MythTV

From GTALUG

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MythTV

MythTV is an open source software Personal Video Recorder. It lets you build a box similar to the commercial TiVo or ReplayTV systems, but considerably more powerful - and more easily customised and modified. The "more powerful" part includes things like being able to:

  • Auto detect and auto skip almost all commercials automatically
  • Play music (MP3/OGG)
  • Play video
  • Play games (both Linux specific games and thanks to MAME, old video arcade games)
  • See a weather forecast
  • Talk on the phone with a software based SIP phone
  • See an on-screen list of upcoming TV shows and select what show(s) you want to record by name or time
  • Set rules on how many of a particular show are recorded and how long shows are kept
  • Parental control option allowing a parent to block the recording of certain shows

Further the amount of disk storage available to MythTV can be as much as your budget or the Linux kernel can support. The number of channels you can record from at the same time is limited only by the hardware you have installed.

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MythGTA Mailing List

There is a greater Toronto, ON area MythTV oriented mailing list. To get on or off the list:

Please send an e-mail to:
mythtv-request@ss.org
Leave the subject line blank.
And in the body of the message, place only:
"subscribe" to subscribe or "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe, without the quotes.

You will get back an e-mail that offers additional information.

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GTA TV Providers

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Over the Air Television

With a good antenna, tuner and location you can get all the broadcast stations in the GTA (Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo). Depending on your antenna, tuner and location in the GTA you may be able to stations out of Rochester, NY.

Points to be aware of include you want the antenna to be as high as possible, you want line of sight to the transmitter locations. Most TV antennas are directional, so normally you want the antenna pointing at the TV transmitters. MythTV can control some selected TV rotors, devices that change the direction a TV antenna is pointed, so the antenna can alter position based on the channel being watched. TV signals can reflect off tall buildings and cliffs, in unusual cases the best direction to point a TV antenna is at the strongest reflection.

When shopping for over the air hardware keep in mind that some MythTV HDTV tuners do not handle analog TV properly, so you may not be able to get over the air analog with some cards, this will become less of an issue over time as analog TV is shut down.

Regarding analog TV, all high powered analog stations in the US shut down on June 12, 2009. A small number of low powered US analog TV stations are still in operation, including channel 15 (WBNF-CA) in Buffalo NY (which can be received in some parts of the GTA). In Canada all high powered analog stations are to shut down in favour of digital TV stations in August of 2011.

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Cable Companies

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Rogers

The largest name in the GTA, Rogers covers Toronto, and a number of other communities in the GTA.

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Rogers Analog Cable

There are no GTA wide issues here. In most areas you are talking about a good solid analog signal. Set your TV tuner card(s) for standard US style analog cable TV and everything should work nicely.

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Rogers Digital Cable

This is ugly. In the US cable companies are required to offer all local digital channels unencrypted (with the option of encrypting specialty and premium channels). In Canada the cable companies can encrypt all digital channels, and since August of 2007 this is what Rogers has done. There are a limited number of ways to obtain a digital signal which can be recorded, from a set top box.

To get any digital channels from Rogers in any form into your MythTV box you need a Rogers set-top box (STB).

A few Rogers STBes have an enabled firewire port. With the enabled firewire port boxes you can control the box via firewire and get true HDTV into your MythTV machine. For this to happen you will need the appropriate Rogers STB and a Linux supported firewire port installed in your MythTV machine. It is unclear whether a US sourced STB (with firewire enabled) will work with Rogers digital, even if the model numbers are the same.

If you can not use the firewire option, you can feed the digital box S-Video or Composite output to a MythTV compatible analog tuner. You will need an IR blaster (that can mimic a Rogers STB remote control) to control the STB from MythTV. The idea being that the IR blaster controls the Rogers box and you read the result via the analog card. With the analog card you do not get HDTV, only Standard Definition.

The last option is to feed Component output STB output to a Hauppauge HD-PVR, which converts the 3 analog signals into a digital stream, which you can record. You will need an IR blaster (that can mimic a Rogers STB box remote control) to control the STB from MythTV. The idea being that the IR blaster controls the Rogers box and you read the result via the HD-PVR. As at New Year 2010, the HD-PVR has dropped down to near $200 on sale. The HD-PVR is fully supported by MythTV.

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Cogeco

The number two cable provider in the GTA...

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Cogeco Analog Cable

As with the other GTA cable companies there shouldn't be any major issues with analog cable, just set your TV tuner card(s) for US style analog cable and everything should work.

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Cogeco Digital Cable

According to Remote Central at least as of July 2009 Cogeco offers a reasonable range of unencrypted digital TV channels. Set your HDTV tuner card(s) for the QAM digital format and things should work. For the specialty / premium channels that Cogeco doesn't offer unencrypted the problems, and solutions are the same as faced by all Rogers Digital Cable clients, namely:

  • Get a Cogeco compatible Firewire enabled set-top box (STB) and a Linux supported Firewire port in your MythTV box.
  • Alternatively, get an IR blaster that can mimic your Cogeco STB remote control and feed the output of the STB into a conventional Linux supported analog TV tuner card.
  • Alternatively, get an IR blaster that can mimic your Cogeco STB remote control and feed the output of the STB into a Hauppauge HD-PVR box.
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Compton Communications

Compton Communications coverage area is Port Perry, Uxbridge, Coppins Corners, Goodwood & Epsom Ontario.

