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PVR Verdict: Success.
MythTV is fabulous. Not rock-solid-stable, but I can stand compiling through a few version cycles to get there. The MySQL backend works great, and I’m getting great recording quality.
The Hauppauge PVR 250 has hardware MPEG2 encoding, which is great because it makes the processor not be busy during recording (and it keeps the initial file size down). After the original file is written, I automatically run a transcoding operation to compress the file to MPEG4 to save space. I can then edit the file (with some help from an automatic commercial detector within MythTV) to eliminate the commercials. A 30 minute episode of “Yes, Dear” was only 250 MB after transcoding and commercial cutting. It started around 1 GB, I believe.
What doesn’t work well is TV out, which isn’t Myth’s fault. I could have bought a PVR 350 to get hardware MPEG2 decoding to a television, but I instead have decided to gamble on ATI releasing good Linux drivers soon. Either way, I can always buy a second tuner (not a bad idea anyway, gives you picture in picture and multiple viewing/watching capability) and put both of them in a bigger box (or get an external USB one).
Whatever. I’m actually glad to keep the Linux box as a plugged-into-monitor computer (it’s too useful to waste it as a television and remote), and I can run the backend (which actually does the recording and transcoding) without running the frontend (which ties up the monitor). That means I can start the backend on boot, then launch the frontend whenever I need to screw with something or watch a video. Recording will happen no matter what is actually going on with my monitor. Sounds like a better plan than marooning the machine within an entertainment center.