MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/...dfb58fdc23.jpg

I've released an initial port of mythtv 0.21 on the garage site for OS2008 on the n810/n800:

https://garage.maemo.org/frs/?group_id=632

It looks kind of daunting, but that's because I've got all the build dependencies up there as well.

"All" you should need to install is:
adduser (available from http://debfarm.free.fr/pool/)
libxinerama1
libxxf86vm1
mysql-common (note: if you have any problems try installing bash or "ln -s /bin/sh /bin/bash", but I think I've fixed that bug with the new packages)
libmysqlclient15off
libqt3-mt
libqt3-mt-mysql
libmyth-0.21
mythtv-common
mythtv-frontend
(and optionally mythtv-themes)

and install on the command line as root:

(please let me know if I'm missing something in this list)

This is a very preliminary port, but the menus and controls/settings are all working as far as I can tell, and so is video, although there are plenty of encoding/transcoding and playback settings to experiment with!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/...e6ee5e802a.jpg
I do have video! It takes a few seconds to start, and for higher bitrates can be jerky and audio is sometimes absent. This is all very impressive however considering we are using no optimizations in the decoder code yet though. The on screen display and menus are also working. See my settings below.

I have tried a low-res RTJpeg transcode and it's very smooth, completely watchable.
I'm also finding that with my mpeg2 encoder card (pvr150) I can set the bitrate to 1000 and the resolution to 240x240 and watch live tv.

I have a package for mythtv-themes, however garage file size limitations won't let me upload it. Since it's arch-independent however try installing one from your local debian-multimedia/ubuntu repository.

I also have disabled all cpu optimizations at the moment, because they were giving some problems with the codesourcery compiler in the sdk, however there are ARM4LE/ARMV6 optimizations in the code base!

NOTE: For those of you with KDE installed, this version of QT 3 may conflict with the one included with KDE, however KDE will work equally well with this version, so delete the old version under /usr/local/bin/qt.

And yes I'll be setting up an apt repository in good time, meanwhile if you can't work out how to install from the packages then you definitely shouldn't be installing anything this experimental anyway.

Configuration Tips:
gazza_d posted his full configuration for playing video here

If you have a low bitrate audio (32/64):
* Turn on extra audio buffering under playback settings - otherwise audio will crackle
Otherwise if you have a high bitrate audio (>64)
* Turn off extra audio buffering under playback settings - otherwise alsa on the device has a fit

* Turn off live previews of videos in recordings
* Turn off transparent boxes - despite what it says this seems to affect playback
* Popup shading: none
* Add a custom TV playback method:
- Decoder: Standard
- Video Renderer: xvblit
- OSD Renderer: softblend
- OSD Fade: off
- Interlacing: onefield
* Run mythfrontend as root (sudo gainroot) or set mythfrontend root suid so that it can use realtime threads.
* Experiment with your recording profiles/transcoding profiles and find out what works best for you. Let us know!

Controls
You can use the D-pad for nearly all controls, including entering/exiting menus. During playback you can use the back button on the N810/N800 to exit playback, otherwise all controls are standard.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Hmm, can this connect with an existing backend (my desktop in Linux?). If so I wonder if I could find out how to have MythTV on my desktop do the encoding/transcoding/whatever and enable my n800 to watch it. (I do something similar but with Orb on Windows).

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

That's generally the whole point of MythTV and this port; it runs as two separate processes (Backend that does all the recording/etc and Frontend that does all the playback/interaction); as long as your backend is running the compatible version of Myth you shouldn't have any problems connecting to it, though as Yani notes it's not ideal right now due to the playback not functioning on the tablet. Still, extremely cool stuff, I've been waiting for this for a while as the other myth control/interaction attempts have been, well, not terribly handy due to differing interfaces and lack of real capabilities. The one thing that I'd really love to see this project fork/evolve into would be that instead of actually implementing video playback on the tablet, have it so that you're controlling another front end's playback capabilities. That way you can use myth's interface for scheduling recordings, browsing through your videos/recordings/etc, and have it so that when you're done you just pick a video/recording/channel to watch and have your TV suddenly jump to that... I know I know lots of code and no idea how to implement it, but it would be neat no?

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Just tried this. None of the packages will install on my N800 using the applcation manager - "incompatible package"

Using dpkg -i though. libmysqlclient15off reports that it requires mysql-common, but that cannot install due to the following error...
"dpkg: serious warning: files list for package 'mysql-common' missing, assuming package has no files currently installed.)"

Now stuck....

