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Watching TV and Linux
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Comments (10)
I've been playing with Myth a bit recently.
I haven't done much testing with recording (I did a couple quick tests, and realized that recording 2 shows back to back with the same tuner doesn't work - so I guess I have to force the tuner to use when doing that), but live watching via my hdhomerun (i.e. the 20 or so channels that AREN'T encrypted) seems to work most of the time.
Occasionally it will flake out and I'll have to esc and hit watch again.
The main problem I have is that it doesn't work properly with the analog tuners I have.
From reading around, apparently those particular cards are known to be difficult to work with in myth.
But I can always fire up tvtime on the box to watch through those, or use my tv recording script to record them.
I have mythvideo setup to use the volume groups and tested that my myth on my machine as a secondary frontend and it worke nicely. Now the other plugins (gallery/music/etc.) just need to support the groups as well....
Azer's script is nice, and made me realize that I can watch what I am recording while recording it. Kind of one of those "duh, why didn't I think of that?" moments. :)
I have mythvideo setup to use the volume groups and tested that my myth on my machine as a secondary frontend and it worke nicely. Now the other plugins (gallery/music/etc.) just need to support the groups as well....
Azer's script is nice, and made me realize that I can watch what I am recording while recording it. Kind of one of those "duh, why didn't I think of that?" moments. :)
Thanks Dino, I had not run across that during my admittedly short adventure with the monstrosity that is mythtv. I may revisit it again at some later date. For now though I'll correct my statement in the blog.
I am thinking that I can add the ability to access previously recorded shows, downloaded movies, and such to my script (with optional GUI for those enamored with such) with not too much work. I'll have to look at it a little more and see. Who knows, depending on my level of interest, this may turn into a personal itch and an honest project.
I am thinking that I can add the ability to access previously recorded shows, downloaded movies, and such to my script (with optional GUI for those enamored with such) with not too much work. I'll have to look at it a little more and see. Who knows, depending on my level of interest, this may turn into a personal itch and an honest project.
azer -
Don't feel bad. I only encountered it a couple of months ago, and I've been doing myth for the last 2 years.
Doing myth fresh from the ground up is a task that takes real courage. Doing it from mythbuntu is actually pretty easy.
By the way:
Myth has a Picture in Picture feature that, so far as I can tell, is limited to actual live tv viewing and a bit clunky...
but you can run multiple mythtv instances on your box and have the PIP from Hell. At one point, I had 5 myth windows running with an assortment of live tv and recorded content.
It was actually a test -- I had upgraded from g-class wireless to n-class, and I stream myth back and forth via wi-fi.
Conclusion? G works, but you're pretty close to the limits. Interference, etc, can make your life miserable. N -- sweeeeeeeeeet.
Don't feel bad. I only encountered it a couple of months ago, and I've been doing myth for the last 2 years.
Doing myth fresh from the ground up is a task that takes real courage. Doing it from mythbuntu is actually pretty easy.
By the way:
Myth has a Picture in Picture feature that, so far as I can tell, is limited to actual live tv viewing and a bit clunky...
but you can run multiple mythtv instances on your box and have the PIP from Hell. At one point, I had 5 myth windows running with an assortment of live tv and recorded content.
It was actually a test -- I had upgraded from g-class wireless to n-class, and I stream myth back and forth via wi-fi.
Conclusion? G works, but you're pretty close to the limits. Interference, etc, can make your life miserable. N -- sweeeeeeeeeet.
@dino:
5 PIP == 5 times the vast wasteland
5 PIP == 5 times the vast wasteland
gus3 -
commie b@st@rd.
commie b@st@rd.
@dino:
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Oh, wait...
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Oh, wait...
I was thinking, yes that same nasty habit that started me down the path of writing the script, about what you said dino. Mythtv gives you access to your previously recorded shows. I realized that it would be fairly trivial to add that same functionality to the script, but is that what I need/want to do?
If my aim had been to do a light weight drop in replacement for myth, a good majority of those functions are fairly straight forward. It would also be re inventing the wheel. Granted that while mythtv does all of these things that look to be the defacto standard when you start looking at PVR and Linux, they exemplify the elephant (a mouse built to government specs).
