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Mythtv

76K views 397 replies 31 participants last post by  mwalma 
#1 ·
Mythtv has announced version 0.22 release candidate 1 is now available. Hopefully all goes well and a stable 0.22 will come out shortly.

The release notes are here.
 
#362 ·
No, I haven't tried that. The issue between the cx18 and nvidia drivers is the vmalloc issue so the solution is to increase the virtual addressing space (vmalloc). You are right and this is a 32 bit issue (which I am currently using) and not likely seen with the 64 bit kernel.

I don't know why you have been having troubles with your HVR-1600. Mine has been working for over a year (on two different systems/installs). Getting its remote to work is more of a challenge, but that is a separate issue.

I have my old motherboard back in the system and haven't had an opportunity to do the swap again (probably won't happen until the weekend).

Interestingly I did look in /proc/meminfo at the VmallocTotal line on my current (old) system and it is set to 512MB, which is all of the RAM. :confused: This wiki says "strangely large numbers may appear for very small amounts of RAM" but I am not sure if this is a reporting error, or if it is deciding to use all of the RAM for some reason. Judging by the fact that it works (other than performance issues) I suspect the latter, but I am not sure.
 
#368 ·
The issue between the cx18 and nvidia drivers is the vmalloc issue so the solution is to increase the virtual addressing space (vmalloc). You are right and this is a 32 bit issue (which I am currently using) and not likely seen with the 64 bit kernel.
By the way, there seems to be a lot of confusion and misinformation on the vmalic issue. Here is what I have determined after a bunch of reading and talking to a local Linux expert.

The 32-bit kernel configures the hardware memory manager to give 1GB of virtual memory to the kernel (and the remaining 3GB of addressable virtual memory to applications). Within that 1GB of virtual memory it needs to reserve memory to talk to device drivers and indirectly address memory outside of the reserved space (the Virtual Addressing Space). By default it reserves "1GB - the total amount of RAM" for this, with a minimum of 128MB.

So when I had 512 MB of RAM it reserved 1GB - 512MB = 512MB. When I upgraded to 1GB, it decreased it down to the minimum of 128MB, which wasn't enough for both the CX18 driver and the NVIDIA proprietary driver. Increasing it to 192MB (I gather it should be done in 64MB increments) solved the problem.

With the 64-bit kernel the processor can address much more memory (16 EB or ExaBytes) and thus much more virtual memory is given to the kernel. I am not sure how much exactly, but even if Moore's Law continues forever we likely won't see this problem with it for about half a century.
 
#363 · (Edited)
Hi all...

I've been banging my head with MythTV 0.24 Ubuntu 11.04 I upgraded everything hoping the newest would be the best....

Anyways, I have a WinTV HVR-950q after much struggles I got it to work for OTA DTV! WOOT WOOT!

Now for Analog??? I know it's not long before everything goes digital but for now there is a few shows we would like to DVR on analog TV until they go digital and would like to get this working.

When I try to scan it only scans the digital again, I'm not even sure where to start for the analog side. I tried adding a new device but it doesn't seem to work at all. I assume I can't use the same DVB device as I'm using for digital.

Any ideas? Is there a step by step anywhere?

Note: As like everyone else I find through google TVTime works fine

EDIT: I removed the channel grabber and I was able to add all the analog channels 2 - 69. I added my 950Q as a MPEG4 device with no luck and as a V4L I think it was also with no luck. When I do this, I can no longer use the digital tuner, basically it goes to watch tv then just says it can't get a signal.
 
#364 ·
I've never pursued the analog stuff with MythTV or the GBPVR that I used to use on Windows. From what I read during my GBPVR days, Analog Devices had to have Hardware Mpeg Compression built in (i.e. not done in S/W on PC Side) for the analog to work with PVR. Not sure about the HVR 950q, but my device definitely was not having MPEG H/W compression, so I never bothered trying. Just guessing might be similar requirements for linux & mythTV? maybe find out if that's the case?
 
#365 ·
Thanks, that does sound like perhaps it is the problem as the error log points to not being able to contact and mpeg stream.