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

mysql-common is available in the files there too, you may need to drop to the command line and use dpkg -i to install stuff, I haven't tested it out with application manager.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

yea - I downloaded mysql-common. It's that package which is generating the files list error, and will not install.

BTW thanks for all your efforts, we really appreciate it.

cheers

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

I'm actually getting a pre-installation script error when trying to install mysql-common. I have tried turning up the debug options on dpkg, but am not getting any more details.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

I have it installed on my n810 fine, it may have required adduser actually, I removed that dependency for the frontend. Try installing adduser first and see if it works then. Otherwise run again and send me the complete output of dpkg.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

All that I can do already with this port.

This sounds more like something like mythtomer which is already available however.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

maybe me being blind or daft, but I cannot find adduser for chinook. any pointers?

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

It's in one of the extra repositories for 2008, but I have no idea which one, so I've added it to the file list on the garage project site.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

This is the dpkg output when trying to install mysql-common...

Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs# dpkg -D400 --install ./mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb
Selecting previously deselected package mysql-common.
(Reading database ... 20997 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mysql-common (from .../mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb) ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new pre-installation script: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing ./mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb (--install):
subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: No such file or directory
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
./mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb
Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs#

hop this helps..

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Nah, afraid adduser has not fixed it. Still getting the error as described above. A powercycle has not done anything either.

Cheers

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

I've tried removing all associated packages, and all the mysql/mythtv users & config from my n810:

apt-get remove mysql-common libmysqlclient15off libqt3-mt libqt3-mt-mysql libmyth-0.21 mythtv-common mythtv-frontend mythtv-themes
userdel mythtv
groupdel mythtv
rm -rf /etc/mysql/ /etc/mythtv/

and then re-installing with the following command:

dpkg -i mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb libmysqlclient15off_5.0.32-7chinook1_armel.deb libqt3-mt_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb libqt3-mt-mysql_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb libmyth-0.21_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb mythtv-common_0.21-maemo0_all.deb mythtv-frontend_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb mythtv-themes_0.21-0.0_all.deb

and everything works fine, so I can't seem to repeat this bug :-S. Can anyone else? I've even checked the md5sum of the package I'm installing vs the one on the garage file releases, and they are identical.

Please post here if you have a successful install.

gazza_d: are you installing as root? I've only tested it as root, you must install gainroot and then in a terminal login as root with "sudo gainroot". Also try creating /etc/mysql, although I really don't think that's the problem. You should be able to install the other packages and use mythtv even with that error, but apt-get is going to complain that it hasn't finished configuring.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

thanks for your efforts Yani. yes I am installing as root.

I have tried installing libmysqlclient15off forcing no-dependencies, as normally that wil not install due to no mysql-common, but that then fails with a post-install script error.

I have also tried copying the files to /home/use before installing them, as currently they are on a SD card.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Yani

Just tried it with your command string to see if it would just skip over the errors and install anyways.

Libxinerama1 and libxxf86vm1 need to be installed, as they are listed as dependancies of mythtv-frontend.

below is the dpkg output...

Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs# dpkg -i mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb libmysqlclient15off_5.0.32-7chinook1_armel.deb libqt3-mt_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb libqt3-mt-mysql_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb libmyth-0.21_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb mythtv-common_0.21-maemo0_all.deb mythtv-frontend_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb mythtv-themes_0.21-0.0_all.deb
Selecting previously deselected package mysql-common.
(Reading database ... 21064 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mysql-common (from mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb) ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new pre-installation script: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb (--install):
subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute new post-removal script: No such file or directory
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 2
Preparing to replace libmysqlclient15off 5.0.32-7chinook1 (using libmysqlclient15off_5.0.32-7chinook1_armel.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libmysqlclient15off ...
Selecting previously deselected package libqt3-mt.
Unpacking libqt3-mt (from libqt3-mt_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libqt3-mt-mysql.
Unpacking libqt3-mt-mysql (from libqt3-mt-mysql_3.3.7-4chinook1_armel.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libmyth-0.21.
Unpacking libmyth-0.21 (from libmyth-0.21_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package mythtv-common.
Unpacking mythtv-common (from mythtv-common_0.21-maemo0_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package mythtv-frontend.
Unpacking mythtv-frontend (from mythtv-frontend_0.21-maemo0_armel.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing mythtv-themes_0.21-0.0_all.deb (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libmysqlclient15off:
libmysqlclient15off depends on mysql-common (>= 5.0.32-7chinook1); however:
Package mysql-common is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libmysqlclient15off (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt3-mt:
libqt3-mt depends on libxinerama1; however:
Package libxinerama1 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libqt3-mt (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt3-mt-mysql:
libqt3-mt-mysql depends on libmysqlclient15off (>= 5.0.27-1); however:
Package libmysqlclient15off is not configured yet.
libqt3-mt-mysql depends on libqt3-mt (>= 3:3.3.7); however:
Package libqt3-mt is not configured yet.
libqt3-mt-mysql depends on libxinerama1; however:
Package libxinerama1 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libqt3-mt-mysql (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libmyth-0.21:
libmyth-0.21 depends on libqt3-mt (>= 3:3.3.7); however:
Package libqt3-mt is not configured yet.
libmyth-0.21 depends on libxinerama1; however:
Package libxinerama1 is not installed.
libmyth-0.21 depends on libxxf86vm1; however:
Package libxxf86vm1 is not installed.
libmyth-0.21 depends on libqt3-mt-mysql | libqt3c102-mt-mysql; however:
Package libqt3-mt-mysql is not configured yet.
Package libqt3c102-mt-mysql is not installed.
dpkg: error processing libmyth-0.21 (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up mythtv-common (0.21-maemo0) ...

