[mythtv] Modifying the D1 Home Media Centre to use a tv_grab script

[Ralph]

Calling all users of the Development One (D1) Home Media Centre (HMC)...

A forum for HMC users (and any others who may be able to assist us!) 
has been established here:
http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/

This has been set up primarily to discuss how the HMC may be modified 
to receive Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data for Pay TV channels, 
now that D1 has stopped providing this data, per their email to 
registered users of 20th October 2005.

If you are affected and would like to discuss possible solutions, or 
even if you're not affected but can help with any suggestions, please 
let me know, either by replying to this post, or directly to me; or 
hopefully by posting to the forum.

For the benefit of those who might be affected, or who can assist us 
with their technical wisdom, here is the story so far...

Q1: What is the HMC?
A1: It's an off-the-shelf MythTV box designed for use solely in 
Australia. Find out more here: www.hmc.com.au

Q2: What's so good about it?
A2: It actually works, straight out of the box. It comes with its own 
remote control. It comes with an infra-red transmitter to 
automatically control channel changing on any Pay TV Set Top Unit 
(STU) currently available in Australia including Foxtel, Optus & 
Austar, both Digital & Analog models. D1's own EPG covers all Free To 
Air (FTA) channels in Australia, and up until recently it also 
covered all Pay TV channels as well. (Even Foxtel's own EPG doesn't 
cover FTA channels 7 or 10, for legal reasons - but the HMC's does.)

Q3: So what's the problem?
A3: D1 is no longer providing EPG data for any Pay TV channels 
(probably for legal and other reasons). This will not affect users 
who are only receiving FTA broadcasts, either digital or analog. But 
it affects all users who have a Pay TV STU connected to their HMC.

Q4: What's the solution?
A4: Reprogram the HMC to use an EPG other than that which D1 has 
programmed it to use. (The obvious choice would be to use the 
www.tvguide.org.au EPG.)

Q5: Well, what's so hard about that then?
A5: The HMC's version of MythTV was rewritten solely for use with 
D1's EPG. There is no 'mythtv-setup' because there is no need to 
configure any hardware or software. There is no tv_grab script 
either, because mythfilldatabase was re-written to directly access 
D1's own EPG at http://d1.com.au/D1xmltv.asmx So some 'backwards' 
development work needs to be done in order for the HMC to use a 
standard version of mythfilldatabase and a tv_grab_au script.

Q6: Hmm, tricky...so how far have you got with this?
A6: With the assistance of many of you :) I have tried a lot of 
things, eg. using the version of mythfilldatabase from MythTV 0.14 
(results in a core dump, maybe because there are other 
modules/dependencies that also need to be changed?); I have installed 
KnoppMyth to see if I can work out what actually happens when you 
select a particular tv_grab script (eg. perhaps it writes a value in 
mythconverg somewhere?) in the hope of emulating this on the HMC; but 
so far, no luck.

Q7: Crikey! Why don't you just give up and use KnoppMyth then?
A7: Mainly because I don't like to give up...but I have also 
installed KnoppMyth, and I do have issues such as no audio, and of 
course no channel-changing on the STU, which the HMC accomplishes so well!

Q8: Have you asked D1 for help?
A8: Yes. They are very helpful to their customers with regard to any 
operational issues, but unfortunately they can't assist with advising 
on modifying the unit in this particular way.

Please note: I did not set up the forum, and there is currently an 
error in the signup process. In order to activate your account you 
may receive an email which says something similar to the following:

"Your account is currently marked as being inactive, to activate your 
account please go to the following link...
http://signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"

That URL is not syntactically correct. In the above case, the correct 
URL to enter into your browser would actually be:
"http://www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/signup.php?activate.6.92472380bd26471fdac0fd6e3260bb7c"

ie. between the "http://" and the "signup", you'll need to paste 
"www.dumbmonkey.atomhosting.info/hmc/" (unless this glitch has been 
fixed by the webmaster by the time you sign up).

TIA!!

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