MythTV General Discussion and Support

[Dedge]

This thread is intended for OCAU members to discuss and provide support for MythTV.

For the MythTV Wiki article, please click here!

Why?
The previous MythTV thread is almost two years old with over 900 replies. Originally, the thread's intention was to demonstrate and promote MythTV. The success of the thread is its ultimate demise, as it was never supposed to grow as large as it did. As a result, discussion is disorganised and difficult to follow, especially from the perspective of a new user (and the database server). This prompted the creation of a new thread which will be regularly updated and complimented by the OCAU Wiki.

What?
Current and potential MythTV users are encouraged to browse and contribute to the MythTV article on the OCAU Wiki. This is an up-to-date source of information and resources for Australian MythTV users. It covers topics such as hardware, software and XMLTV grabbers. It also presents OCAU members with the opportunity to demonstrate their MythTV configurations.

How?
If you're interested in providing help, please take a look at the "ToDo" section in the Wiki article. In addition, if you feel any information is incorrect, or requires updating, please contribute

Secondly, if you're an experienced MythTV user, subscribe to this thread and provide support to other MythTV users where possible. Your contribution can make all the difference!

Goals

• Demonstrate and promote MythTV by encouraging new users with easy to read, up to date information on the Wiki, and a support thread in the forums
• A current and reliable Wiki article where OCAU members can easily update, add and correct information
• A dedicated thread for MythTV that follows a coherent and logical discussion

Let the discussion begin!

[STIK79]

added my machines to table...

(and subscribed )

[Quinn]

Ironically, i was contemplating making a suggestion of not a new thread, but a sub-forum devoted to MythTV with it's own collection of more specific threads.

I'm hoping to resolve a hard drive/controller DMA issue before I add my machine to the table, mainly because I'll be changing hardware if I can't resolve this through software.

[stmok]

LOL, my article: Enable XvMC for nVidia graphic adapters (for Arch Linux wiki) is listed in the OCAU wiki.

If I get the time, I might do a full fledge desktop-frontend-backend MythTV setup guide for Arch Linux for Aussies.

(At the moment, I've got a LOT of PIII era hardware to photograph, catalogue and pack, so I can sell it off...Money for multiple dual or quad-core setups has to come from somewhere!)

I've written a semi-blog like thread here.
http://forums.techwatch.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=5341
(Not MythTV specific, but dealing with my trials and tribulations in slowly getting things together. Many links scattered around though...)

[cleary]

This is a great idea - I've added my configuration and will try to contribute where I can

One minor niggle I have from first look is with the 'Ubuntu (Recommended)' entry - recommended by who, and why?

I also have a question - I've been dabbling on and off with MythTV for several years, but the two DVB cards I've owned have both had Brooktree878 chipsets -
Something I've found common to both these cards and regardless of the display device (CRT monitor, CRT TV, LCD), the software used (avermedia win sw, dvico win sw, winMCE, mythtv, kaffeine, xawtv), or the video card (nvidia FX5600 -> 7900GT) is that fast paced tv, eg tennis is difficult, if not impossible to view. The image seems to lag, or have a slow refresh rate which _really_ bugs me.

Have other people noticed this? What have you done to resolve it?

[Grim-Reaper]

Cleary, I've noticed exactly the same thing. Although the past couple of days I've managed to fix it up. The problem that I had was to turn on the Deinterlacing option in the TV Settings (I think) menu under Setup for the mythfrontend. Once you tick that box you have a selection of Algorithms to use. The best ones seems to be BOB (2x framerate) which needs XvMC (here is the mythtv wiki for it) or the kernel option. Currently I'm using BOB as it's better then Kernel.

Some people have a few issues with BOB, so it's best to have a look at the wiki page on the mythtv site as they have a fair few fixes there.

One issue I'm still experiencing is a non-transparent OSD. It was transparent but had the grey scale issue so I used the UseChromaKeyOSD MySQL fix for it, to which it's got the color back but is no longer transparent. GeForce 4 MX440 here btw. I'm yet to find a solution to get it transparent again, if anybody knows of one?

If I remove that UseChromaKeyOSD fix from the database and use the Kernel algorithm, the transparency comes back fine, but I think BOB is a lot smoother then Kernel in terms of fast motion playback.

