[mythtv-users] Frontend for Apple TV 4

Craig Treleaven ctreleaven at cogeco.ca
Sun Nov 8 13:04:02 UTC 2015


> On Nov 7, 2015, at 1:11 PM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 9:19 AM, Tom Bongiorno <tbjr at bongohut.com <mailto:tbjr at bongohut.com>> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com <mailto:thom.j.harris at gmail.com>> wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 6:08 AM, Craig Treleaven <ctreleaven at cogeco.ca <mailto:ctreleaven at cogeco.ca>> wrote:
> > On Nov 7, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com <mailto:thom.j.harris at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > I was surprised to find a MythTV app in the Apple TV 4 app store.   So, I thought I would give it a try for the $4 app cost.
> >
> > It worked quite well for me.  It played my HD MPEG2 (US Broadcast) recordings quite well.  It doesn’t do live TV, schedule recordings, or any other mythfrontend features.. it just plays recordings.  But, that’s all I want from a frontend 95% of the time.
> >
> > The main thing I found lacking was the navigation.  Right/Left arrows didn’t do the skip forward/back you would expect.  You could only move in the video via the new remote’s touchpad control on the video timeline.  That touchpad is probably great for a lot of things, but doing 30 second skips is not one of them.
> >
> > Overall, I thought it was a really solid first version.  If the skip forward/back controls are added it could become my primary frontend.
> 
> What is the exact name?  Can you provide a link?
> 
> The name is “MythTV”.   I don’t think there are any web links to Apple TV only apps - making them really hard to find.  I also didn’t find any other reference to the app on the web prior to launch.   I guess the author is not one for marketing.   The only current way to find it is to search within the app store on the Apple TV.
>  
> Re playing un-transcoded recordings, is your AppleTV on a wired connection or wireless (which flavour)?
> 
> I’m on wireless, 5GHz N / AC.  I’m guessing the new AppleTV is using AC.  My other frontends are on N-wireless, and all can do ATSC MPEG2 playback just fine.  Obviously, your mileage may vary depending on your house and wifi location.
>  
> I don’t have a new Apple TV, but I understand that at least some players implement a 10 second skip forward/back by tapping on the right/left of the player bar.  Have you tried that?
> 
> I did try that.  I also tried input from IR to see if my universal remote could control it.  Navigation worked fine, but skip ahead / back did not.
> 
> I later read the notes in the app listing (RTFM) and there it said slide up on the touchpad is +30s, slide down is -8.   That works pretty well, and is much better than trying to navigate the timeline.  But, I think the remote goes into power savings mode pretty quickly, because it seems to miss the first slide after long pauses.
> 
> When the remote is working, the skip ahead/back is pretty quick.   Not as quick as a native frontend, but nothing is.  If it would react to IR navigation in all four directions, like Mythfrontend, it would be a big improvement.
> 
> 
> It is interesting to here that it will decode MPEG2. Are you sure that your recordings are MPEG2? There is no mention of MPEG2 support in the specs for the ATV4.
> 
> :) Yes.   Over the years I’ve been trying many frontend options, always looking for one that can do MPEG2 because so few devices do MPEG2 and fewer have a MythTV option.  So, I’m quite familiar with the issue.    My backend is not powerful enough to transcode real-time-ish and my HDHomeRun Prime can’t transcode.  I’ve been on the hunt for a multi-function device capable of MPEG2 playback for quite a while.
> 
> I am assuming that the AppleTV is doing software decoding, because none of the Apple APIs I know of support MPEG2, including Mac OS X devices which definitely do have the hardware support for it.
> 
> For my requirements, the new Apple TV comes closest to the device I’ve been looking for.  It can support the services I subscribe to (Netflix, HBO, etc.), broad music/movie rental and purchase options, and now a MythTV frontend.   For those of us that use Apple devices and content, it makes for an interesting option.  
> 
> 
> But, be aware that this app is quite barebones..  It does two things:  1) Display your list of recordings in a vertical selection list and 2) Play the selected recording.     For my use, that’s enough and is better than the various UPnP, Google TV, and other options I’ve tried in the past.  

As another data point on the AppleTV playing HD MPEG2, there is now a beta app for live TV (from HDHomerun tuners) called Channels.

http://getchannels.com

The web site doesn’t have much infornmation but the developer hangs out on the SiliconDust forum quite often.  He is trying out different de-interlacing options and getting feedback from his beta group.  Recently, he posted saying: "The A8 in the new apple tv is a beast and handles decoding full HD video without a sweat."

Craig
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