I'm wondering if there is a mythtv alternative that can play and record live tv and work over a network, and have a good media center functionality. I like the mythtv backend/frontend thing. The problem is that mythtv is incredibly difficult to use, and it doesn't work all that well after tons of effort to get anything out of it at all, at least for me.

I was thinking about setting up a Mac based system with the elgato eyetv and appletv, but I don't know if that will work over a network (i.e., hook up the eyetv to my desktop with all my media, and stream live tv to the appletvs).

I know that Freevo is pretty mature at this point, but my understanding has always been that MythTV is the best overall DVR/HTPC software available.

What problems specifically do you have with MythTV? Usability, or more backend?