PVR). We’ve beaten the broadcast flag — for now. Help us keep it from rising again by showing the potential of open hardware.

Join EFF and friends for an HD-PVR build-in. You bring a computer and HDTV tuner card, and we’ll help you get it up and running as a PVR. We’ll be installing MythTV, an open-source software package that lets your machine function like a TiVo in high-def: pause live TV, schedule recordings over the Web, and manage your media the way you want it.

We’ve been counting down to the broadcast flag mandate, which was set to take effect July 1, 2005 — and now the clock is stopped. The bad news is that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and co. will likely be back any day now to ask Congress for similar “protections” (read, control). Building your own HD-PVR now helps ensure you’ll have an open media platform now and into the future.

If you’re interested, check out recommended hardware configurations at http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/co…hp#requirements

RSVP to BuildYourTV@eff.org to give us a rough head count.

Details:

• When: Saturday, May 21, 2005 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Where: EFF offices, 454 Shotwell Street, San Francisco (Google Maps)
• RSVP: buildyourtv@eff.org, 415.436.9333×125 (please let us know if you’re coming so we can get the pizza count right)
• How: Bring your own computer and HD tuner card (3 GHz Pentium 4 recommended. Recommended configurations posted here.)

We’ll supply food and drink, power, Ethernet connections, antenna connections, KnoppMyth CDs, and a few monitors and television screens for testing (but bring your own if you’re able).

We’ll also have of our HD-Myth Cookbook, a guide to installing MythTV with an HD tuner card from the KnoppMyth distribution (Debian-based).

Links:
Broadcast flag: EFF’s Broadcast Flag page
pcHDTV: http://www.pchdtv.com/
HD-PVR cookbook: KnoppMyth Cookbook
Photos from build-in #1