But I have found posts on the internet of "Yeah! I got it working!" So I guess it is suppose to work.

I don't really care too much about the PVR functionality would be nice to even be able to watch it.

Any insight is appreciated although in two months I guess it won't matter much. :D
 
#366 ·
MythTV is supposed to support analog tuners without MPEG encoders, but from what I have heard, something got broken in the newer releases and it doesn't work anymore and no one seems interested in fixing it. If you really want analog, you could buy a used PVR-150 (or similar), otherwise you will probably have to wait until the analog shutdown.
 
#367 ·
Update on my situation

vmalloc solved my booting issue, and the issue of not connecting to the backend was because my router gave the box a new IP address since it had a new MAC address (I have the router configured to reserve the IP address for that MAC address).

Next I had problems with no audio. I was getting a message "Too many connections" on boot which I read was related to ALSA not supporting the chip on my motherboard.

The solution was to install the proprietary driver from Realtek, which I did. The last step of the installation instructions was to use alsamixer to un-mute audio (it is muted by default), but when running it, I got the error message, "cannot open mixer: No such file or directory."

After a bunch of e-mails back and forth with a local expert on Linux and Mythtv, he offered to have me bring my box to him so he could have a look at it. Unfortunately my hard drive somehow got damaged in transport and we ended up spending all of our time unsuccessfully trying to recover from that.

So now I will now need to do a complete re-install and will likely loose most of my recordings. I still had my original Myth box in the basement, so I was able to quickly re-commission it. But since it was built as a trial, mostly with old parts I had on hand, it has many limitations (which is why I replaced it over a year ago). At least we can record and watch things until I get the new box working.
 
#370 ·
mythnetvision plugin

Does anyone know how to restart / redo the first time thru configuration of the plugin mythnetvision, so that ya can choose the potential sources to "search internet video" again??? Seems like ya only get the option of checking off the various checkboxes once, the first time thru via the frontend.
 
#372 ·
^^^I asked this question on the mythtv-users mailing list and after receiving the hint to look at the Backend migration Wiki, I solved the problem. Here is the solution as I explained on the mythtv-users list:

under "If you no longer have access to the to-be-retired backend system" it says, "In mythtv-setup on the master backend system (it must be the master backend system), go into Storage Directories, and Delete each Storage Group (select the group and hit DELETE (by default, 'D'))." I don't have any storage groups (other than default) set up anymore, so I had to create one before it would let me do the delete. So far I have only done this Videos Storage Group but I guess I should do it for the other types of storage groups to make sure they are clean as well (though I gather the Videos Storage Group is most likely to have overrides that need deleting "since MythVideo requires an explicit override of the Videos Storage Group on each host.").

Optimally I should have renamed the new backend to use the same name as the old one immediately after restoring the database and before running mythtv-setup (MythTV doesn't seem to like you changing the name of your backends). This would have prevented me from having a bunch of other problems that I had to fix. If you want to change the name, you have to go through the procedure of "Retiring an old backend," but that adds a lot of work as you have to reconfigure all your capture cards and all your storage groups. Hardly worth it for just a name.
 
#373 ·
Just dropping a note to let people know that I have successfully got my Optik TV service (CIS330) working with MythTV. It's recording HD via component into a Hauppauge HD-PVR 1212 (connected to my MythTV backend through USB).

Using the Hauppauge's IR Blaster emitter to change channels on the Optik TV box. Running two separate lirc processes -- one for the HD-PVR's IR Blaster for changing channels and a second one for a separate USB IR receiver for the remote control. I read that using the IR receiver on the HD-PVR causes instability.

This particular unit came with the June 2010 firmware (supposedly the better one). This was under Fedora 15 on MythTV-0.24. The IR blaster was able to operate the remote using codes 0_109 in the lircd.conf file generated by "Jens Leuschner" that has like 100+ remote codes in it.

http://www.blushingpenguin.com/mark/lmilk/lircd.conf

This page was really handy:
http://wilsonet.com/?p=40

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, but I'm no expert on the HD-PVR. I've only had it working for a few hours, populating listing data now and will be trying out scheduled recordings in the next few days.
 
