Mailing List Archive: MythTV integration

MythTV integration

mike at mikedilger

Aug 13, 2006, 3:15 PM

Post #1 of 16 (6214 views)

I've just setup a nice MythTV integration that allows me to use external
applications like yammi for MP3s, etc, and still do it all from the
remote control. (I never tried knoppmyth so I don't know what they've
done and can't compare at this stage).

MythTV is great, for what it does.

However, when it comes to playing MP3s, or browsing the web, why oh why
use plugins? The music plugin is OK, but it's not as great as some
other programs out there... for instance, I'm a big fan of yammi. And
the web plugin is abysmal... I'd much rather just pop up firefox.

But I don't want to yank out the keyboard and mouse to do it. I still
want to control my box via remote control (except for web browsing).

And I've got these great remote buttons that have been unused: "TV",
"Music", "Video", Go", "Radio", etc. If I press "Music" on my remote, I
want to be taken to yammi, regardless of what program I'm in the middle
of. If I press TV, I want to be taken to MythTV... If I press Video,
I want to be taken to xine. If I press Go, I want firefox to take over.

So what I did was modify the irexec program that comes with lirc. I
call the new tool "cinemalaunch". This small tweak changes several things
(1) the new program is always listening, even while another program has
taken control
(2) when you select TV or Video or whatever you want, it kills the
currently running process(group) and starts up what you asked for
(3) it runs a minimal window manager.

Then I set my .xinitrc to just run cinemalaunch. Cinemalaunch will run
the window manager (I'm using matchstick) as a subprocess, so that
cinemalaunch can exit (power button) and that will log me out.

The source code is attached. I also attached my (getting kinda long
now) lircrc. The top section shows how it integrates cinemalaunch.
BTW: In order to get yammi to use the remote, I use xmms as it's plugin.

Mike

Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

support at openmedia

Aug 13, 2006, 6:00 PM

Post #2 of 16 (6159 views)

>
> I've just setup a nice MythTV integration that allows me to use external
> applications like yammi for MP3s, etc, and still do it all from the
> remote control. (I never tried knoppmyth so I don't know what they've
> done and can't compare at this stage).
>
> MythTV is great, for what it does.
>
> However, when it comes to playing MP3s, or browsing the web, why oh why
> use plugins? The music plugin is OK, but it's not as great as some
> other programs out there... for instance, I'm a big fan of yammi. And
> the web plugin is abysmal... I'd much rather just pop up firefox.
>
> But I don't want to yank out the keyboard and mouse to do it. I still
> want to control my box via remote control (except for web browsing).
>
> And I've got these great remote buttons that have been unused: "TV",
> "Music", "Video", Go", "Radio", etc. If I press "Music" on my remote, I
> want to be taken to yammi, regardless of what program I'm in the middle
> of. If I press TV, I want to be taken to MythTV... If I press Video,
> I want to be taken to xine. If I press Go, I want firefox to take over.

You can get all of these to work with a standard Knoppmyth install. Our
myPVR units have a customer lircrc file and MythTV Keymap that means that
they work as expected.

Whilst I agree that the webplugin is dreadful, it is no good using the web
on a standard CRT anyway. I'm assuming you have a plasma or LCD TV?

Music wise the MythMusic plug in is basic but enough for most people.

Steve

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

mike at mikedilger

Aug 13, 2006, 6:31 PM

Post #3 of 16 (6145 views)

Open Media Support wrote:
>> And I've got these great remote buttons that have been unused: "TV",
>> "Music", "Video", Go", "Radio", etc. If I press "Music" on my remote, I
>> want to be taken to yammi, regardless of what program I'm in the middle
>> of. If I press TV, I want to be taken to MythTV... If I press Video,
>> I want to be taken to xine. If I press Go, I want firefox to take over.
>>
>
> You can get all of these to work with a standard Knoppmyth install.
That is what I expected (and hoped). Coolness for you knoppmyth folks.
Why I roll my own I don't know, but it makes me happy. I suppose it is
a control issue, feeding into a need-for-knowledge issue. But enough of
my psychobabble.

> Our
> myPVR units have a customer lircrc file and MythTV Keymap that means that
> they work as expected.
>
So these myPVR units are a commercial venture? Here in NZ? Could I
have bought one from you and saved myself the months of effort to learn
about and construct my media center? Or alternatively, are you hiring?
> Whilst I agree that the webplugin is dreadful, it is no good using the web
> on a standard CRT anyway. I'm assuming you have a plasma or LCD TV?
>
LCD. Actually I'm using my office monitor for the time being, but I'm
hoping to get one of those big LCDs or plasmas one day when I'm rich...

