User:Dedge

Revision as of 23:31, 9 April 2007

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.

Introduction

MythTV is an extensible, free, and feature rich home theatre PC application for Linux. Simply install MythTV on a spare PC with a TV tuner card, and you've got a device capable of watching and recording TV, but with an incredible suite of features (far beyond those offered by other HTPC software.)

MythTV can

• Let you choose programs to record from a visually appealing integrated TV guide
• Automatically skip commercials
• Be extended through numerous plugins (Burn to DVD, web front-end, music library etc.)

MythTV can not

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

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 playback.

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 topic encourages you to use this information as a guide only.

• Searchable PVR Hardware database
• Official MythTV documentation hardware recommendations
• MythTV & High Definition...minimum requirements
• Officail MythTV wiki - Configuring HDTV

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

Supported TV tuner adapters

Commonly support chipsets

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

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

Digital tuners

A list of confirmed digital tuners

Digitalnow DNTV Live! DVB-T Chipset: Conexant 2388x Kernel modules: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)
DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Plus Chipset: Conexant 2388x Kernel module: cx88-dvb (Card type autodetected)
DVICO (Ultraview) Fusion HDTV DVB-T Lite Chipset: Brooktree878 Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx
Technisat Airstar 2 DVB-T Chipset: B2C2 Flexcop II Kernel modules: b2c2_flexcop_pci, b2c2_flexcop (Cart type autodetected)
Twinhan DVB-T Chipset: Brooktree878 Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx (Card type autodetected)
VisionPlus DVB-T (Twinhan clone) Chipset: Brooktree878 Kernel module: dvb-bt8xx (Card type autodetected)
V-Stream XPERT DVT-DVB-T Chipset: Conexant 2388x Kernel module: cx88-dvb

Hybrid tuners

Supported remote controls

Electronic programme guides (XMLTV)

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.

Shepherd

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 no longer maintained, and Australian MythTV users are encouraged to use it's successor, Shepherd.

Australian television network icons

A relatively small, yet pleasant feature is the ability to set icons per TV channel. You can set these using automatic software (such as Shepherd) or manually by setting Up Icons via mythtv-setup.

There are numerous free-to-air icon schemes available from many sources. Some of the OCAU folks have created useful TV icon resources.

MythTV supports amongst other formats, JPEG and transparent PNG files. It currently does not support SVG.

Getting Icons

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

• Australian TV Network Logos
  Has a number of logo themes (mostly scalable versions of the themes below.) Also has a master SVG template for editing your own icons.
• MythTV
  Tatey's cartoonish blue and grey icons.
• FrogBoy's icon set
  A tar archive with FrogBoy's icon theme.

Setting Up 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

Official documentation

• The offical MythTV documentation
  
• Official MythTV community maintained wiki

Installation guides and howto's

• Step-by-step guide to building a MythTV System on Fedora Core 6 w/ATrpms
  
• MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide
  
• Official Gentoo MythTV Install Guide
  
• A guide to setting up MythTV on Arch Linux
  

OCAU forum threads

• MythTV General Discussion and Support
  
• Linux + MythTV = WIN
  
• A good TV tuner?
  

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)
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 6.10
Techtoucian	Pentium 4, 2.26 1.5GB DDR nVidia GeForce FX 5700 Dual screen desktop PC with one screen devoted to MythTV.	Yes	Ubuntu 6.10

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.

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

Please add your MythTV configuration to the "OCAU member configurations and setups" section of this wiki. For more information, click here.