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MythTV

Revision as of 21:50, 3 June 2008 by BBB (Talk | contribs)

A relatively standard screen shot of the initial MythTV screen (MythCenter theme).
A demonstration of MythTV on a high definition LCD television with the on-screen display.

Contents

Introduction

The Retro theme for MythTV.
A screenshot of MythWeb, the web based management interface.

MythTV is a free and open source Personal Video Recorder (PVR) for the Linux OS. It's easily extended through a diverse range of plugins providing extra capabilities such as DVD playback, photo management and games. MythTV provides high levels of customisability and features far beyond those offered by equivalent Home Theatre PC (HTPC) applications. It utilises a unique client/server architecture allowing for flexible deployment in the home environment. The latest stable release of MythTV is 0.21.

MythTV can

  • Display digital, high definition and analogue television
  • Time-shift LiveTV (Pause, Rewind and fast forward)
  • Schedule programme recordings from an integrated Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)
  • Automatically skip commercials
  • Change the appearance of the display
  • Support multiple combinations of TV tuner adapters
  • Be extended through plugins

MythTV can not

  • Wash your undies
  • Clone your cat
  • Help with the development of a flux capacitor
  • Be described as anything less than brilliant

Plugins

MythTV is easily extended through a variety of plugins. A complete list of official MythTV plugins with a short description of their functionality have been catalogued below.

  • MythArchive (Create DVDs of your recordings)
  • MythBrowser (Built in web browser)
  • MythDVD (DVD/VCD playback and ripping capability)
  • MythFlix (A netflix implementation for MythTV)
  • MythGallery (Photo management and presentation)
  • MythGame (Play games on your television)
  • MythMusic (Music library management and playback)
  • MythNews (Read RSS feeds on your television)
  • MythPhone (Receive and make phone calls)
  • MythVideo (Playback for a variety of video formats)
  • MythWeather (Display weather information)
  • MythWeb (Web based management and video/audio streaming)

Supported and recommended hardware

The Linux kernel and MythTV support a large variety of hardware configurations. Historically, MythTV was developed for use with analogue television. Fortunately, support for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) was eventually included, providing MythTV with the capability to receive digital and high definition television.

When selecting hardware for use in your MythTV computer, it's important to establish the purpose of the project. That is, do you intend to play high definition television, or standard digital? This will ultimately determine the minimum hardware requirements for your MythTV computer. Obviously, high definition playback will require a more powerful computer than that of standard digital.

Lastly, you should check to ensure that your desired hardware is compatible with Linux and MythTV. To help with this process, the following supported devices have been listed. If in doubt, consult Google or the OCAU MythTV General Discussion and Support thread.

Minimum hardware requirements

It's important to understand that this topic is largely subjective. Individuals have different expectations and experiences that ultimately affect their perception of "minimum requirements". Therefore, the author of this section encourages you to use this information as a guide only.

Minimum hardware requirements for watching LiveTV on a single digital tuner without XvMC (Video acceleration)
Standard digital High definition
  • Processor: Intel Pentium III 800Mhz or AMD Athlon 800Mhz
  • Memory: 384MB
  • HDD: 60GB (~20 Hours of recordings + OS)
  • Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2800+
  • Memory: 384MB
  • HDD: 200GB (~20 Hours of recordings + OS)

If you're interested to see what other OCAU members are using in their MythTV configurations, take a look here.

Supported TV tuner adapters

The following list of TV tuner chipsets and adapters are by no means a representation of ALL supported devices. It's merely a list of devices that have been confirmed to function correctly by OCAU members. For a more comprehensive list of supported tuners, visit the LinuxTV wiki.

Commonly support chipsets

Any TV tuner adapter utilising these chipsets should be fully supported by a recent Linux kernel.

  • Conexant 2388x (Recommended)
  • Brooktree878 (Recommended)
  • Philips SAA 7134
  • B2C2 Flexcop II

Digital tuners

A list of confirmed digital tuners in alphabetical order. Tuners with "Card type autodetected" are recommended.
Adapter Picture(s)
Compro VideoMate DVB-T200A
  • Chipset: Philips SAA 7134
  • Kernel modules: saa7134 (Card=71), saa7134-dvb

Special instructions

  1. Grab the CVS for video4Linux and linux-dvb, instructions can be found at LinuxTV.org
  2. Goto the video4linux directory and run scripts/merge-trees.sh
  3. Edit the Make.config file and make sure saa7134-dvb = n is changed to saa7134-dvb = m (builds the dvb part as a module)
  4. Run make && make install
  5. Then modprobe saa7134 oss=1 card=71
  6. Then modprobe saa7134-dvb and you should be good to go
  7. For the DVB-T200, you will also need firmware. Please check the Documentation/dvb directory in the kernel source how to obtain and install it
N/A
Digitalnow DNTV Live! DVB-T (USB)
  • Chipset: Conexant 2388x
  • Kernel modules: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)
  • Firmware: dvb-usb-vp7045-01.fw

