[mythtv-users] Frontend Feature Proposal: MythToGo

[Byron Poland]

On 5/9/06, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> On 05/08/2006 02:04 PM, matt mead wrote:
>
> >I'm curious if anyone besides me would find this useful:
> >
> >Support in frontend for caching db information and recordings in ~/.mythtv such
> >that you can select a subset of recordings and the frontend will store the
> >recorded data and enough information from the mythconverg db that they can be
> >played without contacting the backend.
> >
> >This would allow you to select a set of shows you might want to take on the
> >road with you using your laptop, perform a synchronization, and then
> >browse/playback those shows while away from your backend server.
> >
> >
>
> I thought about doing something like this when I did a contract where I
> had to travel every week for 6 months, but I found that my temporary
> solution (playback with xine) worked extremely well--well enough that I
> decided it wasn't worth the effort to create MythTraveler (my name),
> a.k.a. MythOffline (name courtesy of Axel Thimm).  I can even skip
> nearly any commercial break in 3 keystrokes (from a minimum of 2 to a
> max of 5).  I copy the files from links made by mythrename.pl sorted by
> title/originalairdate, so I know what order to play them.  I don't take
> the program data with me, but I've never really needed it when I
> couldn't just connect to my MythWeb and look it up online.
>
> That's not to say that I wouldn't use the functionality if someone else
> did it (and did it well).  :)
>
> Mike
>
> -----
>
> Historical Note:
>
> In an off-list e-mail I sent on Nov 22, 2004, I wrote:
>
> >Maybe I'll find time to make a MythTraveler plugin that allows
> >selection and download of shows (complete with their
> >seektable/commflag info) to a laptop for offline viewing with all
> >the MythTV functionality.
> >
> >
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I've been stuck in an apartment on the west coast for the last 4
months for work.  My myth box is sitting in my basement on the east
coast happily recording away in HD.  I log in over ssh, and compress
down my recordings with a script then use sftp to download them to my
laptop here for viewing.  If I'm on top of things, and because of
hardware and bandwidth limits I can get have a show downloaded about 4
hours after it airs on the east coast (so sort of if I had recorded it
here and waited til it was over to watch).  I just use xine for
playback and have the keystrokes set up for 30 seconds forward, 5
seconds backwards for the arrows and am able to easilly skip through
the commercials.  I barely ever watch the tv in my room.

My only complaints are... I forget how well this stuff looks on my
HDTV, and I waste a lot of bandwidth on the data that makes up the
commercials.  I guess I could go the BT way, but I figure this
solution is all within my fair use, since I'm the one who recorded it.

I think a to-go solution like the one mentioned would be useful
especially for short trips.  For long trips like this I need to come
up with a more automated way to do things, maybe I need to look at the
myth2ipod script and see if I could use that with some custom encoding
options, and then a podcast client on this end.