1. The server is off most of the time.  We just don’t use it very often and it doesn’t make sense to keep a dual-core PC running for no reason.
2. Manually update the tv schedule on my MythTV box. The attached script checks the date on a file and compares it to the current day.

mythtv manual schedule update

Attached script needs zap2xml to write the xml file(s).  Be sure to check your tuner id’s in the database and a couple of other adjustments will probably be required to have the script work for you.  But the fiddly bits about dates and MythTV commands are there.

It should be set up to run on login for your mythtv-backend session, and then perhaps as a cron job.

Questions? Leave them in the comments.

mythtv manual schedule update

A little ‘State of the State’ may be necessary.
Media distributors are ‘making lemonade’ out of the simple fact that it is easier than ever to distribute media. $0.99 for a song? What a deal! Not so much.
-No inventory costs.
-Zero replication costs.
-Zero logistics costs.
-Evaporation of the First Sale doctrine. There is no defense a consumer+reseller can possibly present to defend.
-Evaporation of the Fair Use doctrine. There is a common sense rebuttal to this, but no consumer in their right mind wants to defend it in court. So fear wins out and Fair Use disappears.

Microsoft and Apple and a whole lot of other software vendors have created wealth managing/playing media. But the media distribution interests coupled with their own interests make keeping and playing legitimately acquired media difficult. More difficult than it has to be. AppleTV is a good case-in-point. Some people like their walled-gardens, but many don’t as soon as they discover what’s beyond those walls that Apple has constructed with some assistance from the media distributors.

There are more restrictions coming. What little control you have now represent lost revenues to media distributors. That’s just one reason why BlueRay is a media restrictions cesspool of pornographic dimensions.

How about books? Amazon’s much-hyped Kindle reader is a NetFlix for books. Only they make every attempt to have you believe you have fair use of the files you paid for. This just in, you don’t have fair use privileges. Zero. See the NY Times article.

This is where the rubber hits the road.

What’s a poor schlub like you and me to do? Enter Linux. MediaTomb and MythTV are two excellent applications that a Microsoft or Apple could never create. Both applications free your media for you to use as the law intended. This is one area where both Apple and Microsoft display a multitude of weaknesses.

Do it. Just walk away. Blow away the partition on the old PC mini-tower (or even an old PPC Macintosh) you never use anymore since you got your laptop and be freed. Obligatory link to Debian’s installer here. From there all of your media is yours to use without the artificial restrictions placed by Microsoft, Apple, or Amazon.

Maybe you’d like some vendor support? The best is probably Emperor Linux. The ubuntu-only shop System76 is a decent start.