Special instructions:

DNTV Live! DVB-T1.jpg DNTV Live! DVB-T2.jpg
DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus
  • Chipset: Conexant 2388x
  • Kernel module: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)

Special instructions:

  • When using Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) the module for the card is not loaded properly. Add cx88-dvb to /etc/modules to fix it. Now reboot and check to make sure that /dev/dvb/ exists and there should be adaptor0 inside.
VisionPlus DVB-T (1) VisionPlus DVB-T (2)
DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Lite
  • Chipset: Brooktree878
  • Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx
DViCO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Lite card
Leadtek DTV-1000T
  • Chipset: Conexant 2388x
  • Kernel module: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)

Special instructions

  • May need to add a line to /etc/modules
  1. cx88_dvb

Notes

  • The remote accompanying the tuner card works with a patch to Mythbuntu 7.10 (which was released October 2007) See this page for details of the patch.
  • Supplies of the DTV-1000T in Australia seem to be drying up. The apparent replacement DTV-1000S doesn't seem to be supported by Linux as of Jan 2008.
N/A
Leadtek DTV-2000H
  • Chipset: Conexant 2388x
  • Kernel module: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)

Notes

  • The remote accompanying the tuner card works out of the box with recent enough Linux kernel. (Works with Mythbuntu 7.10)
  • The "J" revision of this card is not autodetected but does work with the insmod option 'options cx88xx card=51'
Winfast dtv2000h.jpg
Technisat Airstar 2 DVB-T
  • Chipset: B2C2 Flexcop II
  • Kernel modules: b2c2_flexcop_pci, b2c2_flexcop (Cart type autodetected)
Technisat Airstar 2 DVB-T
Twinhan DVB-T
  • Chipset: Brooktree878
  • Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx (Card type autodetected)
Twinhan DVB-T card
VisionPlus DVB-T (Twinhan clone)
  • Chipset: Brooktree878
  • Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx (Card type autodetected)

Special instructions

  • Simply add 3 lines to /etc/modules
  1. dvb_core
  2. dvb-bt8xx
  3. dst
DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus (1) DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus (2)
V-Stream XPERT DTV-DVB-T
  • Chipset: Conexant 2388x
  • Kernel module: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)
Dcp 0903.jpg Dcp 0906.jpg
ASUS My Cinema U3000
  • Chipset: ???
  • Kernel module: dvb_usb_dib0700

Special instructions

  • Need to update to latest v4l
N/A

Hybrid tuners

A list of confirmed hybrid tuners in alphabetical order
Adapter Picture(s)
Compro VideoMate DVB-T300
  • Chipset: Philips SAA 7134
  • Kernel module: saa7134 (Card=70), saa7134-dvb

Special Instructions:

  1. Grab the CVS for video4Linux and linux-dvb, instructions can be found at LinuxTV.org
  2. Go to the video4linux directory and run scripts/merge-trees.sh
  3. Edit the Make.config file and make sure saa7134-dvb = n is changed to saa7134-dvb = m (builds the dvb part as a module)
  4. Run make && make install
  5. Then modprobe saa7134 oss=1 card=70
  6. Then modprobe saa7134-dvb and you should be good to go.
ComproDVB-T300.JPG

Unsupported tuners

A list of confirmed unsupported tuners in alphabetical order
Adapter Details
DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 A relatively new device, it utilises the Zarlink ZL10353 chipset. Unlike its predecessors, this chipset is currently unsupported. Fortunately, driver development is active. Until a mature driver has been produced, it's recommended to stick with an adapter based on either bt878 or cx2388x.

UPDATE: Development on this driver has progressed substantially, it's now in a usable state.

UPDATE: 6/03/08 Dvico have released a new revision 2.0 card. It has a new chip dib7070pb and a new hardware id DB98

             At this stage this new revision DOES NOT work with linux. Chris Pascoe is making progress on a driver
Twinhan 3028 PCI Currently sold at MSY for ~$55, this uses the mantis chipset. Initial diagnosis is that it's unsupported, but there is work in place to support the card in future. Personally managed to get the custom drivers compiled into the kernel, but no frontend support yet.

linux-dvb mailing list

linux-dvb mailing list


Supported remote controls

MythTV supports any input device that can be configured with the Linux OS. This allows for a large selection of potential remote controls, wireless keyboards and any other input device you can conceive. People commonly associate remote controls with their televisions and HTPC's. As a result, this section provides information on supported Linux Infra-red Control (LIRC) devices. For a complete list of supported devices, you may like to look here.

