Arch Linux

jeroenv

Member

Registered: 2004-11-29

Posts: 36

MythTV for just watching movies

I've been messing around with mythtv several times now. After reading the wiki and forums, everything seems to work ok (apart from lirc on my atiusb remote but i'll figure that out as well).
But, mythtv seems to be meant for recording tv or watch those recordings some time later or even while recording.

However, i don't have a TV tuner (and don't plan to buy one until more TV programs become watchable ;-). All i want is simply select one of my divx/mpeg movie files and start mplayer without having to telnet from some computer. A fancy shell with all my movie files, controllable by remote (which btw works ok with mplayer).
Can mythtv provide this for me? If so, how? If not, is there some other simple solution besides mythtv?

jakep_82

Member

From: Washinton

Registered: 2006-02-01

Posts: 16

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

I'm not sure I fully understand your problem but MythTV does have a plugin called mythvideo.  I've used it for the few videos I have and I like it.  You're right though when you say myth is geared around TV (which is what I primarily use it for).

Regarding lirc, make sure you have a properly configured lircrc file in ~/.mythtv

I've never had a problem with lirc in Myth once I had the lircrc file setup to my liking.

jeroenv

Member

Registered: 2004-11-29

Posts: 36

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

Ok, i'll have a look at the mythtv plugins. Haven't done that so far. And google for a lircrc for my atiusb. To be continued...

kleptophobiac

Member

From: Sunnyvale, CA

Registered: 2004-04-25

Posts: 489

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

you're best off authoring your own lircrc... that way the buttons all do what you want them to.

I used to use myth with exactly that remote. It worked fine... but I'm afraid I've since destroyed the config file when I switched to an infrared solution.

hugin

Member

Registered: 2006-05-19

Posts: 93

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

have a look at Freevo.  It's not in the repo's but it is in AUR.  I think it should fit your needs better than MythTV, as you can customize the main menu down to only include the things you use, as well as it doesn't have such huge dependencies (MySQL and Qt more specifically.) 

It's default/sample configuration file is a well documented python script and I've found their other documentation to be quite well done. 

I used this setup, in a similar situation, for over a year.  The only reason I'm not using it anymore, is that I'm gearing up to set-up a true MythTV network to record shows; seperate backend, and thin client. 

If you  need any help, don't hesitate to ask.  I'm more than willing to help.

/jhs

---

Open Toes; Open Mind; Open Source.

jeroenv

Member

Registered: 2004-11-29

Posts: 36

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

Well, i've got mythtv working now. I still need to optimize my atiusb lircrc file, e.g. pgup-pgdown buttons for quicker scrolling through the files. The video plugin was indeed the one i needed, got it from the AUR (isn't Arch wonderfull ) . If i have some time i might give freevo a try. Thanks for the support.

kleptophobiac

Member

From: Sunnyvale, CA

Registered: 2004-04-25

Posts: 489

Re: MythTV for just watching movies

There's an XML file in myth you can edit to add/remove menu items. I don't know its name offhand... but it's there, and it's reasonably well documented.