MythTV is a free and open-source home entertainment application with a simplified "10-foot user interface" design for the living room TV.

Basically, I want the mythical convergence box that's been talked about for a few years now.MythTV is capable of capturing HDTV streams from any source that will provide unencrypted video.

OpenCable devices are available to access encrypted content on U.S. cable systems, but as this is a full DRM system, and not just CA like DVB CI, every piece of hardware and software on the playback chain must be tested and licensed by CableLabs.

A popular means of doing this conversion is to connect the component outputs of a set-top box to the Hauppauge HD PVR.

MythTV is available for many operating systems based on Linux or Unix, including Mac OS.