Hi, On Tuesday 08 November 2005 06:44, Ian Marlier wrote:

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Software TiVo. That would be pretty sweet.

I don't know of a software product that does this now...but TiVo does run linux, so if you could grab one of its drives, mount it, and find the binaries....hmmm....

And, of course, there's no hardware in a TiVo that's not in your everyday desktop system, right? Besides, while TiVo's software is pretty good (I own one and like it), it's not worth much without the subscription that provides the scheduling content that drives all the recording automation. Besides, there's existing television and video software and hardware for commodity Linux boxes that approximates TiVo. As far as I know, it's somewhat at the whim of existing public sources of scheduling information, but it's free and open-source. Check around. Randall Schulz

On Wed, 2005-11-09 at 08:34 -0500, Louis Richards wrote:

On Tuesday 08 November 2005 10:24 am, Ken Schneider wrote:

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The package is called MythTV. Google should give many hits for it. There is even an install cd if I remember right.

-- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998

This is a great program. I had it running on SuSE some time back but finally made a dedicated box that sits next to my TV. I loaded KnoppMyth on the new box. It does a heck of a lot more than any Tivo I've ever seen.

But doesn't KnoppMyth require a hard disk install and a boot CD? The myth backend is on the disk, and the front end on the CD? I miss the point of the CD. So I went back to seeing what I would need with SUSE. Using a PVR-150. I want to get Myth working on my SUSE box. I have old bits from before I upgraded to SUSE 10, but I want to do a nice clean install on SUSE 10.

-- Louis Richards

-- Roger Oberholtzer OPQ Systems AB

On Tuesday 08 November 2005 05:26, Ken Schneider wrote:

On Tue, 2005-11-08 at 13:58 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:

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Hi,

Is there a program in Linux, that allows me to save the TV stream to a file, then watch that file somewhat later, at the same time you are saving the program?

There are hardware boxes that do this. You know, you are watching a program, somebody phones you, so you press a key, and later you continue watching from the point you stopped, while the box continues saving the rest of the program that is still on air.

But to do that on a PC, in Linux?

Also check the current issue of Linux Journal (page 64), it has a nice article on it. Should hit the news stands soon since the subscribers are receiving their copy now.

-- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998

Hello Ken, I subscribe to Linux Journal and I have this month's copy; in it, on page three - it says there will be an article next month on MythTV. Jerome

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 2005-11-08 at 10:26 -0500, Ken Schneider wrote:

On Tue, 2005-11-08 at 13:58 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:

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Is there a program in Linux, that allows me to save the TV stream to a file, then watch that file somewhat later, at the same time you are saving the program?

[several people said: mythtv]

Also check the current issue of Linux Journal (page 64), it has a nice article on it. Should hit the news stands soon since the subscribers are receiving their copy now.

