“Looking for some truly hardcore and high tech food. We have some insta ice cream we overclocked into high gear using LN2. Wanna see the chilli results? Check out our entire cool video. “

Setting your porch light to turn on automatically at sunset is easy to do. Follow the included instructions to install the INSTEON SwitchLinc V2 Dimmer, which wires in like a standard wall switch, with an additional connection to a neutral wire. Plug the PowerLinc V2 Controller into a wall outlet and connect it to your PC using the included USB cable. You will need an Internet connection in order to download the free Smarthome Manager Essential Software.

The setup wizard will walk you through linking the USB module to the SwitchLinc that controls your porch light. Once you tell the software in what city and time zone you live, you’ll be able to set up the system to turn the light on automatically at sunset, as designated by your location. The software adjusts automatically for Daylight Saving Time.

You don’t need to leave your computer on in order to run the program: The PowerLinc V2 Controller module has on-board memory, so timers can be downloaded without the need to leave your computer up and running.

Products needed for project:

SwitchLinc V2 Dimmer - $45.99

PowerLinc Controller w/ Smarthome Manager Essential Software - $59.99

Source: Smarthome

While hacking your TiVo DVR, you should never use the original drive that came in your unit. Depending on the method that you employ while expanding the capacity, you might need to use the image on your original drive at a future date. The first thing you should do is remove the original TiVo DVR and store in a safe place.

Next, to determine which hard drive would be best suited for your TiVo DVR, you need to know what kind of TiVo DVR you have. For instance, do you have a TiVo Series 1, 2 or 3 and is it a standalone or integrated TiVo DVR (DirecTV TiVo DVR for example)? Next you need to determine if you want to add a drive, replace the current drive or replace with two new drives. Since we recommend not reusing the original TiVo DVR hard drive, you should really determine if you want to simply replace the drive or do you want to replace the drive with two new drives. Finally, you need to choose the right size and brand. We provide some hints below.

Basics of TiVo DVR hard drives

TiVo Series 1 and 2 use ATA, UATA and PATA drives while the new TiVo Series 3 uses SATA. Most drives provide for a 2MB, 8MB or 16MB cache (pronounced “cash”) which buffers information for quicker access. Drives that run at 5400RPM or 7200RPM will work on TiVo DVRs. Anything slower than 5400RPM (3600RPM for example) will be unusable as a lot of data needs to be written and read from the disc. Faster drives (running at 10000RPM and faster) are a waste of money as the interface connecting to the drives simply cannot provide access at those speeds.

More cache provides faster performance but you probably will not even notice the difference. Higher RPM will give you faster performance but will run at a higher temperature. If your system already runs hot or runs in a cabinet, you might want to stick with a slower drive for fear of the drive dying prematurely.

Series 1 TiVo DVR:

Currently, all Series 1 TiVo DVRs can only utilize 137GB of the hard drive space. If you have dual hard drives, you can double the space to 274GB max. To expand beyond that limit, you need to hack your TiVo DVR and upgrade the Linux Kernel with one that supports hard drives greater than 137GB. However, you have to be aware that once the TiVo DVR software gets updated via the phone line, you will lose the extra capacity greater than 137GB. In order to gain it back, you must rehack your TiVo DVR immediately. Another reason this must be done immediately is to stop the new TiVo DVR software from “fixing” the TiVo file system called MFS which corrupts the file system. The only way to fix your TiVo DVR at that point is by putting a fresh software image on your hard drive (from either the original TiVo DVR hard drive we told you to save or using an InstantCake image. Due to the price of a 160GB drive, most people simply throw away the 23GB of wasted space and purchase 160GB drives to add to their Series 1 TiVo DVRs.

Series 2 TiVo DVR:

Most older standalone Series 2 TiVo DVRs require software 7.1 or newer to use hard drives greater than 137GB. On newer standalone Series 2 TiVo DVRs, software 5.1 or greater supports hard drives greater than 137GB. All DirecTV Series 2 TiVo DVRs with software 6.1 or higher supports hard drives greater than 137GB. Directv HD TiVo DVR (HR10-250) has built in support for hard drives greater than 137GB with the software version 3.1 or higher.

