[Wlug] Meeting Topic Idea - MythTV

[John Stoffel]

All,

Sorry if this is going off topic, since we're not talking Linux much
here.... thought Myth is linux, and Tivo is linux with additions, so
it's sorta kinda maybe relevant.  :]

John

>>>>>   <bkn at ithryn.net> writes:

> On Wed, 7 May 2008 08:30:12 -0400, "John Stoffel" <john at stoffel.org> wrote:
>>>>>>> "Eric" == Eric Martin <freak4uxxx at gmail.com> writes:
>> 
Eric> I have a mythbox but can't bring it in as my wife would *KILL*
Eric> me.  I can however talk about a few things although I don't see
Eric> it going past 20 minutes.  If anybody's interested in it I could
Eric> throw something together for a later date...
>> 
> I also have am mythtv box.

> Someone was asking about a distro earlier. The latest ubuntu appears to
> have ivtv support built into the kernel and the lirc code built into the
> kernel. The former is a driver for the hauppauge tv cards the the latter is
> for the remote. Until very recently ivtv and lirc were a challenge to get
> working because it meant you had to recompile your kernel every time
> something changed. 

> Other challenges for old tube-style TV is to get it to display to
> the TV correctly. I believe you need a special X11 driver for
> this. The new LCD TVs are much more friendly when it comes to
> plugging-in a computer.

Right now I've just got a plain old JVC Tube TV, which has worked
great for years and years.  No plans to replace until it's dead dead
dead.  Not HD plans either... it would be a waste on a 32" TV screen. 

>> 
>> Now my big questions, since I can't make the meeting due to other
>> commitments, is as follows:
>> 
>> - do people use their TiVo remotes with Myth?
>> 

> I use the remote that came with my pvr card. It works really well. I
> need to use the TV remote to turn the TV on, but once the TV is on,
> i only use the mythtv remote to control TV. I also use mythtv and
> the mythtv remote to play DVDs using xine, which is the only media
> player i could find that has decent DVD menu support.

Does the PVR remote not have the ability to turn on the TV power?  My
TiVo talks quite well to my TV, except for changing channels when I'm
on the TV Tuner input, and not on the TiVo tuner.  

>> - anyone hack a TiVo to be a Myth frontend box?

> I believe their tv tuners is propriety, but i could be wrong on
> this. The hauppauge cards are well supported under linux many of
> them have hardware decoders and encoders which alleviate the load on
> the CPU for converting the TV streams.

I don't want to use the TiVo as the backend in this case, I just want
to use it to read streams off the backend Myth box and display them to
the TV.  Seems like a perfect use for an old Series 1 or series 2 Tivo
which you don't want to pay the monthly fee for any more.  

Ideally, if I setup a Myth server, I'd have my TiVo as the front end,
along with it's remote.  Ideally.  

>> - which capture cards work with Digital cable?
>> 
> I don't know of any, read more below ...

I know they must exist, but I honestly haven't researched this much at
all.  Nor do I care for HD Digital cable either.  It's just not worth
the money to me.  Though when my Wife see the RedSox on high def, she
just might want it badly enough!  *grin*

But the real goal is simplicity.  And minimum number of remotes.  

>> - does it need to be downstream of the cable box?

> Yes. I did set this up at my place just to test it. With my setup
> using comcast, i had a serial cable plugged into the mythtv box and
> the cable box. I was able to change the channels on the digital
> cable box. There is significant lag -- i mean more so than lag than
> usual digital cable. Since i don't want anything that comes through
> on the digital channels i just setup the analog side to go to my
> mythtv box. That gets me all the channels i want.

We're ok with Analog too, except for BBC America is up over 100, so we
need Digital to get that.  

And I'm bummed at the slowness of the Tivo changing channels on my
Digital Cable box (using the IR doohickey), it's really annoying.  

>> I was just at my mom's house and she has a new Sony LCD HD TV.
>> Realize that my mom is clueless about technology, so much so that they
>> took advantage of her and sold her a Toshiba HD DVD player too.
>> Sigh...

> ouch. I would definitely take it back, where did she get this? I
> would go find their manager. that's really absurd.

It's too late now, it's been two months since she got this setup, my
first time down to visit and see it.   I wasn't too impressed with the
picture quality, nor with the Sony TV in terms of configurability,
etc.  

Not to say I'm still not pissed at them for this.  The annoying part
is that the TV has 8+ inputs, but she only uses two of them, and I
cannot turn off the rest of them so she can't see them by default.
Total pain in the butt.  

I'm thinking the Harmony remote with the two buttons that say "Watch
TV" and "Watch a movie", properly programmed, would be a life saver
for her, and for me.  

>> All she wants is a big screen so she can watch TV and DVDs.  That's
>> it.  Now she has to juggle three friggin remotes to do this.  A
>> logitech Harmony remote is in her future I think. :]
>> 
> As i mentioned above, i only need to use the TV remote to turn the TV on
> for all other tasks i just use the mythtv remote. A friend of mine has a
> nice LCD HDTV with mythtv setup (although he only gets standard def TV);
> he's TV goes into sleep mode with it's been inactive and the mythtv remote
> will wake the TV up; so he only needs the one remote. 

>> But this just shows how complicated it can be to setup a simple
>> setup.  So, how do people deal with multiple inputs, remotes,
>> digital/analog cable, etc.

> I hope this question is somehow explained above. The remotes that
> come with the hauppauge PRV cards are well supported under linux. It
> took me some configuration to get it working, but i can explain that
> at a later time if necessary; that is if i can remember how to do
> it; it's been so long.

As long as they're supported, I can deal I think.  I just really
really really like the Tivo remote and how it feels in the hand.  And
being able to use it with Myth would make my wife and kids accept it
all the more easily.  

>> All in regards to Myth, since when my TiVo finally bites the dust,
>> I'll need to put something up ASAP to keep the family happy.
>> 
> i can understand that. It's hard to go back to watching regular TV.

It's impossible.  :]

John