[mythtv-users] Using tv remote via hdmi to Liva X?

[A. F. Cano]

Greetings everyone:

Quick summary:

TV and VGA monitor both connected to a Liva X, myth not quite behaving
as expected, really cumbersome set up (every time).

Remote control (of the tv) not working with HDMI-CEC.

Details:

I recently got a Samsung 6200 tv, that is connected to a Liva X via a
quite thick and long (35 ft) HDMI cable.  It was quite expensive and
rated for high speed/bandwidth/resolution.  Only later did I learn that
some hdmi cables can't handle CEC which is apparently how the remote
control signals get from the tv to the myth box.

Can the Liva X handle CEC and thus receive the TV's remote control
signals?

The TV remote has no effect on myth, but I haven't configured anything
manually yet.

The liva X is running Debian Jessie and when I plug in the HDMI cable,
the desktop adjusts automatically and I have a double-width dssktop
with the TV to the right of the monitor with the VGA connection.

Both the VGA display and the TV have 1920x1080 resolution.  Xdpyinfo
shows screen #0 (the only screen) with 3840x1080 pixels.

The only way I've found to display the frontend on the TV is to start
another instance of the frontend on the extension of the desktop that
displays on the tv:

mythfrontend -geometry +1921+0

There has to be a better way.  While the frontend that runs on the VGA
screen displays properly, the one that displays on the TV exceeds the
screen on all 4 sides.  The bottom half of the date and time (at the
bottom of the screen) are cut off.  1/2 of the mythtv logo at the top
is also cut off, and the same happens on the left and right sides.  In
the days of CRT TVs this would be overscan, but what is happening when
all displays are digital?  How can this be adjusted?  Why is it happening
in the first place?

In order to get the sound to be played through the TV I have to change
the audio settings to "Digital Stereo (HDMI)" output and I have to give
myth focus with a mouse click in order for the keyboard commands to even
be seen.  And after all this, when I start playing a recorded video, it
starts on the TV but immedeately (after 1 second) it gets displayed on
the VGA screen.  After some more experimentation, I did manage to get
the video to display on the TV.  I had to add the -w option:

mythfrontend -w -geometry +1921+0

Is this the expected behavior?  The window borders are not displayed and
myth is still "overscanned"  There is a very thin band of the window
border at the bottom of the screen when displaying video.  The screen
size doesn't appear to be handled correctly when dealing with the TV.

It would also be nice if the audio output could be set automatically.
When using the VGA monitor, the audio goes to computer speakers from the
audio jack, when using the TV, it should go through the HDMI cable.

At least now myth is useable on the tv, but having to get up and
go to the computer keyboard to control it is not really acceptable.
Thus the second issue.

I have found this:

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/HDMI-CEC

but it seems to require additional devices, which brings me back to
the question above: can the Liva X handle CEC? Does anyone know if
there is something special about certain HDMI ports in Samsung TVs
as opposed to others, like seems to be implied in some web pages I've
read?  The second HDMI port on the TV is labeled HDMI/DVI.  What is
the difference? Should I plug the myth box into this one?
A lot of the content in the above page seems to be geared towards
lirc, which I'd rather avoid if it's possible to just use the CEC
signals through the HDMI cable.

Is anyone using the remote of a samsung TV via HDMI-CEC to control
myth on a liva without additional hardware?  If this is not possible,
with what other devices can this be achieved?  I have found:

https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter

and see that there are IR to USB adapters, but I'd rather not use
additional hardware if I can do this with the HDMI cable alone.

Any hints or help will be gratefully received.  Thanks!