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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.
 
#202 ·
As mlord was working out his switch devices there was a parallel thread going on in which we came to the conclusion that assigning individual antennas to their own OTA card/device was about the best way to do it within MythTV:

One PC Tuner per Antenna avoids certain combining problems

I run 4 ATSC tuners off of my Vancouver-aimed 4-bay, and I experiment with 4 tuners off of which ever antenna I'm currently testing towards SeaTac/Bellingham. MythTV handles them perfectly, along with my 2 NTSC analogue tuners connected to basic cable.

If at all possible, I recommend this over a rotor.
 
#203 ·
Hello All,

I am giving MythTV a try before I build a new HTPC. I have mythbuntu installed, but having all kinds of problems.

I cannot get my haupage 950q to work. when clicking watch tv it says please wait, and then goes back to the menu.

The system is now saying that my password is not working.

I have zero linux experience.

Please Help.

thanks
 
#204 ·
I ended up uninstalling mythbuntu and installed ubuntu and then installed mythtv. I still cannot get to work. I believe it is the hauppage 950q that is the issue. I can get it to work with another TV app in ubuntu but no audio.

How can i connect my WD NAS to mythtv?

thanks
 
#210 ·
Oddly enough I just revisited installing mythtv with my hvr-950Q and hvr-pvr-usb2.

They both suggest the latest v4l but work best, but for me with just 10.10's standard set of drivers ... awesome ... both cards ... plug and play NOW, to make it clear ... installing the latest v4l-dvb screwed it up actually. ... no drivers ... no firmware.. no nothing

though remember for the 950Q:
add the line: "options xc5000 no_poweroff=1 debug=1" no quotes, to:
∘ # sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf and
∘ # sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/xc5000.conf
this stops it from it's dumb powering off and requiring loading the driver every time it is accessed

Sound now is awesomely working with pulseaudio:default in the front-end, and ALSA:default selected in the backend, card setup

the details may be a bit off,

and thanks again to mLord for his help, he is a saint

Mark

p.s. Here are my personal notes mostly from mLord, but easy to cut and paste:

The digital side is easy to set up -- if your 950Q is your only tuner, then it will show up (digital) as the only DVB device. The only trick here, is to create a custom recorder group (instead of the default of "generic") for it.
• Then tackle the analog side. If it is your only tuner device, then this will be /dev/video0, and probably /dev/dsp1 for the audio -- yes you need this field and might need to type it in
• Then put it in the same recorder group as the digital side.
• you'll need to create an "input source" for digital, and a second "input source" for analog. Yes, they can both point at exactly the same schedulesdirect.org channel lineup, but they do need to be separate otherwise.
∘ Then use the "input connections" menu in mythtv-setup to point the digital side of the 950Q at the digital "source", and the analog side at the analog "source".
• in mythfrontend. Go into the Setup -> TV Settings > Recording Profiles, and set the resolutions to 720x480 for everything. Change the audio sampling rate to 48000.
• sound with tvtime using :
∘ tvtime | arecord -D hw:1,0 -r 32000 -c 2 -f S16_LE | aplay -
• change the MythTV sound device for the analog side of the HVR-1500-950Q to be /dev/dsp1 again. MythTV now has working sound in analog mode and I have been able to change between analog and digital modes (and vice versa) without any of the problems seen in the past.
∘ now using ALSA:default for the analog side of the HVR-950Q in the backend
∘ but pulseaudio:default in frontend / setup/ General
 
#225 ·
They both suggest the latest v4l but work best, but for me with just 10.10's standard set of drivers ... awesome ... both cards ... plug and play NOW, to make it clear ... installing the latest v4l-dvb screwed it up actually. ... no drivers ... no firmware.. no nothing
I think I saw Devin Heitmueller (the author of the HVR-950Q driver) issue a few pull request (to update the v4l drivers)recently, you might have better luck with these once they get merged.