Series 3 TiVo DVR:

The latest and greatest TiVo with dual high definition recording capability is called the Series 3. It comes with a special Serial ATA (SATA) interface called SecureConnect so the Western Digital 250GB SATA or larger drives work best. You can purchase other brands but you might have issues with the SATA connector securely fitting. This TiVo comes with an external SATA port which is disabled currently in software. Once enabled you should be able to plug in an eSATA drive to expand the capability.

For the fun of it, we’ve posted a “how to” on expanding your Series 3 TiVo DVR to 1TB providing 130 hours of high definition TV or 52 days of standard definition!

The DirecTV HR15 and HR20 are non-TiVo DVRs are cannot currently be expanded. The HR15 has a Seagate 160GB hard drive and the HR20 has a 250GB hard drive. If you need to replace the hard drives in these models (due to failure), simply swap out the current hard drive with a new hard drive and initialize the drive.

Replacement Drive:

A replacement drive is the best way to upgrade your recording capacity. You can start fresh and transfer the software from your original drive yourself or purchase a plug in play drive that is prepared already or Instantcake. You can transfer your settings, season passes, recorded shows to a new replacement drive using the freeware software called mfstools yourself. You will need a computer, a linux boot disc and know how to install hard drives in a computer.

If you are technically challenged, check out DVRupgrade’s Professional Services. They can even copy all your settings, season passes, preferences and recorded content to a new drive kit prior to installing into your DVR.

Adding 2nd Drive or “B” Drive:

Most Series 1 TiVo DVRs have a 2nd drive bay available for adding a 2nd drive to increase capacity above the 137GB limit. Most Series 2 TiVo DVRs do not have 2nd drive bay so you would have to buy a dual mounting bracket. You will also need to buy a dual IDE cable and power splitter. If you have TiVo DVR with DVD burner or player built in, you cannot have a dual drive setup since there is no space in the unit to add a 2nd drive (unless you either leave the cover off or cut some holes in your unit.

Here are some conditions you would have to meet in order to add a 2nd drive:

• Your current TiVo Hard drive has to be in good working order.
• If you want to add a hard drive greater than 137GB for Series 2, your current TiVo hard drive has to have software version of 6.1 or higher for DirecTV TiVo, software version of 5.1 or higher for newer Standalone TiVo (TCD540x, T800), and software 7.1 or higher for older standalone Tivo (TCD130, 140x, 230x, 240x)
• DVD burner is not built in (no room inside as mentioned before)

What are the cons of a dual drive system:

• If “A” drive failes, you will loose all your recordings on both “A” and “B” drives.
• Your TiVo’s power supply might not supply enough power to two drives.
• More complex upgrade than replacement drive.

What are the pros of a dual drive system:

• You can retain current TiVo settings, Season Passes, recorded shows without performing long copying process.
• Very quick to prepare the drive using single linux command.

Choosing the Right Size:

The bigger the hard drive the better! The biggest consumer hard drive available currently is 750GB with perpendicular recording and they are known to work well on TiVo DVRs. Any hard drive greater 250GB needs special attention in order to work properly on TiVo DVR, so if you are buying a already prepared drive, buy it from a seller who knows what they are doing. Make sure the drive is the same size or bigger than your current TiVo DVR hard drive.

Choosing the Right Brand:

Hard drive quality has improved greatly so most brands work well. The Maxtor Quickview or Seagate DB35 Series seem to be the quietest, followed by Western Digital, Samsung, Hitache. Seagate non-DB35 Series drives do not have AAM features currently so they are slightly louder during seek time. Seagate recently bought Maxtor and discountined the Quickview drives. They introduced DB35 series drives that are made for DVR market and acoustically tuned to the quietest setting and include a 5 year warranty. Seagate DB35 series are the best drives to get for your TiVo. If you are sensitive to noise and your TiVo DVR is in your bedroom, you should get Maxtor Quickview drives or Seagate DB35 series drives.

