Posts tagged mac
MythTV Frontend – So Many Choices
Dec 12th
What to choose, what to use? I currently use a Mac mini using a Mythfrontend. It works fine, and it accepts inputs from the integrated remote. It does not utilize up to date features of the most recent compilation, but it does indeed work flawlessly with the server; particularly the grey bar, at the bottom of HD frame, is still present. It does not crash, although the themes do have occasional bugs.
I have tried Plex, and XBMC in the past. The versions that I used were relatively functional with the server. There was a problem with particular videos playing, which was somewhat alleviated with transcoding. There have been updates to both pieces of software. Plex, as of 12/12/09 does not work with the MythTV server in Ubuntu 9.10 repositories. The same is for XBMC. Although the Mythbox script for XBMC allows functionality with the networking schema of the version of MythTV trunk used in current Ubuntu repos. The same problem, that I experienced with previous versions of Plex and XBMC, still occurs.
I want it to work. I want Mythbox for XBMC to work. I am currently working on various ways to transcode videos to make them not freeze. Lossless transcoding does not work. Sometimes videos will completely loose audio, and sometimes they will work fine. If I use no transcoding videos will freeze when transitioning from a channel; meaning if the recording starts on channel 725, and changes to 749 it will freeze. This is probably a bug in the frambuffer, which I should and could investigate in the log files.
I currently deleted my entire video library. I have turned off losless transcoding and an effort to avoid loosing audio. I have also forced transcoding to occur before commercial flagging. Transcoding after commercial flagging results in a strange phenomena; the flag points are attached at particular times and since the commercials are cut by transcoding the flags become located at incorrect and entirely unnecessary positions. I hope that not using loslesss transcoding will allow videos to not freeze and retain audio.
Overall MythTV’s commercial flagging is not foolproof. Even with strict detection checked flagging is still iffy at best. I look forward to future revisions.
There is another option. I can connect a 25ft DVI cable, from my computer, to my TV. This will allow a Linux Mythfrontend to display perfectly. It will have all the up-do-date features of MythTV. The only thing is the remote. I can purchase a IR receiver, but LIRC is limited as compared to the functionality of the Mac mini remote. I really like how the remote works on Plex and XBMC, which is half the reason I want to use those apps in particular. LIRC is much more dry cut, with a button doing something in particular, throughout the program; I’m not quite sure how to get LIRC to do different functions on different MythTV menus.
I can also use XBMC on Linux, but I’m pretty sure I will encounter the same problems stated above; therefore switching from OSX to Linux to still use XBMC is a moot point. Using the 25ft DVI cable, and a Mythfrontend I can use an internet remote control. They are various internet based remotes for the iPod touch; particularly Mymote.
iPhone Error 9 Cannot Restore
Dec 4th
Broken iPhone
Apparent there is either a sensitive aspect to iPhone software, or an integrated kill mechanism. I have a friends iPhone that simply cannot be restored. There is an error 9 that cannot be avoided. I have placed the phone in DFU mode, which is apparently the ultimate restore mode, from which even the most damaged iPhone should be able to restore; but not in this case. I have tried restoring the phone from three different computer including a MAC. The error 9 is on all 3 computers. There are no other options, no other ways of doing a restore. I think a recurring error 9 means the phone is done for; dead, not recoverable. Maybe someone has an idea?
How Nice are Your Running Processes – Renice Them
Oct 25th
The command to set the importance of a running process is called “nice”. The nice rating of a program determine how quicky and the priority in which running processes are handled by the CPU. If a process has a nice value of 19 it will essentially allow any other process to be handled by the CPU before itself. If a process has a nice value of -19 it will take control of the processor at any time. System processes mostly have a nice value of -5. Init and other processes are set at 0. User processeses are also given a 0. I set my virtual machine to the same as regular system processeses, -5. This is because the virtual machine is essential just as important as host system processeses and contain system processeses itself. For my MythTV server I set it at +10; I don’t want it getting in the way of my web server or the host system itself, in any way whatsoever. Even higher I set the Myth frontend to +19 and throw it on another viewport. I use the Myth frontend to schedule recording, not necessarily to watch videos; thats what my Mac mini is for connected to my HD TV 
If you want to change the nice value of a process use renice. An example of this is: sudo renice -n 19 -p 16151 for -p you must put in the PID of the running process. You can use “ps” to determine the PID of a process. For example use: ps aux | grep mythfrontend.real You can also use “top”. Which gives you an updating realtime list of running processes.
