[mythtv-users] Watch TV works, but recording doesn't.

[PAUL WILLIAMSON]

>>> andrewhaigh at ntlworld.com 08/24/05 9:15 PM >>>
> Darius Hardy wrote:
> [various edits made to keep things brief]
> > The whole point is that MythTV really needs to know what channel
your 
> > cable box is showing, it can't do that if it can't control the
box.
> 
> I see. So if I feed it (say) a vcr that happens to contain 'x' as its

> input, it won't let me record it. Unless I lie and say it is 
> channel/program 'y'. And what happens when the broadcaster doesn't
exist 
> n the web/gets the data wrong?

Not really.  It will just name the recording based on what is in the 
EPG or from Zap2It, not what is written on the tape.  You'll need 
to then go in to the database and edit it.  I did this with my 
Ken Burns' "Baseball" series.  I never had the time to watch the 
whole thing.  Now that it's part of Myth, I can watch any of it 
at any time.

> > MythTV works very well... It just _has_ to be set up first!
> 
> Well, my point is that as a 'consumer', I don't want to know all of
that 
>   complex stuff. I want it to 'just work'.

Then go buy a consumer device like a Tivo or ReplayTV.  Myth 
is about the farthest thing from a consumer product as you'll find.

> > Erm, not with anything like what MythTV gives you, the windows
software 
> > is a basic VCR, if you want that MythTV is not for you.
> 
> I see no reason why it should not _also_ work as a basic vcr.

Becuase Myth is much more.  If you don't want the EPG, just 
schedule everything manually and the database will record 
stuff based on the channel, date and time of the recording. 
It would be very difficult to tell what file is what without 
the names of the shows, but then again, you don't have any 
tapes or labels to deal with either. 

> > The basic UK set-up gives you just about everything you need. You
have 
> > to tell it which channels you're subscribed to but that takes all
of 
> > about half an hour (you'll need to know the xmltvid names that 
> > radiotimes uses for each channel [tv_grab_uk_rt --list-channels]
gives 
> > you them - they look like URLs.)
> > 
> >> I figured I should be able to use it just record the current input

> >> stream - much like a vcr. But it doesn't seem to work that way.
> >>
> MythTV isn't a VCR, it's a PVR - it relies on knowing what is on and
when.
> 
> Ok. I still don't think it should be an essential. But if thats what
it 
> is then thats what it is.

That's what it is.  

> > Once you've got it set up you'll never go back ;-) A few hours
fiddling 
> > around is really worth it!
> 
> I would say its consumed a lot more than a few hours. And I'm a
software 
> engineer with a fair bit of linux experience. How many non-software 
> engineers get it working?

Dunno.  I'm a software engineer (actually network engineer, but who's 
keeping track?) with about 10 years of linux and I got it working
(albeit 
in the US) in about a week for basic functionality, about 4 for
everything.
I even started out building from source without issue, and went to 
Jarod's guide and had more problems than with cvs...
Worked all that out eventually...

> Finally, thanks to those people who replied, it gives me (some)
hope.

You just need lots of patience with an equal amount of luck.
At one point, I could rebuild my Myth backend from bare metal 
to fully functional in about 4 hours.  Probably not now, but I'm 
just out of practice... ;-)

Paul