A list of confirmed remote controls
Remote Control Picture(s)
Microsoft Windows MCE IR remote control (Version 2) MythTV-Photo-MCEUSB21.jpg MythTV-Photo-MCEUSB22.jpg
DViCO FusionHDTV IR Remote + USB Receiver Dvico remote.jpg

Recommended Software

MythTV is an application that sits on top of a Linux distribution. Consequently, it's irrelevant which distribution you decide to use in your MythTV configuration. What's important is that you have the required package dependencies, and access to support. Distributions such as Ubuntu and Arch include MythTV in their package repositories which automatically resolve dependencies, simplifying the install process.

When choosing your Linux distribution, the author of this wiki article encourages you to pick a distribution that you're familiar with. Familiarity leads to confidence which is of benefit in a first-time install process. If you don't favour any particular distribution, pick a one that has a wide range of support. As a general rule of thumb, popular distributions are your best bet. They usually offer multiple places for seeking help such as forums, IRC and a mailing list. If you'd like assistance from other OCAU members, you may be interested in the MythTV General Discussion and Support thread on the OCAU forums.

Lastly, there are special, customised distributions that are designed specifically for MythTV. They present considerable advantages for users with little or no Linux experience by including automated installers and support for proprietary drivers. They're often considered "out of the box" solutions.

Linux Distributions

Distributions listed in alphabetical order
Distribution MythTV installation guides Support
Arch Linux
Fedora Linux
Gentoo Linux
Ubuntu Linux

MythTV distributions

Distributions listed in alphabetical order.

KnoppMyth

  • KnoppMyth is my attempt at making the Linux and MythTV installation as trivial as possible.

Mythbuntu

  • Mythbuntu is an Ubuntu derivative focused upon setting up a standalone MythTV system similar to KnoppMyth or MythDora. The Mythbuntu distribution fits on a single CD which can also be used as a frontend liveCD.

MythDora (Recommended)

  • MythDora is a Fedora Core and MythTV "All-In-One" DVD. The DVD will load a preconfigured Fedora Core installation on your computer as well as install and configure MythTV.

Electronic programme guide (EPG)

A screenshot of a relatively standard MythTV EPG.

MythTV uses XMLTV to store and display programme data in the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). Programme data is populated into the MythTV database through the use of a XMLTV grabber, such as the tv_grab_au script. In Australia, there are several XMLTV grabbers which provide varying levels of programme data. The legality of some grabbers are disputed.

Australian EPG tutorials and "How To's"

Ozmyth (Recommended)

The aim of this website to provide information on getting MythTV configured for Australian TV (although more general information is provided as well). The aim is to cover MythTV installation, Free to Air digital configuration, Foxtel Digital (and its variants) configuration and a buying guide for hardware readily available.

Australian XMLTV grabbers

Shepherd (Recommended)

Shepherd provides reliable, high-quality guide data for Australian free-to-air TV and Pay TV channels by employing a flock of independent grabbers and data sources. In addition, Shepherd provides HDTV programme data, as well as the capability to automatically configure TV network icons. It's the de facto choice of OCAU MythTV users, and recommended by the author of this wiki article.

IceTV

IceTV is a commercial entity that provides pre-compiled programme data for subscribers. Subscription can be purchased for approximately $13/month.

OzTivo

OzTivo is a community maintained television guide that provides pre-compiled programme data in the XMLTV and TiVo slice formats. The Guide relies on a community of users to create and upload guide data to the Guide's database. The database is then hand-edited via a web interface to correct any mistakes.

ltd73 (tv_grab_au)

Prior to Shepherd, Ltd73's tv_grab_au script provides verbose and accurate programme data from the Yahoo7 web site. This script is now deprecated, and Australian MythTV users are encouraged to use it's successor, Shepherd.

Australian television network icons

MythTV provides users with the ability to define icons for individual TV channels. You're able to set these automatically with software such as Shepherd, or manually by configuring icons via mythtv-setup. There are numerous free-to-air icon schemes available from a variety sources. Some OCAU members have created useful TV network icon resources.

MythTV supports amongst other formats, JPEG and transparent PNG images. Unfortunately, it does not support SVG.

Getting icons

The Network Seven HD icon from the t8 scheme.

There are four OCAU-centric locations that you can get TV network icons.