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mythtv-frontend:
mythtv-frontend depends on libmyth-0.21 (>= 0.21); however:
Package libmyth-0.21 is not configured yet.
mythtv-frontend depends on libqt3-mt (>= 3:3.3.7); however:
Package libqt3-mt is not configured yet.
mythtv-frontend depends on libxinerama1; however:
Package libxinerama1 is not installed.
mythtv-frontend depends on libxxf86vm1; however:
Package libxxf86vm1 is not installed.
dpkg: error processing mythtv-frontend (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
mysql-common_5.0.32-7chinook1_all.deb
mythtv-themes_0.21-0.0_all.deb
libmysqlclient15off
libqt3-mt
libqt3-mt-mysql
libmyth-0.21
mythtv-frontend
Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs#

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Thanks, I'll add those to the list. BTW I just re-created the problem on a clean install of OS2008, I think it was because the package I ported was a backport of mysql 5, and expects to be upgrading mysql 4. I'm going to remove the mysql-common dependency since you don't need it (it just makes /etc/mysql/my.cnf) for now, and update the libmysqlclient15off package.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Great Yani, at least I'm not turning mad or stupid :-)!

Can you please check libmysqlclient15off on a clean install before uploading, as I've been having problems, but it could be just the dependancy causing trouble, or it could be the backport.

cheers

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

You'll probably have to run the following to remove the mysql-common problems (and for any other package that it complains it can't find a package for when you try to remove it)

dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq mysql-common

I'm going to modify the libqt3-mt-mysql package so it depends on libmysqlclient15 instead of libmysqlclient15off, which is as it should, and that should allow us to use one of the available ports of libmysqlclient15 which are out there already such as:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=225202

at least until I work out what I screwed up with my packages!

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Still having problems I'm afraid. Ran the command you suggested to clean out mysql-common. Redownloaded libmysqlclient15off, the size has changed so I assume it's a new version. It won;t install normally as it's still complaining about the dependancy on mysql-common. An attempt to install ignoring mysql-common resulting in the following...

Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs# dpkg --ignore-depends=mysql-common -i libmysqlclient15off_5.0.32-7chinook1_armel.deb
(Reading database ... 21770 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace libmysqlclient15off 5.0.32-7chinook1 (using libmysqlclient15off_5.0.32-7chinook1_armel.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement libmysqlclient15off ...
Setting up libmysqlclient15off (5.0.32-7chinook1) ...
dpkg (subprocess): unable to execute post-installation script: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing libmysqlclient15off (--install):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Errors were encountered while processing:
libmysqlclient15off
Nokia-N800-50-2:/media/mmc1/Mythtv debs#

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Hold your horses, I'm still compiling everything! I'll post when I have something new up. :)

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

cool, cheers.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Well I worked out what the problem was, the debian mysql packages I ported used scripts for post/preinst that had #!/bin/bash instead of #!/bin/sh in their headers!

The reason I didn't catch it is because both my n810 and scratch box have bash installed. A temporary fix would just be to ln -s /bin/sh /bin/bash if you want to try the current packages.

I'll post again when I have the new packages up with this fixed.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Too impatient!! So I have installed bash.
Just dropped to root shell and did apt-get install bash3. edited /etc/passwd and changed /bin/sh to /bin/bash for user and root.

It is now starting up. I will have a play and report back in a bit.

First thing though, when you first configure the frontend, start it after you have changed to root as it wants to ping the backend to test connectivity, but user is not allowed access to ping by default, so it will never find the server.

