MythTV

2008-07-07T00:48:52Z

Schaferj:

{| align="right"
| __TOC__
|}
[[Category: Programmer's Guide]]
[[Category:Software components]]
[[Category: Video]]
[[Category:Tutorials]]

'''MythTV''' is a Linux application which turns a PC (with the necessary hardware) into a [[personal video recorder]], a digital multimedia home entertainment system, and a Home Theater Personal Computer. It is used by LinuxMCE to handle viewing and recording of television.

*[http://www.mythtv.org MythTV Main Website]

==Setting up MythTV in LinuxMCE==
(''If you purchased a Media Director with LinuxMCE pre-installed, you can skip steps 2, 3 and 6 below -- they will have been preconfigured.)

*Plug in and boot your Media director.

*If you have a PVR capture card, such as the PVR250/350 supported by IVTV, or the newer Blackbird cards (cx88), install any updated firmware available from the manufacturer. (Sometimes an Internet search for 'linuxmce' and 'firmware' will also locate firmware for your card.)

*Make sure the capture card type is specified in [[LinuxMCE Admin Website]]-->Wizard-->Devices-->Media Directors.

*For each Media Director, select the 'Computing' button on either the Orbiter that appears on the media director's screen (the on-screen orbiter), or using any other Orbiter which is controlling the same room as the Media Director. Choose "MythTV Setup". Myth's setup utility will appear on the Media Director. If you launched this from an Orbiter other than the Media Director's own on-screen Orbiter, that Orbiter will display a keyboard & mouse that you can use (in addition to the media director's own). In this way you can use a webpad or PDA Orbiter as a wireless keyboard/mouse.

*If you do not use NTSC, go to the "General"-->"Next"-->"Global Backend Setup" page. Choose your video standard (NTSC, PAL, etc.). The other default general settings should be fine. Press ESC to return to the Main Myth Setup Menu.

*Choose "Capture Cards"-->"New Capture Card".
:* If you have an ivtv or blackbird/cx88 card, choose "MPEG-2 Encoder card (PVR-250/350)".
:* If you're using the cx88/blackbird driver, change the 'video0' to 'video1'.

*If your card was properly identified, the video device field should be filled in for you. If not, try rebooting the Media Director and repeating. Press ESC to return to the Main Myth Setup Menu.

*Choose "Video Sources" and select your video source. Refer to the Myth user's Manual for details. Press ESC to return to the Main Myth Setup Menu.

*Choose "Input connections" to indicate which video source is connected to which input on the capture card.

*Press ESC to exit Myth Setup and return to the LinuxMCE Orbiter screen.

*At this point you will be prompted to run mythfilldatabse. Select "Yes".
:Sadly, as of 0710b3, this command silently fails to run. To fix this problem:
:*Open /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt
:*Copy the value for DBpasswd from that file.
:*Open /home/linuxmce/.mythtv/mysql.txt (this file was created when you tried to run mythfilldatabse earlier)
:*Paste the value you copied earlier into the DBpasswd field
:*Save the file and run mythfilldatabase again.
:*Go get a coffee

*You will need to do a full reboot of the whole LinuxMCE system (the Core and all Media Directors) before you can watch TV with Myth TV. You may want to setup all the Media Directors at once, therefore, and then do a complete reboot.

'''NOTE:''' Do not reboot until the Media Directors have had a chance to retrieve the channel data. You can confirm this by choosing the 'TV' button on the Orbiter main menu. This launches MythTV. Then choose "Manage Recordings", "Schedule Recordings", "Program Guide". You should see some program guide data. If you do not, wait a bit so Myth has a chance to download the guide data.

===Troubleshooting===

*[http://www.mythtv.org MythTV Main Website official Myth website]
*[http://forum.linuxmce.com LinuxMCE forums]

====Fixing Errors in MythTV Tables====
Upon sudden power loss or in some other situations, you may experience odd behavior from MythTV on restart. This includes
*Scheduled recordings not showing in 'Upcoming Recording' in Mythweb
*Inability to record programs from any interface, be it the on-screen orbiter or Mythweb.
*Inconsistencies in the '''mythconverg''' table (Advanced Users)

To correct this issue, please take the following steps:
Try either of these options:

*1st we check to see if infact there are problem tables by running this in a shell on the core:
/etc/init.d/mythtv-backend stop
mysqlcheck -c -uroot -p mythconverg

**if there are errors the run

mysqlcheck -r -uroot -p mythconverg

occasional this does not fix the problem, then try this

cd /var/lib/mysql/mythconverg
/etc/init.d/mythtv-backend stop
/etc/init.d/mysql stop
myisamchk *.MYI -r

This should correct the issue. In my own testing (golgoj4) after a reboot everything was functioning correctly.

This fix was provided by user Rwilson131 (thanks)

==Electronic Program Guide with xmltv==

*Read the [[MythTV%2C_xmltv_and_channels|xmltv channels guide]].

