[mythtv-users] Using MythTV without scheduling data (XMLTV or DataDirect), with a daily recurring recording schedule for known local channels.

Ivan Kowalenko ivan.kowalenko at gmail.com
Thu Jul 20 22:59:14 UTC 2006


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On Jul 20, 2006, at 12.36, Matt Harmon wrote:

> Hi,
>    I'm trying to determine if it is possible to use a
> MythTV box without a scheduling data feed to record
> manually configured channels on a daily basis, with a
> multiple analog tuner card system.

Doable with Myth.

>    The channels, start times and duration of the
> programming I would like to record are all known and
> could be provided as a "dummy" schedule. Or the data
> could be entered into the database manually.

Manual entry might be your only choice. I'm not too well acquainted  
with how Myth would handle this otherwise.

>    I've reviewed the mailing list archives and noted
> that there have been some issues with this matter in
> the past (manually scheduled recordings) though in the
> context of attempting to schedule a manual recording
> with a scheduling data feed in place.

Well, those problems aren't THAT prevalent, as far as I can see, and  
I've been Myth since 0.18.1

>    I work for a company that can't afford to pay for a
> commerical scheduling feed but has a need to monitor
> local news coverage in a digital format. We know when
> the broadcasts will occur and what channels they will
> be on. We're trying to determine if a MythTV box will
> do the job.

Actually, if that's your big hangup over a scheduling feed, then you  
can forget about it. I don't know of a single method of getting a  
scheduling feed into Myth that is a COMMERCIAL option. In North  
America (at least, the US), DataDirect (Zap2It) provides the  
information to Myth users for free (provided you're willing to answer  
one survey, ten questions long, once every few months, and it's  
really not that bad!). Outside the US, XMLTV seems to grab free info.

I don't think Myth users would put up with Myth if all the data  
WASN'T free (after all, if we have to pay for our data, might as well  
go with TiVo or something).

Anyway, sounds like Myth might be overkill for you. You could just  
throw a few tuners into a basic Linux box, schedule a cron job to  
have MEncoder capture your video, then play it back with MPlayer. The  
only real advantages you'd have with Myth is automatic recording  
management (auto-expire, keep only X number of episodes of this show)  
and a GUI, but, depending, this might be worth the effort.
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