So no I don't think that I will be adding that to the script. I think the only revision to add functionality will be in the shutdown process. Right now if you choose to save the file, it just leaves it with the date stamp with which the buffer was created. With a few more lines I can give the option to rename it so that when you look it up however you want, it actually has a meaningful name.
Doing a lightweight replacement/competitor looks to be a fairly simple task, that was not and is not my intent. That I might take up that kind of project remains to be seen. As I said, each of mythtv's functions are trivial in nature, tying it together cohesively is another matter. There is also the matter of how many dependencies do I want just to run the script? At a minimum right now, its just mplayer and dialog. Adding Xdialog as the script is written adds gtk. Pulling in Samba, Fuse, some database, and whatnot for the added functions just to watch and play/pause/record TV ... meh.
Adding channel changing for the script might happen if there is interest, that I think is the extent of this project though.
If my aim had been to do a light weight drop in replacement for myth, a good majority of those functions are fairly straight forward. It would also be re inventing the wheel. Granted that while mythtv does all of these things that look to be the defacto standard when you start looking at PVR and Linux, they exemplify the elephant (a mouse built to government specs).
So no I don't think that I will be adding that to the script. I think the only revision to add functionality will be in the shutdown process. Right now if you choose to save the file, it just leaves it with the date stamp with which the buffer was created. With a few more lines I can give the option to rename it so that when you look it up however you want, it actually has a meaningful name.
Doing a lightweight replacement/competitor looks to be a fairly simple task, that was not and is not my intent. That I might take up that kind of project remains to be seen. As I said, each of mythtv's functions are trivial in nature, tying it together cohesively is another matter. There is also the matter of how many dependencies do I want just to run the script? At a minimum right now, its just mplayer and dialog. Adding Xdialog as the script is written adds gtk. Pulling in Samba, Fuse, some database, and whatnot for the added functions just to watch and play/pause/record TV ... meh.
Adding channel changing for the script might happen if there is interest, that I think is the extent of this project though.
azer --
One of the questions that bedevil the wisest among us is when to say "Y'know, I could do this, but why? This thing works, even if it isn't as slick as I would do it.
I started working with Myth because I knew that I would never approach its functionality on my own in any kind of reasonable time. I chose mythbuntu because other people had already done the work of making it more reasonable to configure and putting together a distribution that had all the needed parts.
Not very macho, but my family and I have been recording and watching digital TV for nearly three years now.
My macho side has been whetted by seeing how low-powered and quiet I can get the frontend stuff, and from messing around with the wireless streaming of digital tv signals.
Yahoo. More cumbersome than I would like, but, hey! I didn't have to write it.
One of the questions that bedevil the wisest among us is when to say "Y'know, I could do this, but why? This thing works, even if it isn't as slick as I would do it.
I started working with Myth because I knew that I would never approach its functionality on my own in any kind of reasonable time. I chose mythbuntu because other people had already done the work of making it more reasonable to configure and putting together a distribution that had all the needed parts.
Not very macho, but my family and I have been recording and watching digital TV for nearly three years now.
My macho side has been whetted by seeing how low-powered and quiet I can get the frontend stuff, and from messing around with the wireless streaming of digital tv signals.
Yahoo. More cumbersome than I would like, but, hey! I didn't have to write it.
dino, trust me I truly understand.
Anyways, as promised, I did make a revision to the script. Added file rename when save was selected, cleaned up the terminal output for those who want to run with dialog instead of xdialog (and its gtk dep). Also broke the mencoder command down for easier reading and added deinterlacing. Counting white space and comments ~20 more lines.
So you dont have to go through the blog ...
http://azerthoth.pastebin.com/f1b94f49d
Anyways, as promised, I did make a revision to the script. Added file rename when save was selected, cleaned up the terminal output for those who want to run with dialog instead of xdialog (and its gtk dep). Also broke the mencoder command down for easier reading and added deinterlacing. Counting white space and comments ~20 more lines.
So you dont have to go through the blog ...
http://azerthoth.pastebin.com/f1b94f49d
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Mythtv will indeed start up and run in a window that can be left on top of the screen.
I often run the command myth[frontend|tv] -geometry 600x450
mythtv is the equivalent of his script -- opening directly into live tv watching, with pause-start capability
mythtfrontend brings full access to all of the shows I've recorded