[mythtv-users] Alternatives to MythVodka, MythStream and other streaming MythTV plugins

Robert McNamara robert.mcnamara at gmail.com
Sun Jan 11 03:01:18 UTC 2009


On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Matthew <m.mythtv at grojguys.com> wrote:
> I'm just coming up to speed with being a MythTV power-user, so maybe I'm not
> understanding all the dynamics here.  But I have a question....
>
> I just came across XBMC and installed it on my Gentoo MythTV
> front-end/back-end system.  The UI is phenomenal, plus it has native
> capability to serve as a front-end for MythTV.   Plus there are numerous
> plug-ins and scripts to support lots of streaming video and audio
> sources/websites.   XBMC is of course originally for XBox, but is now
> available for Linux, Mac, and Windows as well.
>
> My question is, what would be the reason *not* to use XBMC as a front-end
> for MythTV, and leave MythTV to the PVR thing it is really good at?  There
> are already plenty of XBMC plugins, but only a few for MythTV.   Seems like
> this might even expand the popularity of MythTV.
>
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>

XBMC is no more a "frontend" to MythTV than mplayer is.  It's a UI
that is capable of playing Myth's recordings an accessing Live TV.
That's *it*.  That's not even a small fraction of what myth does, even
if you discount the plugins.  XBMC can't skip commercials, it can't do
timestretch, it can't schedule recordings, it doesn't have an EPG, it
has no access to Myth's user job or transcoding functionality-- it is
literally a file player that speaks Myth Proto.

XBMC also has severe, severe player and basic functionality issues.
XBMC is a file player with a snappy UI and excellent categorization of
metadata.  Beyond that, that's all it is, a dumb file player.  Their
player has some horrendous bugs and Myth's is *much* more up to date
in terms of codec and container support.  Because my library consists
mainly of m2ts rips directly from my blu-ray and HD-DVD collection, in
is 90% unplayable in XBMC.  It all plays in myth.  XBMC also has a
nasty habit of hanging at the end of playback and capturing your
mouse, requiring an X restart.  These are issues they've had for a
good long while but not overcome yet (not that we don't have our own).

Regarding where myth has traditionally been considered weak, UI and
metadata, both are getting MAJOR makeovers for .22, including fanart
support, a great new UI engine, and a couple of other features that
are under wraps but are going to blow the doors off of old notions
about myth.

I promised myself I wouldn't do this as it's a *major* work in
progress, but here are some examples of what is currently possible in
Myth and will make their way to the user in .22:

http://robertmcnamara.smugmug.com/gallery/7063231_gGk9H#452518033_pmPdP

Keep in mind that mine is an *unreleased theme* and it exists purely
on my hard drive, but mine is one of at least three major new
MythUI-capable themes that are in design.  I'm also waiting on a few
widgets to be complete to add some of the snazzier bits.  But the
above is something that can be accomplished *right now* with trunk and
a little design/persistence.  Trunk also has vastly improved metadata
capabilites and a few "neat" new features like associating trailers
with a video and a "cinema-like" mode that allows you to play "x"
trailers before a film begins.

So, between the weaknesses of several critical DVR-related features in
XBMC and the almost-night UI capabilities, I would stress that a long
time Myth user should hang in there for the time being.

Robert


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