[cleary]

Originally Posted by Grim-Reaper

Cleary, I've noticed exactly the same thing. Although the past couple of days I've managed to fix it up. The problem that I had was to turn on the Deinterlacing option in the TV Settings (I think) menu under Setup for the mythfrontend. Once you tick that box you have a selection of Algorithms to use. The best ones seems to be BOB (2x framerate) which needs XvMC (here is the mythtv wiki for it) or the kernel option. Currently I'm using BOB as it's better then Kernel.

Some people have a few issues with BOB, so it's best to have a look at the wiki page on the mythtv site as they have a fair few fixes there.

One issue I'm still experiencing is a non-transparent OSD. It was transparent but had the grey scale issue so I used the UseChromaKeyOSD MySQL fix for it, to which it's got the color back but is no longer transparent. GeForce 4 MX440 here btw. I'm yet to find a solution to get it transparent again, if anybody knows of one?

If I remove that UseChromaKeyOSD fix from the database and use the Kernel algorithm, the transparency comes back fine, but I think BOB is a lot smoother then Kernel in terms of fast motion playback.

thanks - I'll check that out tonight

[Dedge]

Originally Posted by stmok

LOL, my article: Enable XvMC for nVidia graphic adapters (for Arch Linux wiki) is listed in the OCAU wiki.

If I get the time, I might do a full fledge desktop-frontend-backend MythTV setup guide for Arch Linux for Aussies.

It's such a small world isn't it?

You're semi-style blog has a LOT of information on it, and it'd be great if you could turn that in to a Wiki article. If you're after some assistance, I'd be willing to lend a hand.

Originally Posted by cleary

This is a great idea - I've added my configuration and will try to contribute where I can

I noticed you have a DVICO HDTV Lite, would it be possible to grab a photo and place it on the Wiki (I understand the box is already setup, so if it's too difficult than don't worry)? In addition, is the card type autodetected? I'd assume because it's based on the bt878 chipset it is.

Originally Posted by cleary

One minor niggle I have from first look is with the 'Ubuntu (Recommended)' entry - recommended by who, and why?

When I wrote that section, out of the distributions listed, I felt that Ubuntu was the "easiest" to use for a new user. If you have another suggestion, please share it.

Originally Posted by cleary

I also have a question - I've been dabbling on and off with MythTV for several years, but the two DVB cards I've owned have both had Brooktree878 chipsets -
Something I've found common to both these cards and regardless of the display device (CRT monitor, CRT TV, LCD), the software used (avermedia win sw, dvico win sw, winMCE, mythtv, kaffeine, xawtv), or the video card (nvidia FX5600 -> 7900GT) is that fast paced tv, eg tennis is difficult, if not impossible to view. The image seems to lag, or have a slow refresh rate which _really_ bugs me.

Interesting. I have this chipset, as well as a cx2388x. The latter is my primary DVB card, so I rarely see recordings on the bt878. Now that you point this out, I'll have to runs a few comparison tests.

Originally Posted by Grim-Reaper

The best ones seems to be BOB (2x framerate) which needs XvMC (here is the mythtv wiki for it) or the kernel option. Currently I'm using BOB as it's better then Kernel.

Some people have a few issues with BOB, so it's best to have a look at the wiki page on the mythtv site as they have a fair few fixes there.

From my experience, BOB works well in displaying smooth motion picture. However, it also makes the "ends" of the display go fuzzy, especially on standard digital. ATM, I'm not using any XvMC or deinterlacing.[/quote]

[cleary]

Originally Posted by Dedge

I noticed you have a DVICO HDTV Lite, would it be possible to grab a photo and place it on the Wiki (I understand the box is already setup, so if it's too difficult than don't worry)? In addition, is the card type autodetected? I'd assume because it's based on the bt878 chipset it is.

no probs - I should be able to organise that tonight/this weekend.
Not all the required modules are loaded in sidux. I have to load the dvb_bt8xx to get it going.

When I wrote that section, out of the distributions listed, I felt that Ubuntu was the "easiest" to use for a new user. If you have another suggestion, please share it.

not looking for a better one, just looking for some qualification on the "recommended" tag. Personally I've found getting support from ubuntu forums to be an absolute nightmare - the signal to noise ratio is unworkable. For that reason I *don't* recommend ubuntu to new users (because support is what they need most)

Interesting. I have this chipset, as well as a cx2388x. The latter is my primary DVB card, so I rarely see recordings on the bt878. Now that you point this out, I'll have to runs a few comparison tests.