Finally, I read the article, at "http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8562". Disappointing. It describes what mythtv does, but it is no help to get it running. I compiled it, that was the "easy" part. But it is terrible to setup. Ah! The mouse disappears. It seems I have first got to call up "mythtv-setup". This is difficult to figure up, but more or less I did setup it. For example: My card is an "Avertv", not listed (xawtv sees it, yast sees it, kdetv sees it, but not mythtv). What do I use, "Standard V4L capture card"? Heck. :-( Then comes "video sources". What on earth is a "video source" for this program? Video source name: mia XMLTV listing grabber: Spain tv_grab_es: configuration will run in the terminal window channel frequency table: europe-west I click finish, and... two popups: «MythTV was unable to retrieve channel information for your provider. Please check the terminal window for more information» and «You MUST run 'mythfilldatabase --manual' the first time, instead of 'mythfilldatabase'. Your grabber does not provide channel numbers, so you have to set them manually.» And sure enough, I see this in the terminal window: 2006-02-23 00:43:54.089 new DataDirect_config source == 0 new DataDirect_config source == 1 2006-02-23 00:48:12.664 Please wait while MythTV retrieves the list of available channels sh: tv_grab_es: command not found 2006-02-23 00:48:12.733 tv_grab_es --config-file '/root/.mythtv/mia.xmltv' --configure 2006-02-23 00:48:12.734 exited with status 32512 You _MUST_ run 'mythfilldatabase --manual the first time, instead of just 'mythfilldatabase'. Your grabber does not provide channel numbers, so you have to set them manually. So, I obey: nimrodel:~ # mythfilldatabase --manual ### ### Running in manual channel configuration mode. ### This will ask you questions about every channel. ### 2006-02-23 00:54:01.189 New DB connection, total: 1 2006-02-23 00:54:01.213 New DB connection, total: 2 - ----------------- Start of XMLTV output ----------------- 2006-02-23 00:54:01.218 New DB connection, total: 3 nice: tv_grab_es: No such file or directory - ------------------ End of XMLTV output ------------------ Error in 1:1: unexpected end of file Updating icons for sourceid: 2 2006-02-23 00:54:01.262 New DB connection, total: 4 Updated programs: 0 Unchanged programs: 0 Failed to fetch some program info It complains about the program 'tv_grab_es' not existing. I don't have it anywhere. What is it, where do I get it from? Is it needed at all? If the intention is to tell mythtv what the timetables of the different stations are, I don't think it does exist here, and it would be useless anyway: stations change programs without notice, nor do they keep their own published timetables. How do I tell it not to even try? So it seems I have to set up the frequencies manually using 'mythtv-setup'. I do, I set up one channel only, for testing. I don't enter the frequency, I don't see where: just the channel number. Ok... I try to watch something, anyway. I fire up both the frontend and the backend in different xterms. The frontend just shows a "nice" black on black screen when I tell it to "watch tv". The terminal shows this: nimrodel:~ # mythfrontend 2006-02-23 01:25:26.332 New DB connection, total: 1 Total desktop width=1024, height=768, numscreens=1 2006-02-23 01:25:26.362 Using screen 0, 1024x768 at 0,0 2006-02-23 01:25:26.372 mythfrontend version: 0.18.1.20050510-1 www.mythtv.org 2006-02-23 01:25:26.373 Enabled verbose msgs : important general 2006-02-23 01:25:27.077 Switching to square mode (G.A.N.T.) mythtv: could not connect to socket mythtv: Connection refused lirc_init failed for mythtv, see preceding messages 2006-02-23 01:25:27.610 Joystick disabled. 2006-02-23 01:25:27.728 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin. 2006-02-23 01:25:43.260 New DB connection, total: 2 2006-02-23 01:25:43.306 Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 of 5) 2006-02-23 01:25:43.315 Using protocol version 15 2006-02-23 01:25:43.369 Using protocol version 15 2006-02-23 01:25:43.399 Event socket closed. No connection to the backend. 2006-02-23 01:26:03.379 ReadStringList timeout (quick). By this time, the backend has crashed. The xterm for the backend shows: nimrodel:~ # mythbackend --daemon nimrodel:~ # 2006-02-23 01:25:06.315 New DB connection, total: 1 Starting up as the master server. 2006-02-23 01:25:06.350 New DB connection, total: 2 2006-02-23 01:25:06.376 Channel(/dev/video0): CheckChannel failed. Please verify channel "3" in the "setup" Channel Editor. 2006-02-23 01:25:06.384 New DB scheduler connection 2006-02-23 01:25:06.396 mythbackend version: 0.18.1.20050510-1 www.mythtv.org 2006-02-23 01:25:06.397 Enabled verbose msgs : important general 2006-02-23 01:25:06.399 New DB connection, total: 3 2006-02-23 01:25:08.394 Reschedule requested for id -1. 2006-02-23 01:25:08.410 Scheduled 0 items in 0.0 = 0.01 match + 0.01 place 2006-02-23 01:25:08.417 Seem to be woken up by USER 2006-02-23 01:25:43.321 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback 2006-02-23 01:25:43.321 adding: nimrodel as a client (events: 0) 2006-02-23 01:25:43.362 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback 2006-02-23 01:25:43.362 adding: nimrodel as a client (events: 1) 2006-02-23 01:25:43.376 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback 2006-02-23 01:25:43.377 adding: nimrodel as a client (events: 0) 2006-02-23 01:25:43.387 ERROR opening file in ThreadedFileWriter. /nuevo/mythv//ringbuf1.nuv: No such file or directory (There is /nuevo/mythv/ directory, with write permissions for everybody, and I'm root). So! What do I do, do I hit it with a hammer? I didn't guess that watching and recording TV would be so damn difficult! :-/ - -- Cheers Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFD/QqWtTMYHG2NR9URAvfdAJ4rQtfIWKp8OrgJEhmmUB4b8NmmLgCePQU2 rubP8tJdi/X8SVbQfoDaK+Y= =GG0N -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Just to agree with Scott, try asking on the MythTV lists. You will probably want/need to subscribe to them anyway. MythTV is a large sprawling and complicated app to setup, and the lists are invaluable. As a friendly nudge, read on... On Thursday 23 February 2006 01:06, Carlos E. R. wrote:

It complains about the program 'tv_grab_es' not existing. I don't have it anywhere. What is it, where do I get it from? Is it needed at all? If the intention is to tell mythtv what the timetables of the different stations are, I don't think it does exist here, and it would be useless anyway: stations change programs without notice, nor do they keep their own published timetables. How do I tell it not to even try?

tv_grab_es is very likely a part of the xmltv application (which is entirely separate from MythTV.) It does download the tv guide info for your stations. Some sources may well keep up with scheduling changes. Not even trying to use guide data makes MythTV fairly pointless. Might as well use one of the simple TV apps like kdetv etc.

So! What do I do, do I hit it with a hammer? I didn't guess that watching and recording TV would be so damn difficult! :-/

The only advice I can give here is to persevere. When you finally get it all working it is a revelation. Never miss programs, skip all the ads etc. One final suggestion. If you're having trouble doing it all yourself, try the RPM's available from: http://folk.uio.no/oeysteio/apt/suse/ I tried them once, but I must be a masochist, as I still chose to do the whole build myself. HTH -- Steve Boddy

On Friday 24 February 2006 02:04, Carlos E. R. wrote:

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It does download the tv guide info for your stations. Some sources may well keep up with scheduling changes. Not even trying to use guide data makes MythTV fairly pointless. Might as well use one of the simple TV apps like kdetv etc.

Of course I would like to use a much simpler application, but I want one thing that they don't do: while watching TV, pause viewing while the software keeps recording it, and later, continue watching from that same point while recording the program some point ahead. I was told here to use mythtv for that.

Hmmm. I'm fairly certain kdetv allows you to pause/timeshift/record shows. So long since I used it now, that I can't be completely sure, but it was definately an app that came with 9.3

The other thing I want to do is to digitalize video tapes, erase the commercials and other interruptions, and finally record the result in a dvd. I read that mythtv does that, but if it needs exact timetables it will not work, as the programs are already in tape: ie, I'll have to mark the commercials manually, I suppose.

No, it doesn't have to have exact timetables for that. You set up a manual record on the appropriate video source. You can then use the MythTV interface to add cutpoints, and then transcode the show, which will delete the unwanted commercials.

...

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So! What do I do, do I hit it with a hammer? I didn't guess that watching and recording TV would be so damn difficult! :-/

The only advice I can give here is to persevere. When you finally get it all working it is a revelation. Never miss programs, skip all the ads etc.

I did, and it works... more or less. Now I have to learn how to tell it the frequencies of the channels I want to watch; I thought I did, but it is obvious I did it wrong.. Also I would like to have it in a window, not in full size. Didn't see any thing to resize clicking or something.

Watch out for the channel frequencies. They are in Hz, so lots of zeros!!! i.e. With DVB Multiplex's (multiple channels on a single frequency) the multiplex has a frequency of 505833333 Hz. This is the figure I have to enter. 505 (MHz) or 505833 (kHz) won't work. If you're using an older analougue card, you should be able to scan for channels though. As long as the signal is strong enough, it should lock on. The setting for windowed mode is somewhere in the appearance settings menu of the mythfrontend application.

...

One final suggestion. If you're having trouble doing it all yourself, try the RPM's available from: http://folk.uio.no/oeysteio/apt/suse/ I tried them once, but I must be a masochist, as I still chose to do the whole build myself.

Building it was no big problem, I did it myself. Using it is! :-)

"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger." I'm a much stronger guy since getting MythTV to work ;-) -- Steve Boddy

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Saturday 2006-02-25 at 12:40 -0000, Kevanf1 wrote:

It sounds obvious but what does really make a massive difference is your aerial. Make sure you have a very good aerial. It's no good having an indoor one unless you have a super duper strong signal in

I don't have problems there, the card works, and I can see TV fine - with anything else but mythtv. This program doesn't have a "find stations wizard", or even a "manual tune". I have to type the channels as numbers, or the frequencies, that's something I have to find out yet; but the thing is that I have to _type_ the data that other programs found out for themselves. - -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFEAmQPtTMYHG2NR9URAmvjAJ47ZdGUSfWEDzdZLNJz0qohIDo0KwCfZSxi LiOVN0jPw7fcJKagTy6VtLY= =/Njh -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----