Sound now is awesomely working with pulseaudio:default in the front-end, and ALSA:default selected in the backend, card setup
AFAIK it's usually preferable to avoid using pulseaudio with MythTV (even with the latest commits JYA did for 0.24)... I could be wrong though...

Have a nice day!

Nick
 
#213 ·
I have made some progress. I have mounted the nas in Linux, but have not mounted to mythtv. I want to be able to just read videos, music, and pictures.
To use it in MythTV, in the Backend setup, add the path to the mounted NAS to the appropriate Storage Groups. Alternately you can add it in the frontend video setup. There are pros and cons to both approaches. See Setting up Video and Image Folders for details.
 
#214 ·
hey guys,

I have been doing my reading and trying to get mythtv to work, and I have not made any progress. I appreciate all the help. I guess I need to find a guide for Mythtv for complete idiots.

I do not understand any of this. I have found and tried many scripts on the net and none of them work, I would imagine they are screwing it up more than helping.

I have entered the path I have for my nas, and mythtv does not recognize any changes.

thanks guys.
 
#215 ·
OK I am making some progress. I went back to mythbuntu and read this entire thread. I can see the channels now on the front end, but no audio or video. these commands are saying command line not found.


though remember for the 950Q:
add the line: "options xc5000 no_poweroff=1 debug=1" no quotes, to:
∘ # sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf and
∘ # sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/xc5000.conf


I take the "#" out and it doesnt work, it doesnt work with either. These worked for me in mythtv installed on ubuntu.

thanks
 
#216 ·
Ok I ran the scripts. I was able to setup an analog tuner and a dvb atsc tuner, scanned all channels in, and created a new recording other than generic.

I see all channels and watching tv doesnt crash, but no picture or audio. I have audio and video working perfect in tv time.

Feel like i am getting close.

thanks
 
#217 ·
I finally found the time to get my new and improved Myth box running. I am a little disappointed with its performance however. I am using a Pentium D 805 (2.66 GHz with a 533 MHz FSB) and has 512 MB DDR2 533. I also have a 9500GT 1GB video card with VDPAU enabled but I am still getting stuttering on playback of HD video, especially when the backend is busy recording. It is also very sluggish when starting to watch vidoes (worse than my old P4 box). I would have thought VDPAU wold have offloaded some work from the processor and having a dual core would resolve other issues.

I am starting to wonder if the issue is some sort of bottleneck on the data bus. The two upgrades I am thinking of are:
  1. More RAM. Lack of RAM could be swapping out to the hard drive.
  2. Upgrading the CPU. I am thinking that even a 820 would be a huge improvements so that it would have an 800 MHz FSB.

Do either of these make sense? Would I be throwing good money after bad and should I get a new motherboard instead? Does anyone have any other thoughts?
 
#218 ·
roger1818 the MythTV VDPAU page recommends setting "skip_chroma" as a deinterlacing option for your graphics card to reduce stuttering. Have you tried that? http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU#Supported_Cards

Regarding whether to use more RAM and/or CPU, try running the htop app (it should be available through your OS'es package manager). Fire up htop and then check it while everything is going full tilt on your machine. It will tell you whether the system is memory or processor bound.
 
#220 ·
roger1818 the MythTV VDPAU page recommends setting "skip_chroma" as a deinterlacing option for your graphics card to reduce stuttering. Have you tried that? http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU#Supported_Cards
Thanks stampeder. I actually have been using VDPAU Normal (which uses "Temporal 2X for HD content, and Temporal Spatial 2X (Advanced 2X) for SD content" for now, so that shouldn't be the issue. Looking further into it, I am wondering if I need to rebuild MythTV with VDPAU. The wiki implies all you need to do is select the appropriate Playback Profile, but reading further it implies that maybe it is also necessary to rebuild MythTV with VDPAU support. Will have to investigate this further.

