MythTV Alternatives

The Avatar of Time · 2008-11-29 08:08:14

Hello All,

I have loads of trouble with MythTV. I have tried the main version in the repos as well as the svn version in AUR. I'm sure it's a great app, but I never can get it working properly and I'm getting tired of fighting with it. Ideally I would like to have it working properly, but I've pretty much given up on that happening, so I'm curious about other methods for recording TV and such.

I use a PVR-500 capture card and have my Dish Network box ran to it. I use my TV as a dual monitor. I use Arch64 by the way.

I would just like to hear from anyone that uses something other than MythTV or Freevo (I'm not opposed to Freevo, but I can't get it to display TV) to record TV and watch movies.

I need to be able to pause, rewind, and record live TV. I don't use my card for over the air TV, only for the satellite. Being able to use lirc for a remote is a must. I like the idea of having a program guide that I can scroll through to schedule recordings, but it's not a must, some form of command line recording would be fine. I do need to be able to schedule recordings though, not just record whatever I'm currently watching. I don't have to have an all in one program like MythTV either, though I'm not against one.

I am fond of OXine so far, though there seems to be very little documentation for it, and I can't get it to display TV.

I'm under the impression that Elisa doesn't offer a means to record TV yet? I had thought of recording TV some other way and using Elisa for everything else. I'm not sure, can you watch TV with it?

I had thought of using 'cat' to record TV, but I could go for something better since I can't watch what cat is recording. It would be great if I could record straight to .avi, but since I use the PVR-500 I don't think that's possible. It also seems that TVTime doesn't work with it, can anyone confirm or deny that?

Anyhow, let me know what methods you all use for recording TV please. Thanks.

anrxc · 2008-11-29 20:04:58

I don't use my card for over the air TV, only for the satellite.

If it's possible to use this card with VDR, then it's clear what to do. It's much simpler then Myth, but no less powerfull. Mentioned oxine fits very nicely with it because it can even be connected to VDR (or started from VDR independantly). Oxine too is very simple compared to some full blown projects like mentioned Freevo... With those two you get a complete home media center with DVB-S, DivX, DVD, Audio, Internet Radio... but with no complexity, very much in parallel with Arch KISS philosophy

The Avatar of Time · 2008-12-01 08:15:24

Thanks for the reply. That seems like exactly what I am wanting to do/use.

Do you happen to know where there is a good guide for setting up VDR and OXine together? I haven't managed to find one as of yet.

Also I noticed that there is an Mplayer plugin for VDR in AUR, but not the one used for Xine/OXine. Is it more popular to use VDR with Mplayer?

anrxc · 2008-12-01 17:54:24

How VDR will output the picture depends on your hardware, some cards can output to TV directly over FB in which case you don't need xine, mplayer or X for that matter. There are also budget cards without a hw decoder so you use Xine, Softdevice... To answer your question, Xine is indeed more often used, with i.e. vdr-xine or vdr-xineliboutput (VDR plugins). In case of vdr-xine once VDR is started you connect a normal frontend to it (like xine-ui).

Oxine docs (on their web site) explain how to connect oxine to VDR. Other way around (some advantages with LIRC) is to use i.e. xine-ui as earlier mentioned and when you want to use oxine you call it from the VDR menu (externalplayer plugin). If you use oxine it also saves you the trouble of adding plugins to VDR to get support for playing external mp3, divx, DVD... (btw I think the mplayer plugin you mentioned is used for this purpose).

There is no need for me to continue writing, documentation is extensive.
http://www.linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php
http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/index.php

I wrote a guide some time back, but not in english. If you know your way around GNU/Linux you can follow the commands and configs to get an idea how it's done, http://tinyurl.com/y2paoz

jordi · 2008-12-01 20:34:42

Also I noticed that there is an Mplayer plugin for VDR in AUR, but not the one used for Xine/OXine. Is it more popular to use VDR with Mplayer?

There are just 2 votes for the mplayer package. So "more popular" is exaggerated. I made the mplayer-pkgbuild for me, as I got a full-featured card and view my stuff directly on the TV.

The Avatar of Time · 2008-12-02 02:43:10

anrxc: Thanks for the links and extra information on this. I look forward to getting it setup and working properly.

jordi: Yes I suppose 'more popular' would be exaggerated with only two votes. Course that's two more than the non-existing package has.

Do most users vote for packages? I have been meaning to, but have never got around to setting things up to do so. It's on the to-do list though....

Is this the type of thread that should be marked solved? I mean I think this is the method I'm gonna try, but I'd still like to hear about any other methods people use. Thanks for the advice so far!

Arch Linux

#1 2008-11-29 08:08:14

MythTV Alternatives

#2 2008-11-29 20:04:58

Re: MythTV Alternatives

#3 2008-12-01 08:15:24

Re: MythTV Alternatives

#4 2008-12-01 17:54:24

Re: MythTV Alternatives

#5 2008-12-01 20:34:42

Re: MythTV Alternatives

#6 2008-12-02 02:43:10

Re: MythTV Alternatives

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