The Seagate DB35 drives are a bit more expensive and harder to find than other hard drives, but they are specifically made for DVRs. The drives have on board sensors which monitor temperature and adjust various characteristics depending on the temperature. Seagate implemented acoustic management by specifically tuning the drives to run as quietly as possible. Also, the drives have been optimized for DVR usage by being tuned to provide consistent data to the DVR processor. Standard hard drives sometimes can hang while retrying drive needs while the DB35 series move ahead and provide more data to keep video smooth. Finally these drives are tuned to move past errors faster putting the stream of data as top priority. After all, one block being bad might create a dark spot on one frame for 1/30th of a second! If you’re serious about your DVR, you need to get a Seagate DB35 (ebay link, remember to look for new drives!).

Used Hard Drive:

Hard drives are always on sale with or without rebates so there is no reason to purchase a refurbished or used hard drive for your TiVo DVR. You can get 250GB and 320GB hard drives for under $100 (check Bargains for Geeks for sales on hard drives) so don’t waste your money on used or refurbished drives!

Do-it-yourself?:

A blank hard drive won’t work in a TiVo DVR. It has to be prepared properly and loaded with the right software. If you choose to “do it yourself” you need to be technically savvy enough to be able to plug in hard drives correctly in the TiVo DVR and your computer and know the difference between primary and secondary IDE channels and perhaps a little Linux.

DVRupgrade and other vendors provide full-service where you send your TiVo DVR away and it comes back all hacked up to your specifications but if you feel you can do-it-yourself but don’t have the time to track down all information on how to hack your TiVo DVR you can always purchase your own hard drive and use DIY software from DVRupgrade.

Warranty Info:

Most retail hard drives come with 1 year warranty from the purchased date. If you can’t produce proof of the purchased date, factory date is used. Most OEM drives carry 3 years. Most brands have datestamp on the hard drive. Seagate drives come with date code and you can validate the code at Seagate’s site.

	Retail	OEM
Hitache	1	3
Maxtor	1	3
Western Digital	1	3
Samsung	3	3
Seagate	5	5

]]> http://www.diyforgeeks.com/2006/12/22/how-to-pick-the-right-tivo-dvr-hard-drive/feed/ http://www.diyforgeeks.com/2006/11/28/how-to-copy-online-content-to-your-sony-psp/ http://www.diyforgeeks.com/2006/11/28/how-to-copy-online-content-to-your-sony-psp/#comments Wed, 29 Nov 2006 02:48:39 +0000 corporate http://www.diyforgeeks.com/2006/11/28/how-to-copy-online-content-to-your-sony-psp/ This how to guide will show you how to enjoy online video content from Internet sites like Google Video and YouTube on your Sony PSP.

This guide assumes you have some basic computer knowledge and know how to connect the PSP to a Windows computer using a USB cable. The guide extensively uses PSP Video 9. PSP Video 9 is an excellent freeware application for Windows machines, but if you’re a Mac user you should check out PSPWare or iPSP. Both offer transcoding and syncing features similar to PSP Video 9.

How To Get Google Videos on PSP

Downloading your favorite Google Videos for your Sony PSP is simple provided your PSP has the most recent firmware (or at least firmware version 2.80). If you have the Sony PSP model number PSP-1001 sold in North America, you can download the most recent firmware upgrade from the official Sony PSP site. You can figure out which model PSP you have by looking on the bottom where the Volume buttons are. There will be a strip with your serial number followed by a dash and then your model number.

Once you have you firmware up to date, the next step is to find the video you would like to watch on your Sony PSP. Once located, change the “Windows/Mac” dropdown to “Video iPod/Sony PSP” on the right side of the video and simply click the “Download” button. You will see your usual Internet browser download box appear. Choose to save the file to disk.

Now, using the USB cable for the Sony PSP, connect the PSP to one of the computer’s USB slots. After you turn on the PSP, navigate to the Settings menu and choose USB Connection by hitting the “X” button on the PSP. Now, using your computer navigate to the new drive that is created in “My Computer” when the PSP is attached. In that drive, create a new folder named “VIDEO” and copy or move the downloaded file into the “VIDEO” folder.

