time3: MythTV and the Fall

Michael Bevilacqua (

time3) wrote,
@ 2006-08-31 19:08:00

Entry tags:

discursive

MythTV and the Fall

Originally published at Bevilacqua.us.

I redid the MythTV install I had on R2D2 recently just so I could give Debian's unofficial packages a try and add another 80G disk. Myth installed in no time with Debian, but getting a custom kernel compiled, having it work correctly and getting custom kernel modules for LIRCD and nVidia was just as awful as I remember it from before. So it's back to Gentoo again.

This time around I also installed MythMusic and MythDVD instead of just MythVideo. I'm pretty impressed with MythMusic. It has some nice ambient visualizations that work with the music frequencies. MythDVD on the other hand… bleh. Featureless as far as I can tell. I need something that handles menus on DVDs. There are some DVDs in my collection that I can't watch through any of our computers or the PS/2 due to formatting problems and bugs. Remember when a VCR tape worked in ALL VCRs? Well, except BetaMax. But you get the idea.

But anyways, Autumn has arrived. My favorite time of the year. The leaves here in PA are starting to change and weather is getting cooler. I'm one of the strange people that loves these gray, misty, cool and crisp days. I feel energized and excited for the days ahead. And the days ahead are going to be spectactular.

(Post a new comment)

	crypticreign 2006-09-01 02:20 am UTC (link)
	For building nvidia, I've always had luck with module-assistant (Reply to this)(Thread)

	time3 2006-09-01 07:28 pm UTC (link)
	I'll have to try that next time. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nilasae 2006-09-01 07:14 am UTC (link)
	Fall is a weird season for me. I used to love the gray, misty days (back when I was more of a goth ;-) but meanwhile I only like the sunny fall days. I mostly miss the summer temperatures (not the insane ones, but I'm easily freezing these days) and long days. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	time3 2006-09-01 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	Oh don't get me wrong, I love them all :-D Just my favorites tend to be the ones that remind me of the times I've spent out in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, West Virginia and Western Maryland. Playing, hiking, through the rolling forest covered misty hills in the gray overcast sky. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	escapenguin 2006-09-01 07:16 am UTC (link)
	I've never had a problem with nvidia modules on debian. Then again I installed so many custom and crazy kernels on a constant basis when I ran it that any hiccups were just steamrolled over. (Reply to this)(Thread)

time3
2006-09-01 07:18 pm UTC (link)

I think I'm talking about from the perspective of getting the job done. Meaning, you get all of the pre-compiled stuff installed in no time yet, spend a few hours recompiling your kernel and nvidia modules and lircd modules and anything else that needs the kernel source tree. And to do that, it's not just dropping into /usr/src/linux, you have to apt-get 5 to 10 packages to even get your system to the point of where you can start doing those tasks.

I just seem to like the Gentoo approach better. You're going to need to compile stuff anyways if you want to be using packages that aren't from the late 1900s, why not just do it all that way? :-)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	magnio 2006-09-01 08:06 am UTC (link)
	I don't like the warm misty cloudy days (which we have "a few" of here during the year), but I love the cool crispness of fall. It's so fresh. Unfortunately I have become a passionate lover of skydiving during the past year, and with that comes a love for blue skies, and with that again comes the heat. Hm. (Reply to this)

feng_huang
2006-09-01 03:32 pm UTC (link)

KnoppMyth is pretty good for what it does. I can't say that I've had a complaint, and everything pretty much Just Works. It installs all the Myth add-ons as well.

I'm not too familiar with MythDVD, but if you want menus, you pretty much have to go with Xine or Ogle. Of course, that then requires extra futzing with the ~/.lircrc to get the remote (if you have one) working with the DVD player you choose.

I ought to hook up my Myth box again pretty soon. We haven't watched any TV since we've moved.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	time3 2006-09-01 07:19 pm UTC (link)
	I've heard good things about KnoppMyth, but can you update it or are you stuck with what you get? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

feng_huang
2006-09-01 07:24 pm UTC (link)

There's an update feature, but it's not like what you might expect.

Basically, the upgrade leaves your /myth partition alone and blows away the root partition. (It refuses to do this if you have not previously run a backup, which dumps /etc, /home, and the database to /myth/something-or-other.) Then it reinstalls. So there's no "online" updating like you'd have with Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, or possibly something Red Hat-ish, but updates are definitely possible.

The downside, at least from the one upgrade I've done, is that it doesn't remember any additional packages you install, so I needed to re-add vim and a couple others after I upgraded.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	time3 2006-09-06 12:23 pm UTC (link)
	I got ogle with ogle_ir to work last night :D Thanks for your suggestion. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mclazarus 2006-09-01 08:36 pm UTC (link)
	I'm solar powered, I like the fall weather and more specifically football weather, but I need the sun. Conversely I actually play football better in the rain and ideally snow. Not that I play anymore, but I like to pretend I do. (Reply to this)

	plug_them_in 2006-09-02 03:12 am UTC (link)
	yeah, this is my favorite weather too...happy september. the rain isn't a bother to me either b/c we need it... (Reply to this)

codekitten
2006-09-06 02:06 am UTC (link)

i've heard good stuff about mythtv. haven't decided whether or not to do it yet though.

i have a direct tv tivo. i went in and made it 300 gb, i enabled it to work with my wireless network (so that it will talk to my home computer for updates/installs/sharing as well as with my other tivo) as well as patching in some other cool programs.

so after all that work i'm not sure about changing it all up right now.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

time3
2006-09-06 12:16 pm UTC (link)

I think the only reason I haven't just bought a TiVo is that I've been able to accomplish exactly what I wanted with MythTV thus far. Elizabeth and I don't have any paid-for programming feeds, nor have in the past few years, although this may change once Verizon offers service over the fiber link we have to our house this coming November.

With the TiVo's I've seen in use at our friend's homes I've been very impressed with the functionality. I'd definitely purchase one if I didn't already have a solution.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

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