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

[HP-mini]

On Sat, 2016-01-23 at 23:58 -0500, A. F. Cano wrote:
> 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!
> 
> _______________________________________________

I didn't think mythtv was designed to respond to CEC commands (thought
was the other way round).

Soln to Screen problems:
- overscan need to be defeated in the TV setup (justscan direct pixel
mapping), might have to name the port as "PCinput" or similar
- separate X screens; multihead using xorg.conf & option "ZaphodHeads".
http://askubuntu.com/questions/278115/dual-screen-setup-in-ubuntu-with-intel-hd-graphics

I launch MFE from script that:-
- checks if FE already running
- starts FE with "DISPLAY=:0.1 mythfrontend"
- warps the mouse cursor to that screen
- sends notification to FE if already running.


MythTV can stop pulseaudio server & use the required alsa device
directly.. no manual switching needed.