After removing the USB cable, navigate to the Video icon on your PSP and choose Memory Stick. Your video should appear there.

Now, for the more advanced PSP user that has decided NOT to upgrade to the latest firmware (to continue running homebrew applications and games), getting Google Videos on your PSP is still easy. You will need an application that will convert the video to the proper format like PSP Video 9 which is a free PSP video conversion and management application.

Next, download the video you want in the same manner by choosing “Video iPod/Sony PSP” and clicking the “Download” button on the Google Video site. Next you will want to convert the video using the PSP Video 9 application and then you can even copy the video to the PSP after connecting the Sony PSP to the PC using the USB cable.

Google Video Recommendation: White & Nerdy

How To Get YouTube Videos on PSP

Getting YouTube videos on your PSP is a bit more tricky than Google Videos because Youtube embeds their videos in a Flash player and they do not provide a way to download those videos to your hard drive.

There are several ways to extract video from YouTube. First, you can use a website called YouTubeX. This site allows you to download YouTube videos by submitting the URL. Simply find the URL of the video you want to extract and paste into the field on the site. Another way is to use a virtual software toolkit using Firefox as the glue and several software packages and scripts.

To setup the virtual toolkit, you first need to install Firefox.

Once Firefox is installed, you need to download and install the greasemonkey extension. You will need to restart Firefox to activate the greasemonkey extension. Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to add bits of DHTML (”user scripts”) to any web page to change its behavior. Next you need to download a “user script” by Josh Kinberg called YouTube To Me. The YouTube to Me script adds some download text at the top of the page in Firefox when viewing a YouTube video.

Now that everything has been installed, you simply need to browse YouTube for videos you want to watch on the Sony PSP. When you view a video you would like on your PSP you should notice a bar at the top of the page that says “Save As” to download Flash video. Click on the text and the video should start to download. Make sure the filename has a .flv extension (.flv stands for a Flash movie).

Regardless of the way you obtain the YouTube video, you need PSP Video 9, the free PSP video conversion and management application mentioned above, to convert the video for your PSP and to copy it over to your Sony PSP.

YouTube Recommendation: Jellyfish: The King is Half-Undressed

PSP Connect

PSP Connect is a Sony run site providing free downloads for your PSP including movie trailers, game trailers, music videos and videos from stupidvideos.com.

Enjoy filling your PSP with your favorite online videos and check back in a couple of days for another article on adding content from your hacked TiVo, TV and DVDs to your Sony PSP.

Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) users enjoy an excellent 4.3″ 16:9 widescreen TFT screaming for video content. While there are currently over 430 Universal Media Disc (UMD) movies, fewer movie studios including Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video are releasing their movies on the UMD format due to much lower than expected sales for UMD movies. Most PSP owners simply do not want to purchase two copies (a DVD and a UMD) of their favorite movies. So with a dwindling UMD video market, but an incredible portable video screen, what are PSP users to do?

Granted, you cannot use the simplistic iTunes interface to purchase and download TV shows or movies, there are still plenty of choices for PSP users depending on the content and source for the video you would like to watch on your PSP.

For instance, you can use an MPEG-4 recorder such as the Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 to record video content from live TV, camcorder, DVR, DVD or VCR. The various MPEG-4 recorders are similar to VCRs in that the content being recorded must be played through the device in real-time. The “tape” is a memory card where a MPEG-4 file is saved. These recorders tend to have settings for different quality settings which allow for either a better picture at higher quality settings or more content at the lower quality settings. MPEG-4 recorders are simple to use and allow the average electronics consumer the ability to easily transfer video content to their PSP without having to worry about hacking their TiVo and using various conversion applications.