Regarding whether to use more RAM and/or CPU, try running the htop app (it should be available through your OS'es package manager). Fire up htop and then check it while everything is going full tilt on your machine. It will tell you whether the system is memory or processor bound.
Thanks! That looks like a great tool.
 
#222 ·
ClgShaft, I totally understand your concern. I had exactly the same concerns and did the same as you (built a temporary box using existing hardware and a TV tuner card) and have only just replaced it (though I am still working out the kinks with the new box). Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the 950Q. Mlord was the expert here on it, but unfortunately he doesn't participate in this forum anymore.
 
#224 ·
ClgShaft, I don't have an HVR-950Q (actually I have one but I have never used it with my Linux boxes and I currently lent it to someone) but here are a couple of questions/questions:

Is that for OTA or analog cable?

If for OTA, NTSC (Analog) and/or ATSC (Digital)?

If for OTA, have you tried only setting up the analog part for example?
(otherwise I am pretty sure you would have to set up input groups)

Have you set the correct channel frequency? (us-bcast for OTA, us-cable for analog cable)

Are you sure you are telling it to use the right device?

Did you scan for channels or are using a SD (Schedules Direct) trial account?

If you had not mentioned that you are using tv time I would have suggested making sure the firmware gets loaded too (using dmesg and looking for the message indicating it loads it) but since tv time most probably needs it too it that's probably not the problem.

Another distro you could look at is MythDora... It's actually Fedora + MythTV (like MythBuntu is Ubuntu + MythTV) and it's usually pretty easy to set up.

Good luck!

Nick
 
#227 ·
I am using the 950q for ota, analog and digital.

Yes I have bcast for digital and cable for analog.

I scanned the channels and have successfully scanned all the local channels.

I am not sure if the device is set right, setting up the capture card and the source seems to be the most confusing.

I have the analog as a vl4 and the digital set as a dvb.

I still havent been able to add my nas. My other requirements from a HTPC are hulu, netflix, nhl gamecenter, and nfl sunday ticket, I will be using a vpn router as most of these services are not offered in canada.

I am considering taking a trip to memory express tomorrow to buy a new system.

thanks for the help.
 
#228 ·
i deleted the digital tuner card and i have video on analog. yeah!! very choppy, but that would be my pc, however it is not choppy in tv time.

I have dl and added hulu and netflix, however I cannot add them to the menu. I am trying to do this, but I have no idea home to create this home directory they are talking about, or where to look for it, I was able to use gedit and edit the root file for the main menu, but it didnt update in myth frontend.

MythFrontend Customizations

The next step allows you to launch Hulu from your Mythfrontend. We're going to edit the XML files for your theme for this. Copying XML files from /usr/share/mythtv into ~/.mythtv allows you to customize menus and prevents them from being overwritten during an upgrade.

Get a command line, and enter the following:

cp /usr/share/mythtv/themes/defaultmenu/mainmenu.xml ~/.mythtv
# (or library.xml or wherever else you want to put the hulu command)

This assumes you haven't already edited your Mythfrontend's appearance. If you have, edit your existing copy of mainmenu.xml. In my case, I wanted Hulu available on the main menu. You can add it to wherever you like, you just need to copy the right XML file and edit it.

Now, open up mainmenu.xml (or whatever file you copied over) in your favorite editor. Add the following lines where you want your Hulu button to live.

<button>
<text>Hulu Desktop</text>
<action>EXEC /usr/bin/huludesktop</action>
</button>

The next time you run your Mythfrontend, the button will appear on your main menu

I have learned more about linux tonight.

the command line is terminal right? some people start a command with # or $ but they dont work in terminal for me. why is that?

thanks
 
#230 ·
i deleted the digital tuner card and i have video on analog. yeah!!
That's good news...

very choppy, but that would be my pc, however it is not choppy in tv time.
Hmm, your pc doesn't sound so underpowered (except maybe for memory if I remember your configuration correctly). It' possible thought that tv time doesn't use the tuner in the same way...

