[mythtv-users] MythChannels: new version available soon? (also: 16:9 UI)

[Andreas Weder]

Kistof,

thanks for the script: this gives me a nice head start. I'm pretty
convinced now that the only way to go for now is to add channel info
into the DB manually and possibly write a grabber for TV listings 
myself.

Oh well... here goes my girlfriend ... (nah...I'm 35. At this age,
relationships last longer ;-) ).

> The issues that I encountered were :
> - native alsa support (if you have exotic sound cards like me)
> - native lirc support (if you want to use your remote control 
> without irxevent)
> - true dualhead setup (if you want to set up mythtv on the other 
> head of your
> video card and still work with your other head)

Yes, I had similar issues here, too. I bought a new Shuttle XPC
box with 865 G chipset and found that my SuSE 8.2 installation did
not properly support all of the installed components. So I eventually 
downloaded a more current release of ALSA and lirc. Things started 
working then. 

Also, I had to install IVTV, which wasn't included with SuSE, and
I'm in fact still puzzling if I need BTTV in addition to that: 
after all, my Hauppauge PVR-350 does not feature a BT-chipset 
asfaik, but some news items seem to suggest I need it anyway 
to get audio going - I'll see once I actually capture a TV 
channel with audio. So far, I only tried to capture my laptop's
screen using S-Video In.

> The only annoyance that I still have is the support of Pal plus. 
> This is a 16/9
> format squeezed in a 4:3 PAL signal. The signal is encoded so 
> that original 4:3
> TVs will display the 16:9 with black bars above and below the screen :
> 
> Situation 1 : 16:9 on native 4:3
> *********
> *-------*
> *       *
> *-------*
> *********
> 
> Only true Pal plus decoders will use the information that is 
> hidden in the black
> bars to produce a real 16:9 image when displayed on a 16:9 screen :
> 
> Situation 2 : decoded 16:9 pal plus on native 16:9
> *************
> *           *
> *           *
> *           *
> *************
> 
> Of course, regular 4:3 programs will be displayed with black bars 
> on the left
> and right side :
> 
> Situation 3 : 4:3 on native 16:9
> *************
> * |       | *
> * |       | *
> * |       | *
> *************
> 
> Since I have such a 16:9 screen, I force MythTV (including all 
> menus) in 4:3
> mode. However, this gives the following result with Pal plus programs :
> 
> Situation 4 : 4:3 (with 16:9 inside) on a native 16:9
> *************
> * --------- *
> * |       | *
> * --------- *
> *************
> 
> Let me explain why :
> There is no card that does pal plus decoding, so MythTV always 
> thinks it sees a
> full 4:3 screen, even when there are black bars above and beyond 
> the screen.
> 
> The solution ?
> First of all, getting the full quality of a 16:9 pal plus image is never
> possible, since the TV card is not able to decode the pal plus 
> information. The
> only solution here is stretching the image. There is no way of knowing on
> forehand which image needs to be stretched, so the only way of 
> controlling the
> behaviour is to add this functionality to a button on the remote 
> control. I
> guess this could be done using the XV extensions.

As for your PAL plus problems, hmm... I own a 16:9 TV set, too,
but I never thought this would cause me problems: I always expected
the UI to be 4:3 only. In fact, I usually watch TV with a 4:3 ratio,
since I'm not too happy with the stretching variants ("Super Zoom" 
or whatever they are called). The TV set usually switches to 16:9
anyway when a good movie's up (due to the hidden info, yes) or I 
switch manually when watching a DVD.

Hmm... I already consider myself ambitious enough since I did not 
choose the Win XP - SageTV variant when I decided to build such a
VDR box. I decided to brush up my Linux knowledge and to see what's
currently possibly with Linux. I fear I'd get over-ambitious if I 
even consider a 16:9 mythTV UI.... ;-)

I'll keep you posted, let's stay in touch.

Andreas