  • Australian TV Network Logos
    Has a number of TV network icon schemes (mostly scalable versions of the schemes below.) Also has a master SVG template for editing your own icons.
  • Shepherd
    Automated channel icon schemes.
  • MythTV
    Dedges's cartoonish blue and grey icons.
  • FrogBoy's icon set
    A tar archive with FrogBoy's icon scheme.

Configuring icons via mythtv-setup

  1. Run mythtv-setup, from either a terminal window or a run dialog.
  2. Go to 5. Channel Editor.
  3. Select the channel you wish to add an icon to.
    Note, you will need to press enter after you select the channel name. Double clicking seems to have been disabled for some reason.
  4. Enter the path to a supported graphic file in the Icon: field.

Tips, tricks and common problem fixes

Tips and tricks

For a comprehensive list of MythTV tips and tricks, you may like to visit the Myth(TV)ology web site for additional information.

Common problem fixes

No sound on Channel Seven or SBS

Symptoms: No sound occurs on channel Seven or SBS (In Australia, they have ac3 audio streams) when they are tuned to from another channel (i.e. You are watching channel nine, and change to channel Seven). There is however sound if you choose channel Seven, exit live TV mode and then re-enter live TV.

Fix: It appears there can be weird problems like this when using PS format to watch TV. It can be fixed by:

  1. Exit mythfrontend and mythbackend
  2. Enter mythtv-setup
  3. Go to card options
  4. Select your DVB card
  5. Go to 'Advanced Settings'
  6. Select 'Recording Options'
  7. Check the box that says 'Record in TS format instead of PS'
  8. Exit mythtv-setup, and restart mythbackend and mythfrontend

No display when watching LiveTV

Symptoms: When trying to watch LiveTV the screen is blank and no input is accepted, after a few moments will drop back to main menu.

Fix:

  1. Stop mythbackend
  2. Run mythtv-setup
  3. Select Option 4. Input Connections
  4. Add a starting channel (ie. 7)
  5. Close myth-setup, restart mythbackend and test

Support and additional information

The purpose of this wiki article is to provide OCAU and Australian MythTV users with relevant and up-to-date information on MythTV. OCAU members are encouraged to contribute to this article wherever possible. In the event that you notice incorrect or outdated information that you're unable to rectify by yourself, please feel free to contact either Dedge or Techtoucian. For MythTV general discussion and support, please visit this thread.

Informative and helpful links

Some useful links have been compiled into a list below. If in doubt, Google is a fantastic resource of information.

Official documentation

Complementary information

  • Linux TV - Television with Linux
  • LIRC - Linux infra-red remote control information

OCAU forum threads

OCAU member configurations and setups

The following table compromises of MythTV configurations by various OCAU members. It provides [potential] MythTV users with an opportunity to view what configurations other OCAU members are utilising. In addition, it may help to determine what hardware is necessary for either standard digital or high definition content. For fun, OCAU members may include pictures of their setups. If you're an OCAU member and would like to include your configuration in this table, click here for more information.

OCAU member configurations (Alphabetical)
OCAU
username
Configuration HDTV
capable
OS/Distribution Picture(s)
alphalove Yes
aynema

Master Backend / Frontend

  • Gigabyte GA-M52S-S3P
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
  • 2x 512MB Corsair Value Select PC-5300 DDR2
  • DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital 4 (Was working but not now)
  • Vision Plus Tuner Card
  • XFX nVidia 7900GT
  • Western Digital Raptor 36Gb, 2x300Gb WD SATA in RAID1 for Recordings
  • Slot Loading DVD-Rom
  • MS MCE Remote
  • Panasonic Viera 42" Plasma via DVI-HDMI

Secondary Backend / Frontend

  • Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H
  • Intel Core2Quad Q6600 (Got this sent instead of a E2160)
  • mAudio Revolution 5.1 (Using OSS and SPDIF)
  • 2 x Corsair 1GB Value Select PC-4200 DDR2 RAM
  • Installed on 8Gb USB Drive
  • MS MCE Remote
  • 27" Dell LCD Monitor
  • Sometimes I'm having issues getting the DVICO Card to work all the time its very temperamental to updates but works great when it's working
  • Mythbuntu 8.04RC with Shephard EPG
  • ALSA on Master Backup
  • OSS Audio on Secondary (Works great)
barney

Master Backend / Frontend

  • Abit NF7-S v2.0
  • Athlon XP 2600+
  • Kingmax 2 x 256MB DDR400
  • Leadtek DTV1000T
  • Leadtek DTV1000T
  • Albatron 5200 AGP Passive with DVI
  • Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA
  • LG 16x DVD-ROM
  • MS MCE Remote