(I'm not sure the HVR-950q has an hardware encoder which would also be preferable...)


I have dl and added hulu and netflix, however I cannot add them to the menu.
Hmm, I am not a themers so take my suggestions with a big grain of salt...

I am trying to do this, but I have no idea home to create this home directory they are talking about, or where to look for it, I was able
Home directory usually refers to the directory created for your user. Usually, for a user named mythtv, it would be under /home/mythtv. You could do "cd ~" too to get to it.

to use gedit and edit the root file for the main menu, but it didnt update in myth frontend.
Are you sure you are updating the right file? If I am not mistaken you can have a copy of these in your home directory (under .mythtv I think) and these override the default ones...

cp /usr/share/mythtv/themes/defaultmenu/mainmenu.xml ~/.mythtv
# (or library.xml or wherever else you want to put the hulu command)
OK here they appear to make you do a copy of the files in the .mythtv directory so that it override the default files...

the command line is terminal right?
Yep...

some people start a command with # or $ but they dont work in terminal for me. why is that?
They are not starting their command with # or $, these characters are part of the prompt (like the command prompt under Windows, ie "C:\>").

# means that you are logged in as (or switched to) root, the administrator of the pc.

$ means that you are logged in as a regular user.

You can't usually be logged in as root on an Ubuntu pc (as they want to protect you from yourself), you must usually prefix your commands with "sudo".

Oops, I have to go now otherwise I'll won't get to work in time...

Have a nice day and good luck!

Nick
 
#231 ·
Thanks for the reply Knight.

Home/mythtv exists, but the commands are not creating a .mythtv folder. Can I just manually create the folder and copy the main menu XML file into the folder?

I have 2gb of ram. 950q works fine with windows and tvtime in Linux. Video is choppy on hulu desktop too. Pc is 6-7 years old.
 
#234 ·
Home/mythtv exists, but the commands are not creating a .mythtv folder.
If you run MythFrontend with the mythtv user it should be present. If you type only "ls" it doesn't show entries that begin with ".", try ls -la...

Can I just manually create the folder and copy the main menu XML file into the folder?
I don't think there is any way, if you run the application with the mythtv user that the directory is missing, MythTV needs it..

I have 2gb of ram. 950q works fine with windows and tvtime in Linux. Video is choppy on hulu desktop too. Pc is 6-7 years old.
Ouch, your PC has more memory than I remembered though I think I mixed up your config the one of roger1818...

Which video card do your have and with which drivers?

(For example if you have an Nvidia card do you use the open source ones (not a good thing to do with MythTV) or the Nvidia drivers?)

Have a nice day!

Nick
 
#237 ·
I have successfully got everything to work in Linux, but nothing in mythbuntu.

I have my nas mounted and can play videos through vlc, hulu desktop works, I can play dvd's, and I can watch tv in tvtime.

I have tried to adding these services to mythbuntu with no success, I get so analog video with the 950q. I have tried numerous guides to mythbuntu without success, however I feel like I am on the right track with getting everything to work in Linux.

I have a gigabyte mother board with an on board video card, however I don't think there is an issue with my setup.

Maybe I can sole one issue at a time. My nas is smb://ipaddress/public (wd world edition) setup for nifs, I create a new video directory on the backup that points here and it says it doesn't exist. I've tried on the frontend and nothing when I scan for changes nothing shows up.

Thanks Again
 
#238 ·
Maybe I can sole one issue at a time. My nas is smb://ipaddress/public (wd world edition) setup for nifs, I create a new video directory on the backup that points here and it says it doesn't exist. I've tried on the frontend and nothing when I scan for changes nothing shows up.
Good idea. Looks like you are using the web interface to access the drive. Instead you will need to mount the NAS to a mount point on your machine. To mount it to /mnt/nas1 (it could be anything you want), you would use the command (setting xxx and yyy appropriately):

Code:
mount -t smbfs -o username=[I]xxx[/I],password=[I]yyy[/I] "//ipaddress/public" /mnt/nas1
Eventually you will want to add this to the "/etc/fstab" file so that it mount it automatically on reboot, but for now you can use the command line to temporarily mount it for the current session.

