[mythtv-users] A plea for some consideration for the poor suffering MythTV users

[Michael T. Dean]

On 08/11/2012 07:31 PM, Martin Brown wrote:
> I think I've finally resolved all my issues with the assistance of the comments in this thread and elsewhere:
>
> For reference, in case anyone has googled:
> - Linux Mint 13 / Maya
> - Mate / Gnome 2
> - MythTV 0.25
> - NVIDIA 9800 GT
> - Realtek RTL2832U from DigitalNow in Canberra (because three tuners just isn't quite enough sometimes)
>
> I had several issues including:
> - Lack of the alsa sound firmware crashed the frontend
> - No anti-aliasing
> - Still video image remains on top of the menus after escape
> - Really bad tearing of the picture
> and some others which would have been resolved if I'd done an "apt-get build-dep" in the first place as pointed out.
>
> 1. First off, fix the apt sources.list to replace "maya" with "precise" everywhere except for packages.linuxmint.com
> before doing a post-installation package update. (MythTV wouldn't even compile without this)
> 2. As detailed in the DigitalNow website, download the RealTek linux driver from github, build and install.
> 3. For the build-it-yourself MythTV system, download the latest MythTV and MythPlugins
> 4. Run apt-get build-dep mythtv
> 5. configure the MythTV build with --enable-vdpau

FWIW, there is no (good) reason to specify --enable-vdpau.  It's enabled 
automatically if (and only if) you have properly installed libvdpau.  If 
you haven't properly installed libvdpau, you will need to before 
--enable-vdpau will actually enable VDPAU, so...  (Note that this is why 
the ./configure --help shows the option, "--disable-vdpau"--which you 
would use if you've installed libvdpau, but your libvdpau install is 
broken and (for some reason) you don't want to fix it.  Note, also, that 
libvdpau is independent of NVIDIA drivers, so having libvdpau 
installed/configuring MythTV such that it enables VDPAU and using it on 
an AMD-based-graphics system is not a case of "install is broken.")

> 6. Build and install MythTV and the plugins
> 7. Run mythtv-setup add configure in the tuners
> 8. Run the shepherd program guide gathering system setup
> 9. In the frontend, set the Setup ->  Video ->  Playback Profile to vdpau High Quality
> 10. Run " nvidia-xconfig --no-composite" as suggested on the MythTV VDPAU wiki page
> 11. Fix the mythbuntu theme recordings-ui.xml

Have you submitted a bug report about Mythbuntu theme's 
recordings-ui.xml breakage--with patch, ideally?

https://github.com/MythTV-Themes/Mythbuntu/issues and/or even just 
sending an e-mail with the appropriate information to this list is 
likely to get the issue noticed so that it can be fixed for everyone else.

> 12. In the Mate Desktop Settings ->  Windows ->  enable "Use Gnome Compositing"
> 13. Install the mythbackend startup script and run /usr/lib/insseve/insserv to configure it for the various startup levels
> 14. Set up ntp to keep the time accurate
>
> So basically, there was still a lot of hand assembly and fixing required after the basic builds and installs.
>
> Thanks to those who offered constructive assistance.

Note that that "hand assembly and fixing" is exactly what a MythTV 
distro (such as Mythbuntu and LinHES) is all about.  Mythbuntu is 
nothing more than Ubuntu that's already been properly configured (at the 
low level) for MythTV use--including choice of and configuration of an 
appropriate desktop environment/window manager, configuration of 
underlying sound system, etc.  If you start with plain-vanilla Ubuntu 
and install MythTV on top of that--and do it properly--at the end, 
you'll basically have just done all the work that the Mythbuntu guys 
already did (or, if you use the Mythbuntu repos, you'll have done all 
the low-level system configuration work that the Mythbuntu guys already 
did).

IMHO, distro choice for a MythTV system should be made according to the 
old adage:  "Use the right tool for the job."  I have a list of the 3 
worst-possible choices of distro for use with MythTV, but unfortunately 
it seems a lot of users like to use 2 of them.  In so doing, they're 
only making things hard on themselves, so I suppose if they like to 
waste their own time/energy, more power to them.

(Note that Mint is not among the 3 distros on my list.  Mint is a good 
choice--particularly if you enable the Mythbuntu repos and use the 
packages that are maintained by the Mythbuntu team.  Those guys spend a 
/lot/ of time keeping up with the development of MythTV, speaking with 
the devs about changes and how those changes affect their distro and its 
configuration requirements, and keeping the builds up-to-date and 
properly working.  IMHO, they are the model of a good packaging team.  
It's a shame that more people don't choose to benefit from their efforts 
and choose to replicate the work--and, even worse, the time they spend 
learning what's required--the Mythbuntu team does.  It seems that 
Fedora's RPM Fusion repos are good, too, but I don't know enough about 
them to make any useful comments.)

Mike