Difference between revisions of "MythTV Setup Series"

Latest revision as of 13:27, 18 February 2015

Our MythTV Setup Series is not a start to finish complete walk though of the installation process. Because there are different avenues to explore in ways to go about your goal of having a working MythTV system, with no specific one being better than the next, it would require many guides for many scenarios.

• There is a MythTV Wiki that is devoted to all aspects of MythTV: Official MythTV Wiki

Our guides focus on specific tasks and attempt to explain things in a different way than the official wiki. These guides are written by people that have actually done the things being discussed. What works and is confirmed to work is documented here in a way that attempts to be directly to the point and easy to understand.

All MythTV Wiki pages can be seen listed here:

• Category:MythTV

Below are specific Setup guides addressing aspects of installation and operation.

Operating System Adjustments

Setup a static IP address for your MythTV box

From Xfce windows shell click

• Applications -> Settings -> Network connections

From here you can modify the type of connection you have, typically "Wired" or "Wireless." Assign the static IP address you desire to the correct interface being used.

• Click the "Edit button" under the correct interface tab.

It will be necessary to restart the network interface if you do not wish to reboot. From shell issue:

sudo service network-manager restart

For more information on configuring see the General Ubuntu help pages: Category:Ubuntu

useful packages

Install vim editor

apt-get install vim

Set VNC password

sudo x11vnc --storepasswd

To connect to windows shares you need cifs

apt-get install cifs-utils

Install Firefox, because Chromium doesn't support NoScript.

apt-get install firefox

The Adobe Flash Plugin is under the Restricted Formats in Ubuntu (as a result of Adobe licensing). Install the latest version of Flash Player for Ubuntu

• Install Update Flash Plugin Ubuntu

Easy way to secure transfer files

apt-get install lrzsz

PulseAudio Volume Control: a simple GTK+ based volume control and mixer for PulseAudio which allows you to control both the volume of hardware devices and of each playback stream separately.

apt-get install pavucontrol

disable screen blanking

After my computer with ubuntu 12.04 has been idle for a short while, the screen will go blank, and even enter standby mode. Drop out of MythTV frontend to Xfce and on the menu in the upper left:

• Applications, Settings, Screensaver

Change "Blank After" to 0 or any value you want. Change "Screensaver" to "none."

STATUS: update. TV blanks on MythTV menu. Does not blank on livetv, player, or Xfce desktop. Culprit is a communications issue on the HDMI interface. HDMI technology flaw, implementation flaw, failure for some television and monitor manufacturers to adhere to HDMI specifications. On a Vizio brand display exhibiting the problem changing the automatic luminance to disabled seems to resolve. Keep in mind that pressing a button like "input" on the remote will recover display.

sudo xset dpms 0 0 0 && xset s off && xset s noblank
xset q

xset -dpms
xset s off

Post Installation

The core MythTV functionality is divided between the frontends and the backend. Both the frontend and backend can be on the same system. There can be a dedicated backend system. There can be multiple frontend systems. Each remote frontend will need to connect to the dedicated backend which can be thought of as the backend server.

Connecting to the Backend Database

Country / Language

When you see the "Select Language" screen it either means this is the first time you've ran the MythTV front-end on a new installation, or your previously working installation is having problems connecting to the database* on the MythTV back-end server. The Country and Language screen is actually step 1 of 3 in the database connection setup for the MythTV front-end.

*. Newer versions do not drop to the select language screen on failure to connect to backend anymore. Now an alert box is displayed in the upper right corner of the front-end interface in red notifying of the connection failure.

All you need do here is select your language, typically "United States" and "English." If you are seeing this screen and know you have previously configured all of this, then your front-end is likely experiencing connection problems. Same host: make sure backend is running and mysqld is running. Remote host: check network cable or signal and connection status.

• Tip: the Country / Language screen will always come up after reboot if the front-end cannot connect to the server.

