My point is that a finished product should not need any Linux skills. MythTV is a good platform from which to implement a custom solution, but it's not an ideal finished product in and of itself. It's something a few people can take and make an install disk for, polish up a nice interface and deploy on their own retail product. It's not something that even an above-average computer user would buy in a box to install on their own PC.

The problem with the over-engineering is that it's all too visible in its defualt config. There are just a dizzying array of options that never need to be shown to the user.

Think of it this way:

TiVo = finished consumer good (even it were only software that could be installed on a PC)
MythTV = TiVo-building construction kit.

Bruno