Yeah, my couch is like 4 feet from the thing.
> Music wise the MythMusic plug in is basic but enough for most people.
>
I suppose I use yammi because I have extensively sorted my music with it
already, and now that the effort has paid off, why go backwards?

Mike

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

support at openmedia

Aug 13, 2006, 7:14 PM

Post #4 of 16 (6152 views)

> Open Media Support wrote:
>>> And I've got these great remote buttons that have been unused: "TV",
>>> "Music", "Video", Go", "Radio", etc. If I press "Music" on my remote,
>>> I
>>> want to be taken to yammi, regardless of what program I'm in the middle
>>> of. If I press TV, I want to be taken to MythTV... If I press Video,
>>> I want to be taken to xine. If I press Go, I want firefox to take
>>> over.
>>>
>>
>> You can get all of these to work with a standard Knoppmyth install.
> That is what I expected (and hoped). Coolness for you knoppmyth folks.
> Why I roll my own I don't know, but it makes me happy. I suppose it is
> a control issue, feeding into a need-for-knowledge issue. But enough of
> my psychobabble.

I totally understand. Tried both, but having all of the extra testing that
goes into Knoppmyth makes my life a lot easier.

>> Our
>> myPVR units have a customer lircrc file and MythTV Keymap that means
>> that
>> they work as expected.
>>
> So these myPVR units are a commercial venture? Here in NZ? Could I
> have bought one from you and saved myself the months of effort to learn
> about and construct my media center? Or alternatively, are you hiring?

Yes it is a commercial venture. I push changes back via the Knoppmyth team
where appropriate. Let me know if you want the lircrc settings etc.

Hiring - soon I hope. We are doing Big Boys Toys in November which should
raise our profile quite a bit.

>> Whilst I agree that the webplugin is dreadful, it is no good using the
>> web
>> on a standard CRT anyway. I'm assuming you have a plasma or LCD TV?
>>
> LCD. Actually I'm using my office monitor for the time being, but I'm
> hoping to get one of those big LCDs or plasmas one day when I'm rich...
>
> Yeah, my couch is like 4 feet from the thing.

Works well on most modern Plasma/LCD sets. CRT is just hopeless.

>> Music wise the MythMusic plug in is basic but enough for most people.
>>
> I suppose I use yammi because I have extensively sorted my music with it
> already, and now that the effort has paid off, why go backwards?

Always the way.. Why don't you ship X as it is my favorite program for
doing Y. I'm open to suggestions, but where possible try to stick to the
MythTV core as sudden application changes that have different navigation
confuses customers.

My biggest want is menu support in the MythTV internal DVD player rather
than using Xine or MPlayer.

Steve

--------------------------------------------
OpenMedia Limited
sales - sales@openmedia.co.nz
support - support@openmedia.co.nz
website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

mythtvnz at nice

Aug 13, 2006, 7:22 PM

Post #5 of 16 (6151 views)

On Monday 14 August 2006 14:14, Open Media Support wrote:
> My biggest want is menu support in the MythTV internal DVD player rather
> than using Xine or MPlayer.

It's in SVN (although you probably already knew that).

hads

--
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New Zealand's VoIP Supplier

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

phlux0r at gmail

Aug 13, 2006, 7:32 PM

Post #6 of 16 (6156 views)

Music wise the MythMusic plug in is basic but enough for most people.
I suppose I use yammi because I have extensively sorted my music with it already, and now that the effort has paid off, why go backwards?
Always the way.. Why don't you ship X as it is my favorite program for doing Y. I'm open to suggestions, but where possible try to stick to the MythTV core as sudden application changes that have different navigation confuses customers.

Steve, have you tried installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth installation? I know it's reliant on KDE so it would require a lot of KDE libraries and suchlike but is it possible? If so, there are Amarok web plugins that can make it controllable from any machine on a local network and Amarok is really good (IMHO).

My biggest want is menu support in the MythTV internal DVD player rather than using Xine or MPlayer.

That sounds like a great suggestion. Btw, you were mentioning the lircrc settings, do you have a decent mapping for the xine/mplayer functions for the Hauppauge PVR150 remote? Especially, the Xine DVD menu navigation... :)

Thanks, Robert

Steve -------------------------------------------- OpenMedia Limited sales - sales@openmedia.co.nz support - support@openmedia.co.nz website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz"]http://www.openmedia.co.nz _______________________________________________ mythtvnz mailing list mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz"]http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/"]http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/

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RE: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

craig at dubculture

Aug 13, 2006, 7:44 PM

Post #7 of 16 (6141 views)

> Steve, have you tried installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth
> installation? I know it's reliant on KDE so it would
> require a lot of KDE libraries and suchlike but is it possible?