== MythTV frontend access to LinuxMCE & MD password ==

LMCE's version of MythTV runs a mythbackend server. As long as your versions are close or exact, you should simply have to put the MythTV frontend PC on the same subnet as the core media subnet (default is 192.168.80.1) when running mythfrontend it will ask you for the masterserver backend ip address or hostname (again the default is 192.168.80.1 or dcerouter), after providing this information, you will most likely be able to connect to your content (I do this all the time from my laptop booted to kubuntu 710, and the mythv-frontend package installed) and I can view my recordings and watch TV live from the tuners.

the latest version of MythTV in LMCE is 0.20.2 fixes, so as long as the version you install is of this variant or package level, you should be able to connect up. If you for whatever reason do not wish to attach the myth frontend pc/laptop to the media subnet provided by the core, you will have to make ammendments to your LMCE firewall from the web admin to allow mythtv to talk to it, or simply disable the LMCE firewall so that the mythfrontend can connect to its address.

PASSWORD

You will also have to go into mythtv setup on the lmce core, and get the username and password for the mythtv mysql user. Otherwise you will not be able to connect to the LMCE master backend.

discussion at
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5180.0

==Programmer's Guide==
We have created a DCE Device that wraps the MythTV libraries and can receive commands from other DCE devices and use them to control the TV functionality of the mythtv. Supported functionality at this moment comprises the following: Start TV, Stop TV, Tune to channel, Channel Up, Channel Down. The player uses the same mechanisms that the current (as of 0.16 version) MythTv frontend program uses. So for every mythtv installation that currently works the player should work the same way as the current frontend.

In order to be able to do this we had to change the signature of some methods in a class used by the mythfrontend application. The classes in question is the TV class defined in the libs/libmythtv/tv_play.{h,cpp} files from the mythtv repository. The changes consist in some method and field access changes (made some previously private methods to be public). This was done in order to be able to control the player programatically and avoid putting synthetic events into the playback windows event queue. The changes only affect the headers and are used to compile the player. The binary should run on any machine with a working 0.16 MythTV installation.

Since we needed to have a resizable playback window we had to make some changes in the way the mythtv playback window is created and displayed. The change is a derived class from the MainMythWindow class which knows about resize events and uses them to resize all child objects inside it. The class is available in the plutohome.com svn repository also (in the MythTV Player module).

This module does not work currently with a mythfrontend application running. The module will present itself to the server as another mythfrontend client and it will use one tuner on playback (the same way as a mythtfronted will do).

Fiire Chief

2008-07-07T00:20:43Z

Schaferj:

[[Category: Hardware]]
[[Category: Input]]
[[Category: Infrared]]
[[Category: Supported]]

[[Image:FiireChief.jpg|thumb|200px|Fiire Chief Remote Control]]

== Status ==
Supported by [http://www.fiire.com Fiire] (LinuxMCE support) / [http://www.polywell.com Polywell Computers] (hardware).

== Features ==
* Wireless R/F gyro remote control specially designed for use with LinuxMCE.
* Universal I/R support for up to 3 legacy devices.
* Follow me function (requires additional USB dongles).

== Sales Pitch ==
The [[Fiire Chief]] controls both the [[Fiire Engine]] and the [[Fiire Station]]. It uses RF wireless, and has a range of approx. 50’. It is omni-directional and does not require line of site like an infrared remote. The FiireChief has all the traditional, legacy remote control buttons, as well as 3 specialized ‘gyro’ buttons in the middle that let you control every function using only those 3 buttons and gestural movements. It also has a built-in ‘follow-me’ feature. You can start media in one room, and when you want to move to another room, just take the remote with you and press ‘Follow-me’. Fiire is able to track each remote individually, so whatever media you started with that remote will follow that remote around the house. Your movies, TV and music effortlessly follow you as you move from room to room. And whenever you enter a room, the FiireChief instantly and automatically switches to control the devices in that room. So when you’re in the living room, the volume button controls the volume on the tv in the living room. Take the remote into the bedroom, and the volume button controls whatever tv is in the bedroom, whether or not it is the same brand as the one in the living room. The FiireChief is the only remote control you will need for every room in the home, and you don’t need to worry about which remote goes with which room since any remote can work in any room.

Additionally, the FiireChief has a universal i/r remote built-in with both pre-stored codes and learning. You can program up to 3 i/r devices to control with the ‘tv’, ‘aux’, and ‘cab/sat’ buttons at the top. In those modes, it acts like a normal, universal i/r remote.

The FiireChief includes one USB dongle which you connect to a Fiire Engine, Fiire Station, or other LinuxMCE PC running UI2.

== Compatibility ==
The device will register as a standard USB keyboard and mouse in recent linux kernels (tested in 2.6.25). However, there are still some buttons on the remote that will _not_ be registered by these drivers. To simplify detecting these buttons there is a ruby gem (install via `gem install gyruby`) called [http://rubyforge.org/projects/gyruby gyruby].

== Where to buy ==

[http://www.fiire.com/fiire-chief.php Fiire website].

== Adding Fiire Chief remote ==

Just plug in the USB dongle (do not press the button on it) whilst the orbiter is running. It will install the software on its own. Then press the Connect button at the bottom of the remote and wait for 5 seconds. A message will pop up in the top left of the orbiter saying Active or Connected.

You need to press that button to bind them after every reboot or reload of the router (or orbiter). The LED flashes when you press buttons or the gyro is detecting motion - it is very sensitive, so even the vibrations from music can cause it to continue lit even if you aren't touching it!

BTW, the gyro times out after a short while (to save batteries?) of no motion - hit the big hand button in the middle or the menu button above it to wake it up...

discussion at
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4086.0

User:Schaferj

2007-12-18T03:46:02Z

Schaferj:

lmce page

LinuxMCE - User contributions [en]

MythTV

Fiire Chief

User:Schaferj