Secondary Frontend

  • Shuttle SN45G v2
  • AMD Athlon Thoroughbred 2100+ (10 x 200)
  • nForce2 MCP-T Soundstorm
  • Radeon 9550 Speedy Edition AGP
  • Corsair 2 x 256MB PC3500
  • Western Digital 120GB PATA HDD
  • Liteon 52x CD-RW
  • MS MCE Remote
No Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10
BBB

Master Backend / Frontend

  • Asus P5WD2E
  • Intel D920
  • 2gb DDR2
  • DVICO Fusion DVB-T Dual (PCI & USB)
  • DVICO Fusion DVB-T
  • Leadtek 6200TC
  • Seagate 320gb SATA
  • Seagate 250gb SATA
  • LG 16x DVD-ROM
  • DVICO MCE Remote
  • Samsung LA32 HD LCD

Secondary Frontend

  • Asus P5NE-SLI
  • Intel E4400
  • Onboard Sound
  • 2 x Leadtek 7950GT in SLI
  • 2gb DDR2
  • Western Digital 250GB PATA HDD
  • Sony DVD-RW
HDTV is fine. The DVICO MCE Fusion Remote is dodgy again in MD5 so if anyone gets it to work PLEASE get in touch! Mythdora 5 and Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04
Bunyipbluegum
  • GA-PCV2 Mini-ITX motherboard with VIA 1.0GHz C3 CPU
  • 512MB DDR RAM
  • Onboard CLE-266 video adapter
  • LEADTEK WinFast DTV2000H
  • 80GB Seagate IDE
  • LEADTEK Y04G0033 remote (provided with tuner card)
No Mythbuntu 7.10
cleary
  • AMD A64 3200+ S939
  • 2GB DDR
  • Sparkle nVidia 7900GT 256MB
  • 1x DVico DVB-Lite HDTV Tuner (brooktree878 chipset) + IR remote
  • 2x 320GB Seagate 16MB Sata2 NCQ HDDs
  • Thermaltake Tenor Silver Desktop case
  • 76cm LG TV (Tube)
Yes sidux Chaos (2007-01) Cleary mythtv-setup sml.jpg
Dedge
  • AMD Athlon 64 3600+ X2
  • 512MB DDR2
  • nVidia 7300GS
  • 4x 320GB SATA HDD in software RAID 5
  • 1x 80GB HDD for OS
  • 16x Pioneer DVD-RW optical drive
  • Silverstone LC17 enclosure
  • NEC 40" HDTV LCD Display (1336x768)
Yes Ubuntu 7.04 Dedge-MythTV-configuration1.jpg Dedge-MythTV-configuration2.jpg
downforce

Master Backend

  • Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
  • Intel E2160
  • Team Dark 2x1GB DDR2-800
  • DVICO Dual Digital (Rev 1)
  • Asus EN7600GS 256MB
  • Tagan 430W PSU
  • OS: 2x Seagate 36GB U160 SCSI + Adaptec 2100S - RAID 0
  • Storage: WD 750GB SATA, WD 500GB SATA, Maxtor 320GB IDE
  • Lite-On 8x DVD-ROM
  • Intel 1000GT PCI NIC

HTPC Frontend

  • Silverstone GD01MX Black (inc iMON Remote + LCD)
  • AMD X2 4400+ AM2
  • Gigabyte GA-M55-S2plus
  • Team Dark 2x1GB DDR2-800
  • Corsair VX450 PSU
  • Scythe Mini-Ninja + 4 Noctua R8's
  • Asus EN8500GT 512MB Passive
  • WD 80GB SATA
  • Pioneer DVR-221BK SATA DVD-RW
Yes Ubuntu Alternative 8.04 + mythtv-frontend
fad
  • Antec Fusion mATX
  • Core 2 Duo E4300
  • ASUS P5B-VM DO mATX, PCI-E, GbE, 8 SATA, Q965 ICH8
  • 1GB DDR 6400
  • nVidia 7800 256MB
  • 1x DVico DVB-Dual Digital HDTV Tuner + IR remote
  • 2x 320GB Seagate 16MB Sata2 NCQ HDDs
  • Pioneer DVD-R A08
Yes Ubuntu 7.04
FrogBoy
  • VIA EPIA M9000
  • 512M PC133
  • Onboard VIA video, sound etc
  • Leadtek Winfast DTV-2000H
  • 250MB Seagate HDD
  • Crappy Old SONY TV
No - Not Enough Grunt Debian Sarge
FaNToM
  • AMD Athlon64 3500+
  • 512MB DDR400
  • Asrock 939 DualSata2
  • Nvidia FX5200
  • Onboard sound
  • Compro DVB-T300 + Remote
  • 20GB Seagate HDD (OS)
  • 80B Maxtor HDD (Recordings)
  • Mapped Drive from Windows Server for Movies
  • 32" Samsung HD LCD TV
Yes Mythdora 4.0
HrdwrBoB