I just looked at yammi (I've seen amarok before) - none of these things are
really designed to be driven with a remote control. The best idea I've had
is to have a small separate computer with a touch screen or mouse to do the
queueing of songs (have you seen a video jukebox at a pub? They're about
the best interface for that kind of thing I've seen), and mfd/mfe should let
you do that by creating a playlist, which you could even do with iTunes
perhaps.

Is there a good non-Myth, remote control only, music player? Desktops and
TVs are very different creatures.

Craig

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

support at openmedia

Aug 13, 2006, 7:47 PM

Post #8 of 16 (6152 views)

> On Monday 14 August 2006 14:14, Open Media Support wrote:
>> My biggest want is menu support in the MythTV internal DVD player rather
>> than using Xine or MPlayer.
>
> It's in SVN (although you probably already knew that).

Pushing a load of fresh SVN code at my customers isn't really a good idea :)

Having enough fun with the lab machines and early code.

Steve

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

mythtvnz at nice

Aug 13, 2006, 7:58 PM

Post #9 of 16 (6143 views)

On Monday 14 August 2006 14:47, Open Media Support wrote:
> Pushing a load of fresh SVN code at my customers isn't really a good idea
> :)

Agreed, and that's not what I was suggesting. The reason I posted was so
everyone knew that it is already developed and will be in the next release.

hads

--
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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

phlux0r at gmail

Aug 13, 2006, 8:15 PM

Post #10 of 16 (6169 views)

Craig Box wrote:

Steve, have you tried installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth installation? I know it's reliant on KDE so it would require a lot of KDE libraries and suchlike but is it possible?
I just looked at yammi (I've seen amarok before) - none of these things are really designed to be driven with a remote control. The best idea I've had is to have a small separate computer with a touch screen or mouse to do the queueing of songs (have you seen a video jukebox at a pub? They're about the best interface for that kind of thing I've seen), and mfd/mfe should let you do that by creating a playlist, which you could even do with iTunes perhaps. Is there a good non-Myth, remote control only, music player? Desktops and TVs are very different creatures. Craig

Hm, going with that idea, I'd say you could have a PDA type (web) application and use that to select songs/playlists on a wireless network. That's probably the smallest kind of computer you can have, eh :).

Robert

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

Aug 13, 2006, 8:22 PM

Post #11 of 16 (6158 views)

On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:44:53 +1200
Craig Box wrote:

> > Steve, have you tried installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth
> > installation? I know it's reliant on KDE so it would
> > require a lot of KDE libraries and suchlike but is it possible?
>
> I just looked at yammi (I've seen amarok before) - none of these things are
> really designed to be driven with a remote control. The best idea I've had
> is to have a small separate computer with a touch screen or mouse to do the
> queueing of songs (have you seen a video jukebox at a pub? They're about
> the best interface for that kind of thing I've seen), and mfd/mfe should let
> you do that by creating a playlist, which you could even do with iTunes
> perhaps.
>
> Is there a good non-Myth, remote control only, music player? Desktops and
> TVs are very different creatures.
>
> Craig

from the article at

http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/63/Mpeg_Menu_System_V2.pdf

"As Yammi can be controlled using just the keyboard, and as it has no
trouble using external media, Yammi is a good choice as a jukebox
replacement for parties."

keyboard control=lirc control - sweet.

However its a bit kde'ish for me. Too many libraries.

I am still working on integration of slimserver and slimp3slave

Does anyone know how to write a really basic plugin for mythtv? I
suppose I'd have to know how to write c++ - or are there some other
language bindings out there?

>
>
> _______________________________________________
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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

david.zanetti at catalyst

Aug 13, 2006, 8:22 PM

Post #12 of 16 (6157 views)

On Mon, 2006-08-14 at 14:22 +1200, Hadley Rich wrote:
> On Monday 14 August 2006 14:14, Open Media Support wrote:
> > My biggest want is menu support in the MythTV internal DVD player rather
> > than using Xine or MPlayer.
>
> It's in SVN (although you probably already knew that).

I gave up using the internal player to play back most media.. but, I'm
still back on 0.17 due to it "works okay now".

