I have been a very proud user of MythTV since version 0.16 was released in September 2004. I actually had started playing with it as far back as version 0.11 in late 2003, and I used it sporadically over the course of the next year, but I just was not quite ready to move my digital entertainment over to it. Version 0.16 hooked me, as did the relatively new Hauppauge PVR-250 cards. I have been using MythTV exclusively as my DVR and media center ever since. According to its database, tonight (Monday, 05 August 2013), I proudly announce that my MythTV setup has just surpassed 20,000 recordings.
For the first couple of years of my MythTV experience, I ran it on Debian sarge (3.1) with Matt Zimmerman's packages. When R5 was released, I switched to KnoppMyth. After being a long-time user, with Knoppmyth's (now LinHES) R6 release and its switch to Arch Linux, I have decided to return to my roots and run MythTV on Debian with Christian Marillat's packages.
After going through many iterations of setup and tear-down in my lab, I created a few sets of instructions that consistently work for me. You can find those instructions here on this site.
After creating a method of installing MythTV that provided consistent results, I turned to automating the procedure. I had started with preseeding the Debian Installer, and that worked...partly. As soon as I wanted to introduce the notion of classes (e.g. one class for frontends, one for backends) to the Debian Installer, things quickly became cumbersome.
Once I had outgrown the Debian Installer, I turned to FAI (Fully Automatic Installation). It took a few days of testing and learning, but the results are pretty amazing. FAI has an incredible architecture, and once you understand the various mechanisms involved with the process, you can customize it to your liking in no time and with surprisingly little effort.
Now, after three or four evenings (I've lost count) of working with FAI, I have a fully automated installation for MythTV frontends and backends. I have multiple frontends, all running different architectures and hardware. The installer even includes modules and configurations for the IR receivers that I use and for the nVidia graphics adapter in my brand-new Zotac ION motherboard. Did I mention how incredible FAI is?
Why go through all of this trouble? Simple: all of my learning takes place in my lab. What I learn in my lab transfers directly to my job. What systems or network engineer doesn't want to learn about automated installs?