Server

  • DS3P/6420/2gb/6800GS
  • Leadtek DTV1000T
  • 2.8 tb raid5 (7x500gb seagate sata)

Frontend

  • crappy motherboard
  • athlon 64 3200+
  • 1gb ram
  • 8600GT (needs nvidia beta drivers :( )
  • 37" 1080p panel (1080p over DVI, overscan corrected by changing res in myth.)
  • Thermaltake Mozart SX with VFD/remote
  • Old 4x DVD-R
Yes Ubuntu 7.04 HrdwrBoB-mythserver.jpg 100px
Jimboberella
  • AMD Athlon64 3700+
  • 1GB DDR
  • Nvidia 6600
  • Onboard sound
  • Leadtek Winfast DTV-1000T
  • 250GB Seagate HDD (tv)
  • 120GB Maxtor HDD (Videos)
  • 80GB Seagate HDD (OS etc)
  • 48cm Philips TV
Yes Ubuntu 7.04
kingborel

Backend/Frontend

  • ASUS A8N-SLI
  • AMD Athlon64 3800+
  • 2GB 667 RAM
  • Winfast DTV-1000
  • Nvidia 7100GS passive
  • 320GB SATA HDD
Yes (just, better with Nvidia tweaks) Ubuntu 7.04
Kreegor

