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Calling all users of the Development One (D1) Home Media Centre (HMC)...<br />
A forum for HMC users (and any others who may be able to assist us!) <br />
has been established here:<br />
<a href="http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/">http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/</a><br />
<br />
This has been set up primarily to discuss how the HMC may be modified <br />
to receive Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data for Pay TV channels, <br />
now that D1 has stopped providing this data, per their email to <br />
registered users of 20th October 2005.<br />
<br />
For the benefit of those who might be affected, or who can assist us <br />
with their technical wisdom, here is the story so far...<br />
<br />
Q1: What is the HMC?<br />
A1: It's an off-the-shelf MythTV box designed for use solely in <br />
Australia. Find out more here: <a href="www.hmc.com.au">www.hmc.com.au</a><br />
<br />
Q2: What's so good about it?<br />
A2: It actually works, straight out of the box. It comes with its own <br />
remote control. It comes with an infra-red transmitter to <br />
automatically control channel changing on any Pay TV Set Top Unit <br />
(STU) currently available in Australia including Foxtel, Optus & <br />
Austar, both Digital & Analog models. D1's own EPG covers all Free To <br />
Air (FTA) channels in Australia, and up until recently it also <br />
covered all Pay TV channels as well. (Even Foxtel's own EPG doesn't <br />
cover FTA channels 7 or 10, for legal reasons - but the HMC's does.)<br />
<br />
Q3: So what's the problem?<br />
A3: D1 is no longer providing EPG data for any Pay TV channels <br />
(probably for legal and other reasons). This will not affect users <br />
who are only receiving FTA broadcasts, either digital or analog. But <br />
it affects all users who have a Pay TV STU connected to their HMC.<br />
<br />
Q4: What's the solution?<br />
A4: Reprogram the HMC to use an EPG other than that which D1 has <br />
programmed it to use. (The obvious choice would be to use the <br />
<a href="www.tvguide.org.au">www.tvguide.org.au</a> EPG.)<br />
<br />
Q5: Well, what's so hard about that then?<br />
A5: The HMC's version of MythTV was rewritten solely for use with <br />
D1's EPG. There is no 'mythtv-setup' because there is no need to <br />
configure any hardware or software. There is no tv_grab script <br />
either, because mythfilldatabase was re-written to directly access <br />
D1's own EPG at <a href="http://d1.com.au/D1xmltv.asmx">http://d1.com.au/D1xmltv.asmx</a> So some 'backwards' <br />
development work needs to be done in order for the HMC to use a <br />
standard version of mythfilldatabase and a tv_grab_au script.<br />
<br />
Q6: Hmm, tricky...so how far have you got with this?<br />
A6: With the assistance of many of you :) I have tried a lot of <br />
things, eg. using the version of mythfilldatabase from MythTV 0.14 <br />
(results in a core dump, maybe because there are other <br />
modules/dependencies that also need to be changed?); I have installed <br />
KnoppMyth to see if I can work out what actually happens when you <br />
select a particular tv_grab script (eg. perhaps it writes a value in <br />
mythconverg somewhere?) in the hope of emulating this on the HMC; but <br />
so far, no luck.<br />
<br />
Q7: Crikey! Why don't you just give up and use KnoppMyth then?<br />
A7: Mainly because I don't like to give up...but I have also <br />
installed KnoppMyth, and I do have issues such as no audio, and of <br />
course no channel-changing on the STU, which the HMC accomplishes so well!<br />
<br />
Q8: Have you asked D1 for help?<br />
A8: Yes. They are very helpful to their customers with regard to any <br />
operational issues, but unfortunately they can't assist with advising <br />
on modifying the unit in this particular way.<br />
<br />
So, if you are affected and would like to discuss possible solutions, <br />
or even if you're not affected but can help with any suggestions, <br />
please let me know, either by replying to this post, or directly to <br />
me; or hopefully by posting to the forum at <br />
<a href="http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/">http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/</a><br />
<br />
Please note: I did not set up the forum, and there is an error in the <br />
signup process. In order to activate your account you may receive an <br />
email which says something similar to the following:<br />
<br />
"Your account is currently marked as being inactive, to activate your <br />
account please go to the following link...<br />
<a href="http://signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"">http://signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"</a>;<br />
<br />
That URL is not syntactically correct. In the above case, the correct <br />
URL to enter into your browser would actually be:<br />
"<a href="http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"">http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"</a>;<br />
<br />
ie. between the "http://" and the "signup", you'll need to paste <br />
"<a href="www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/"">www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/"</a>; (unless this glitch has been <br />
fixed by the webmaster by the time you sign up).<br />
<br />
TIA!!<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i.msgtag.com/ahv/kqomdw/CekpycxpDqlwj/jhzzB/ottyo.gif" alt=" " id="MSGTAGImage"/></body>
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