MythTV is a popular piece of software which turns a Linux PC into a
media centre PC, sometimes called a home theatre PC (HTPC).
The system I ended up buying was a pre-built
EfficientPC Wraith MythTV System.
I considered building my own, but having added up similar component part prices, I decided this would be
far easier and possibly only slightly more expensive.
I was happy with the service I received from EfficientPC, and would
definitely recommend them. The system did take just over a week
to arrive, but this was due to me ordering just before the Easter
weekend and so a supplier failing to deliver on time meant my system
dispatch was delayed by 4 days.
I will probably be purchasing a twin-tuner system to go alongside
my current single-tuner system, which is perhaps its main limiting
factor.
Feature Highlights
- I can't write about MythTV without mentioning MythWeb,
which is a really excellent web based frontend for MythTV. From it
you can manage all your recording schedules, and view saved/upcoming
recordings. I find this a lot easier than using the TV based interface,
and of course being web based, with suitable firewall settings (and port
forwarding if you are behind NAT) you can access the system from anyway,
meaning if you're at work and see a program you want to record, you can
just log in and do it.
Link: MythWeb wiki article at mythtv.org
Current Experiences and Opinions
June 2nd, 2007
Nearly 2 months in, really starting
to think it's a great system ... however I'm pushing up against the
limits of a 160GB disk. I need to get a second twin tuner machine
with a larger disk, and use both machines together as a master/slave
backend setup.
April 24th 2007
I've had the system for two weeks now
and overall, I am very happy with it. I still haven't played much with
playing DVDs on the system, something which didn't work hugely well the
first time I tried and haven't really had time to look into it more.
Outstanding Problems
If you have any tips about how to solve any of these problems,
please do email me or leave comments at the bottom of the page.
- program guide freezes entire system
- This problem is intermittent.
I haven't tracked this down yet, I did enable some debugging info but the system worked
ok that time!
Resolved Problems
- MythMusic does not work.
- fixed, set output device to ALSA:default
ref: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/engine?do=post_view_printable;post=247988;list=mythtv
- Remote control intermittently fails to work.
- I sometimes found the remote control only partially worked. When it was in such a state, the numeric
keys, up/down/left/right, and OK (Enter) keys would work, but no others. The problem was tracked down to
the device path for the remote control not being consistent across reboots. The system shipped configured to use
/dev/input/event3, but I found this sometimes changed. I used the following setting in
/etc/lirc/hardware.conf which resolved the problem for me.
DEVICE=`/bin/dmesg | /usr/bin/awk '/cx88 IR/ { print $NF; exit}' | /bin/sed "s#class/input/input#dev/input/event#"`
The exact pattern to search for, in my case cx88 IR, will depend on your tuner card/remote control devices.
UPDATE: There is a much better looking fix described at
http://parker1.co.uk/mythtv_tips.php
but I haven't had time to try it yet.
- Remote control does not work in mplayer.
- When I installed MythVideo, using mplayer as the video player, I found the remote control didn't work at all,
there was no way to even stop the video using the remote control. I found some button mappings which resolved this:
### MPlayer lirc setup
# Pause playback
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Pause
config = pause
end
# Skip ahead a minute if playing
# If paused, resume playing
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Play
config = seek +1
end
# Stop playback and exit
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Stop
config = quit
end
# Mute
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Mute
config = mute
end
# Seek back 10 seconds
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Replay
config = seek -10
end
# Seek forward 30 seconds
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Skip
config = seek +30
end
# Quit
begin
prog = mplayer
button = Back
config = quit
end
# Seek forward 10 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = NextTrack
config = seek +600
end
# Seek backward 10 minutes
begin
prog = mplayer
button = PreviousTrack
config = seek -600
end
This goes in the .lircrc file in the home directory of the user MythTV runs as, in my case mythtv.
The exact names of the button will vary between remote controls.
ref: http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/lircrc-haupgrey.txt
Links
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