Also on-screen pop-up keyboards do not work.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Good point, this should definitely be off by default then.


Hm, there is a settings in the setup somewhere that disables/enables them, and I'm not sure what the default is. I never really thought of using them given I have an n810 :$

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

About ping. the command chmod u+s /bin/ping will enable ping for the normal user, who then can start mythfrontend quite happily.

I use the command mythfrontend -l /media/mmc1/mythfrontend.log 2>&1 which logs output to a log file.

I'm not bothered about the on-screen keyboards, I didn't try them using the d-pad which by the way works fine on an 800, but I am using my trusty iGo slim keyboard.

I have tried a recording transcoded down to mpeg4 with a bitrate of 800, audio 32000 and quality of 7, Video size not changed from about 720x576. which did not work.

I'm busy transcoding a recording down to 400x240 with the other setting as above, but I not hopeful that it will work.

cracking job so far though.

cheers

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

How much does this take on the device? I would love to try out this great port but I only have 22 MB left :(

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

maybe about 8MB - not as much as I thought. Yani has not ported any additional themes other than blue and GANT, nor any additional plugins such as music, video etc. It's not lightening fast, but it's nowhere near as slow as I'd feared certainly useable. Program guide is OK, I don't have another frontend running over wireless. Make try to take a video of it in action for posting to youtube or somewhere.

It may be better to get some of the other plugins ported. Video will allow you to change the player, so that may work well, and stuff such as music, news etc. may make more sense to me on a handheld than on my telly.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

The extra themes are available, but yes, optional.

I'd have to agree. Suprisingly the mythtv-QT4 port was a lot more responsive, I immediately noticed a slowdown in the UI with QT3 and mythtv 0.21. Of course mythtv-QT4 is still too unstable to use for video playback, so that's all academic until 0.22 is released.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Nice - I've been waiting for this for my N810!

I'm still on 0.20 though. Plan on doing 0.21 after Hardy is released in April, afterwhich I'll give this a shot.

I figure GMythStream will be required on the backend? What's the hardware requirement? My backend is currently a PIII 733 with 512MB using PVR-150 cards - will that be sufficient?

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

No gmythstream, tablet-encode or anything else. It is a full port of the myth frontend to the N8x0, thanks to Yani who is a hero for getting it this far.

However, there is no video currently, although all the other features such as programme guide, deletion and job scheduling work as normal.

I would not hold your breath for video, especially live tv. From playing about with different files in mplayer the Nits do not have the clout to play the full-fat videos from myth. I think that we will need to transcode down the recordings to a playable size. It should be possible to keep the resolution, and squeeze the bitrate down, so they are still viewable on a telly as well.

I'm currently uploading a rather blurry video to youtube demoing the frontend, when it's complete and I have a URL, I'l post it straightaway.

Once again, this is all down to Yani, I'm just a user.

Gaz

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

0.21 is in the official gutsy backports repository, and quite stable.

That's totally untrue! Video works, and I've watched livetv. Look back at the first post, I've been updating it as I experiment with things :)

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

My apologies Yani. Didn't reread your first post. I'm amazed.

You rock!

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

No worries, I'm amazed too :p I wasn't expecting video to work at all without some patches.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

I've uploaded new mysql packages, and a new libqt3-mt-mysql package that shouldn't require bash anymore.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Hi!

Great work. I have been waiting so long for this to arrive.
Unfortunally I cannot find the package libmysqlclient15off.
Please post a link to that file.


Thanks

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Hm, that's the old mysql packages I had up, I'll put them back up for now, but what package is requiring it? I thought I had changed the dependency for libqt3-mt-msql.

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

I had old packages. I redownloaded everything.

Do I need to change anything on my backend to play video?
Mythfrontend complains about my database on my backend. How do I fix that?

2008-03-26 18:35:06.522 This version of MythTV requires an updated database schema. Please run mythtv-setup or mythbackend to update your database.

Thanks

Re: MythTV initial (alpha level) port released
 

Mythtv-setup is in the backend package, because it's a backend configuration program. All the frontend configuration is done in the mythtv frontend under setup. You can do some backend configuration there too, like the recording profiles. If you really want to run mythtv-setup on the device you could do it over ssh from the backend of course.

You will probably have to either configure a transcoding profile and then tell mythtv to transcode the recordings you want to watch, or simply change your recording profile. I have a bit about my experimentation with that in the first page.

Anyway experiment with different settings and see what works for you, in the worst case a video will either not play (in which case you should be dropped back in mythtv after a timeout) or will have jerky playback.