Tvheadend / CMyth - What is the current status?
#1
I posted this over in the OpenELEC forum but maybe it's more XBMC specific...

I'm currently using MythTV on a quad DVB-T backend server with OpenELEC v2.99.3

It works 'OK', but I do have a few minor nits which are getting to the point of annoying my wife so much that she wants to go back to Windows Vista Media Centre.
- Fast forward and rewind is a bit hit-and-miss. 2x FF is generally OK, but beyond that, the FF can freeze and we need to press play and then FF again
- Rewind is a really annoying - the image pretty much never updates so we have to guess where we are up to
- The EPG can be totally, horridly wrong
- The channel list sometimes shows shows on the wrong channel (like SBS showing as airing a Channel 10 show)
- Setting up recordings can be a PITA. With our previous Vista MC, we could simply go into the EPG and press the Record button once to schedule a single show. A second press would schedule recording of a series. Now we have to go into the EPG, press OK, select 'Add Timer' - That will schedule a one-off recording. To record a series, we then have to exit the EPG, goto 'Timers', find the recording in the ever increasing list of timers, open the timer dialog, scroll down to date, scroll through the dates until the 'days of week' appear, keep scrolling to select the appropriate days of the week and finally save the timer
- Timers for series populate into 'one timer per episode' rather than 'one per series'. This results in a huge list of timers
- I don't know if it is user error or bug(s) in OpenELEC / XBMC / CMyht / MythTV (or maybe show time changing) but we have had scheduled recording not record at all and even scheduled recordings recording the wrong show entirely
- If we pause TV, pressing 'Skip Back' and 'Skip Forward' changes the channel
- Changing channels is horridly slow

The reason I chose CMyth at the time was it's support of time-shifting which was not supported by Tvheadend at the time. I now see that Tvheadend has started to support time shifting I'm wondering if it is worth the effort to change now, or should I wait for Tvheadend to mature a bit more.

The other question is, how many of my CMyth issues are actually intrinsic XBMC issues?
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#2
Try the mythtv frontend, it really is a much better experience for being a, well, mythtv frontend.

If your EPG is out then you need a better source. If you are in the US, use Schedules Direct. Full stop. UK use radiotimes xml grabber. Other places *shrug*.

PS you will find scheduling via mythweb to be much easier Smile
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#3
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: Try the mythtv frontend, it really is a much better experience for being a, well, mythtv frontend.
I'm running OpenELEC, and I really want this to be an integrated, seamless experience
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: If your EPG is out then you need a better source. If you are in the US, use Schedules Direct. Full stop. UK use radiotimes xml grabber. Other places *shrug*.
I'm in Australia - I would have thought the EPG would be pulled over-the-air. I know XBMC gets the EPG information from the MythTV backend, but how do I find out where MythTV is getting it's EPG from? How can I look at the raw EPG data?
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: PS you will find scheduling via mythweb to be much easier Smile
Again, I'm looking for a seamless integrated solution.

One thing I have never found is any discussion on how the PVR functionality in XBMC should look-and-feel. For the most part, I really like it, but it would be really good to have some constructive discussion on fine tuning the rough edges
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#4
(2013-03-05, 23:49)calris Wrote:
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: Try the mythtv frontend, it really is a much better experience for being a, well, mythtv frontend.
I'm running OpenELEC, and I really want this to be an integrated, seamless experience
Aren't we all! I use mythtv for recordings, and xbmc for everything else. I start xbmc from a menu item in mythfrontend. It works well, although not entirely integrated. IMHO xbmc pvr is not as good as mythfrontend for recordings yet. Of course you could stick entirely to mythfrontend for a more "integrated" look and feel.
Quote:
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: If your EPG is out then you need a better source. If you are in the US, use Schedules Direct. Full stop. UK use radiotimes xml grabber. Other places *shrug*.
I'm in Australia - I would have thought the EPG would be pulled over-the-air. I know XBMC gets the EPG information from the MythTV backend, but how do I find out where MythTV is getting it's EPG from? How can I look at the raw EPG data?
In australia Shepherd is the acknowledged best source. On air EPG via EIT is notoriously bad in most markets, the TV companies just don't care enough. There are programs to download the raw data, but really I would go for shepherd.
Quote:
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: PS you will find scheduling via mythweb to be much easier Smile
Again, I'm looking for a seamless integrated solution.

One thing I have never found is any discussion on how the PVR functionality in XBMC should look-and-feel. For the most part, I really like it, but it would be really good to have some constructive discussion on fine tuning the rough edges
Many people who only use mythfrontend still end up doing a lot of scheduling from mythweb. I agree the xbmc pvr is rough around the edges.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#5
(2013-03-06, 00:00)nickr Wrote:
(2013-03-05, 23:49)calris Wrote:
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: If your EPG is out then you need a better source. If you are in the US, use Schedules Direct. Full stop. UK use radiotimes xml grabber. Other places *shrug*.
I'm in Australia - I would have thought the EPG would be pulled over-the-air. I know XBMC gets the EPG information from the MythTV backend, but how do I find out where MythTV is getting it's EPG from? How can I look at the raw EPG data?
In australia Shepherd is the acknowledged best source. On air EPG via EIT is notoriously bad in most markets, the TV companies just don't care enough. There are programs to download the raw data, but really I would go for shepherd.
Thanks - I'll check out Shepard. By 'Raw Data' I meant the data in MythTV so I could cross-check what is displayed in XBMC versus what is in MythTV
(2013-03-06, 00:00)nickr Wrote:
(2013-03-05, 23:49)calris Wrote:
(2013-03-05, 09:25)nickr Wrote: PS you will find scheduling via mythweb to be much easier Smile
Again, I'm looking for a seamless integrated solution.

One thing I have never found is any discussion on how the PVR functionality in XBMC should look-and-feel. For the most part, I really like it, but it would be really good to have some constructive discussion on fine tuning the rough edges
Many people who only use mythfrontend still end up doing a lot of scheduling from mythweb. I agree the xbmc pvr is rough around the edges.
That would be fine for me, but the WAF would go down the drain Sad

Would there be value in setting up a discussion about how to polish the PVR functionality in XBMC to make it a seamless, logical and consistent experience? I would be more than happy to collate the outcomes into a document that the devs could use to implement
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#6
Too much quoting for my brain now Smile

The data that myth has in it's database is available 3 ways:

1. mythfrontend (you probably have it installed on the backend at least)

2. mythweb (any computer on your lan with a browser)

3. mysql into the mythtv backend database and look at the right table - called program

Code:
SELECT chanid,starttime,title,subtitle FROM program;

There are gui programs to enable you to look at the database too. But option 2 is probably easiest if you just want to check what it says.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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Tvheadend / CMyth - What is the current status?0