Instead of recording video to a memory card, you can “placeshift” your video content to the PSP. Sony’s PSP and LocationFree TV are two products that work seamless together. With LocationFree, you can stream TV or movies from your home over broadband internet to your PSP system. Using LocationFree and PSP’s wireless capabilities, you can stream video content to your PSP while walking around your home. This option allows you to change channels, pause or record on your components in your home using the LocationFree’s onscreen universal remote. In addition to Sony’s LocationFree product, HAVA Wireless is rumored to have a PSP client giving you another choice in the placeshifting market. You can stream video content from whatever components are connection to the different placeshifting devices including: live TV, camcorder, DVR, DVD and VCR.

If you have a TiVo, you can sync recorded shows to your PSP using TiVoToGo. For $24.95, you can get the TiVo Desktop Plus upgrade for Windows to automatically convert your TiVoToGo transfers for your PSP.

Also if you have a hacked TiVo, you can extract video that you want to watch on your PSP to your PC. You then will need to perform format conversions, name the file appropriately and figure out where to place the video file you created on the PSP using the USB cable. Sony made the PSP very particular about the video format, file name and folder that video files must reside adding complexity to this solution.

In addition to TV content, you can view video content on your PSP from online video sites including Youtube and Google Video. Depending on your current PSP firmware version, downloading and copying video content from Google Video can be as simple as finding the video you want to watch, choosing “Video iPod/Sony PSP” next to the Download button and clicking the Download button. Once the file is downloaded on your PC you then simply copy it over to a “VIDEO” folder on your memory stick. This requires firmware version 2.80 or later. Otherwise, if you are a PSP homebrewer, you need to convert the video format, rename the file according to PSP standards and place the video file in a special directory to view. Youtube requires that you save the Flash movie (using a tool like the Greasemonkey script) then convert the video format, rename the file and place the video file in the proper directory. Another great source for video content on the PSP is PSP Connect. PSP Connect provides free video downloads for your PSP already converted to the proper format.

Over the next week we will post more detailed instructions on how to enjoy various video content on your PSP so be sure to check back.

Read how to watch Internet video content on your PSP.

Introduction

My MythTV system records DVB programmes into very large MPEG2 files. These can be streamed around the house over a wireless-g connection without any problems. The bast way to do this is to install a MythTV frontend on a laptop. However, what if I wanted to view them on a PDA or over the Internet?

VideoLAN

The VideoLAN Client (VLC) is the answer to all your video streaming needs. It can do all of the above and more, even transcoding the MPEG2 files down to MPEG1 in real time and transmitting them over a HTTP connection to anywhere in the world. However, there is a small catch - none of this can be done with the version which is available under Ubuntu Breezy. You might find some sites which tell you to compile from source, but there is a much easier way…

Installing a VideoLAN Nightly Build on Ubuntu

The nice chaps at VideoLAN have kindly provided us with Ubuntu packages of their most recent software. By installing one of these, you get the latest VLC with none of the headaches. Instructions are available on the VideoLAN Nightlies website, but I’ll summarise here:

Add the following line to the end of your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/dapper-i386 /

Download the key file for the repository (instructions for verifying the key are on the VideoLAN Nightlies website):

wget -O /dev/stdout
http://nightlies.videolan.org/key|apt-key add -

Install the package:

apt-get update
apt-get install vlc

Client Software

The best way to view the stream is to install VLC on your client machine. There are packages for Windows, Mac, PocketPC, BeOs, etc. available here.

Accessing MythTV Recordings

By default, MythTV recordings are saved into /var/lib/mythtv. However, they’re created with cryptic names such as 1009_20051031153000_20051031161500.nuv. A great way to access these files is with a script called mythlink.sh. This comes as part of the MythTV source code and creates a symbolic link to each file with a readable name.

Streaming DVB Recordings Over a LAN

Now for the fun bit. To stream an MPEG2 file in full quality, run mythlink.sh to generate a links to your recorded files. Then kick off a stream using:

vlc 03041759_The_Simpsons.nuv –sout
‘#std{access=http,mux=ts,url=:8081}’

To view the stream on your client machine, run the following command. Don’t forget to replace the name loki with the hostname of your server.

vlc http://loki:8081

Streaming Over the Internet

In this example, we’ll be streaming over TCP port 8081. You can specify any port you wish, but remember that whichever port you choose must be opened on your firewall.