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Compton Analog Cable

Full analog is available, as with the other cable companies set your TV tuner card(s) for US style analog cable.

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Compton Digital Cable

Full Digital is available Video On Demand is available

  • GPON (Gigabit Passive Network) available is some areas up to 2.4Gb

Compton was the first to launch the Motorola GPON with RF Return network in North America.

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Satellite TV

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Bell ExpressVu

More to come here.

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StarChoice

More to come here.

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Free To Air Satellite

More to come here.

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Schedules Direct

Schedules Direct is a not for profit company that offers TV listing data for open source software projects such as MythTV, for a modest yearly fee. Schedules Direct offers complete listing data for effectively every TV/cable station Canada and the United States. They also provide incomplete data for some nations outside Canada and the United States, such as several nations in the Caribbean.

Until August of 2009 "Schedules Direct" didn't offer digital over-the-air listings for Canadian Postal Codes. The work around for those in the GTA was to set-up an over the air location in US ZIP code 14174 (Youngstown, New York), which made it possible to get listing data for the Buffalo, New York HDTV channels and most of the Toronto HDTV channels.

Since mid-August of 2009 digital TV listings have been available for Canadian postal codes. If you see any errors or omissions please report them to Schedules Direct.

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Local Presentations on MythTV

Colin Smillie did a talk on MythTV for TLUG

Paul Mora did a NewTLUG talk on MythTV

Colin McGregor did an InstallFest for MythTV

Colin McGregor did a TLUG Presentation on MythTV

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External Links

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Software

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MythTV Friendly Hardware

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Tuners

  • PCHDTV - Linux friendly HDTV tuner cards.
  • SiliconDust - Builds a HDTV tuner to Ethernet box.
  • Hauppauge - PVR series (PVR-150, 250, 350 and 500) are great analog tuners. A large number of Hauppauge digital tuners are supported by the V4L project and thus under MythTV. The Hauppauge HD-PVR model 1212 HD-PVR converts and compresses Component (YCrCb) analog input to digital. This is now often the only way in which HDTV output from a set top box can be recorded. Fully supported by MythTV. Details on the Wiki.
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Cases

  • Silverstone - Some great home theater PC cases. Versions are available with Soundgraph iMon IR remote and VFD display, fully supported by LIRC and Mythtv.
  • Thermaltake - Some great home theater PC cases: the Bach series is a 'stereo-style' case, the Mozart series are mini-tower. Versions are available with Soundgraph iMon IR remote and VFD display, fully supported by LIRC and Mythtv.
  • Antec - Builder of a few home theater PC cases, in various styles. Antec also sells the 'Veris' line of add-on remote controls, which are based on Soundgraph iMon hardware.
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Paid MythTV Friendly Information

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Documentation

  • MythTV Wiki - The MythTV Wiki.
  • MythPVR - A MythTV fan site.
  • MythTV User Mailing List - The main MythTV users mailing list. Two warning about this list, it is high volume, 100+ messages per day is not unusual, and it is international, so some hardware/software issues do not apply to anyone in Canada (or the United States).
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Support Files

  • TV logos - MythTV allows you to add channel logos to the listings display. Here is a source for those logo image files.
  • Game files - MythGame allows you to run MAME (Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator) games. Here is a free source of some MAME games.
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TV Providers

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Greater Toronto Area - Over the Air Information

  • GTA HDTV Channels - A list of GTA area digital TV channels with transmitter data, such as location and output power. Remote Central is a great resource for information about *everything* related to TV hardware, OTA reception, satellite reception, and remotes.
  • FreeToronto.tv - Information about free TV, analog and digital, in the GTA.
  • Canadian OTA Station List - A listing of all OTA television stations in Canada, by Province and Municipality. Shows the present status of operational stations, and the anticipated parameters of digital channels after the switchover. Especially useful as it shows the actual transmission channel (rather than the branded virtual channel) and location.
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Cable TV

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Satellite TV

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Vendors of note with a GTA presence

  • Tiger Direct - Good source of home theater PC cases and of TV tuner cards. Several locations in the GTA.
  • Canada Computers - Good source of TV tuner cards and of home theater PC cases. Several locations in the GTA.
  • Save and Replay - Carries a great selection of OTA antennas and satellite receivers as well as the mounting hardware you will need, as well as otherwise hard to (locally) find tuners such as the HDHomeRun. Very knowledgeable about OTA specifics. South Brampton - CourtneyPark/410.
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Related Articles by Local Authors

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