lanties
AVForums Super Veteran
I decided for no specific reason other than being interested that I would like to try mythtv as a pvr on my DSTV 1131 decoder over and above the normal HD PVR that I have in the family room. The DSTV 1131 decoder is in a little control room that I have. It is use to distribute composite video to various TV?s in the house over cat 5. Every TV in this distribution network uses Ellies remote blasters to change channels and these all work well. Obviously everyone watches the same TV unless in the family room where we have the HD PVR.
Hardware
All the stuff needed was lying around so there was no need to buy anything. PC with Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 capture card as well as a Hauppauge Microsoft certified Media Center remote control kit with USB based IR receiver/blaster. I bought these years ago to do something with. I cannot remember what. I had to buy three Y-RCA splitters to run RCA cables from the 1131 into the RCA in on the capture card. The other leg of the RCA cables goes into a powered RCA splitter box to the signal to the other TV?s.
Software
I used mythbuntu iso to install from and that was an absolute breeze. It may be better to read up on mythtv before starting. It would have understood the configuration a lot better. But who needs a manual anyway? I installed the dual setup frontend and backend and all worked out the box. Just make sure you change IP?s from 127.0.0.1 or localhost to actual IP?s if you want to use external frontends.
So this is what is working after a Sunday afternoon
Something?s that I am still not sure about
The biggest challenge so far was to get the IR blaster to work with myth. Not really that complicated but documentation is not that great in my opinion. I had to do the following:
I did not keep exact record of what I did but if anyone need some help I think I will be able to help with screenshots, scripts and explanations. I had to restart the PC a few times after changes to take effect. It seems to be stable once up.
What would be nice is a better way to change channels e.g. a usb2TVLink concept. It will also be nice if the program schedules can be loaded similar to the HD PVR to make it easy to record.
I hope this is can help someone. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.
Hardware
All the stuff needed was lying around so there was no need to buy anything. PC with Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 capture card as well as a Hauppauge Microsoft certified Media Center remote control kit with USB based IR receiver/blaster. I bought these years ago to do something with. I cannot remember what. I had to buy three Y-RCA splitters to run RCA cables from the 1131 into the RCA in on the capture card. The other leg of the RCA cables goes into a powered RCA splitter box to the signal to the other TV?s.
Software
I used mythbuntu iso to install from and that was an absolute breeze. It may be better to read up on mythtv before starting. It would have understood the configuration a lot better. But who needs a manual anyway? I installed the dual setup frontend and backend and all worked out the box. Just make sure you change IP?s from 127.0.0.1 or localhost to actual IP?s if you want to use external frontends.
So this is what is working after a Sunday afternoon
- I can watch live TV on myhtbuntu frontend, Windows frontend (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mythtvwindows/) and android frontend (MythFrontend).
- I can change channels from the live viewers. I have configured two channels so far. Just a bit painful but we only really watch about 10-20 channels on DSTV anyway. So the rest will be quickly. See my note on channels.
- I can watch and schedule recordings (manual time based) from all frontends including Mythbox in XBMC and web page. Cannot get the live TV going in mythbox yet. I have not tried the new PVR functions in XBC Frodo 12.1 as yet.
Something?s that I am still not sure about
- Can more than one frontend watch the same TV at a time (multi broadcast)? I know more than one frontend can watch a recording at the same time but I have not managed to get this right with live tv.
- Are their downloadable DSTV schedules somewhere on the internet and can mythtv uses these.
The biggest challenge so far was to get the IR blaster to work with myth. Not really that complicated but documentation is not that great in my opinion. I had to do the following:
- Create my own lircd.conf file using irrecord with the DSTV remote. You must use the irrecord ?f option.
I found a change_chan.pl script that I had to modify a slight bit.
I also wrote my own script to call the above. I wanted to make sure I can monitor IR instructions as this is still going to need some fine tuning. Time delays (sleep) is still not perfect. Channels changes are correct 95% if the time.
The above scripts are in /user/local/bin
You need to configure your backend in the Input Connections -> under the correct input connection -> External channel change command. You must also remember to enter the channel numbers in Channel editor -> Channel Options -> Video4Linus -> Frequency or Channel. This last part is the bit that I missed a few times.
I did not keep exact record of what I did but if anyone need some help I think I will be able to help with screenshots, scripts and explanations. I had to restart the PC a few times after changes to take effect. It seems to be stable once up.
What would be nice is a better way to change channels e.g. a usb2TVLink concept. It will also be nice if the program schedules can be loaded similar to the HD PVR to make it easy to record.
I hope this is can help someone. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.