Database Configuration 1/2

The second screen is where you enter your database connection information. The front-end needs to know (5) things: the host, port, database name, database user, and database user password. If the front-end is on the same machine the host can be "localhost." The default port is typically 3306 unless you specifically made it something different on installation. It should be left as 3306.

As a database name "mythconverg" is also a default and should not be changed unless you have multiple back-ends on the same network. Creation of the MythTV user and password is the first of the Post-install tasks on a new installation. See the MythTV Post Install Tasks on the official wiki.

The username for the mythtv user defaults to "mythtv" which is in the mysql database "mysql" in the "user" table.

select * from user where User="mythtv" ;

The password for the mythtv database is not necessarily the same as the mysql administrator password.

• Forgotten password, but previously used it before on the front-end: If you are setting up a second front-end such as one on a remote MythTV client, and you cannot remember what you used for the database user password, you can find it on the MythTV backend server in a configuration file "config.xml." If the system is Mythbuntu simple look in /etc/mythtv

cat /etc/mythtv/config.xml

Look for <DBPassword>

You can reset the password if needed from mysql admin.

myqsl> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'mythtv'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mythtv' WITH GRANT OPTION;
mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpassword') WHERE user='mythtv';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

After you reset the mythtv password it will need to be updated on all active mythtv frontends.

Database Configuration 2/2

And on the final screen leaving the defaults is typically the best choice for most installations.

Custom Identifier for Frontend Preference : If unchecked, the frontend machine's local hostname will be used to save preferences in the database. Unchecked is the default. This only needs to be checked on a host where the hostname constantly is changed.

Enable Database Server Wakeup: Database Server Wakeup is an ACPI option that allows your machine to power up based on activity on the network. You need to make sure that your machine supports ACPI correctly for this to work. Unchecked is the default. Leave this unchecked if the back-end machine does not "sleep mode" in that the database is always available.

Extras and 3rd Party Software

Frontend control socket

MythTV can be controlled remotely from any IP based device, including an Android smartphone. Using a software (app) on the Android smartphone such as Mythmote turns your smartphone into a remote control for MythTV.

Your front-end system should be assigned a static IP address. Although this is not a requirement, it will prevent future connectivity issues as a result of the IP being reassigned.

Frontend Setup

Menu navigation to the correct settings screen may vary a little depending on your version and theme.

From the home screen choose "Setup" -> "General"

The General Setup is a wizard with several screens to click though. You will skip past a few screens (typically 6) without altering the settings by simply clicking the "next" button in the lower right. You will skip past the following: Database Configuration 1/2, Database Configuration 2/2, Settings Access, General, Media Monitor, and Shutdown/Reboot Settings until you come to the screen labeled "Remote Control."

Check the box labeled "Enable Network Remote Control Interface." Leave the default port set to "6546" and UDP "6948." Now click the next button in the bottom right and on the final screen click the finish button in the bottom right.

Note: You WILL have to restart the MythTV front-end in order for the settings to become active!

Remote Control Setup

The IP remote control feature will work with any number of devices, including being open for your own development if you choose to write software or an app to interact with MythTV. One such popular IP remote control is the Android App called Mythmote.

As an example the Mythmote app will be used for configuration. This simply involves going into the Mythmote settings of the app and selecting the option to create "New Location."

The Location Name you provide Mythmote is up to you. This is a way for you to identify which front-end you are controlling in an environment where you may have multiple MythTV front-end systems. The IP address will be that of the MythTV front-end. The default port of 6546 will already be in the field. The MAC field need not be supplied, just skip that. Click SAVE and your Mythmote App should not be able to control the MythTV front-end.

IP Remote Control External Resources

For more information on Frontend control socket for MythTV see the following external resources.

• Official MythTV Wiki- Frontend control socket
• Patrick Archibald's Mythmote Installation Youtube video - this video is outdated, and watching a long drawn out video is no substitute for a well written guide.
• MythTV Wiki- Remote Control with WM Smartphone is an older guide which covers Bluetooth or TCP/IP (GPRS/WiFi) to control MythTV.