Backend/Frontend

  • Gigabyte P31-S3G
  • Core 2 Duo E2160
  • 2GB DDR2 667 RAM
  • DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus + IR Remote
  • Leadtek DTV1000 T
  • nVidia 8400GS 256MB
  • Onboard AC97 sound
  • 160GB IDE HDD but need more
  • Silverstone LS20 Silver
Probably MythBuntu 8.04 (upgrded from a 7.10 installation)
martynh
  • AMD Athlon 3200+
  • Asus M2NPV-VM
  • 1GB DDR2 800MHz
  • Onboard Video (Nvidia 6150)
  • Onboard sound (SoundMax ad1986A)
  • Leadtek Winfast DTV-1000T x 2
  • SilverStone LC17 Case
  • Seasonic S12 430W PSU
  • 320GB Western Digital HDD
  • Hitachi 32" LCD (32LD380TA)
  • Microsoft Media Center Remote
Yes Ubuntu 7.04
Mickoeus
  • Intel C2D E6420 2.13GHz
  • ASUS P5B-VM (micro ATX)
  • Antec Fusion Case
  • 2GB DDR RAM
  • Gigabyte GEF7600GS
  • 120GB SATA
  • Twinhan DVBT
  • MCE Remote
Yes Ubuntu 7.04
Mythdora
  • AMD Semperon 2800+
  • 512MB DDR2
  • S3 Virge
  • 2x V-Stream Xpert DTV-DVB-T
  • 240GB HDD
  • 16x Pioneer DVD-RW optical drive
  • SPI enclosure
  • Sony CRT Monitor
No - Video card not up to it MythDora 4.0
Pingers
  • Pentium 4 2.8E
  • 512MB DDR
  • Nvidia FX 5200
  • Onboard sound (C-Media)
  • Twinhan Terrestrial DVB DTV Tuner
  • 120GB WD SATA (tv)
  • 120GB WD SATA (videos)
  • 68cm Panasonic TV
Probably Ubuntu 7.04
Samarium
  • Intel E6420
  • Gigabyte G33M-DS2R
  • 2GB DDR2 667
  • Nvidia 7300 PCI-e, passive cooling
  • Onboard sound (AC-97)
  • Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T
  • LifeView TV Walker Twin DVB-T USB2
  • 500GB Samsung SATA
  • Antec Fusion
  • 68cm noname TV, component input, 525i
Yes
  • Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty
  • DVB drivers via Hg
  • Shepherd EPG
spedwards
  • AMD Athlon XP 2600+
  • Gigabyte GA-VT600 1394
  • 512MB DDR
  • Nvidia FX 5600
  • Onboard sound (AC-97)
  • Leadtek WinFast DTV1000 T
  • 200GB SeaGate PATA
  • 68cm Palsonic TV
  • Silverstone LC10M+
Yes MythDora 4.0
Stik79
  • Master BE/FE combo
    • Athlon Venice 3500+
    • Shuttle SN95G
    • 1GB DDR
    • nVidia GeForce FX6200TC (passive)
    • 700G LVM (Samsung quietness)
    • 32" AWA 720p LCD (1366x760)
    • Digital now USB Twin Tuners
  • Slave BE/FE combo
    • (in bedroom (needs quietness - PSU = only fan))
    • Athlon 2100+ (underclocked) / Abit NF7S
    • Silverstone LC17M
    • 512M DDR
    • nVidia GeForce FX 5200 passive
    • 48cm CRT LG TV (bleh - replace with LCD one day)
    • Kworld Xpert DVB-T100 PCI Digital TV Tuner (cx88_dvb)
    • 0G HD - remote boot/NFS
  • Gigabit Wired Network
Yes/Yes (with XvMC) FC6/FC6 Stik79-mythtv-lounge.jpg Stik79-mythtv-bedroom.jpg
Techtoucian
  • Intel Pentium 4 2.26Ghz
  • 1.5GB DDR
  • nVidia GeForce FX 5700
  • Dual screen desktop PC with one screen devoted to MythTV.
Yes Ubuntu 6.10
Thrawn
  • Dell SC430
    • Intel Pentium D 820 2.8 Ghz Dual Core
    • 512MB ECC DDR2 (256MB pc4300 standard and one 256MB pc3200, needs the initial release BIOS for pc3200 support)
    • Gainward 7300GT fanless, cut the PCIe x4 slot to fit
    • USB Audio with optical output
  • 1TB software RAID-5 JFS volume consisting of 5 x 250GB partitions
    • 3 x 250GB SATA drive
    • 1 x 320GB SATA drive (remainder space for OS)
    • 1 x 250GB IDE drive
    • 1 x 200GB IDE drive outside RAID
  • TV Tuners
    • Dvico Fusion HDTV Lite PCI
    • Twinhan VP3020 PCI
  • Display device
    • Aiko 32" LCD 1366x768 HDMI
    • 30" LCD 2560x1600 (now sold, found TV is better on the much cheaper Aiko anyway)
  • Network
    • Onboard Broadcom Gigabit
    • Extra PCIe Broadcom Gigabit
Yes Slackware 10
The Sentinel
  • Shuttle SB86i
    • Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz
    • 1GB DDR RAM
    • NVidia 6200TC PCI-e card with component-out
    • Onboard High-definition audio with optical output
  • 1TB Reiserfs LVM
    • 1 x 750MB SATA drive (remainder space for OS)
    • 1 x 500 MB SATA drive
  • TV Tuners
    • Nebula DigiTV PCI DVB tuner
    • TinyUSB2 USB DVB tuner
  • Display device
    • 82 CM Widescrenn CRT
    • 24" Dell 2407 LCD
  • Network
    • Onboard Broadcom Gigabit
  • 1 x master backend/frontend
  • 3 x slave frontends
  • 1 x slave backend
Yes Gentoo 2007.1
Wornbat
  • Backend
    • Two AMD Athlon(tm) MP 1600+
    • AMD-760 MP Motherboard
    • 512MB DDR RAM
  • Video cards
    • ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 PF/PRO AGP 4x TMDS Backend
    • nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT] Frontend 1
    • ATI Technologies Radeon 9600 Frontend 2
    • ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10] Laptop Frontend 3
  • Storage
    • 1 x 30GB OS
    • 1 x 300GB drive Mythtv Record storage
    • 1 x 200 GB SATA drive DVD Storage
    • 1 x 120 GB SATA drive Apps/Misc Storage
  • TV Tuners
    • DVICO DVB Lite Backend
    • DVICO DVB Pro Backend
    • DVICO DVB Hybrid (Analog sound not working?) Backend
    • Analog Tuner PROVIEW Backend 2 Slave
  • Display devices
    • 21in Phillips CRT Frontend 1 Main Computer Desktop 1
    • 19in Widescreen LCD Frontend 1 Main Computer Desktop 2
    • 50in Widescreen HDTV LG Plasma Frontend 1 Slave of Main Computer Desktop 2
    • 19in CRT Backend / Frontend 2
    • 19in Widescreen LCD Laptop Frontend 3
  • Network
    • Onboard 100mB
    • 3 Wireless 54mB G Networks
  • 1 x master backend/frontend
  • 3 x slave frontends
  • Shepherd EPG
Yes Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty
adante
  • P4 2.8Ghz with HT
  • SIS P4S800 motherboard
  • GeForce 4 Ti4200
  • 600gb (3x200gb RAID-0)
  • Medion 37" LCD (1366x768) DVI-Input
  • Tv Tuners
    • TwinHan VisionPlus
    • Compro VideoMate DVB-T300
    • Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T
  • DTV1000-T remote
Only just (no) - can play smoothly but 100% CPU and response is sluggish
  • Ubuntu 7.10
  • Kernel 2.6.22.9 patched for DTV1000 remote support
  • MythTV 0.20.2
Storage Locker
  • ASUS Motherboard
  • AMD Proceesor
  • 1G memory
  • Video card - fanless Nvidia , with DVI output
  • 40G for system ie root and 2x400 as LVM for recordings.
  • TV is an LG 42 inch LCD
  • Remote - Keyboard and the LC20 remote
  • AMP - Denon AVR-1906 receiver
  • Speakers - Wharfedale Rubiance series
  • Tuners
    • Hauppauge PVR 150 for Foxtel
    • Leadtek Winfast DTV1000-T for digital free to air
  • LIRC to drive Foxtel via simple serial port blaster.
  • Grabber is Shepherd , runs each day approx 4AM
  • Case - Silverstone LC20 Black with VFD. Yep, the display works with LIRC
  • Case - You must put a fan or two in the front of the case to cool the hard drives.
Ubuntu 7.10 Can record and play back smoothly
elbeasto
  • Abit AV8 3rd eye Motherboard
  • 2GB Giel RAM
  • Video card - 6800GT nvidia (AGP)
  • Speakers - Logitech R-20 (very cheap but quite decent)
  • Tuners
    • Dvico Fusion dvb-t Hybrid (doesn't work with newer kernels, 2.6.20 or greater)
    • Leadtek WinfastDTV 2000H (revision "J")
  • Remote - Dvico USB remote
  • Case - Cooler Master Elite
  • Grabber - shepherd
HD and SD work and playback well
  • HD playback causes a decent amount of CPU usage
Debian Etch
  • kernel - 2.6.18-6-amd64
Backend.JPG Frontend.JPG
Bonj