Have they really got the internal player up to scratch for random AVI
and DVDs? It was hugely broken for seeking when I last tried.

(AC3 passthru support is also mandatory :) )

--
David Zanetti <david.zanetti@catalyst.net.nz>
Systems Architect
Catalyst IT Limited
+64-4-8032233 +64-21-402260

Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

stevehodge at gmail

Aug 13, 2006, 8:32 PM

Post #13 of 16 (6142 views)

On 8/14/06, David Zanetti <david.zanetti@catalyst.net.nz> wrote:
> I gave up using the internal player to play back most media.. but, I'm
> still back on 0.17 due to it "works okay now".
>
> Have they really got the internal player up to scratch for random AVI
> and DVDs? It was hugely broken for seeking when I last tried.

I tried it with 0.19 on a couple of downloaded TV episodes and found
the video quality was not as good as mplayer or xine. So I'm back on
those two (usually xine). But having the same keyboard shortcuts and
behaviour is a big plus and I'd love to be able to use the internal
player for everything. Either that or I'll have to get around to
configuring mplayer and xine to behave the same way.

I didn't have any problems with seeking, but it was a pretty small sample size.

> (AC3 passthru support is also mandatory :) )

That's there, though some people seem to have trouble with it.

Steve

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

steven at openmedia

Aug 13, 2006, 11:20 PM

Post #14 of 16 (6174 views)

> Steve, have you tried
> installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth installation? I know
> it's reliant on KDE so it would require a lot of KDE
> libraries and suchlike but is it possible? If so, there
> are Amarok web plugins that can make it controllable from
> any machine on a local network and Amarok is really good
> (IMHO).

Nope. Used Amarok on my desktop from time to time, but for some reason
keep going back to xmms :)

> That sounds like a great
> suggestion. Btw, you were mentioning the lircrc settings, do you have
> a decent mapping for the xine/mplayer functions for the Hauppauge
> PVR150 remote? Especially, the Xine DVD menu navigation... :)

Think I need to start a seperate thread on this as i'd be interested in
feedback on my keymap etc. Finally got something that works with Mythtv +
MPlayer and Xine.

Steve

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

phlux0r at gmail

Aug 14, 2006, 1:55 AM

Post #15 of 16 (6143 views)

Steven Ellis wrote:

Steve, have you tried installing Amarok onto a Knoppmyth installation? I know it's reliant on KDE so it would require a lot of KDE libraries and suchlike but is it possible? If so, there are Amarok web plugins that can make it controllable from any machine on a local network and Amarok is really good (IMHO).
Nope. Used Amarok on my desktop from time to time, but for some reason keep going back to xmms :)

I used xmms for a long time but then tried Amarok as my collection is of reasonable size. Once I sorted out the ID3 tags and retrieved the album cover art for most of my stuff I really like it now. The dynamic playlist feature is awesome as I can turn my PC virtually into a radio station. For example, I create a custom playlist to use in dynamic mode that takes only random songs from one or more specific genre and press play. Amarok then just starts picking random songs that satisfy my criteria and plays them and goes like that "forever". You can create multiple custom playlists like that and combine them in dynamic mode at will switching them on and off. With these features I truly find I make the most of my collection as I get to hear songs I wouldn't normally pick myself. Amarok's "Rediscover You Music" slogan is totally true. The only "catch" is that you really need to have the ID3 tags on all your music properly set, including the genre.

Robert

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Re: MythTV integration [ In reply to ]

mike at mikedilger

Aug 14, 2006, 5:19 PM

Post #16 of 16 (6136 views)

Steve wrote:
> Always the way.. Why don't you ship X as it is my favorite program for
> doing Y. I'm open to suggestions, but where possible try to stick to the
> MythTV core as sudden application changes that have different navigation
> confuses customers.

Craig Box wrote:
> I just looked at yammi (I've seen amarok before) - none of these things are
> really designed to be driven with a remote control.

Just by way of clarification, I wasn't suggesting Yammi for a product,
or for anyone with a CRT TV. Yes, I use the keyboard when I want to
adjust the playlist.. but can use the remote for general play functions
(volume, pause, skip to next song, etc). Yammi works for me because of
the categories (I want my music to match my mood, and some songs go into
multiple categories, you can't do that with genres) and because it
doesn't bog down with huge music libraries. I also think yammi might
have some KDE lib dependencies (my binary does, but it might compile
without, I haven't tried).

Now that I'm having fun programming Qt/C++, maybe I'll update yammi to
use lirc...

Mike

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