Then in the backend setup you would put /mnt/nas1 as one of the video directories.
 
#242 ·
ok some good progress. I got my nas mounted, still need to mount every time computer starts. i can get mythtv to see the nas, and I watched a movie. I also got the volume to work.

I noticed while doing pip during a movie the capture card was perfect picture, but still very slow stuttering video when watching tv.

I want to add hulu desktop to the main menu, i will keep reading on getting this done.

Thanks for the help.
 
#244 ·
I noticed while doing pip during a movie the capture card was perfect picture, but still very slow stuttering video when watching tv.
Can you try recording and play it back later to see if you have the same issue?

You mentionned USB 1.1 earlier, you are not running the HVR-950Q at these speeds I hope (either because of your motherboard (it would need to be pretty old though) or because you use an USB hub which doesn't support USB 2.0.

I want to add hulu desktop to the main menu, i will keep reading on getting this done.
AFAIK, the syntax you found is OK, I'm pretty sure it's the file you are editing which is not right.

Logged as the user you are running MythTV under, try to do this

Code:
cd ~
pwd
cd .mythtv
pwd
The first command changes the directory to your home directory, the second prints what that directory is, the third change the directory to the .mythtv directory and the fourth shows you what that directory is.

If you did the copy (cp command) they asked you to do there should be a mainmenu.xml file in that directory (if you type "ls" there you should see it).

You must edit that file using a text editor (vi, joe, etc...) and add the entry for Hulu desktop they asked you to type. If that file is present in that directory it's that file that which must contain this entry since it overrides the one provided by your MythTV package.

Good luck and have a nice day!

Nick
 
#245 ·
am i suppsed to do this in terminal?

cd ~
pwd
cd .mythtv
pwd

if s, it comes up as command not found.

I am trying to do one thing at a time and I am still stuck on auto mount in fstab. I added this to the bottom of fstab and it doesnt auto mount //ipaddress/public /mnt/nas1 smbfs rw,auto,user,username=nasusername,pasword=naspassword 0 0

I did try some other things Knight pointed out. the stuttering is on both recording and playing live tv.
 
#246 ·
am i suppsed to do this in terminal?
Yes...

if s, it comes up as command not found.
For which command, there are actually 4 commands there and unless the path is really messed up they should all work...

See the picture I have attached (BTW, don't type the $). There's a mainmenu.xml file in there because I did the cp they told you to do to add an entry in the menu (I had to change /usr to /usr/local though on my PC). BTW, the syntax you found is OK, it does add the entry in the menu...

I am trying to do one thing at a time and I am still stuck on auto mount in fstab. I added this to the bottom of fstab and it doesnt auto mount
If you type

Code:
mount -a
does it complain about something in the line you inserted in fstab?

I did try some other things Knight pointed out. the stuttering is on both recording and playing live tv.
I need more info on your hardware (see my previous posts)...

Good luck!

Nick
 

Attachments

#247 ·
here are my results:

Code:
xxxxx@mythtv:~$ mount -a
mount: only root can do that
xxxxx@mythtv:~$ sudo mount -a
[sudo] password for xxxxx: 
mount error(110): Connection timed out
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)
xxxxx@mythtv:~$ cd ~
xxxxx@mythtv:~$ pwd
/home/xxxxx
xxxxx@mythtv:~$ cd .mythtv
xxxxx@mythtv:~/.mythtv$ pwd
/home/xxxxx/.mythtv
xxxxx@mythtv:~/.mythtv$ ls
channels  config.xml  mysql.txt  osdcache  themecache
xxxxx@mythtv:~/.mythtv$
 
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