Backend/Frontend

  • Motherboard: Foxconn P965 chipset (Conroe)
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 (2.4GHz) 800MHz FSB
  • RAM: 1GB
  • Tuner: 1x LeadTek DTV-1000T, 1x LeadTek DTV-2000H Rev. J (options cx88xx card=35,51)
  • Video: PCIe nVidia 7200GS passive - 1080i component out
  • Audio: onboard Intel HDA optical out to surround receiver
  • HDD: 500GB SATA
  • DVD: Pioneer DVD single layer burner
  • Case: Silverstone LC20 Silver
  • Display: Sony HD 76cm widescreen CRT

Old hardware (worked until motherboard developed a fault)

  • Motherboard: Asus P4S800
  • CPU: Intel P4 2.6GHz 800FSB w/ hyperthreading
  • RAM: 512MB
  • Tuner: LeadTek DTV1000T
  • Video: AGP nVidia FX5200 passive - Svideo out. (would have been 1080i RGBHV but for faulty mb)
  • Audio: onboard SIS chipset - stereo out
  • HDD: 320GB LVM {1x 200GB IDE, 1x 120GB IDE}, 1x 80GB IDE

Laptop frontend

  • Dell Vostro 1400
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz)
  • RAM: 4GB
  • Video: nVidia 8400GS discrete
  • Audio: onboard Intel HDA
  • HDD: 250GB SATA
  • DVD: dual layer burner
Yes,

Yes, Yes

Mythbuntu 7.10,

MythDora 4.0, Kubuntu 7.10 x86_64

How to contribute

OCAU members are encouraged to include their configurations in this wiki article. Please include your hardware specifications, television display, HDTV capability (I.e. are you able to smoothly display high definition content?), OS/Distribution; and any relevant pictures. In an attempt to reduce clutter, please limit your entry to a maximum of two pictures with respective thumbnails. If you're unsure where to start, copy an existing entry. Note: Please keep entries in alphabetical order by OCAU username.

ToDo (Please contribute!)

This is a small list items that are either unfinished, or require implementation. If you're unable to contribute but would like to, please contact either Dedge or Techtoucian.

Seeking additional information on specific topics

As it currently stands, information in this wiki article has been compiled by Dedge, Techtoucian and the previous wiki article. If you're successfully using a TV tuner or remote control that is not currently listed, please add it.

We're seeking additional resources for the following sections. Please ensure they're current.

Dvico Fusion HDTV Remote

  • Update kernel modules required for Dvico Fusion HDTV remote (Cleary) - Please see the discussion page for more information.

Images requested for TV tuners

Several TV tuners listed in this wiki article do not have respective images. We're unable to use images from other web sites due to copyright law. Therefore, if you have a TV tuner listed in this wiki article without an image, please take a photo, upload it, and add it to this wiki article.

OCAU member configurations requested

Please add your MythTV configuration to the "OCAU member configurations and setups" section of this wiki.


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