[mythtv-users] using WinTV PVR-350 to play AM/FM radio? (slightly OT)

Brad DerManouelian myth at dermanouelian.com
Tue Apr 4 22:47:04 UTC 2006


On Apr 4, 2006, at 3:56 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:

> On 4/4/06, Jeff Simpson <jeffsimpson at alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
>>> I disagree somewhat in the playback ideas. I do agree that exporting
>>> to portable media devices should definitely be a big part of this, I
>>> would even extend that idea to make it possible to stream to those
>>> networked audio player device things (I don't have one, but I can  
>>> see
>>> this being a great feature).
>>
>>
>> I just didn't want this seemingly-simple idea get too bloated  
>> before it even
>> starts. Once we get started on the perils of inventing Yet Another  
>> MP3
>> Player and integrating it into myth, it becomes a very large  
>> project. (yeah,
>
> except it would just be a matter of slightly modifying whats there to
> handle the FM recordings.
>
>> I agree, it makes sense for recordings of radio to be in with  
>> recordings of
>> TV, since they are both recordings, but at the same time, music  
>> (mp3) and
>> radio are also very similar, and mythmusic and the like already  
>> have info
>> display and visualizations built in.
>
> The issue is that MythMusic is, IMNSHO, a mess, I end up booting up
> XBMC on the xbox and using that to listen to music since it is a
> pleasure to use for this. I've also had other issues with MythMusic
> not being able to play many of my mp4 encodes, etc. Makes me think
> MythMusic could use a complete rewrite...
>
> I'd settle for using the DVB radio video creation method already in
> SVN to be used to create a visual for playback of FM recordings with
> the regular OSD info used for TV to display information.
>
> In fact, this is probably the best way to go. I don't know how far
> along the new MFE is, but from what I understand it should give a much
> more integrated UI feel to Myth and its plugins, something more akin
> to how XBMC can move between music, video, and picture playback
> seamlessly. I think any fancy stuff should just be put on hold until
> it can be done in MFE instead.
>
>>> Anyway, I have my MythTV setup connected to my hometheatre which
>>> doubles as my "stereo", so *I* would want to have a nice  
>>> interface for
>>> playing back radio this way, as well, many people have remote
>>> frontends in rooms without radios, so even if you are playing it  
>>> back
>>> through the TV its better than nothing. In that regard, I don't see
>>> organization and playback of recorded radio needing to be much
>>> different than how TV is handled. I think the current Watch  
>>> Recordings
>>> area is a fine layout for Radio, you could even replace the Preview
>>> picture with an image associated with the show (cause everyone loves
>>> eye candy!).
>>
>>
>> Since it doubles as your stereo, I'm sure you can also see the  
>> need for an
>> easy to use and well designed music player as well. If mythmusic  
>> were as
>> intuitive as the watch-recordings menu is, people would actually  
>> use it.
>> Imagine having the ability to scroll through recorded FM, mp3s,  
>> audio CDs,
>> and even shoutcast and other internet streams. A shoutcast stream  
>> is not
>> much different from recorded FM when you think about it. You can  
>> group media
>> into "where you got it from" or "what you'll do with it" and come  
>> up with
>> "recorded" and "library" and "watch" and "listen-to". Either one  
>> seems like
>> a good way to group them, but one puts radio in with tv because  
>> you recorded
>> it, the other puts radio in with mp3s because you listen to them.
>
> I agree, I even posted to the dev list a UI concept that would allow
> for this AND still function well with a 6 button remote. The problem
> is getting people to code it. I don't have this ability and honestly
> don't particularly enjoy coding enough to want to learn.
>
> I will be moving into a new apt soon with a friend that is CompSci
> major and programs for a living though, and perhaps having Myth around
> will get him interested enough to contribute...
>
> <snip>
>
>> I think step one would be trying to record radio outside myth  
>> (just like
>> step one in setting
>> up myth is getting the capture cards to work outside of myth).  
>> Once we can
>> create an
>> environment where we can easily start/stop recordings of set  
>> frequencies to
>> files, we can
>> add on scheduling and all the myth integration that we'll need.
>>
>> Is anyone currently using a radio card to record radio? and if so,  
>> what
>> programs are you using?
>>
>> Also, now that I think about it, what radio card will be  
>> supported? As far
>> as I know, there isn't a
>> standard interface for radio cards, I've just been assuming that  
>> we'll use
>> an ivtv supported radio
>> device like the PVR cards from hauppauge.
>
> I think this is just a matter of knowing how v4l handles radio. From
> what I understand the ivtv drivers for the PVR cards are capable of
> controling the radio, it may be as simple as using ivtv-tune to tune
> the station and then mplayer /dev/radio0 to listen.
>
> I'll try and play with this when I get home tonight.

Sorry to repost what's already in the thread, but:
I'm able to get FM playing through my MythTV box with
# ivtv-radio -f 90.3

There are also switches to just tune to the frequency. There's also a  
command to scan for frequencies, but this seems to lock up my box  
after it finds a few.

Someone else also posted a command to get it to play through the GUI,  
but it didn't work for me  but I think my permissions are set to root  
for the device so that makes sense.


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