ADSL uplink speeds are pretty awful, so to stream over the Internet we’ll need to shrink the MPEG2 file as small as possible. We could do this prior to streaming using a package such as ffmpeg. However, a much better solution is to get VLC to transcode the stream in real time. There are lots of parameters to play with, but the following works for me. It transcodes the stream into a tiny MPEG1 format, 0.25% of the original size. Not particularly watchable, but the principle is there! Run the following on the server:

SSH to your server and run the following:

vlc 03041759_The_Simpsons.nuv \
–sout ‘#transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=64,scale=0.25,acodec=mpga,
ab=64}:std{access=http,mux=ts,url=:8081}’

Run the client on the remote machine as before:

vlc http://loki:8081

Controlling the Stream

So, you can now stream over the internet, but is there an easier way to choose which videos to watch? VLC comes with a number of interfaces which allow you to choose and control the streams. One of the best ways is the HTTP interface. VLC has a small web server built in, which you can control remotely using any browser. The following command starts a VLC server with a HTTP interface. Any files chosen from the browser will be transcoded and streamed as usual:

vlc -I http –http-host :8080 \
–sout ‘#transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=64,scale=0.25,acodec=mpga,
ab=64}:std{access=http,mux=ts,url=:8081}’

On the client machine, point your browser to http://loki:8080. You should see the VLC control screen. From here, you can access your server’s filesystem and choose which videos or music to stream.

Then, simply connect to the stream using VLC as above.

MythStreamTV

The above method of using VLC for streaming and controlling it using the http interface is the underlying mechanism for MythStreamTV. This is an addon for MythWeb. However, it relies on very specific codecs which the standard pre-compiled versions of VLC don’t support. Also, using VLC directly can be more flexible.

Welcome to part 2 of my guide on installing MythTV the easy way. It’s assumed that you’ve followed part 1 and got the basic system working. Now we’ll concentrate on some of the additional components.

Remote Control

Here we’ll look at getting the remote control that comes with the Hauppauge Nova-T working using the LIRC package. Contrary to almost everything you’ll read on the web, this can be done without compiling LIRC.

Kernel Drivers

The remote control should be recognised by the standard Ubuntu kernel. Check it by running:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

Look for an entry like this one:

I: Bus=0001 Vendor=0070 Product=9002 Version=0001 N: Name=”cx88 IR (Hauppauge Nova-T DVB-T” P: Phys=pci-0000:00:0f.0/ir0 H: Handlers=kbd event2 B: EV=100003 B: KEY=108fc000 100822 0 0 0 0 18000 4180 4801 9e0000 7bb80 0 10000000

The important bit is the event2 line. This shows us which input device the remote is using. Test it by connecting your infra-red eye, running the following command (change the event device to match your system) and pressing some buttons on your remote:

sudo evtest /dev/input/event2

LIRC

We now need to install lirc - this takes the events from the device and passes them on to the applications:

apt-get update apt-get install lirc

As usual, we’ll give it a quick test. Run the following command in one window…

sudo /usr/sbin/lircd -H dev/input -d /dev/input/event2 -n

…and the following command in another:

irw

Press some buttons and you should see the events displayed in the lircd window.

LIRC Config

LIRC needs some config to tell it how to translate the events from the remote. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I found a config which works with my Hauppauge remote on Mark Longair’s site:

• /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
• /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
• lircrc

Copy lircd.conf and hardware.conf into /etc/lirc. lircd.conf maps the keys from the Hauppauge remote into event strings. hardware.conf tells lirc which device to use (such as /dev/input/event2). Once these are installed, lirc should startup automatically after a reboot. irw should give a list of the translated events - run it and press some more buttons:

sudo /etc/init.d/lirc start irw 000000008001004f 00 1 hauppauge_nova_t_uk 0000000080010050 00 2 hauppauge_nova_t_uk 0000000080010051 00 3 hauppauge_nova_t_uk 000000008001001c 00 OK hauppauge_nova_t_uk 00000000800100ae 00 Back hauppauge_nova_t_uk 00000000800100cf 00 Play hauppauge_nova_t_uk

Now all we need to do is tell the applications how to interpret the lirc events. To do this, the lircrc files needs to be in two locations: ~/.lircrc and ~/.mythtv/lircrc. The best method is to use a symbolic link:

cp lircrc ~/.lircrc cd ~/.mythtv ln -s ../.lircrc lircrc

The included config has events for xine as well as mythtv. Run up mythfontend and try it out!

