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I run MythTV on an Ubuntu backend with XBMC (windows and unbuntu), Openelec, and MythTV/Unbuntu front ends. It breaks about every 6-8 weeks and I spend from 3 hours to 2 weeks without TV while I try to repair it. It is usually the BE that breaks. This has been going on for about 2 years and I have to say that MythTV is the least reliable software I have ever used since 1983, both personally and professionally (I was in IT until 2000).
Is this normal? If so I have to find another solution. Before I give up, does anyone have any suggestions?
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What sort of issues are you having? I've been running MythTV for over 3 years and I can't complain at all. My Digital cable boxes tend to freeze up about once every couple weeks. But I don't think that has anything to do with MythTV. I haven't rebuilt my mythtv setup in over the 3 years, only have done upgrades. everything seems to work great.
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nickr
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I have been using mythtv for years without any major problems at all. But if you want mythtv support, join the mythtv-users mailing list.
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nickr
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I am running a separate backend which is also my server. I find linux much more logical and easy to admin than windows. Linux software is so transparent in its configuration and logging.
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I spend about 8 hours yesterday trying to get this resolved (another evening lost to Myth). I am now suspecting ethernet drivers as I was suddenly able to connect after playing around with those. I am not sure what I did, but I will pursue getting stable drivers installed.
In discussions here and on other forums, it appears that when MythTV breaks it is often because of Ubuntu updates. Perhaps running Mythbuntu minimizes these issues. My machine is a backup and media server, so I run Ubuntu server and add Myth. I was hoping that sticking with LTS releases would minimize these issues. Perhaps when I do the next re-install I will go with Mythbuntu. Someone suggested that once everything is stabilized, disable all updates. That might be a good idea too.
Thanks to all for participating in this discussion.
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nickr
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Yes - use lts only. Don't update from release to release. Updates are fine within a release. Use mythbuntu repos.
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Without wanting to disrespect the MythTV users.. I switched to tvheadend as I was spending a lot of time trying to get the best out of and maintain MythTV and tvh is considerably easier to install, setup and maintain. (but I recognise it doesn't do as much as Myth)
I'd suggest testing by leaving your myth config in place, but stopping it.. then install tvheadend.
Latest unstable is good, as it's 3.9 - which is a further leap in configuration simplicity from 3.4.
(I switched from 3.4 > 3.9 this week and it's a lot better too).
I suggest 1 evening will be all you need to get it in and working. then you can pretty much leave alone.
I'm running a TV Backend, Synology NAS with MySQL and 7 Kodi clients using shared DB mode.
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nickr
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I have used both and prefer myth for the features. Each to their own of course.
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My two cents, I run Mythbuntu... I spent 4 hours last night installing from scratch because I tried to upgrade from a BE of .25+ to .27+ only to have something in the grub get f'ed up and the mysql db was erroring out at random times. HOWEVER, prior to that snafu my .25+ BE was running for a solid year. Once it is setup it works great. You can run the updates from within the repo but I feel like kernel updates can screw it up and god forbid you try to upgrade from 12.04 to 14...
Many times I have wished I just installed it within a VM... That way if I screw up the kernel or whatever, simply rollback to a snapshot.
I am a 'Nix noob so I probably break it more than most. Plus I do weird things like run it on a SSD but then mount a Terabyte of storage in the fstab to /mythtv which was 3 1/2 of the 4 hours getting the damn permissions to work
Also the mythtv PVR client is great and runs on my RPi pretty flawlessly (tune Live 1080p off the HDHomerun Prime 2 seconds)... Comskip is great for recorded American Football games. Don't think tvheadend has comskiping
1 Original XBOX XBMC with every game under the sun
3 Raspberry Pi's w/ Openelec Kodi shared MySQL db
1 Win7 Kodi hosting shared MySQL and media
1 Mythbuntu backend v.27 and HD Homerun Prime 3 tuners
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As I replied on the MythTV forums as well... Your experience doesn't match mine and doesn't seem typical based on the feedback of others. Something else sounds wrong and I don't think it is fair to say that MythTV itself is the most unreliable software you've ever used.
If you'd provide some details about what is actually wrong (and what is done to correct) when your FE can no longer talk to your BE, others might be able to help. You haven't even mentioned if basic network troubleshooting like ping, telnet, ifconfig, etc. has been used to try and found out where the breakdown in communication is.