#376 ·
Thanks Shadowlordkt...
I should of been more clear. The audio sync problems start just after a removed commerical. If I pause/resume the TV it is back in sync until the next cut.

Not a big deal as Ii love what a great job MythTV does detecting commericals.
 
#377 ·
Digital_Frank, I haven't noticed that issue when using lossless transcoding myself. Not sure what to suggest as all the transcoding options shadowlordkt is talking about go away when you select lossless transcoding.

Try posting the question on the mythtv-users mailing list. A lot of MythTV experts including some of the developers read that, so you should get a good answer there. When posting make sure you provide info about which version (both Linux and Myth) you are using and your hardware.

You might want to search the archive to see if anyone is having similar problems first. I do remember reading about an audio sync issue with the HD-PVR after commercial breaks when the broadcaster switches from 5.1 to stereo and back, but that had nothing to do with transcoding.
 
#379 ·
I use the built in "HQ Lossless". It is fast (30 min 1080i video in about 5 min) and if you add the cut list, it removes the commericals and indexes the file for much improved seeking.

It really does not transcode, as it keeps it in the same format. It removes the commericals and stiches the rest of the file together.
 
#381 ·
Gotta say I love my Mythtv setup. Server running Mythbuntu 11.0 with a Hauppauge 2250 and 1250 for a total of 3 tuners for strictly OTA recording. Recording setup using Mythweb.

I have a roof mounted CM 4221 pointed at the US receiving 30 channels including a few Canadian channels off the back.

Front end is provided by 2X PS3 in the house using PS3 Mediaserver. Additional entrertainment is provided by Netflix US via unblock-us.

I was using Sagetv on Windows Home Server 2011 but wanted to go back to Linux for a server as I had already dabbled enough that I enjoy the torture/experience that Linux gives.

@Roger1818are you saying there is a plugin that will remove commercials and resplice the recordings without transcoding that I can view on my PS3?.


DM
 
#382 · (Edited)
Add Channels Mythv

Hi,

I need to manually add channels 67_2 WBBZDT2 and 67_3 WBBZDT3 into Mythtv. I am stumped as to what to input for the channel info. These channels worked fine under Sagetv so I know they are tuneable by my tuner cards.

On page 3 of the channel editor when adding the channels I put 1672 and 1673 respectively on the top line "channel or frequency id"

I am subscribed to Schedules Direct and I do not get any guide data for these 2 channels and all attempts to record on these two channels fail.

Any help would be appreciated.

DM
 
#383 ·
It isn't a plugin, but the built in MythTranscode. Just make sure the Lossless box is checked in the setup. I don't recommend using MythTranscode in any other way as it has only caused me grief in the past.

The procedure to remove commercials is:
  1. Edit the recording (E while watching) to set the cut-points (you can copy them from the comflagging (Z or END), but I like to verify them after).
  2. transcode the recording.

Make sure the recording doesn't have a bookmark while you are transcoding as I have found it will cause problems. YMMV.

There is a way to automate this, but I don't trust MythComflag enough to permanently delete the commercials without verifying the cut points.
 
#384 ·
roger, you can set it to keep the original copy after transcoding. It adds a .tmp to the end of the original file and it stays in the same directory. If the commercial removal isn't up to your satisfaction, you still have the original and can simply delete the new one, and then remove the .tmp from the original. The database still works after doing this. You just have to remember to go and manually remove the .tmp files or you will have two copies of everything.
 
#385 ·
DM,

I would do a full channel scan and delete anything you don't want/need. Then edit the new channels and put in the correct xmltvid. The best way to get the correct id is to go to the tv listings on zap2it dot com, put in your postal code (or a zip code reasonably close to the transmitter) and find the channel, then hover the mouse pointer over the channel name in the guide. The link will have a 5 digit stnNum field, which is the xmltvid. Put that in the channel editor, save the changes, make sure you have the channel selected in your Schedules Direct lineup, and then run mythfilldatabase and you should get the correct listings.
 
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