Note: If you have problems with the /dev/input/eventN device changing after each reboot, take a look at how to make the device static on my MythTV Tips page.

MythWeb

MythWeb is the web interface for MythTV. It’s a great way to manage your recordings as the interface is much higher resolution than on your TV. I’ve even got my system setup so that I can connect to it across the internet and set things to record!

If you’re expecting the installation of mythweb to be hard on Ubuntu, think again:

sudo apt-get install mythweb

Yes, that’s it. This command resolves all of the dependencies and installs the apache2, libapache2-mod-php4, php4-mysql and mythweb packages… and, guess what? It just works. It never used to be this easy!

MythVideo

sudo apt-get install mythvideo

MythVideo is used for playing video files which were not recorded by MythTV, such as home videos and downloaded AVI files. It scans your video collection in /share/Movies/dvd, including all sub-directories. The default path can be changed in Utilities/Setup->Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->General Settings.

The other useful setting is the movie player to use, found in Player Settings. This will probably be either mplayer or xine. I’ve had better results with xine and use the following command line:

xine -r 4:3 -f -I –no-splash %s

Go into Utilities/Setup->Video Manager to scan for new videos and they should appear under Media Library->Watch Videos.

Introduction

With the release of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), installing MythTV is now easier than ever.

Ubuntu is a great basis for a general purpose MythTV box and now comes with the latest version of MythTV (0.20) in its standard packages.

This guide focuses on DVB in the UK (Freeview), but much of it should be applicable to anybody installing Myth.

The old Ubuntu Dapper guide can be found here.

Hardware

I use a completely silent combined backend/frontend system with dual Hauppauge tuners. Take a look here for more details.

Installation

You can download the Ubuntu Edgy CD image from here. The desktop version is probably the one to go for. It installed perfectly on my admittedly generic hardware. The only things to watch are:

• When asked to enter a username, don’t put mythtv. I’ve heard that this causes problems later on as he’s created my the mythtv packages. We’ll begin with your username and switch to the mythtv user later.
• Disk partitions. I’ve just gone with the default config of a single swap and big root partition. This is simple and flexible. If you want to be clever you can use Linux Volume Management or you could have a separate XFS partition to store your recordings.

APT Configuration

To get to the packages we want, we’ll need to add some repositories. Here’s my /etc/apt/sources.list. It’s just the standard Ubuntu config with the universe and multiverse repositories added.

Testing the DVB Card

Kernel Modules

I use Hauppauge Nova-T cards. These, and many others, are autodetected by the standard Ubuntu kernel:

grep DVB /var/log/messages [4294707.185000] cx88[0]: subsystem: 0070:9002, board: Hauppauge Nova-T DVB-T [card=18,autodetected] [4294708.036000] DVB: registering new adapter (cx88[0]). [4294708.036000] DVB: registering frontend 0 (Hauppauge Nova-T DVB-T)…

You can check if your card is supported at the LinuxTV V4L Wiki.

Install the Test Software

We’re now going to test the card by viewing some output. For this, we’ll need some DVB utilities and a movie player. As everything is so easy with Ubuntu, why not try out both xine and mplayer…?

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install dvb-utils dvbstream sudo apt-get install gxine mplayer

Watch Some TV

First, you need to search for channels in your area using the scan utility. The scan program doesn’t do frequency scans, so it needs initial tuning data for at least one transponder/channel in your area. For my Winter Hill transmitter, I use the following (this is done as the root user using sudo -s):

sudo -s -H mkdir /root/.tzap scan /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils/examples/scan/dvb-t/uk-WinterHill > /root/.tzap/channels.conf

Note: The scan will fail if you have an old Nova-T with a TDA1004x chipset and have not loaded any firmware. See this howto before going any further.