Plex and XBMC for OSX – Lack of Support for MythTV Servers
Oct 18th
Plex and XBMC for OSX do not work in two particular situations. One with MythTV .21 when a recording is in the process of changing channels video will completely lock. If you attempt to escape out you will be able to get back to the previous screen, but if you attempt to press any other button, including pause or fast forward/rewind the app with freeze entirely. This is extremely frustrating, and can be alleviate with transcoding the video. The problem with transcoding is that sometimes the audio of the video file is completely dropped for some reason or another. The extremely appealing graphical user interface of Plex and XBMC make is frustrating that it is not completely compatible with MythTV as a server. Also Plex has no support for commercial skip features heavily integrated in MythTV. Such a shame. XBMC says it supports this feature to some degree, but I have not tried the app much because it requires the videos to be transcoded to avoid the above problem, and I did not like that because some of the videos lost audio entirely. Plex and XBMC for OSX do not work with MythTV .22. Also the mythbox script for XBMC OSX does not work with the most recent version of MythTV .22. It works with a slightly older version, but not with the trunk that ships with Ubuntu Karmic. Because of this Karmic can not be used to host a MythTV server for Plex or XBMC. You must use a Trunk version of MythTV frontend. This is not that bad and is livable. I currently use a Trunk build of MythTV frontend on my Mac mini. I dont have to worry about the problems with videos freezing, and it handles all commercial skip applications appropriately. The only thing is the mac mini remote does not handle volume controls. I found this frustrating at first, but then I got used to using the TV remote to also control the audio receiver connected to the mac mini. This comes in handy because I can turn off my TV and control the volume also from one remote, and control the frontend with the mac mini remote. In either cause I would not have TV power control with the mac mini remote, therefore the TV’s remote is a necessity so I might as well control the volume with it.
XBMC – MythTV – What to Use for your Frontend – Backend
Sep 21st
I have been using MythTV for some time now, and it covers all the bases. .21 works great, and I have no doubt .22 will be even better when it reaches stable. I use the backend to capture firewire in HD. It organizes, categorizes, schedules everything in an intuitive way. I used the frontend for some time locally and remotely, but I have come across a superior alternative. XBMC is simply superior. Albeit it is unstable at times, but so it the MythTV frontend. I bought a lowend mac mini a while back and had linux on it to run a remote MythTV frontend. I though “I have mac hardware, why no try and use a native mac application?”. I tried XBMC for mac, but I could not get it to actually load the movies. It would see and create a screenshot of the movies, but they would not play. I then looked into a forked version that actually worked as XMBC should have. OSXBMC worked out of the box; they call their fork Plex. It works with the mac mini remote out of the box. Set your box to sleep instead of shutdown, and you have an instant on low power PVR. Just add a video source: myth://mythtv:dbpassword@192.168.0.100 Look up your mythtv database password in /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt. Its at the bottom of the file. It can be tricky at first to setup your MythTV backend to serve remote systems. You have to use mythtv-setup as well as bind mysql to the local ip of the computer rather than localhost. Configure mysql in /etc/mysql/my.cnf. Check out OSXBMC/Plex at:
Plex logo
Ubuntu – Mac Tiger – Windows XP – and MythTV on the Same Desktop
Jun 3rd
I have integrated Ubuntu Jaunty, Mac Tiger, Windows XP, and a MythTV PVR into my desktop environment using the default compiz in the Ubuntu repositories. Ubuntu is the host operating system, Mac Tiger is a VNC connection on the local network maximized to fullscreen, Windows XP is running in VirtualBox, and MythTV is capturing HD 720P via FireWire from my SA4250HD Optimum cablebox.
The cube also looks nice with these multiple screen, and with a powerful video card you can actually see MythtTV while on the cube. Open /usr/bin/mythtvfrontend and remove the line at the top that prevents it from opening multiple instances. Now you can open a MythTV frontend on each of the cubes viewports. You can actually watch different videos on each side of the cube.
Compiz Screen 4 Desktops – Ubuntu, Mac, Windows, MythTV