From my experience, BOB works well in displaying smooth motion picture. However, it also makes the "ends" of the display go fuzzy, especially on standard digital. ATM, I'm not using any XvMC or deinterlacing.

I'd be very grateful if you did, I was contemplating getting a cx2388x to test myself (and I just can't afford it atm)

[Dedge]

Originally Posted by cleary

no probs - I should be able to organise that tonight/this weekend.
Not all the required modules are loaded in sidux. I have to load the dvb_bt8xx to get it going.

Yeah, when you load the module, the kernel messages log should say something like "Card typeautodetected".

Originally Posted by cleary

not looking for a better one, just looking for some qualification on the "recommended" tag. Personally I've found getting support from ubuntu forums to be an absolute nightmare - the signal to noise ratio is unworkable. For that reason I *don't* recommend ubuntu to new users (because support is what they need most)

I found a really great Ubuntu "guide" as such, but I suppose that doesn't automatically equal great support. In reference to that, I'll just remove the "recommended part".

[Grim-Reaper]

Dedge, have you got an LCD TV, or just a CRT? If I don't have deinterlacing turned on I find the picture itself doesn't render properly. The best way to explain it is, imagine the entire picture is split up into horizontal lines and it's rendered by placing these all together, well most of the time these lines seem to be out of phase I guess which makes say a person's image jagged.

LOL, it's quite difficult to explain what I see . But yeah, apparently for LCD's they say the deinterlacing option does wonders, which for me it did. It would be interesting if you had an LCD also but found it best to have the deinterlacing turned off.


EDIT: I just found this link. It could be worth including in the Wiki to help explain deinterlacing, etc. It explains what I was seeing quite well http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=32777

EDIT2: Ah-huh!! The description of what I was getting is called "Mouse teeth"! Picture can be found here http://www.geocities.com/ianmhong/Artifacts.jpg. I found this Mouse Teeth description in the dtvforum post I linked

[cleary]

Originally Posted by Dedge

Yeah, when you load the module, the kernel messages log should say something like "Card typeautodetected".

I don't think it says that, it just registers all the device nodes...

I found a really great Ubuntu "guide" as such, but I suppose that doesn't automatically equal great support. In reference to that, I'll just remove the "recommended part".

if it's significantly better than any of the other guides there, then leave it - but if you haven't done a comparison with the other guides then I don't think it's correct to recommend it.
Having said all that, I do think a recommended distro is a good idea, however making an informed decision on that is what's important.

as a side note: I'll bash out a how to for the sidux wiki and link that in at some stage too

[HeatVision]

Originally Posted by Dedge

I noticed you have a DVICO HDTV Lite, would it be possible to grab a photo and place it on the Wiki (I understand the box is already setup, so if it's too difficult than don't worry)? In addition, is the card type autodetected? I'd assume because it's based on the bt878 chipset it is.

Also, the DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital and nano are not listed in the Wiki as being supported. Is this because they are not? I am about to install 6 tuners in my backend and I was hoping to use a combination of these.

[cleary]

Originally Posted by heat_vision

Also, the DViCO FusionHDTV DVB-T Dual Digital and nano are not listed in the Wiki as being supported. Is this because they are not? I am about to install 6 tuners in my backend and I was hoping to use a combination of these.

I know a guy who purchased a DViCO hdtv dual digital tuner of some flavour (I'm not sure if there's multiple versions) - his had a single input with no 'brick' attached to the pcb, it was just exposed chips only ...

it looked identical to: http://fusionhdtv.co.kr/ENG/products/DVBTdual4.aspx

It definitely was *not* supported in Linux as of about 3-4 months ago.

[cleary]

Originally Posted by Grim-Reaper

...
EDIT2: Ah-huh!! The description of what I was getting is called "Mouse teeth"! Picture can be found here http://www.geocities.com/ianmhong/Artifacts.jpg. I found this Mouse Teeth description in the dtvforum post I linked

(I missed this before) - the mouse teeth issue is not what I'm seeing - what I see is could be described as reduced framerate with motion blurring. If something moves quickly across the screen it is impossible to focus on, and difficult to watch because it's staggered and blurred.

I might need to get a video of it, it's difficult to describe but it makes watching tennis and cricket in particular, difficult.