Once you have the channel data, you can use tzap to tune into one of the frequencies:

sudo -s -H tzap -r “BBC ONE”

It’s best to leave this going while we use dvbstream and xine or mplayer to view an actual mpeg stream:

dvbstream -o -ps 600 601 -qam 16 -cr 3_4 | mplayer - dvbstream -o -ps 600 601 -qam 16 -cr 3_4 | gxine stdin://mpeg2

Installing Myth TV

Prerequisites

Now we’re almost ready to install MythTV. However, we’ll install the MySQL database package first.

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

Myth TV

Now we can finally install MythTV itself:

sudo apt-get install mythtv mythtv-themes

It will ask you for the root database password. Hit enter if you haven’t changed it.

The installation will have created a mythtv user. We’ll login as him from now in, so set his password:

sudo passwd mythtv

It also makes sense to grant access rights to the mythtv user. To do this, edit the file /etc/group and mythtv to all groups that your original user is in. This will allow him to use sudo, access the cdrom etc. For example:

. admin:x:106:garry,mythtv .

Note that mythtv gets created with the default shell as /bin/sh. If you want /bin/bash, then set this in the /etc/passwd file.

Now, logout of your X session and login as mythtv at the GDM screen.

Myth TV Setup

To configure Myth for the first time, you run the mythtv-setup utility and step through the options:

mythtv-setup

Note that I’ve cheated and used the MythCentre theme for the screenshots, which isn’t the default… it just looks so much nicer!

General

All I changed was the TV standard to PAL and the channel-frequency-table to europe-west.

Capture Card

Select (New capture card). For a DVB card, change the Card Type to “DVB DTV capture card (v3.x)”. It should detect it and show your card details.

Video Source

This defines the source of the schedule listings. We’ll be using the 14 day radio times guide, which is downloaded via the internet. There’s also a guide transmitted over Freeview, but it’s only 7 days and contains much less programme information.

Select (New video source). Enter a video source name of “uk_rt”. Select XMLTV listings grabber to be “United Kingdom alternative”. Pressing “Finish” will display an error message. Don’t worry, we’ll sort this out later.

Input Connections

This associates our DVB card with the video source. A good “Display Name” would be “Freeview”. Set the Video source to the one we’ve just defined, “uk_rt”.

Hit “Scan for channels” and set the correct country. Hopefully, this will find a load of channels and radio stations.

Channel Listings

Go here and check you have all the channels you need. If there are any you don’t want, uncheck the “Visible” box.

Testing the Configuration

Now you can exit the setup utility and start the backend. Note that this will start automatically when the system is rebooted.

sudo /etc/init.d/mythtv-backend start

Check for error messages:

tail -f /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log

Now run the frontend as the mythtv user:

mythfrontend

At this point, you should be able to watch TV, but the schedules won’t quite work. See the next section for fixing this.

Fixing Channel Data

So, we’ve got our channels configured and our schedule listing feed set up, but there’s one last step. We need to configure the channels table to associate the correct xmltvid and icon with each channel.

Instructions for updating the channel table can be found here:

• MythTV DVB Scheduling Setup

Additional Features

Check out part 2 to find out how to get the remote control and web interfaces working:

• MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide - Part 2

Links

• LinuxTV
• Ubuntu Nova-T Wiki
• UbuntuGuide - general Ubuntu guide
• MythTV Ubuntu HOWTO
• Fixing MythTV DVB Scheduling Information
• MythTV - official site
• MythTV Wiki - official wiki
• MythTV DVB Setup Guide - invaluable resource for users in the UK
• Fedora Myth(TV)ology - By Jarod C. Wilson
• Pundit MythTV Frontend - By Matt Marsh
• MythBOX - UK guide for EPIA-based systems

The End

So, that’s the basic system installed.

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