[mythtv-users] Portable media center

[Stephen Worthington]

On Wed, 3 Aug 2016 10:43:00 +1000, you wrote:

>Any tips on software scripts that would let me copy recordings and watch
>them on the go?
>>
>If it's for transcoding for mobile devices Handbrake seems quite popular.
>Mythbrake integrates with it. Have a look at various options at
>https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Transcode_Video

Install MythTV on your laptop and use mythexport's on-the-go option to
export recordings from your main MythTV setup to a portable hard drive
- it looks like your laptop has a USB3 port, so a USB3 drive would be
good, or use a USB3 drive mount and a regular hard drive.  Attach the
portable drive to the laptop and use mythimport to import the database
for the recordings on it, and then you will be able to use MythTV just
as normal.  You can attach USB tuners to the laptop also, so if you
have an aerial wherever you are, you can also record.  And the right
sort of USB tuner will also have a good remote which will allow you to
sit back and control MythTV from a good viewing distance instead of
having to use the keyboard.

I do this all the time with my MSI GT70 laptop.  I bought it
specifically to be capable of doing this, and it has a 17" screen, so
it is large enough for two people to watch when placed on a chair in
front of a couch.  I did have to cut a piece of particle board to put
under it on chairs, otherwise the feet often would not be placed right
to keep the air holes underneath from being blocked.  These days, any
laptop with a recent Intel processor should have good enough builtin
video to do this.

For those using a Windows laptop, a Mythbuntu install only needs say
50 GiBytes if it is not storing recordings on the same partition, so
reducing the Windows partitions on your laptop by that much should not
be a problem.  The Mythbuntu install will want to also install Grub as
the bootloader, which is not a good idea if you want Windows to work
well - certain Windows updates do not work if booting Windows via
Grub.  So also create a 100 Mibyte partition and tell the Mythbuntu
installer to put Grub there.  Then boot Windows and install EasyBCD
free version:

  https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

and use it to create a boot entry that will boot Grub for you from the
Windows bootloader.

My setup for my laptop includes a dual USB3 drive mount and two hard
drives for exported TV programmes, and also an expensive 4 drive
eSATA/USB3 drive mount that is normally on my main MythTV setup on
eSATA.  That contains the drives that have all my videos, music and
photos, so I can just unplug the entire mount and take it with me for
use on the laptop.

The USB tuner I use that has an excellent remote is a Hauppauge
HVR-900r2 (DVB-T).  Its remote is a full one with all the buttons
usually found on MCE type remotes.  But I expect it will only be
available second hand by now.  It should also be possible to get a USB
infrared receiver and remote combination instead of using a tuner.  In
that case, your MythTV install will need to specify using a dummy
tuner to get it to work.