[mythtv-users] Mythtv & Roku (was: Yet More Internet TV Choices)

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday, October 27, 2010 01:09:30 pm Ajay Sharma wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 4:26 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > On Monday, October 25, 2010 05:17:06 pm Ajay Sharma wrote:
> >> I feel silly, I just googled, "roku mythtv" and the first hit was
> >> Myth's own wiki:
> >> 
> >> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/ROKU_HD_Frontend
> >> 
> >> I feel better knowing that that page just showed up a couple of months
> >> ago.  I know I searched for it a few months ago and found nothing.
> >> I'm super excited and will be busy this evening setting this up!!
> > 
> > I'd missed that as well, but it doesn't sound like he has a full frontend
> > running, though it's certainly a good start. I think he accurately
> > described it as a "frontend player", thus making it more or less like
> > any UPnP player (though not using UPnP).
> 
> Yes, he didn't hack the roku to install a full functioning frontend
> which I'm fine with since in my household a full mythfrontend might be
> too much for some.  But the extremely simple roku interface is just
> their speed.
> 
> > I ordered the Roku box for a family member, who just wants to watch
> > Netflix, but since it will pass through my hands I'll try and see what I
> > can learn about it.
> 
> Did you try it out yet?

It's due to arrive today, but I haven't received it yet. I'll be out of town for the next few days, so I'll probably play 
with it over the weekend.

> 
> I got the app installed on my roku box and the php script installed on
> the server (with a little hacking, there are some minor bugs when it
> comes to generating the thumbnails).  Converting my mpeg2 videos into
> h264 has been a very time consuming process since I have a super old
> backend machine.  Just was curious if you faired any better.

Don't know yet, but transcoding everything to h264 seems like a fly in the ointment. The only h264 material I have online 
is HD-PVR recordings, which I do want to see if the Roku can handle, but most of what I have is mpeg2 SD recordings from 
PVR-x50s, MPEG2 files from an HDHR, and the rest are HD-PVR generated h264 HD files.

My Myka ($89) can handle any video I have tossed at it (though it has problems with some DTS audio). It can play files from 
Myth via UPnP, or from any NFS or Samba share. I think this is a better "frontend payer" solution than the Roku, since it 
doesn't require transcoding anything, installing anything on anything, and no script required to be installed on the 
server.

Of course you can use a transcoding server like MediaTomb, or PlayOn will transcode on the fly, but transcoding is another 
step, requiring more CPU cycles (= billable power). The Myka can also play VIDEO_TS directories directly, DVD ISO files 
directly, and can even handle BR rips, all of which would be major transcoding jobs. Myka also can handle DVD menus.

I see there is an SDK available for the Roku, apparently released due to the overwhelming number of requests for 
"channels". Might be worth a look into that.